Clean Transcript

Have You Ever Wanted To Be A Little Puppy?

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• Matthew chapter 15, we're going to read verses 21 through 28, and I will read this passage a little bit later. I'm certainly not going to begin expounding this passage right away, but what I've got to say is going to lead up to this passage, so we'll be looking at a number of other passages as well. Now, I'm going to give you the title of the message. And so when I give you the title of the message, please do not laugh. You may smile. You may giggle a little bit, but don't laugh out loud. I'll explain the title. The title is, listen carefully: Have You Ever Wanted to Be a Little Puppy? Yeah. Isn't that interesting? Have you ever wanted to be a little puppy? Well, look at it in Matthew chapter 15, verse 21: "Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with

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• 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 worshipped him, saying, "Lord, help me." But he answered and said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." And she said, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."

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• 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. So here's a good question: Have you ever considered the word "dog" and the word "dogs" as they are used in the Bible? If you do a search on the word "dog" and "dogs," you will find that those terms are used both in a positive and in a negative sense in the Bible. You will also find that these words are also used not only to refer to four-legged animals, but to two-legged animals as well. And you'll also find that sometimes this word "dog" or "dogs" is used in a, what I'm going to say, derisive form and a form of contempt.

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• So, let me just simply say at the very beginning of this message, come right on in, that the title of this message, "Have You Ever Wanted to Be a Little Puppy?," has absolutely nothing to do with the insanity and the stupidity of gender transition or gender identification. I recently read where one school was forced to put in a litter box because one student identified as a cat. Yep. And so I'm just simply saying, this message has nothing to do with that stupidity at all. It should be clear that when one leaves the Word of God, that they head straight into stupidity and insanity. So let me put it to you very plainly, which most of you already know: men cannot become women, and women cannot become men, and men cannot get pregnant, and women cannot sire children, and there are not 27 genders; there are only two, male and female. And the truth of the matter is, no matter what you claim or how you try to identify yourself, you cannot change the way God created you.

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• And the very fact that you want to change or try to change just indicates your rebellion against Him and your lack of faith in your Creator. So clearly then, this message has nothing to do with gender transition or identification.

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• Now, anyone that knows me knows the fact that I love animals. My wife and I have had animals ever since we have been married. Men, if you would look at our house, there's a picture of my sister and I when I was two years old. And right in the middle of us is a huge German shepherd, and each of us have our arms around that German shepherd. There's another little picture, I don't like to show it, but it shows a chubby little boy, probably about nine or ten months old, and he's holding a puppy. And I wince every time I see it because it looks like I'm choking the puppy to death. You know, and I thought, but I've been around animals all of my life.

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• And so the truth of the matter is the Word of God has a lot to say about animals and what we can learn from animals. Let me just give you some passages. Very quickly, the first one is found in Job chapter 12, verses 7 through 9. Listen carefully. God says, "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?" So God is saying that we can learn from all of the animals, we can learn from the birds, we can learn from the earth, we can learn from the fish as well.

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• And then there's that passage that probably most of you can quote, or at least quote part of it. In Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 11 there, where God says, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." So God says, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise." Now there are many other passages in the Bible about animals and how we can learn from them, but I will tell you in advance that some of those passages are not nearly as enjoyable as Job 12 and Proverbs chapter 6.

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• For instance, the Apostle Peter teaches us that we can learn from dogs and we can also learn from hogs. The point being, he is illustrating that when one does not truly, genuinely, really, and sincerely repent, that it is evidence that he is not saved because he always returns to his sins like a dog returns to his vomit and a sow to her wallowing in the mire. You'll find that in 2 Peter 2 and verse 22, where Peter said, "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." And that is very true. A dog will eat whatever he regurgitates. And I don't care how clean you wash a sow. I don't care how much perfume you put upon her and how many bonnets you place in her ear.

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• She's going right back into the mud and right back into the wallow. And that's exactly what Peter is illustrating. And then there's a proverb that was actually very prominent during the presidency of LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson. And the reason that proverb was so popular at that particular time, you will remember that Lyndon Baines Johnson got us deeply involved in the Vietnam War. There was also a picture of Lyndon Baines Johnson with his dog, I think it was a beagle, and he had the dog by the ears. And the proverb in Proverbs chapter 26 and verse 17 says this: "He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears." Well, LBJ certainly meddled in strife that did not belong to him or to the United States as well. And the truth of the matter is this: if you go to a dog that you do not know and you grab him by the ears, you might not be able to turn loose for a little while.

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• Because he may just eat you alive. I'm just simply pointing out this proverb actually became popular during that time. Now, I remember earlier, and I've said earlier, and I remember saying it in the introduction of this message, that sometimes the word "dog" is used as a form of scorn and derision. Sometimes it's also used as a means of self-humiliation. Let me give you some examples of that. Do you remember when

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• David went out to fight Goliath in 1 Samuel chapter 17? Saul put his armor upon David, and of course it was much too big, and finally David said, "I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them." So he reached down and picked up five smooth stones, he had his sling, and he went out to meet Goliath. And remember how big Goliath was, he was a man of war, he had a spear, he had a shield, he had a sword, he had all this on. And when he saw little David coming with his slingshot, he said this in 1 Samuel 17, in verse 43, he said unto David, "Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. In other words, what Goliath was saying is, "I'm a warrior. I'm a man. Why are you sending this kid out here with a stick or with a sling?" In other words, he was insulted.

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• And he said, "What do you think? I am a dog. I'm not a dog. I'm a warrior. Send me somebody to fight." Well, he received the embarrassment of his life when that little stone sunk into his forehead. And then David stood upon him, cut his head off with his own sword. But that was it: "Am I a dog, that thou sendest someone?" And then of course, David, you remember when Saul was chasing him, and David had several opportunities to kill Saul, and yet he did not. But in 1 Samuel chapter 24 and verse 14, David asks Saul this, "After whom is the king of Israel come out?

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• And after whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea." So what David was saying is, "I'm not one of great importance. Why are you even chasing me? I'm not your enemy. I'm not trying to kill you. I'm worthless in this aspect. I'm like a dead dog. I'm like a flea. And you're chasing me for the wrong reasons." And also, Mephibosheth did the same thing. You remember, Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan. And of course, Saul and Jonathan and all of his house were killed in the battle. And of course, David became king. When David got to be king, he asked, "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" And Ziba the servant said, "There is one, Jonathan's son, by the name of Mephibosheth." And so David said, "Go, bring him to me." And of course, you have to remember back in those days, the standard procedure was for the new king to kill all the family of the old king and all the friends as well.

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• And of course, when Mephibosheth came in 2 Samuel 9 and verse 8, the Bible says, "And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" In other words, "I'm nothing. I don't deserve your grace. I don't deserve your mercy. I don't deserve your kindness." So here is a form of just simply self-humiliation by acknowledging, "I'm not anything but a dead dog."

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• There's another good illustration of this. You'll find it in 2 Kings chapter 8. Hazael was sent by Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, to see Elisha, the man of God. Ben-Hadad was sick, and he sent, I think it was 40 camels' burdens of stuff, to Elisha to ask this question, "Shall I recover of this disease?" And Elisha said to Hazael, "Go, tell him, Thou mayest certainly recover." And the next verse said, "And Elisha settled his countenance steadfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept." And Hazael asked him, "Why weepeth my lord?"

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• And Elisha answered, "Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds 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." In other words, you're going to murder our people. And Hazael said to Elisha, "What is thy servant? Am I a dog, that I should do this great thing?" And Elisha said, "The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria." So Hazael went back to Ben-Hadad, and Ben-Hadad said, "What did the man of God say?"

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• He said, "Thou shalt certainly recover." And so Hazael waited till the king was asleep, went in, took a thick cloth, soaked it in water, came back, smothered the king, murdered him, and reigned in his stead. And he did to Israel exactly that which Elisha said he was going to do.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 22, if you would. I could quote this, but I want you to see it with your own eyes, because there are several other passages that I want you to look at as well. And Psalm 22, you have to understand that Psalm 22, Psalm 23, and Psalm 24 is a trilogy. That is, they go together. Psalm 22 shows our Lord on the cross.

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• And it's interesting what He calls His enemies. So if you'll look in Psalm 22, and look if you would first of all at verse 16, our Lord says this: "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." So our Lord then refers to His enemies here as dogs. And then if you look in verse 20, He says, "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog." So our Lord's enemies here are referred to as a dog, the primary enemy, and then dogs.

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• Now I'm going to give you two other very clear, very forceful passages in which the word "dogs" or "dog" is used, and it has nothing to do with a four-legged beast. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Deuteronomy 23. Deuteronomy 23. And look, if you would please, first of all, at verse 18. Deuteronomy 23 and verse 18. God says, "Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto the LORD thy God."

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• Now when I was a child, I heard my elders speaking, in fact I was told this by several, that it was unbiblical to buy a dog. Now what? Why would that be wrong to buy a little puppy? If you have to give somebody 25 or 30 bucks for a puppy, why would that be wrong? I didn't understand why they would even say that until the Lord saved me and I really started reading the Bible.

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• And when I hit this verse, then I understood what they misunderstood. So when you look at this verse, "Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore," which would be a female prostitute, "or the price of a dog," that is a male prostitute, "into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto the LORD thy God." So you would have a female prostitute that sold her body, and you would have a male prostitute that sold his body, usually to other men as well. And God here refers to them as a dog, because they act like a dog. Note if you would, He said, "You're not to bring the price into the house of God." Why?

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• Because the money is derived from an alien law system. It's money derived from that which is contrary to God. It's money derived from that which is in rebellion to God, and God said, "I will not have it. I cannot have it. I will not respect it, and I will not receive it." And so this verse deals with what you and I would call a sodomite. God refers to him as a dog. Notice if you would now in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 1, here's the second passage that has nothing to do with four-legged critters. The Apostle Paul writes, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

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• To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe." So he said, "I want you to be safe. So I'm repeating some truths." So what's he repeat? First of all, in verse 2, "Beware of dogs." Once again, he's not talking about four-legged critters. He says, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision," that would be the Jews and the Judaizers. Then he says in verse 3, "For we are the circumcision," that is the true circumcision, "which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." So he refers then to those who are against the Lord Jesus Christ and against His person and work as dogs, and especially the Judaizers who troubled him wherever he went. And he says that we are the true circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. So anyone then who has confidence in their flesh and confidence in self-righteousness, God would refer to them

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• as a dog. Now with that in mind, if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 22, and you'll see an interesting thought. Revelation chapter 22, beginning there with verse 13. Revelation 22 and verse 13, our Lord says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." 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 loveth and maketh a lie. So we refer to these folks simply as dogs.

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• Now, I will tell you this. Dogs are also spoken of in the Bible in a positive light and in a positive framework. They're not always an emblem of violence and contempt. It was the humorist Will Rogers who said, "If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they are." Later on, James Thurber observed this. He said, "If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons."

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• And so what are you saying? Some of the dogs that he had known were far better than the people that he had known. Well, since we're talking about this, I will tell you. One of the most delightful things that happened to me many, many years ago, I was preaching in a little church in Indiana. After the service was over, there were a number of people that were standing around talking around the pulpit.

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• And of course, that area was carpeted. And there was a little girl about four or five years old, and she was barefooted. And her mother and father and grandparents were standing there, we were all talking. And the interesting thing is, I had taught both her mother and her father in a Christian college. I knew the young girl's parents because they were farmers, and since I was raised on a farm, we had a lot in common and we conversed. But anyhow, their little daughter, their oldest daughter, four or five years old, came crawling up to me on all fours. And I said, "Oh, what a pretty little puppy." And I reached down and I patted her head like I would pat a little puppy.

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• When I did that, she did something that I've never forgotten. That little girl sat up and with her bare foot reached up and took her toes and started scratching her ear just like a dog. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Her mother was horrified, which made it more funny to me. Her father was laughing. Her grandfather was laughing. Well, we had a good laugh out of that. Well, years later, I was preaching in Indiana in another church.

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• And my friend, Bill Smith and his wife, Beverly, they came and they had two beautiful young women with them. They came to the service. It was for service. And I walked up to Bill and I said, "Bill, I said, introduce me to these two young ladies." When he called the name of the first one, I realized that was the little four-year-old girl that scratched her ear like a dog. And of course, she had brought her friend. And when I realized who she was, I looked at her.

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• I said, "Sweetheart, have I ever got a story to tell you?" And of course, she was embarrassed. And I'm reminded of our oldest granddaughter, I used to try to tell her some of the things that she had done when she was young, and she'd put her hands on her ears and, "I don't want to hear it, Papa. I don't want to hear it." But that's the way this young woman was.

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• But it was really, really, truly funny to me.

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• Now, I want you to understand something when it comes to dogs, especially. The interesting thing is this. This is what got me started on this subject. This is what got me started thinking in the way that I'm thinking right now. Here's an episode that happened to Alice and I some time back. Years ago, not years ago, but a year or so ago, Daddy Johnson from South Carolina was on his way to our house for a class. And about an hour from our house, he found two puppies beside the road that someone had thrown out.

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• So he stopped and picked them up. One was a little solid white dog and the other one was a little black one with a little gray muzzle, which was a male. And he brought them to the house and thankfully he'd even stopped and bought some puppy food. And he said, "I want you to keep these." Well, at first I thought he meant keep them until he went back home after the class. And then it dawned on me, he wanted me to keep the dogs permanently. He saved them, he said, "You know, but I'm the one who's going to keep them." I said, "Well, okay." Truthfully, I really did not want the dogs, but I said, "You know, I'll keep them for a while.

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• Maybe we can find them a family or something." So I put them in the pen. The little white girl, the little white dog, Annie, and Alice named them Annie and Rooney. After Robert E. Lee's two of his children, Annie, his daughter who died during the war, and Rooney, his actual name was Fitzhugh, but the nickname was Rooney. So she named them Annie and Rooney. And Annie was very, very smart, very quick. I put her in that pen, and three minutes later, she's out of that pen. I catch her, I put her back in the pen, three or four minutes later, she's out of the pen. I pick her up, and I think, "How did she get out of the pen?" I inspected the pen, she had not dug out, I put her back in the pen, I hid behind the tree and watched.

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• She just climbed right up the chain link fence and then jumped right over. She climbed up just like a ladder. I thought, "My soul." Well, she, it took her about two days to adapt to everything, to every change. She was sweet, she was smart, she was loving, but Rooney, nah, he was standoffish. He was quiet. He had no personality like she did. He acted like he really did not want to be bothered. He did not want to be petted.

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• His attitude was, "I'm Joe Cool. I don't need anybody and I don't need anything." And he was very, and that was the way he was for months. And one day, for some unknown reason, the dogs got into a fight in front of our house. And every one of them jumped on Rooney. Thankfully, our big Mastiff was not involved. I would have really had problems had he been involved. I heard the noise. I ran outside. Alice was outside. She's running to them. Everybody was attacking Rooney. Now, I don't think Annie was attacking Rooney. She was trying to help him, but she was involved. There's three or four other dogs. So I started kicking, pulling, choking, throwing dogs left and right to get them all off Rooney. The next thing I know, I look up and here's Annie dragging him across the yard. He's on his side. And I run up to her, and the reason she's dragging him, she was trying to get him away from there, but her teeth had gotten caught in his collar, and she was choking him.

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• So I whipped out my knife, I cut the collar off, and then I took the collar out of her mouth, threw it down, and here's Rooney lying on his side, his tongue hanging out. I hollered for Alice, she came over, I said, "Start doing chest compressions." And I opened his mouth and I started breathing into his mouth while she was pumping on his chest. We did that, I don't know, for two or three minutes. All of a sudden, he started doing this and we just kept doing it for another minute or two.

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• And finally, he was able to sit up. And once he sat up, she went and got some water and he drank some water. And after a little while, he was just perfectly normal. But, the next day, everything changed. That dog now wanted to be with me incessantly. He wanted to love on me. He wanted to lick on me. He wanted to lay in my lap. He wanted attention. It looked like 24 hours a day. He was totally, absolutely, thoroughly, completely changed. Here's what got me. One day this past week, I went into the bedroom to do something. I don't remember what. And I sat down on the bed, on the edge of the bed, foot of the bed.

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• He had followed me into the room. Then he jumped up on the bed right beside me and started rubbing up against me, loving on me, trying to get in my lap. And I broke down and I started petting him. And when I did, he just rolled over on his back and had his throat and his stomach totally exposed. And I started rubbing his throat and rubbing his stomach. When a dog does that, it's just simply, or any animal. Wolves will do that.

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• They are saying, "I trust you. I'm yours. Do with me what you will." And I sat on that bed. I said it to myself. And then I said it out loud. "Lord, please let me love You the way this dog loves me. And Lord, please help me to trust You the way this dog trusts me." Because here's what he was saying to me: "Here I am. Do with me as you please. I'm yours." You know something? To this day, that is the only dog that will stand absolutely still and allow Alice and I to do whatever we want to do. If we want to clean his ears, it doesn't matter. He will just stand absolutely still. Because of the absolute trust. Now, I want you to listen to this and I want you to remember this.

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• It's important for you and I to understand this simple truth. That when dogs lick you, as gross as it may seem to some, it is a form of bonding. That is the way dogs bond. Husbands and wives may hold hands, they may kiss each other, they may hug each other, they may love on each other, and they bond in that way, but dogs bond by licking. I want you to remember this. Now, Alice and I have rescued many dogs.

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• We've had all kind of pets all through the years. We've had cats. We've had dogs. We've had horses. We've had cows. We've had birds. We've had squirrels. We've had all kind of animals. But some of the best dogs that we've ever had were some that we rescued. And when we found them, they were scared. They were skinny. They were hungry. They were wormy. They were strays. They were cast out, cast off.

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• In fact, I think of Honey, one of our golden retrievers, and then there was Dixie, Dabney, Emma, Rooney, Annie. These and others were rescue dogs. When Alice brought Emma home, I thought to myself, "I don't want that dog. I don't like that dog." And when she died a month or two back, I had to say that was the sweetest dog I've ever known in my entire life. But they were all rescue dogs.

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• Now, let me ask you a question. Then I'm going to show you Scripture. Here we go. Here's my question. If you're driving home and you see on the side of the road an absolutely skinny, stray dog, his ribs sticking out, he's wormy, probably disease-ridden, he's unwanted, unloved, and you have no idea what's in him. So my question would be, would you want a dog like that? Would you be interested in having a dog like that? Now, before I ask you my next question, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16.

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• And I want you to listen carefully and follow with me as I read the first 14 verses. Here we go. "Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations." Remember, an abomination is a stench in God's nostrils. "And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan." Hmm. Canaanites. "Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite." Hmm. "And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

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• I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

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• Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD."

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• Now, I want you to stop with me and think. The picture of Israel that is given to us here is the picture of a sinner. By nature, we had nothing. We were nothing. We could do nothing. We were heathen, we were unwanted, unwashed, uncared for, and left to die. So let me ask this question again before I ask you a second one. Who wants a sickly, flea-infested, skinny, worthless, wormy, mixed puppy? And the answer is no one. So here's the question: Have you ever asked, why did God want you?

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• When you look at this picture, we're like that old stray dog. We were cast out to the loathing of our persons. Yet in His great mercy and grace, He saved us. He passed by us and said, "Live, yea, I say live." He saved us. He redeemed us. He forgave us. He warmed us. He fed us. He doctored us. He gave us a new heart. He gave us a new life. We became His.

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• Now do you understand what happened to Rooney? Why did that dog change? And the answer is this: he viewed Alice and myself as his saviors. To be absolutely honest, he was a goner and he was done for had we not stepped in and took over and did doggy CPR on him. And evidently, somehow, he realized that. And to this day, he seemingly can't get over the fact that we're the ones that saved his life. He was extremely appreciative and grateful and thankful for the life that we gave him.

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• And he shows it by loving on us consistently and constantly. So my question is this: If a dog can show that kind of appreciation and love in recognition of what happened to him, why is it that we cannot show that same appreciation and love to our Heavenly Father when we know what He's done for us? Had He not passed by us, we would have been goners. In the Old Testament, I'll tell you about it a little bit later, but the Hebrew word for dog is "keleb." And it literally means a dog, or it is used as a form of contempt and abasement. It also refers to a male prostitute, but it's the same word that is used in either sense of the word. When you come to the New Testament, there are two main Greek words for dog. The first one is "kuon," and it refers to a literal dog, and it is also metaphorically used to refer to a man with an impure mind. Hmm. Let me show you.

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• This is an interesting passage. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 7. If you're wondering where the Apostle Paul got the inspiration in Philippians chapter 3 to refer to those who hate Jesus Christ as dogs, I think you'll find the answer right here. Because our Lord is speaking on the mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Look what He says. Matthew 7 and verse 6. Our Lord says, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." And so He's talking now about people who would care less about truth, care less about Jesus Christ, were not interested in salvation in any way whatsoever. And He calls them dogs, and He calls them swine. There are those who hate and despise the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. If you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 16, here is the same word.

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• You know the story of Lazarus, the beggar that was laid at the rich man's gate. In Luke chapter 16, beginning there with verse 20, Luke 16 verse 20, "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." The dogs, the "kuon," the literal four-legged creatures came and licked his sores.

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• Now, I want you to turn back to Matthew chapter 15 because this is the second place and the second word in which a different word for dog is used. I want to once again read verse 21 through 28. "Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David;

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• my daughter is grievously vexed with a 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 worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

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• 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."

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• Now, I want you to note the Bible said she was a woman of Canaan. She was not an Israelite. She was a woman of Canaan. That is, she was a Phoenician, sometimes called a Syrophoenician, sometimes called a Greek. The Greek word is "ethnos," which just simply means nations. I want to give you two quick quotes. The first one is from Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Here's what he said: "Just as Jesus went to the coast of Tyre and Sidon, a woman came out of the same coast to meet him.

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• Sooner or later, a meeting will come about between Christ and seeking souls. This woman of Canaan had no claim on account of her nationality. She was a Gentile of the worst sort, of a race long before condemned to die. She came from the narrow strip of land whereon the Tyrians dwelt, and like Hiram of Tyre, she knew the name of David, but she went farther, for she had faith in David's Son." And then John Gill said it like this: "And, behold, a woman of Canaan, that is of Phoenicia, which is called Canaan, so Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman, is by the Septuagint, in Exodus 6 and verse 15, called the son of a Phoenician. And the kings of Canaan are by the same interpreters, in Joshua 5, verse 1, called kings of Phoenicia. Hence this woman is by Mark said to be a Greek, that is a Gentile, as the Jews used to call all other nations, and a Syrophoenician, being a native of Phoenicia, called Syrophoenician because it bordered upon Syria and had been formerly a part of it by conquest."

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• So here's a woman then from Canaan, and so she comes to the Lord and she asks to have mercy upon her because her daughter is sore vexed with a devil. And the interesting thing is, look in verse 23. She begs him for help, and in verse 23, "But he answered her not a word." He wouldn't even speak to her. And in all probability, He turned His back on her. He had to have turned His back on her and walked away, because the rest of the verse, in verse 23, "And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us."

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• Wherever He went, she went. Wherever they went, she went. She was not giving in, she was not giving up, she was not giving out.

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• Finally, when our Lord did speak in verse 24, "But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Well, our Lord certainly knew that she was not an Israelite. She knew that she was not an Israelite. Yet she still sought the Lord for help. I love verse 25. Look at it. "Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me."

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• Oh, just think of those three words. "Lord, help me."

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• Now, the Bible also said she worshipped Him. I'm going to come back to that word just momentarily. But she said, "Lord, help me." The word "Lord," of course, is "kurios" in the Greek, which means Lord, Master, Sovereign, Owner. In other words, it's recognizing Jesus Christ as God and as sovereign. And she said, "Lord, help me." And the Greek word is "boetheo," and it means to help, to succor, to bring aid. And the word signifies not only someone crying for help, but it also signifies someone running to give the help and the aid that is needed and necessary. So she says, "Lord, help me." Have you ever cried those three words? Those are simple words. I wonder why it is that we don't cry those words more frequently. Our Lord tells us why.

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• In the book of Matthew, you don't have to turn there, but in the book of Matthew chapter 9, you remember those Pharisees who wanted to know why our Lord ate with publicans and sinners? And what did our Lord say? "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." Nobody's going to cry for help until they realize how helpless they really and truly are. And if you want to be haughty and proud and you want to be Mr. Joe Cool and think that you don't need the Lord's help and that you can work it out, just hang on. But when you get into the position of desperation and you realize you can't, then you might learn to cry, "Lord, help me." Twice she's asked for help. And I want you to note what she did. She said, "Lord, help me, for my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." She was identifying herself with her daughter. I understand that what was wrong with the daughter affected the mother.

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• I understand that. But it was even more than, "Lord, I can't get any sleep. Lord, I can't do this." No, no, no. It's "Lord, help me." And the only way You can help me is by helping her. Identifying herself with them. So note, if you would, in verse 26, our Lord, when she worshipped Him and when she said, "Lord, help me," He answered and said in verse 26, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." He called her a dog.

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• You have to understand. And I'm not saying our Lord was a Jew. He was a Judahite. But the Jews in general refer to the Samaritans as dogs and to all nations as dogs. Islam teaches that anyone who is not of the Islamic faith is a dog. And they literally hate the four-legged critters called dogs. But our Lord here calls this woman a dog. And when He said this, I would just imagine there's a smile on His face. Which, of course, encouraged this woman. Because when our Lord said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs," He used the word "kunarion," which means a little pet dog, a little puppy, a family pet, a household pet. Evidently, the woman understood exactly what He meant, and that's why she said, "Truth, Lord: yet the kunarion, the little pet dogs, eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's table." Wow!

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• You know what she said? Here's what she said: "Truth, Lord, whatever You say, call me whatever You want to call me. I will be whatever You want me to be. If You want me to be Your little pet dog, I'm willing to be Your little pet dog. I'm willing to be Your little puppy. Because the little puppies eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table, the owner's table, and I'm willing for You to be my owner, and I will be satisfied just with the crumbs that You give me." Do you remember I told you earlier that the Hebrew word for dog was "keleb"?

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• Do you remember there was a man in the Old Testament associated with Joshua, the only two spies who brought forth an honest report, and his name was what? Caleb. And the word "Caleb" means dog. And you know what God said concerning Caleb? "For he hath wholly followed Me." He hath wholly followed Me. When you stop and think about that, I know it means that he obeyed God completely. I understand that. But God said, "He hath wholly followed Me."

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• I cannot stand up in the house without the dogs following me. I cannot walk outside without them following me. And you know, the thought hit my mind, the name Caleb means dog, and God said, "He's wholly followed Me." In other words, everywhere I go, God says, "There's Caleb. He's hanging right in with Me. He's doing exactly what I would have him to do." Wow. Now, let's go back to verse 25.

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• "Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me." You remember I told you the Greek word for dog is "kuon." But when our Lord used the word "dog" in verse 26, He used the diminutive form of the word, which refers to a little pet dog, or a little puppy, or a household pet. Ah, are you ready? "Then came she and worshipped Him." The word "worshipped" is the Greek word "proskuneo." "Pros" is a preposition which means "to" or "toward," and it is from the word "kuneo," which means to act like a dog. Hmm. Let me tell you what the word actually means. It means to kiss the hand or to lick the hand. I could hold my hand down to any of my dogs and they will immediately begin licking my hand. Immediately. You remember I told you earlier, and I'm going to make this an application, for a dog licking is bonding.

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• That is how they bond. I never will forget, we had two dogs, they're now dead, Jeb and Bell. And Jeb was a Mastiff, Bell was an American Bulldog, and Bell would always want to lick Jeb, wash him. And he didn't want to be washed, he didn't want to be licked, he didn't want to be bothered. She would keep on and keep on and keep on until finally he would just fall over like, "Here I am, go ahead, I might as well get this done and get it over with." I told Alice, I said, "They had to have been married, at least they're acting like that, you know. Go ahead and get it over with, you know." And finally, when she'd get through washing him and licking him, you know, he'd get up and leave and go his way. But listen to me.

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• "Kuneo," "proskuneo" here, means to bow, to lick the hand as a dog licks his master's hand. So in worship, what do we do? We bow to Him. We lick His hand. We kiss His hand. We acknowledge that He is our Master. We acknowledge that He is our Owner, our Boss, our Sovereign. That we acknowledge that we are His creatures. We acknowledge that we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. We acknowledge He is in full and total control of us. We bond with Him by kissing His hand in obedience.

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• "Lord, help me. I'm willing to kiss Your hand. I'll lick Your hand. I'll be Your little puppy dog. For any crumb that You give me, because I do not deserve any." Here are two applications. The first one is this: One thing I believe that will make us more thankful, more appreciative, more grateful for our Lord's grace and mercy to us is that we understand from Ezekiel 16 what we were when He found us.

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• When you stop and think of the pollution and filth that we were wallowing in, and He passed by and said, "Live, yea, I say unto thee, Live," nothing can compare to His love. The world does not love us. And even the love of our parents cannot compare to His love. And when you think of the fact that sinners are referred to as dogs and swine, and how great a sinner each of us really were, we were strays, unloved, unwanted, until God came along and took us in.

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• Now, when we understand where we came from, it'll make us appreciative of what He's done for us. If you think for one instant that it is degrading to you to be considered a little pet dog, then you need to go back and re-read Ezekiel chapter 16, Romans chapter 1, and Ephesians chapter 2, and see how much worse the picture could have been. Certainly, I will be happy to be held, petted, and loved and spoiled by our Lord. Here's the second application. Thinking like a puppy dog should make us willing to love our Lord as often and as much as we can.

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• As I pointed out earlier, we lick His hand by our obedience. We demonstrate our love by our obedience. We demonstrate our training by our obedience. And I'll be honest with you, I enjoy and I relish the affection that my animals show me. And I enjoy loving the animals. I enjoy the affection and love that my wife shows me. I enjoy the affection and love that my children and my grandchildren show me. And if I can relish and enjoy the love for my animals and the love for my wife and my children and my grandchildren, do you not think that somehow it might encourage and bless the heart of God for you and I to love Him and to tell Him? I tell you what, laugh all you like, but I tell my dogs that I love them. I tell my cows I love them. I tell my wife I love her. I tell my children, my grandchildren, I love them. And I tell the Father that I love Him. I'm just simply saying, we need to understand how we show our affection to Him.

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• It is through worship. It is through bowing to Him. He holds out that divine hand and you and I, like a dog, bow and lick His hand and say, "You're the Sovereign. You're the God. You're the Creator. You're the Master. You're the Owner. I'm at Your disposal. Command me. I'm here. I'm waiting." Every time I start to go outside, if the dogs are inside, they're right with me. If I'm outside and I start walking, they start walking with me. If you see me driving my truck downtown, you'll probably be surprised to see at least four dogs in it every time. Anytime that truck moves, they're in it.

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• And I will tell you something else you will not do. You will not mess with me, especially in that truck. I've told people, I will leave the doors unlocked. I will leave the windows rolled down and put a $100 bill on the dashboard. And if anybody wants to reach in and grab it, help yourself. You'll pull back a nub because they will protect that truck and they will protect me.

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• I'm just simply saying I'm more than willing to be our Lord's little pet dog. I'm more than willing to be a lap puppy. I'm more than willing for Him to be the Master and for me to be the pet.

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• Next time you love on your dog, if you have one, and that dog rolls over and shows you his throat and his stomach, just think of the trust that is involved. I will tell you this. So help me, it is the absolute truth. I'm not embellishing anything. I was preaching in Arizona. And down the road from where I was staying was a private zoo. The zoo was run by a Vietnam veteran.

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• He received no funds from the government. But what he did, he would go around to all the stores and take up all the leftovers and whatever they would give him to feed those animals. He had lions, he had wolves, he had everything. So the pastor's son said, "Let me take you down there." He said, "The zoo is not open, but I know him and he will show you around."

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• So we walked down there, was not far from the house. And I just said to him, as I was introduced, "I'm John Weaver." And he introduced himself and he began to show us around. We got to the wolf pen. And this huge female wolf ran straight to me. And when she got to me, she was still inside the pen. She fell on her back and exposed her throat and her chest to me.

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• And the owner looked at me and said, "You're a preacher, aren't you?" Well, I said, "Yes. How do you know?" He said, "This wolf has only done this one other time, and it was to a preacher." Isn't that amazing? Now, I didn't reach in and pet the wolf. I can assure you. But I'm just simply saying, it's a sign of absolute submission and trust. We need to become little puppy dogs in one sense of the word. "Lord, here I am. I love You. I trust You."

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• Father, help us, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Give us, Lord, a heart of love, a heart of obedience. And may, Father, we see our great need of Thee and help us to worship, to bow and to kiss Thy hand. For Thou art God, and besides Thee there is none other. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask these things. Amen.

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• ♪

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:35:58Z