Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to Matthew. Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. I would like to read one verse,
verse 6. 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." We need to consider the sobering
seriousness of this passage of Scripture. As I was going over my notes
again, I was reminded afresh, number one, of who was speaking. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and this was spoken as He preached the message on the Sermon on
the Mount and realizing that he was preaching
it. If there was ever a preacher
to be heard, this is he. That which moves a believer to
do what he does And his walk of faith is his love for the
Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord help us to remember
that through this message. said in 1 Corinthians, I'll read
this for you if you want to turn. It's 1 Corinthians 10, 31. The
Apostle penned these words. He said, whether therefore you
eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. In 2 Corinthians 2 and verse
17, speaking of how 2 Corinthians 2.17, how we handle the Word
of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 2.17, the Scripture
says, For we are not as many which corrupt or deal deceitfully
the Word of God, but as sincerity. But as of God, in the sight of
God, speak we in Christ in sincerity. And that means tested as being
genuine. taught by the Spirit of God to
our heart that His Word is so, never erring the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 2, 1,
For we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God." Look at verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 4. But we have this treasure.
Oh, may the Lord teach us afresh that what we are talking about
this morning is a treasure. A treasure in earthen vessels. that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us." What we are dealing with this
morning, the Word of God, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
this treasure, and oh, time and eternity shall
prove that to be so. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Paul says we are not of those
that deal deceitfully with the Word of God. I stress to myself
first and to you, my brethren, here what God Almighty has to
say. And put a watch, a guard upon
His Word. His Word is so. And His Word is to be taken and
believed above anything. Heaven and earth are going to
pass away. He said, My Word is never going
to pass away. Eternal. Every Word that proceeds
from Him shall ever remain. Now, let's consider. Back in Matthew
7, verse 6, a precious command from our Lord as He preached
that day on that mountain, ìGive 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.î Our Lord
here is given some precious discretion on the handling of His Word. Now, here's the thing. This is
His Gospel. This is His Gospel given to His
people. Paul said, this is my Gospel.
But I'm telling you, remember where we got it. This is the
Gospel of God, and it's a treasure. that is given unto the people
of God, that treasure that is given,
that is taught by the Spirit of God, and hear the word of the Lord, give
not that which holy unto the dogs. Now, I want you to turn
over to Matthew 15, and we're going to just kind of look for
a second here, as our Lord explains. what he meant when he says, ìGive
not that which is holy unto the dogs.î There was a woman, Canaan. She came to the Lord and she
cried unto Him, verse 22, Matthew 15, and this is what she said,
ìHave mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is
grievously vexed with the devil. Had the Lord of glory, He who
shall do that which is right, God Almighty in human flesh,
verse 23 says, but He answered her not a word. The disciples said, Send her
away. And he answered, verse 24, 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. Verse 26, But he answered and
said, It is not meet. It is not fit. to take the children's
bread, the gospel, the treasure, the
treasure. It's not fit to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. He said it's not good, it's not
valuable, and it's not beautiful. It's not meat. To take the children's
bread And when he used the word cast, this is what he said. This is what the word means.
It's not fit to take the children's bread and throw it in a violent
way to dogs. We don't preach to whip the goats. We're preaching for God's honor
according to his command, believing that through this gospel, this
treasure, he shall call his people out. This is the only message,
the message of God's honor, God's glory, God's praise, God's election,
particular redemption, irresistible grace, the gospel of free and
sovereign grace, this treasure is God's means to the calling
out of His sheep. And it's not fit. It's not meat. It's not beautiful. It's not
valuable. To take the gospel and to cast it, to throw it,
to try to whip somebody is what He was telling her. That's the
word He used. It's not fit. It's not beautiful.
To whip dogs with it. And this woman said, verse 27,
Truth, Lord, You are right. But Lord, if some of the crumbs
fall off the table, the dogs eat of that which falls from
their master's table, You are right, Lord. You are right. I
bow to You. Whatever You say, Lord is right. This was a broken woman. And
Almighty God, you know, showed mercy to that woman. He knew
just exactly who she was. This was an object of His mercy. And He didn't whip her. He broke
her. He broke that woman. It's not
fit. It's not neat. It's not beautiful.
It's not valuable. The children's bread. This is
the bread of God's children. This is what they feast upon,
Mitch. Now let me tell you this. We
are commanded from the words of our Lord to preach the gospel
to every creature. Matthew 28, 19, Go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
of the Son, the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen." That's what our Lord said. So you know what we do? We preach
the gospel. We preach the gospel. But surely, according to the
Word of our Lord, there comes a time, back in Matthew 7, There
comes a time when our Lord commanded us to not give that which is
holy, to not bestow, to not commit, to not smite with the hand or
strike with the palm. That's worth the word. When it
says, give not that which is holy. Ecclesiastes 3 says to everything
there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven,
a time to keep silence and a time to speak. Oh, may the Lord give
us wisdom to know when that time is right. Concerning these that our Lord
spoke of, He said, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls, the gospel, before swine." Philippians 3 tells us to beware
of these. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. Who is it that our Lord speaks
of. Who is he talking about? Those that snarl at the truth
of the gospel. Those that bite with words of
reproach and hatred for the gospel of God's grace. They are those
that hear the glorious gospel and like a physical dog that
returneth to his vomit, so the scripture says a fool returneth
to his folly. These dogs are those that hear
the truth and cling to their wicked works of self-righteousness,
and they hate the grace of God. Turn with me to Isaiah 56. I remind myself as I remind you. Remember who is speaking. Remember
who is speaking. Isaiah 56, verse 10 and 11. Hear the word of the Lord as
our God sets forth who He is talking about when He says, Give
not that which is holy unto the dogs, and cast not your pearls
before swine." Isaiah 56, verse 10. His watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They are
all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, or
the word interpreted is dreaming or talking in their sleep. They're just talking in their
sleep. Lying down, loving to slumber,
yet they are greedy dogs. That is, strong of appetite,
which can never have enough. They know not how to be satisfied. That's what the Scripture says. They don't know how to be satisfied. They cannot understand. They
all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter. Who are they? They are blind leaders. They
are blind preachers. Who said that? God said it. God said it. I'm telling you,
I know that I'm dealing with something this morning that is
very, very sobering. I know that. That's why we must
deal with it. We must deal with it. Our Lord
told us, do not give, do not throw, do not cast, don't slap
with the hand. Do not give that which is holy. the children's bread to dogs. Who are they? They are those
that resist the truth of God's grace. Revelation 22, 15 says,
for without are dogs and sorcerers, whoremongers and murderers. I looked up the word dogs just
to find out. I looked it up this morning to
find out. What does that word mean? Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs. Those that yelp, attack, male
prostitutes. Spiritually. Male prostitutes. Unfaithful. Haters of God. The Lord said, they hated Me
before they hated you. Now listen. Let me tell you who
they are. They are those that will not
have this man to rule over them. Those that make a lie. The Scripture
says back in Revelation 22, withouter dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers,
murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth to make the lie, Those
without. Those who have no communion,
desire for communion with the God of this Bible. John the Apostle wrote in 1 John
2.19, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For
if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Dogs, swine that have forsaken
the right way and are going astray, following the way of Balaam,
the son of Bosar, this is in 2 Peter 2.15, who loved the wages
of unrighteousness. Dogs, swine, those who forsake
the right way, the gospel of truth. Why? For the rewards of
unrighteousness, for the greed of earthly mammon in the praise
of men. And they will take the way of
death over life every time. The thing that makes this so
sobering is that men oppose themselves. And it grieves a believer. It grieves a believer. Well, our Lord commanded, Don't
give that which is holy unto the dogs. He tells us who they are. Those
that set themselves up, manifest themselves as being rebels against
God, rebels against God's gospel, I will not hear that. I will
not hear that. I will hold on to my own free
will, self-righteous works. I will not have this man to rule
over me. I will not hear what you have
to say. I had one man say concerning
something that I'd preached, I don't care if it's in the Word
of God. I don't believe it. Well, let me ask you this. What are we to do? What are we to do? Turn with
me to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. I want to read verses 7 to 14. And remember while you're turning
to Matthew 15, verse 7, the Lord says, if you love me, keep my
commandments. And I'm telling you, a believer
is going to take his word, his side, and he's going to take
the Lord's word and the Lord's side against himself. Someone
might say, well, you know what? This is just too straightforward
to me. Let me ask you this, as I've
asked you before. If we refute what he has to say,
Two things are manifested. Number one, he said, if you love
me, Don, if you love me, you keep my commandments. And number
two, let me ask you this. If I refuse and think this is
too straightforward. Is it going to change the word
of God? I say these words and I'm telling
you in my heart, My heart's breaking right now. Not because of what
he said, but because of men and women that refuse to believe
it. The question is, what do we do? If someone tells you, I don't
believe that, that's too hard. I'm not going to listen to that.
What do you do? Well, let's see what our Lord
did. That's the safest thing you could
do. Matthew 15, verse 7. You hypocrites,
the Lord is speaking, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, but in
vain. Do they worship me teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men? And he called the multitude
and he said unto them, Hear and understand, not that which goeth
into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of
the mouth. This defileth a man. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after
they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up." Now you look at these next few
words. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. Our Lord said in Matthew 10.14,
and whosoever shall not receive you or hear
your words." Now let me tell you what I'm preaching this morning.
I'm preaching that Almighty God is right and every man and every
woman is a liar. Let God be true and every man
a liar. That's what Scripture says. It does not matter what my opinion
is. Someone came to Brother Henry,
I told you this one time years ago when he was in Ashland, and
the woman came up and she said, I want to know what you think
about divorce. And he said, well, let's take
the Word of God. And she said, I'm not interested in the Word
of God. I'm interested in what you have to say. And Henry said,
well, I don't have anything to say. Almighty God is true. It's right. He said, don't give that which
is holy unto the dogs. Dogs and swine manifest themselves
when they say, I'm not going to hear what you've got to say.
I'm not going to hear what you have to say anymore. Don't talk to me about that anymore. Don't bring up that gospel to
me anymore. I do not want to hear what you
have to say. When they manifest themselves
in open rebellion, I'm going to make good on this right now,
what I'm telling you. I'm going to make good on it. I'm reading
it. Matthew 10, 14. Whosoever shall not receive you,
nor hear your words, When you depart out of that house or city,
shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than for that city." The Apostle Paul in Acts 18,
Acts 18, verse 5 and 6, the Apostle Paul was preaching. Acts 18, 5 and 6. And when Silas
and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in
the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. That Jesus of Nazareth is the
Son of God. They watched Him. They saw Him.
They heard His words. He told them who He was. They
hated Him. They said, you're making yourself
be God. And Paul said, That Jesus was
Christ. And when they opposed themselves,
it means contradicted themselves concerning what they said they
believed. Have you ever had anybody say
this? That book right there? I believe that book cover to
cover. Time will tell. I believe that
book. I believe every word in that
book. Oh, I pray I do. I pray God's
given me a heart to believe this. They opposed themselves and blasphemed. They blasphemed God. They said,
You're telling me that Almighty God said to give not that which
is holy unto the dogs, don't cast them, don't whip them with
it if they refuse it? Shake the dust off your feet
and walk away? You're telling me that I'm supposed
to be leaving them alone? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Let me ask you this. You think
God can save a sinner? Do you think that by you taking
and disputing what God has to say, that you're going to make
a new man? Man, we set ourselves up a little
too high. Paul the Apostle, when they opposed
themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and he said
unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean from
henceforth. I will go unto the Gentiles. In closing, I've told you three
things so far. This is what the Lord said. Don't
give that which is holy unto the dogs. Number two, I told
you, who are they? They're the ones that oppose
themselves. Ones that blaspheme this gospel.
One that says, I'm not going to hear what you've got to say.
I'll go somewhere else where somebody will tell me that I've
got a little good in me. That I've got a free will that
I can exercise whenever I want to, when I want to, how I want
to. I'm not that bad. Well, the Scripture says, from
the sole of your foot to the head of your head, there's putrefying
sores and there's no soundness in you. And a believer will say,
I believe that. A believer knows what he is.
Thirdly, I said, what are we supposed to do? What do we do
when somebody says, don't talk to me about that anymore? Do
you know what you do? You don't talk to them about
it anymore. You leave them alone. Who said that? The Lord said
it. And lastly, what's the motive for our withholding the children's
bread from those that refuse to hear? Here's the motive. Here's
the motive. Our love for Christ. He said,
if you love Me, you keep My commandments. Our motive is not to elevate
ourselves over others. And people say, well, you just
think you're better than everybody else. No, we know better than
that. We realize that we are what we are by the grace of God.
The motive is not to take the Word of God and to use it as
a whip to straighten out rebels. All they're going to do, the
Lord says, is they're going to trample your words under their
feet and turn and rend you. Our motive is obedience to the
Lord. He said, vengeance is mine. I will repay. You follow me. when our Lord was speaking to
a group of people in John 6, and He told them this. In John
6, verse 65, He said, Therefore say I unto you, that no man can
come unto Me except it were given unto him of My Father. You know
what that's saying? That man is impotent. spiritually. No man can. He doesn't have the
ability. No man can come unto me except it was given unto him
by irresistible grace that my Father would call him irresistibly,
give him a new heart, make him willing in the day of God's power,
and that man would come. Man is dead spiritually. And when they heard that, I mean, this was a big group
of people following him. And verse 66 of John 6 says, From
that time many of his disciples went back and want no more with
him. I am not, I'm not, I'm not going
to hear that anymore. I'm not going to hear that no
man can come unto you except God gives me the power to do
so. I'm not going to hear that. What did the Lord do? Did he
apologize? Did he try another approach?
Did he compromise the message? He said, now wait a minute, wait
a minute, wait a minute. Now you all come back. Now let
me just, let me try to say it in a different way. He looked
at his 12 and he said, will you go away also? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Lord, where are we going? Your
Word is eternal. Lord, You said that no man can
come except it were given unto him of my Father. And those that
left, Lord, Left because they wanted to. And the only reason
we're still here is because You gave us a heart to be here. Lord,
where are we going to go? Job said in Job 13, verse 15,
though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. His Word is precious. His Word is precious. He said,
You love me, you keep my commandments. Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine. Proverbs 9.8, Reprove
not a scorner. That means reprove. It means
don't argue with him. Don't argue with a scorner, one
that mocks, one that scorns or makes a mouth at. makes a mouth
at. What do you do when someone will
not hear you? Leave them alone. Leave them
alone. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace." I have people in my family, and
you do too. And it's obvious they don't want
to hear. They don't want to hear. I have an aunt, my mom's sister. And my mother invited her to
come. And she told my mother, don't
you ever bring that up to me again. And my mother's sister died in
her sins. This is a sobering message. I
know it is. But I'm telling you, It's the
truth. From the words of our Lord, His
commandments, He said, You love Me. You keep My commandments. Our God is going to do right.
Lord, help us. Have mercy upon us for Christ's
sake. Amen.