Cast Not Pearls Before Swine

Review of Matthew 7:1-5 and Introduction to Matthew 7:6

0:05 We have considered for three weeks the first section in Matthew 7, verses 1 through 5, comprise that section, dealing with the subject of a censorious and hypercritical spirit. Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

0:47 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye. We looked at the nature of a hypercritical spirit. What our Lord was not condemning and what he was condemning, and then the three reasons he gives us that will help us whenever we are tempted to indulge in this spirit, to remember that we better not. For when we indulge in this action and spirit of hypercriticism, we bring upon ourselves judgment.

1:24 Judge not that ye be not judged. We set the measure of our own judgment. With what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged. And then we prove ourselves completely unfit for the task.

1:37 How can I pluck the splinter from the eye of my brother when the two-by-four is hanging out of my own eye? That's the grotesque figure of speech that our Lord uses here in this passage. Now this morning we move on to the next verse, which is a unit of thought in itself. Verse 6.

1:58 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your purse, hurls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Now some would place this text completely isolated from the rest of what precedes and follows, but I do not believe it should be handled in that way. For we have a unit of thought in the sense that our Lord has dealt with the problem of a hypercritical attitude, an over-sensorious spirit, but now on the other hand, there is the opposite extreme of an undiscerning, uncritical spirit that would cast out holy things to anybody. And the Lord says, now wait a minute, I want to check what I've said here by saying this. And just as surely as we are not to go plucking out, attempt to pluck out moats when we have beans, neither are we to act as though we can pass out the truth of God to anybody and everybody. And so we have this balancing word concerning the, casting of pearls and holy things before swine and before dogs. Now I must confess that this is another one of those verses that no preacher in his right mind would ever preach on unless in the regular exposition of the Bible he came to it and had to preach on it.

The Christ of the Bible: A Balanced View

3:23 And I confess that. If I were simply jumping around choosing a text at random Sunday mornings, I doubt I would ever choose Matthew 7, 6. But since we're studying the Sermon on the Mount, and that's the only way to do it, and that's the next verse, we're going to have to handle it, because our Lord spoke it. Now it's strange that the person who said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, should say words like this, cast not your pearl before swine.

3:53 You'd hardly think that the person who said, suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, would say, cast not your pearl before swine. He's calling certain people swine. He's calling certain people dogs. It hardly seems possible that the person who said, love your enemies, do good to those that despitefully use you, would now turn and say, don't cast your pearl before swine.

4:23 Don't give holy things to dogs.

4:27 And I was reminded in preparation for this message this morning of a principle that I've announced a number of times from this pulpit, but I want to reiterate it this morning, that you, you and I must continually beware of constructing a Christ out of the stuff of our own imagination mingled with a few isolated passages of the Bible and saying, that's what Christ would do, or that's what Christ wouldn't do, or this is what Christ would say, but Christ would never say that. We must never take the place of one who dares to construct a Christ out of our own prejudices, but we must submit like little children to be taught of God, who Christ is and what he's like. And the Christ of the Bible is no less the Christ of the Bible when he says that certain people are swines and dogs, as when he says, come unto me all that rave in a heavy land. It's one Christ. And if you cannot worship the Christ who says that certain people are swine and dogs, but only want to worship the Christ who says, come unto me, I am meek and lowly, you're not worshiping the Christ of the Bible.

5:49 You're worshiping a Christ of your own imagination.

5:53 You see? So as we come, we need that humility of mind, which is the only climate in which we can truly learn that says, oh God, I submit my mind to all that you say about all aspects of truth. And we take that place of discernment, disciples, learners, who are willing to be taught of God. Now as we think our way through the text this morning, it's quite simple to see its natural division.

The Command: Give Not That Which Is Holy Unto Dogs

6:22 You have first of all a command, cast not your pearl before, give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearl before swine. Then you have in the second place the reasons for that command, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. And may I say to you budding young preachers, if all the Holy Ghost has put is two divisions, don't try to squeeze three out of it. There's two here, and you just let it stand at two.

6:49 There's the command, give not, cast not. There's the reason, lest they turn and trample and rend you. All right, then let us think through the verse in that order. Here is the command of the Lord Jesus, and it is just that.

7:06 It's a command. This is not something that we can take at our option and say, well, that's one of those verses that I don't understand it and don't particularly like it, so I'll just forget it. No. Jesus said, ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

7:26 If ye love me, keep my commandments, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And this is one of those commands. So we cannot be loyal subjects of our Lord. We cannot be obedient servants of the King of Grace, unless we face clearly the command of this verse, for it is a command.

7:53 Now it has two aspects, and they were very common in the thought pattern of Jewish people in the day in which our Lord spoke, but perhaps not so common to us, so it's going to take a little explaining. First of all, we have this matter of the dawns. Give not that which is holy unto the dawn, but that which is holy unto the dawns. Now when we think of dawns in our domesticated America, we think of a nice little house pet who sits down and warms our feet by the fireplace, or who meets us at the door with a bark, and if he hasn't been trained too well will jump up on us, like some of the dogs I know in our assembly here, that are very rude, and like my dog.

8:33 They won't try that with me, but they'll try it with strangers. But you know she means well. You know she's never going to jump up and take a hunk of your flesh in her teeth. So the concept of a dawn to us, is a domesticated pet who is sort of like an adopted canine son or daughter.

8:49 But this wasn't so to the Jews. The dogs in our Lord's day would roam about in packs and they were more like the wolves that we saw in that Walt Disney film a week ago Friday night. They were a wild carnivorous animal who would roam the streets and when they found another dead body they would devour it. They were an unclean animal according to Jewish law.

9:13 A clean animal was one that had a cloven hoof and chewed the cud. Now the dog was an unclean animal. It did not have a cloven hoof and it did not chew the cud. It was noted for its fierceness and for its wildness.

9:28 You remember in Psalm 22 the psalmist complains in that prophetic utterance that the bulls of Bashan had compassed him and wild dogs had torn at him. Jeremiah speaks. He speaks in the 15th chapter about the viciousness of men being like dogs so that the very word dog came to be a symbol of that which was vicious, a symbol of that which is unclean. Mephibosheth, who was one of the relatives of Saul when David showed kindness to him, he said, Who am I but a dog that you should show such kindness unto me?

10:07 Haziel, the servants of one of the kings was told that he was going to do certain things and he says, Who am I? Who am but a dog that I should do thus and thus? So that the very concept of dog spoke of uncleanness, of viciousness, of that which was base. You remember Peter said it is likened unto the proverb the dog is returned unto his vomit and the sow to her wallowing in the mire.

10:35 Now that's necessary if we're to understand the text. Now, does this add a little color to it? Jesus said, Don't take that which is holy and throw it unto dogs. Now, what are the holy things?

10:49 Again, he's speaking to people with Jewish thought patterns. And holy things were anything that had been set apart for the service of God. Particularly in this instance, I believe our Lord was referring to meat that had been offered up in sacrifice and was subsequently eaten. Whatever had been offered in sacrifice was sanctified and was eaten.

11:11 It was never to be cast to an unclean beast. Now, our Lord is using a picture here and He says, You are not to take the holy things of My truth which are like sanctified elements and throw them out to those who are vicious and ravenous and will only devour them without understanding that they are sacred. If you were to take a piece of the Passover lamb that an Israelite would eat, as an act of worship, and throw it to a dog, he wouldn't receive it as a piece of the Passover lamb. To him, it's just another piece of meat and he'd sink his teeth in it and devour it just as if you'd taken some flesh from a pig that had died in the streets. He had no capacity to discern between that which was holy and that which was profane. Now, our Lord says, Don't take holy things, the things of God's truth, the truth, the truths that are sacred because they deal with God, and carelessly throw them out to men and women who are dog-like. They are vicious and devouring in their nature and they will not appreciate what You give them as being holy.

12:29 They will simply devour it as though it was something to satisfy their dog-like nature.

The Command: Neither Cast Ye Your Pearls Before Swine

12:37 Then there's the second aspect of the command, Neither cast ye your pearl before swine. Now, what was the swine? Again, an unclean animal. It had the clove and hoof, but it didn't chew the cud.

12:51 And in Leviticus 11, 7 and 8, it's called an unclean beast. In Isaiah 66, verses 3 and 17, God says that when the Jews come to offer sacrifice, they came with such impure hearts and motives that it was just as though they were sacrificing pigs upon the altar, which was the height of abomination that an Israelite would dare to come and offer the body of an unclean animal. So I think, again, the meaning here begins to emerge. What is a pearl?

13:25 It's something of intrinsic beauty and worth. But a swine has no capacity to appreciate either the worth or the beauty. So the Lord says, You throw out a pearl to a swine, he sniffs it, touches it with his teeth, and when he finds it's nothing to eat, what does he do? Tramples it underfoot, and in anger he'll turn upon it.

13:45 So you have a similar picture. As the holy things were thrown to a vicious dog, and he had no capacity to appreciate them as holy. As precious pearls would be thrown before a swine, and they would have no capacity in their swinish nature to appreciate them, do you get the meaning that's common in both? What's the common principle?

14:08 I believe this is it. Follow closely. Our Lord is prohibiting a careless and indiscriminate dispensing of the holy things that is truth to people who have no ability to appreciate. He said in the first five verses, Don't assume the role of a judge and go around with a hypercritical attitude toward everybody, but on the other hand, don't for a minute think that everybody is worthy to receive rebuke, to receive instruction.

14:45 He said there are certain people that are like ravenous dogs. Don't you throw my truth to them. And there are others that are like unclean, dumb swine, with no capacity to appreciate the pearls of truth. Don't you throw those pearls before them.

Biblical Illustrations of the Principle

15:05 Now we have some illustrations of this in the Word. If this is a valid principle, we should expect to find some illustration of it in the life of our Lord and in the life of those who heard Him say these words and then afterwards went out to preach. May I show you one or two examples of this in the life of our Lord? Turn to chapter 23 of the Gospel according to John.

15:29 John chapter 23. Here our Lord is on trial and in the first aspect of His trial He stands before Pilate. Verse 3 of Matthew, Luke 23. And Pilate asked Him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews?

15:58 And He answered him and said, Thou sayest it. Now notice. Pilate asked a question. Jesus gave him an answer, a clear answer.

16:07 Then said Pilate to the chief priest and to the people, I find no fault in the man. Then when Pilate heard that Jesus from Galilee, he said, Well, I'm going to send Him on up to Herod. That's his area of jurisdiction. Now notice verse 8.

16:19 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see Him for a long time, because he had heard many things of Him, and he hoped to have some miracle done by Him. And he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing. See the difference? Pilate says, Are you the Son of God?

16:46 You've said it. Herod asked Him questions, and the Lord will not answer. Why? Because our Lord discerned in Pilate's answer an honest man, as far as at least wanting an honest answer.

16:59 But he sensed in Herod, Here's a swine. Here's a man who's simply looking for a display, who's looking for a little circus from me. I won't cast the holy things of who I am before His swinish nature. He wouldn't answer.

17:14 We see our Lord exemplifying this principle in His own trial. Turn, will you please, to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13. And we'll see the same principle. Matthew, chapter 13.

17:29 Our Lord has given a rather long and very important parable about the sower and the different kinds of soil. And after He finished giving the parable, verse 10 of Matthew 13, His disciples came and said, Why do you speak unto them in parables? Speaking or referring to the people on the outside. And He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

18:03 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away that which he hath. Therefore I speak to them in parables that seeing, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. Understand.

18:25 Strange word, isn't it? Our Lord says, I'll tell you why I speak in parables. It's because they're not fit to receive the mysteries of the kingdom. But you are.

18:35 And so when He took them aside in private, He expounded to them the truth and the meaning of that parable. And then you find essentially the same thing. We won't bother to turn to it to save time. In Luke 10, when our Lord sent the seventy out, He said, if you go into a town and they don't receive you, what did He say to do?

18:53 He said, shake the doves and dust off your feet and leave that town. If men show themselves to be swine and dogs, and you try to give them the truth and they turn and say, I don't want it. He said, alright, take them at their word. Turn from them and leave them at the mercy of their sin and their ignorance.

19:12 Now we find the same principle in the life of the apostles. Will you turn quickly to two instances in the book of the Acts. Chapter 13. How did the disciples of our Lord and the apostles apply this principle in their own preaching?

19:31 Well, let's look at two instances. Acts chapter 13 and verse 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. They spake against those things that were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

20:01 And Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should have been spoken to you, but it was not seen. But seeing he put it from you and judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And they turned away and said, we are not going to speak the word of God to you anymore. They proved themselves to be swine and dogs.

20:24 And Paul said, I will no longer cast the holy things of God's message to you. And he turned from them. You find the same thing in chapter 18 and in verse 6. The apostles have been preaching and we read in verse 16 that the apostles have been preaching and we read in verse 6, and when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said, your blood be upon your own heads.

20:51 I am clean from henceforth I'll go to the Gentiles. And he departed. That's a frightful thing. People who oppose the truth to the place where the servant of God says, all right, since you proved yourself to be a swine and a dog, no more pearls, no more holy things.

21:12 We find the same principle not only in our Lord's life and in the apostles' but in some of the instructions of the book of Proverbs. We're told in Proverbs 9, 8 to reprove not a scorner. God says there are certain people I shouldn't reprove. They're not worthy of being reproved.

21:30 They've got the nature of a dog that instead of receiving reproof as a blessed boon, they turn upon it as something that is to be devoured. And they cannot appreciate the pearls of Christian reproof and exhortation. So God says to the writer, to the Proverbs, reprove not a scorner. Now, in what areas does this apply?

Application in Preaching and Teaching the Word

21:55 I believe, first of all, it applies in the area of preaching and teaching the Word of God. You know, this is a frightful thing that I have a responsibility that is not only determined by the verse that says, preach the gospel to every creature, but by a verse that says to me as a pastor, give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast your pearl before swine. In speaking to men and women when they show themselves to be dog-like and swine-like, and I can't assume that that's what they are until they show it. You'll notice in all these instances, it was people to whom the Word was preached. And after it was preached, they showed this opposition and said, we don't want it. And Paul said, alright, you won't have it. Do you see the frightful responsibility that is ours, not only as official ministers, but as individual Christians as we teach and preach the Word of God?

22:59 When someone says, look, I think I'm alright, you leave me alone, don't talk to me anymore. To say, alright, I'll take your word. That's a frightful thing. And yet, if what our Lord says is true, then certainly it applies here.

23:21 And we see it in His own ministry, in the ministry of the apostles, and also in these warnings in the book of Proverbs. In teaching unselfishly, teaching unsaved men and women were not to cast holy things before dogs and pearls before swine. Several of you have heard the tape of an old evangelist who has been mightily used of God. And he tells the story of how he went with a young preacher into a little country town.

23:46 This preacher went down on weekends. He was going to seminary. And he went to hold a few days of meetings with him. He was with him probably, I think the tape says, from a Wednesday through a Sunday.

23:57 And Saturday night, he had already gone to bed. And the young preacher knocked on his door and came in and said, Brother so-and-so, he said, I'm young and you're old. You've been around a lot longer than I. But I think I'm going to have to ask you to leave and not preach tomorrow.

24:11 And he said, Why, my brother, what have I done? He said, Well, Brother so-and-so, you've been with me now X number of days. And every afternoon they'd go out into that little community and knock on doors, go into a home and try to talk to people and say, You've been with me so many days and we've made so many visits. And he said, Only once have you preached the gospel.

24:33 Only once have you preached the gospel in any home we've gone. Every other place, all you've done is have a little prayer, go our way. And he turned to the young man and said, Young man, only once did I find a sinner. And he says, I have no warrant to preach the gospel, the pearls of God's redeeming grace to people who think they're all right.

24:58 I'm to tell them the stringent demands of the world. I'm to tell them God's holy law. I'm to tell them that in their condition they are lost. Until they begin to see their lostness and cry out, What must I do?

25:11 Then I tell them believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, Young man, I take that word seriously. Cast not your pearl before swine. You know, the young man took the advice of the old evangelist to heart.

25:23 And he let him preach. And he wrote him a letter three months later. And he said, Dear brother so and so, let me tell you what's happened. He said, I have had more than thirty people in the past couple of months come to me saying, Is there any hope for someone as bad as I am?

25:40 He said, I began to do what you told me. Instead of going into these homes where everybody was all right, saved, they said, made a decision, everything fine. He said, I began to preach God's law to them. And I began to show them the demands of the law that God was holy and they were sinful.

25:56 And those strict demands of the law would never be relaxed. And he said, They began to see themselves hopelessly lost. There were thirty-some-odd people coming to me saying, Preacher, is there any possibility of hope for someone as bad as I am? And he said, What a joy it's been to give them the pearls of the gospel.

26:17 That's it. I believe that's a valid principle. In preaching and teaching the gospel, men have got to know themselves to be lost before the words believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will have any. It applies not only in preaching and teaching the word to the unsaved but to the saved.

26:41 Do you remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3? He said, I'd like to feed you with meat but you are not yet able to bear it. So he didn't. In Hebrews 5 the writer to Hebrews says, Oh, I've got so many things I want to tell you about Christ as the eternal high priest figured in the life of Melchizedek.

27:03 But he says, I can't tell you. Why? For when you ought to be men you ought to be slaves who have need of milk. And he didn't tell them.

27:13 Jesus said, I have many things to say unto you but you're not yet able to bear them. So he didn't tell them. You see, there needs to be discretion not only in our communication of the gospel to the unsaved but in our communication of truth to the saved. Don't give that which is holy to a Christian who in some area is dog-like to some area in some area who is not.

Application in Personal Correction and Sharing Experiences

27:42 There must be discrimination in dispensing God's truth. It applies not only in preaching and teaching but it applies secondly in the area of personal correction and reproof. We have a Christian duty to reprove one another. We read in the word of God Hebrews 3.13 exhort one another daily. We read in Galatians chapter 6 if someone be overtaken in the fault restore our brother with his moat. That's a duty. Now there are times when God would say to us don't cast the holy things of Christian reproof before someone who in their self-defense and self-righteousness shows himself to be a dog.

28:29 That's the writer to Proverbs who says reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. Reprove a wise man and he will love thee. Sometimes and I think you ought to understand this when as a pastor one sees certain things in the lives of those to whom he's responsible that he's convinced need reproof and correction but he's checked in his spirit because he hasn't seen sufficient evidence that the individual involved really wants that reproof and correction. When reproof comes because the Lord commands it. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. Reprove a wise man and he will love thee.

29:32 So we've got to exercise discretion. We've got to be discriminating not only in preaching and teaching to saved and unsaved but in our personal lives. It's a very helpful word along this line. Using discretion in sharing our spiritual experiences with others.

29:57 Proverbs 12 23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. You see a wise man at times won't tell all that he knows and some of my brethren in the ministry only to have those things prostituted because there was no appreciation of what I sought to share. There will be times when you will seek to share some of the deep dealings of God with your soul. People have no capacity to appreciate it. You have sought to communicate what was real and precious and when you got it out to communicate it people turned on it and rent it and trampled it under front. God says don't do it.

31:11 Don't give people the opportunity when they show themselves to be swine like a swine. God says don't cast holy things to dogs. That's why whenever we gather about the Lord's table we do what the old Scottish Presbyterians used to say. First of all we hedge up the table.

31:40 We hedge it up. We don't invite dogs to holy things but those who are the children of God and who long to be baptized. We take church membership seriously. That's why we take this matter of baptism seriously because we have a commission from our Lord.

Reasons for the Command: Abuse of Truth and Messenger

32:06 Don't give the holy things of Christian baptism, the Lord's table, and the privileges of the church. Don't cast them out indiscriminately. Give not that which is holy to the dogs neither cast your pearl before swine lest they trample them under their feet. Our Lord says the truth will be abused when it's cast before men with no capacity to receive it. You see, the truth is precious and our Lord likens it to pearls and to something holy. That's why it's got to be given out with discretion for men will have enough occasion to abuse the truth without us giving added value. We may be good members of society, a good faithful wife or husband, but listen to what the Bible says.

33:35 The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be. God says your heart is in your heart and you are free from all evil and your heart is in your heart and you are free from your life and your And he began to thumb through the Bible, and he began to zero in with the truth until finally what happened. It says they blasphemed, and they railed on him and abused him and said, get out of here, we don't want you. What did that? The truth.

34:36 And once the truth does that, God says, all right, don't give them any more, don't give them any more. When they've shown themselves to be dog-like and swine-like, and they're going to devour that truth instead of the truth leading them to salvation, it merely leads them to condemnation. He said, all right, that's enough, no more. The truth is abused.

34:58 And then he said the second thing is what they'll do to the messenger of truth. They'll not only trample the pearls under feet, but he says they will turn again and they will rend you. Our Lord says here's the motive of self-preservation. Now that's a legitimate motive at times.

35:14 I doubt when Paul went down over the wall in a basket in the book of Acts that he was thinking much about the glory of God. I think he was just thinking about getting out of there before they got him. Really. That's a proper motive.

35:26 If you're walking down the street and a car starts to come at you and swerve at you, and you've got to jump and get out of the way, you don't stop and think, now shall I do this to the glory of God? I don't mean to be irreverent. But it's that instinct of self-preservation and you get, you move. Now the Lord said that's a legitimate motive.

35:42 He said the second reason why you must be discriminating and dispensing the truth is not only for the truth's sake, but for your own sake. For if you don't, people will be turning again and rending you. Now you're going to get enough persecution. He told us that in the Beatitudes.

35:56 He said, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, say all manner of evil against you falsely, don't give any unnecessary occasions for abuse. There will be enough necessary ones. And this is, of course, the example you find in the book of Acts. After they preached and men rose up and said, we don't want this truth, then they turned from them and said, all right, lest you further abuse the truth and abuse us, we'll go unto the Gentiles.

36:23 You know, I actually know of an instance, and it's a frightening one, where a friend of mine was converted out of just empty religion. He'd been a Protestant, but had nothing but religion. There are Protestants and Catholics like that. There are probably some here, the Alliance, Presbyterian, Methodist.

36:41 You can have any kind of religion, but still not know God. And this fellow had been just a typical Protestant with religion, but no knowledge of Christ. And he was wonderfully saved. And he went to his brother.

36:53 And he tried to share with him what Christ meant. And he said to him, and said to him, oh, listen, you're where I was. And in love, he tried to talk to him about his need of a personal acquaintance with Christ. And his brother got mad and said, look, I don't want to hear another word of it.

37:08 Never speak to me again. And he didn't. And that man lay on a dying bed in a hospital out in Wisconsin. And the brother came to me and told me the story and said, Pastor Martin, he won't listen to me.

37:24 But I love him. And I've prayed for him all these 20 years. Would you go in and talk to him? And I went in with the pastor.

37:30 And when I went into that room, beloved, God shut my mouth. I couldn't talk. It's almost as though some physical force held my mouth. When I tried to open my mouth and talk to that man about the Savior, I couldn't get the words out.

37:35 And that's the way he talked. I tell you, that ought to make some of us shake in our boots this morning. But that little seed of opposition to the truth could one day lead us to the place where God says, don't give them anymore. That's a frightful thing.

Observations and Applications: Desire to Communicate Truth

38:11 Because people will turn on the messenger of truth and abuse that truth. Now, in closing, there are several observations that I believe we must make from the text. Having seen the command, the reasons for the command, what are some of the conclusions by way of application that we ought to draw? The first one that strikes me is this, that our Lord assumes that all his followers will desire to communicate the truth.

38:38 You see, the person who keeps the truth to himself. And never seeks to cast out the pearls to people. Who never seeks to share holy things. Who never seeks to exhort his brother.

38:49 He'll never have any trouble about throwing it to dogs and swine. Our Lord assumes that his followers will at least desire to share the holy things. Now he's saying, don't share it with everybody, but share it, yes. Do you ever desire to communicate the holy things of God's truth?

39:08 Have you talked to anyone this past week about the Savior? Have you given out a tract to anyone with a prayer in your heart that God would use as truth? Our Lord assumes that his people, his followers, his disciples, will be seeking to communicate the pearls of truth to you. It's a searching question, isn't it?

Observations and Applications: Cultivating Discernment

39:33 The second principle here is that you and I must cultivate a discerning, discriminating spirit with reference to the character of those that we're dealing with. If I am to obey the command. Cast not your pearl before swine, and give not that which is holy to the dogs. I've got to know what a dog is and a swine is when I see it.

39:55 Now some people, everything's dog and swine. They've got the wrong glasses on. Other people, nothing's dog or swine. There are no such creatures existing as far as they're concerned.

40:06 As I've said so often, and I hope it gets through. By nature, none of us walks in the balance of God's truth. By nature, every one of us walks in the balance of God's truth. By nature, none of us walks in the balance of God's truth.

40:17 By nature, every one of us walks in the balance of God's truth. Every one of us will go to one extreme or another. Now if your nature's sort of jaundiced, you know, everything you look through is a jaundiced eye and yellow glasses, and you're suspicious, if your wife gives you an extra good meal you wonder what she wants. An extra five dollars for groceries?

40:32 And if your husband treats you extra nice you wonder, well what does he want? Is he going to leave me for a week and want me to take some of his responsibility? Everything that happens, you kind of look at it with a, you know, kind of a caution. Somebody does a kindness to you, you say, what they're trying to do.

40:47 Buy me off? That's the way some of you are by nature. You can't help it. That's just the way you were made.

40:54 Others, why you believe any, you're so gullible you'd buy the Brooklyn Bridge thirty times in one year if you had the money to do it. You're just naturally gullible. You're just gregarious and outgoing, sweet kind of temper. Now, left to yourself, here's what'll happen.

41:10 Those of you that got the jaundice die, everything's going to be swine and dog to you. See?

41:17 So you're never going to share God's truth. Oh, that's a swine. That's a dog. They're going to turn again and rend me.

41:23 Others of you, nothing's swine or dog. Why you just throw out God's truth like Rockefeller throws out dimes? I mean, you just have the best time. And people will mock the truth and they'll abuse the truth, but you're just so good natured you can't believe that anybody would be a swine or a dog.

41:38 Now, according to our nature and temperament and background, either one of us or all of us will go to one extreme or the other. Now, what do we need? We need to pray, Oh God, help me to know myself and help me to know how this truth applies in my life. And if you're naturally the jaundice type, know it and recognize that you better be careful about calling things swine that aren't swine.

42:03 No man can be considered a swine or a dog until he proves himself to be that. Isn't that what happened in the book of Acts? Paul didn't go in and say, You know, I think this crowd here, Silas, is going to end up to be a bunch of dogs and turn on us. Let's not preach to them at all.

42:16 No, no. He continued to preach to them until they showed themselves to be dogs and said, We want no more. See?

42:25 Others of you, you need the other. Now, pray that God will give you a spirit of discernment to know the characters of those to whom you seek to communicate truth. And the third observation I make from this text is that we must acquire a working knowledge of the Word of God.

Observations and Applications: Acquiring Knowledge of God's Word

42:47 Paul says, There are certain truths I'd like to give you people, but because you're not in the place to take them, I won't. The writer, the writer to Hebrew says the same thing. Now, that's why all the books on personal work, this is one of the points where they break down. You've got a little stereotype thing.

43:03 Well, you label this case that way and then you give them this formula. And you label that case that way. No, no. What we need is day by day to feed into the well of our hearts the truth of God, see the different types of people and how the Lord dealt with them, store it up in our minds and our hearts, and then in a certain situation the Holy Spirit will lead us and He'll release our hearts to speak and to give that word in season.

Observations and Applications: Beware of Becoming a Dog or Swine

43:29 And then the last principle and this to me is the most frightening. I already touched on it for a moment.

43:36 And I trust you young people especially, adults as well will listen carefully. This has been the most sobering thought in the whole preparation of the message. Beware lest by your indifference and opposition to the word you come to the place of a dog or a swine.

43:58 That's the most sobering part to me of this whole text. What a terrible thing to come to the place where any Christian is forbidden to talk to you about the things of God. Think of it. Young people, listen to me.

44:16 You hear the word Sunday school from this pulpit from your parents. Down underneath as the issues begin to get clear, the demands of the world and the demands of Christ is beginning to well up a spirit of resentment. The way of Christ is to strengthen the demands of Christ are too stringent. The world is more attractive.

44:38 The world beckons with a smooth voice. There is beginning to be a resentment to the claims of Christ. A resentment to the standards of purity and holiness. You're beginning to get in the place now where boy-girl issues are important to you.

44:53 And you see the standards of the Bible. Keep thyself pure. See youthful lust. And that's hard on your flesh.

45:01 You're beginning to enjoy holding hands and having a kiss or two. And demands of the Bible are beginning to pinch in the area of your flesh.

45:11 And there's a subtle resentment to the standards of Christ. Listen to me, young person. May the Holy Ghost strike fear to your heart. Listen.

45:20 That resentment unless checked by a submission to Jesus Christ could one day lead you to the place of an outward refusal of the word and you'd show yourself to be a dog or a swine and God would say, to me and every other minister, don't give them holy things. And you'd die like Elmer Christensen died in a hospital out in Wisconsin where if a minister sought to come into the room and kiss you, God would shut his mouth.

45:49 I tell you, that's frightful. That's frightful. And I say to some of you, dear adults, the same thing. Who through the preaching of the word in past years in this place and under the three and a half years that I've been privileged to be here, some of the veneer of your shallow Christianity has been torn off.

46:08 Some of the veneer and you've begun to see the stringent demands of a holy Christ. You've begun to see the nature of what real conversion is. In your heart you've said, if that's what it is, I don't want it. And there's that growing ground swell of resentment.

46:26 Listen to me, my dear friend, unless that resentment is changed into a submission to Jesus Christ and His truth, you may one day become a dog or a swine and God will take from you the privilege of ever hearing holy things and of seeing the pearls of His truth.

46:47 I tell you, dear ones, that's why I don't have much place for planned humor in the pulpit. These are the issues we're dealing with. I say to every friend and visitor who's come among us today the same words, the issues of the gospel are issues of life and death, of heaven and hell. And beware lest by your indifference and refusal of the truth you bring yourself to the place where God says, don't go, don't give them holy things, don't give them pearls.

47:17 But someone says, how do I know? Maybe I've reached that place. I live years in indifference to the truth and maybe I've come to that place. Ah, listen.

47:27 If as you've heard the word of God this morning your heart has hung upon every word, if as you've heard the word of God your spirit has said, oh God, teach me your ways. You're not a swine or a dog. Don't let the enemy falsely accuse you. For by that disposition to receive the word today, regardless of what your attitude has been in the past, it's an indication of a disposition that's produced by the Holy Spirit that you might be receptive to the truth of God.

Conclusion: Call to Discernment and Action

47:56 Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before a swine. A clear command that we must be discerning in our dispensing of the divine truth of God. For if we fail to do so, the truth will be abused. And we who dispense the truth of God, yes, it will be unnecessarily abused.

48:16 And if this is so, then it's a call to us as His people to be active in dispensing the truth. Some of us never needed to worry about this. We don't dispense the truth. We never have anybody turn and rend us because we never get the pearls out and share them.

48:31 But let's share the pearls of His truth. Let's share the holy things of His gospel. Then let's pray for discernment. Then let us pray for a working knowledge of the word that will give to each His portion in due season.

48:45 And then let us pray that God would deliver us from ever becoming swinish and dog-like so that God forbids the word from coming to our hearts. May the Spirit of God seal the word of God to our hearts for His glory and for our profit. Let us pray.

49:11 Again, our Father, we have faced the sobering issues of eternity.

49:19 We stand amazed at the comprehensiveness of the truth. At the completeness of our Lord's knowledge of the human heart. We stand amazed at the completeness of this revelation of truth. And we plead this morning, Lord, just as earnestly as we ask that You might keep us from a censorious, critical spirit.

49:42 So we plead that You would keep us from an undiscerning, gullible spirit, both of which will lead to the road of death and spiritual barrenness. O God, for any this morning who have been rejecting and refusing truth until that resentment is almost at the level of outright blasphemy, have mercy upon them. O God, have mercy until they realize the danger of their position and fall before You and cry out that You would change their swinish, doggish nature into one of meek, lamb-like reception to the Word of God. O Father, seal the Word. May it bear fruit not only in us today, but in all the days of our lives till Jesus comes. We ask in His worthy name. Amen.