I've titled this message, A Promise
to Dogs. A Promise to Dogs. I started
to be clever when I was first preparing this message and titled
it, All Dogs Go to Heaven. But I decided that really to
see the whole passage, it is a promise to dogs. It is true. It is true that all dogs go to
heaven. And I think you'll see that as
we study this passage together. I remember when Hugo and Zobey
decided to name their son Caleb, that they didn't have a lot of
encouragement from their family, not being a Spanish name, but
Caleb means a faithful dog. We were in religious circles
some years ago, and one of the men in the church named his son
Caleb. And I remember the pastor laughing
about that, saying, why would you name your son a dog? But it is true that there is
a promise that is only for dogs. And all dogs do go to heaven. Most people don't see themselves
that way, do they? Dogs in scripture are a picture
of uncleanness. And to insult someone would be
to call them a dog. But by the grace of God, by the
grace of God, His people see themselves as being unclean. His people see themselves in
need of a Joshua to lead them. His people faithfully follow
behind Him. His people worship Him. You know,
the word worship comes from a term that means to prostrate yourself
and to lick the hand of your master like a dog. And so Caleb,
that faithful dog, who follows after Christ, and licks his hand
and listens to his voice. Well, that's who salvation is
for. It's for dogs, isn't it? There's
a man in our story who does not believe himself to be a dog and
proves himself not to be one. Oh, he is in the sight of God. All men are dogs in the sight
of God, but he's not in his own eyes. He's not in his own eyes. He's offended when the suggestion
is made that he might be a dog. Verse 7 of 2 Kings chapter 8,
we'll begin reading, And Elisha came to Damascus. And Ben-Hadad,
the king of Syria, was sick. And it was told him, saying,
The man of God is come hither. And the king said unto Haziel,
take a present in thine hand, and go meet the man of God, and
inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?"
Can't read this story and wonder whether or not Laman perhaps
had some influence in Syria when he went back home with the king. You remember he asked if the
Lord would forgive him for his for his idolatry that he had
been engaged in, that he would not do it again. And he had to
go back to Syria, back to the king. And now some years later,
the king is calling upon the man of God to find out whether
or not he's going to recover from his sickness. It's amazing how much influence,
it's amazing how much influence the testimony of one person can
have among others. Never underestimate. Never underestimate
your influence as a believer among the people that you are
around. But the king told his servant
to take a present and to go and to meet the man of God and require
of the Lord by him saying shall I recover of this disease. So
Haziel went to meet him and took a present with him. even of every
good thing of Damascus. Forty camels burdened, and come
and stood before him, and said, Thy son Ben-Hadad, king of Syria,
hath sent me to say, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elisha said
unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover. The
disease is not going to kill you. you would have recovered
from the disease. However, the Lord hath shown
me that he shall surely die. And he settled his countenance
steadfastly until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept." Asiel
doesn't understand the prophecy. Or does he? Asiel has already
put it in, he's already had it in his heart to kill. Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
and now Elisha is about to expose him. This is premeditated murder. Haziel said, Why weepest thou,
my lord? And the prophet Elisha 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 a sword, and wilt dash their
children, and rip up their women with child. And Haziel said in
response to this prophecy, What? Is thy servant a dog? Are you
suggesting that I'm a dog? That he should do this great
thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord has shown me that thou shalt
be king over Syria. So Haziel departed from Elisha
and came to his master Ben-Hadad who said to him, What said Elisha
to thee? And he answered, he told me that
thou should surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow
that he, Haziel, took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, spread
it on his face, Ben-Hadad's face, so that he died. And Haziel reigned
in his stead. It is clear from Haziel's discomfort
of Elisha's stare that Haziel had already planned the murder
of the king of Ben-Hadad. King Ben-Hadad, and planned to
take his place. He had already plotted his desires
to overthrow Israel. And in verse 11 it says, and
he set his countenance steadfastly until he was ashamed. until he
was ashamed. He was ashamed of what he was
thinking, of what he was planning. He was ashamed of his sin, but
he went on with it anyway. He persisted in his plan because
he had ambitions of being king himself. And when it was exposed
of what he really was and what he planned to do, he was offended.
at the suggestion that he would do such an evil thing. In 1 Samuel
chapter 17, there's another story of a Philistine by the name of
Goliath, who when confronted with David, said unto David,
Am I a dog that you come to me with staves? And the Philistine
cursed David by his gods. Am I a dog? Is that what you're
calling me? Look with me to 2 Samuel chapter
3. I'll show you another place. 2 Samuel chapter 3. We'll begin reading in verse
6. And it came to pass, while there was war between the house
of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong
in the house of Saul. And Saul had a concubine, whose
name was Rizpah, the daughter of Eah. And Ishbueth said to Abner, wherefore
hast thou gone into my father's concubine? which he had, but
Adner was very wroth for the words of Isphosheth, and said,
Am I a dog's head, which against Judah do show kindness this day,
and thou hast sold thy father to his brethren and to his friends,
and to have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that
thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this woman? My dog. Men have much too high a view
of themselves, don't they? The truth is that the way up
is down. The way up is down. Men by nature
are offended at the thought of being accused of evil. In our world today, I suppose
the feelings about self-esteem would
be not understood Oh, you think much too low of yourself. You
need to have a higher view, don't you? Alright, you're there in 2 Samuel.
Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 9. Very familiar story. One that we make reference to
often. The story of Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth. And in 2 Samuel 9, verse 5, King
David sent and fetched him out of the house of nature, the son
of Amiel from Lodibar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come to David, he fell on
his face and did reverence. And David said, O 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.
And thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And Mephibosheth
bowed himself before David, worshipped him, licked his hand, and said,
What is thy servant? that thou should look upon such
a dead dog as I am. Do you see the contrast? Do you
see the contrast between those who have a reason to hope in
the promise of God and those who are excluded from any hope
of salvation? There's another story very familiar
in Matthew chapter 15. Turn with me there. Verse 21, And Jesus went thence,
and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coast, and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me. She came like a dog, worshipping
him, bowing before him, crying for mercy. Thou son of David,
my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. And he answered
her not a word. He didn't speak. Now those of you that have dogs
as a pet, you ever come home and the dog is jumping up and
down, you've got your hands full, you've got something else you
need to tend to, and you don't pay the dog any attention at
all? Ever do that? Dog doesn't quit, does he? He
just keeps looking to his master until the master pauses and shows
him some attention. Puts his hand on him, speaks
to him. Dog doesn't get its feelings hurt and go away. when the master
doesn't speak. He doesn't go onto the sofa and
pout and say, well, if you're going to be that way, I just
won't greet you anymore. No, he just is persistent, doesn't
he? He just keeps on keeping on until
the master takes a moment to put his hand on him and to speak
to him and do affirming. Let him know he's there, everything's
okay. That's this woman. Most people, in crying for mercy,
if the Lord didn't speak at all to them, would be offended and
say, well, if you don't talk to me, I won't talk to you either.
And the disciples came and besought him saying, send her away, for
she crieth after us. She's embarrassing us. Now it
gets worse, doesn't it? Not only will the Master not
speak to her, but His disciples are telling Him to send her away. For she crieth after us, verse
24, but He answered and said, I am not sent, but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And come for her. And come for
the Gentiles. It didn't come for this Syro-Phoenician
woman. Verse 25, Then came she, and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. She was a dog, wasn't
she? She wasn't going to quit. She
wasn't going to quit seeking the Master's attention. And he
answered and said, It is not me to take the children's bread
and to cast it to dogs. Now he just goes ahead and tells
her what she is, doesn't he? Just tells her what she is. And
she huffed off in wrath and anger. That's the way you're going to
be. Just forget it. I'll find somebody else to help me. What
did Hyliael say? What did Goliath say? What did
Abner say? Are you calling me a dog? See
the contrast? What did she say? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat
of the crumbs which fall from the Master's table. Would you
just brush a few crumbs off over this way for me? Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee, even
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. Dogs get mercy. Faithful dogs. Dogs that won't quit seeking
the attention of the Master. Those who in offense say, are
you calling me a dog? They will turn and do the very
evil that Hazael ended up doing. And they will meet the end that
Goliath suffered. All dogs really do go to heaven.
Are you a dog? Don't think too highly of yourself.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Lord gave us the example
of Peter in order to remind us of how frail we are. How prone
we are to deny Him. In Matthew chapter 26 and verse
33, Peter answered when the Lord told him that he would deny Him.
He said, though all men shall be offended because of thee yet,
well, I'll never be offended. Lord, I'll never leave you. I'll
never forsake you. Jesus said to him, Verily I say
unto you, that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny
me thrice. And Peter said to him, though
I should die. Though I should die with thee, yet will I not
deny thee, likewise also said all the rest of his disciples.
They were emboldened by his pride to agree with him. Oh, Lord,
we'll never leave you. Well, they were scattered that
very night, weren't they? Lord, I'm a dog in need of my
master. Take heed of yourself. You know that phrase, take heed
of yourself, is found 55 times in the Word of God. 55 times. Let me read you just
a few of them. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse
12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh that he standeth, take heed,
lest he fall. Hazael thought, I'll never do
that. when all along he knew that that's
exactly what he would do. Deuteronomy chapter 4 says, Only
take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou
forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they
depart from thy heart all the days of thy life. Take heed. Teach them to your sons and to
your sons' sons. Teach them to your children and
your grandchildren. Take heed to yourself that your heart be
not deceived. And you turn aside and serve
other gods and worship them. Lord, if you don't keep me, I'll
forsake you. I'm just a dog. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 21,
Thus saith the Lord. Take heed to yourselves. Bear
no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates
of Jerusalem. In other words, take heed to
yourself, lest you violate the Sabbath by seeking salvation
through your works. That's what violating the Sabbath
is. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Sabbath, and if we bear a
burden bear the burden of our own salvation through our own
works, we break the Sabbath. Take heed. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 10, According
to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master
builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed to himself how he builds thereon.
Take heed. Don't think too highly of yourself. We have a more sure word of prophecy,
2 Peter chapter 1, and you do well that you take heed to this
word. Well, I said this is a promise
to dogs. Let me read you the rest of this passage. Will you
turn with me back to our text? 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 8. Isaiah went and did exactly what
he had planned to do. Proving God's prophecy to be
true. Verse 16, And in the fifth year
of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being
the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah,
began to reign. Thirty and two years old was
he when he began to reign. And he reigned eight years in
Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the
kings of Israel as did the house of Ahab. You remember Ahab, Jezebel? Ahab's wife Jezebel led him into
idolatry. And he led all the people of
Israel into idolatry. And now his son, Jehoshaphat, has married the
daughter of Ahab. for his wife, and he did evil
in the sight of the Lord. Now when I go around and visit
other churches, I tell them, I tell their young men about
all the young beautiful girls we've got in our church. And
that in a few years, you're all welcome to come down to Florida.
and pick one out. Because our girls aren't leaving.
They've got to stay here. If anybody's going to leave,
you've got to leave. I say that to them tongue-in-cheek. I know our parents pray for their
children that they will marry in Christ. And your pastor, young people,
pray for you that you won't forsake the gospel and be unequally yoked
together with unbelievers. Because it will lead. It will
lead to destruction. It's just always the case. Both this man and his son were
united to unbelievers. They were led into idolatry. And here's the promise. Look
at verse 19. Yet, the Lord would not destroy
Judah. Why? For David, his servant's
sake. As he promised him to give him
always a light and to his children. The Lord had taken the throne
from Saul and given it to David. When he gave it to David, he
promised him that David's seed would sit upon the throne of
Israel forever. That was a prophecy referring
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That prophecy would be fulfilled.
In spite of the sins of Israel, God would not forsake his people.
He would not forsake his people for David's sake. because of
the covenant promise that exists in eternity past between the
Father and the Son. You know David's a picture of
Christ. David means the Beloved One. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the Beloved One. This is my Beloved Son. In Him
I am well pleased. And you are accepted in the Beloved. And He will always sit upon His
throne. Dogs will come and they'll lick
his hand. They'll worship him. Listen to
this passage in 1 Kings chapter 11. And unto his son will I give
one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before
me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name
there. There'll always be a light. where
David is seated upon his throne in the city of peace. Listen to this verse. 1 Kings
chapter 15. Were you there in 2 Kings? Just
turn back with me to 1 Kings chapter 15 verse 4. 1 Kings 15 verse 4. Nevertheless, in spite of their
rebellion, Nevertheless, for David's sake, did the Lord his
God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, and to set up his son after him,
and to establish Jerusalem. For David's sake. God had made
covenant promises to David, and for David's sake, that promise
would be fulfilled. Look at verse 5. Because David
did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. and turned
not aside from anything that He was commanded Him all the
days of His life. Now stop right there just a moment. That's Christ, isn't it? Why
is God obligated to keep this promise to His Son? Because His
Son fulfilled the mission that He was sent on by the Father.
He worked out a perfect righteousness. He laid down His life for the
sheep. The Father is obligated to honor the Son. You and I can't
obligate God to do anything, but the Lord Jesus Christ did.
He obligated the Father. And that's what he's saying here,
because David did everything I commanded him to do. Now, we know that David in the
flesh, David, King David, didn't do everything that God commanded
him to do. He didn't live out a perfect righteousness any more
than you and I do. And the most glaring example
of his failure to do that is in the next phrase that I told
you not to read yet. You read it? Save only in the
matter of Uriah the Hittite. The scripture says that God takes
the evil of man and he uses it for his praise. And what he can't
use, he will restrain. The wrath of man will praise
me. That's what he says. Now that
doesn't excuse man's sin in any way. It just exalts the sovereignty
of God in being able to take the failures of man and use those
things to even glorify himself. I'll tell you a perfect example
of that is the fall. The fall. Who ate of the forbidden
fruit first? Eve did, didn't she? What if
Adam had not ever eaten of it? Eve would have been cast out
on her own to total destruction. Is Adam justified? Does it excuse
Adam that he ate? No, Adam sinned. Adam sinned. But what is that a picture of?
It's a picture of how it is that the last Adam, the Lord Jesus
Christ, went into sin with his bride in order to redeem her. You know the same thing is true
about David with Uriah the Hittite and Bathsheba? Nothing justifies
what David did. What David did was evil. What
David did was an abomination before God. He killed Uriah and
his army. Uriah was a commander of an army.
He killed his whole army. in order to take from Uriah his
wife. Scripture says that we are now
married to another, and the reason that we're married to another
is because our new husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, has taken
us from our previous husband, and he has destroyed him and
his army. The works of the devil are destroyed.
That's what he came to do. and to snatch from the very paws
of death, from the very grip of Satan, a bride unto himself. All the scriptures point to him,
don't they? To taking us away from our former
husband and making us his own. Why? Because he made a promise. Here's what the angel said to
Mary in Luke chapter 1. After he told her that his name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people, he went
on to say, he shall be great, and he shall be called the Son
of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne
of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. What does our text say? It says, Yet the Lord would not
destroy Judah for David, his servant's sake, as he promised. There's hope for dogs. The hope for dogs is that God
has made a promise to the Master. The hope for dogs is the Master. The Lord hath sworn in truth
unto David. He will not turn from it. Of
the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. There will I
make the horn or the strength of David to bud. I have ordained
a lamp for mine anointing." A promise for dogs. Aren't you
glad that there's hope? Not for those who are offended
at being called a dog, but for those who say, with that Syrophoenician
woman, truth Lord. Oh, but would you scrape some
crumbs off the table for me? That's what I'm in need of. Alright,
I hope the Lord will bless that. We'll take a break.