in the Sermon on the Mount this
evening we'll speak on just one verse in chapter 7 and that verse
is verse 6 so the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew
chapter 7 and reading 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. This is really a verse in isolation. The verses previously are together
and then as they follow on they're together. But this verse is one
in isolation. And of course it's not a very
easy verse to fully understand. But it's clearly important, otherwise
the Lord would not have spoken it in the way and on the occasion
as he did. And so he tells us that we are
not to give, give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine. So there are two things here.
First of all, that which is holy, and then that which we might
classify as pearls. Because if we do that, then they
may be trampled under feet, and they may turn again and rend
us. So we might think, well, How
is this verse applicable? Because if we read this in one
sense, many people, therefore, do come to the conclusion, therefore,
that there should not be any evangelizing. That people should
just stay at home and perhaps gather together, but no evangelistic
attitude at all. Because there might be that situation
where pearls and holiness are trampled under feet. So how do
we reconcile that with such verses? As we read in Mark's Gospel in
chapter 16 and verse 15 where the Lord said, and of course
it is the Great Commission, go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Well that's very full and that's
very complete, isn't it? We don't have to ponder it to
think what it means. Clearly we are to go into all
the world and to preach the gospel unto every creature. And there
is therefore no excuse not to carry out this gracious command
of our Lord. So how do we reconcile these
two statements? Well, I believe we reconcile
it in this way. First of all, it's clear that
the gospel is to be preached to every creature, every creature. That none should be omitted because
we don't know who are the lords. We don't know whom the lord will
work in their heart. and therefore the gospel is to
be freely preached and to be declared to everybody. But then
there may be those who reject it, who turn their back upon
it, and perhaps speak very wrongly and with an evil heart and with
much vengeance against the truth of God's word. Now, to such,
Those are the people that we should therefore follow this
injunction and not cast our pearls before swine or give them those
things which are holy that they might trample on. And that would
seem to be really the thrust of the verse here. But there
are other things which we should not pass over. And we read that
verse in the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and the
second chapter. And in that second chapter, right
towards the end, we read to the one we are the saver of death
unto death, and to the other the savour of life unto life.
And hush is sufficient for these things. So that means that the
truth of God is to those who are born again, life unto life. but those who are not it is death
unto death and to such therefore the Word of God will not truly
profit but we don't know who they are but when they reveal
themselves as so antagonistic against the Word of God then
we should not pursue this avenue because in that situation what
we are doing is we're giving that which is holy unto such
people who would only despise it and hate it and turn again
and rend us. And then the Apostle Luke, when
he wrote the Acts of the Apostles, he writes in that chapter, the
18th chapter, he speaks to us and tells us these words. And again, we should recognize
the importance of them. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, what did the apostle do? He shook his raiment
and said unto them, your blood be upon you, your own heads. I am clean from henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. So there's a clear example when
Paul was preaching at Corinth and that was the effect. Some
rejected it and blasphemed and therefore the Apostle turned
away from them. that really is fulfilling the
words that we have here in this chapter. And which perhaps also
we might think of the occasion of Naboth. Naboth is a well-known
character in the Word of God and You may remember that when
they came to ask that he might provide food for David and his
men, his reaction was so against them. He was so against them.
Well, they had done good. And they went to his wife and
explained the situation. And these words we recall now,
therefore know and consider what thou would do For evil is determined
against our master and against all his household. For he is
such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak unto him. You see
the picture there, don't we? He didn't want to hear. anything
about the truth of God, he would have been aware of David's position
and David's condition. So it surely is a fulfillment
of these words here. Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast to your pearls before swine, lest they
trample under their feet and turn again and rend you. And
then also in the Old Testament, in the book of the Proverbs,
the word of God tells us, and in the ninth chapter of the book
of the Proverbs, the ninth chapter in verses seven and eight, we
are told, sorry, the right chapter, the 10th chapter in verses seven
and eight, The memory of the just is blessed,
but the name of the wicked shall rot. The wise in heart will receive
commandments, but a prating fool shall fall. Now again, we have
the two opposites. And not forgetting the gospel
is to be preached to every creature, but there will be those who will
reject such a truth. And then the Lord Jesus, again
in this Gospel in Matthew, He was speaking about this, and
in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and verses 25. So
chapter 15 and verses 25 and 26 and 27 we read, Then came
she and worshipped Him, You remember this was a lady,
a woman, and she said, help me. But he answered and said, it
is not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it at the dogs. And she said, truth, Lord, yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. So we see there, here was a woman
that desired to truly partake of spiritual things. And yet
there is this word from the Lord which says, but he answered and
said, is it not me to take the children's bread and the cast
of the dogs? And she said, truth, Lord, but
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Well, we have this picture then
the Lord gives to us in this verse. But I think also it has
a deeper significance. I think it's like this. The Lord
graciously blesses his people and he blesses them with a personal
experience and personal words from himself. And they are surely
the things which are holy, and surely those things which are
pearls to them. That means they're truths which
are very precious and very real. Now, come back to the point that
the Gospel is to be preached to everybody, every person in
the world, the Gospel is to be preached to. But there are those
things which the Lord has done very gloriously and very wonderfully
in our own hearts and our own souls which the unbeliever would
not understand would indeed trample it underfoot would not realise
it was anything of value or holy at all and it's such things that
I believe we are therefore to reserve really to the Church
of God when we read in the book of Malachi that they that fear
the Lord spoke often one to another. They were speaking often one
to another of the great truths of the gospel which the Lord,
that the Savior had revealed unto them. Because the worldly
man will not understand, will not appreciate, will have no
idea of any value in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
won't recognize that he is a sinner before a holy God. He won't recognize
there are wonderful truths and wonderful things that we count
very valuable as pearls. And if such things are shown
to these people, The reaction to the ungodly will be they'll
ignore them and they'll trample them underfoot in such a way
like these animals are. And he uses these animals, dogs
and swine. And we can think that swine,
they wander around pretty carelessly and they trample under things,
they have no concern for them. And the dogs, of course, can
get very angry. So we see the two types there. These things can operate when
the truths of the gospel as they've been made over to us individually
in a very precious way are set before people and they just trample
them underfoot. So let us not therefore forget
that we are to declare the whole counsel of God. We are to preach
the gospel, but we are to also beware of doing those things
which will bring before unbelievers the great truths that God has
given us and favoured us with. Now, I have actually copied out,
and I thought I might read it to you because this is, as you
know, a difficult subject, a portion from John Kelvin. And he tells
us, again going over some of the ground I've covered, but
here a question arises. for he afterwards commanded to
preach the gospel to every creature. And Paul says that the preaching
of it is a deadly savor to wicked men. And nothing is more certain
than that it is every day held out to unbelievers by the command
of God for a testimony that they may be rendered the more inexcusable. I reply, as the ministers of
the Gospel, and those who are called to the office of teaching
cannot distinguish between the children of God and swine, it
is their duty to present the doctrine of salvation indiscriminately
to all, though many may appear to them at first to be hardened
and unyielding, yet charity forbids that such persons should be immediately
pronounced to be desperate if ought to be understood that dogs
and swine are names given to every kind of debauched men,
or to those who are destitute of the fear of God and of true
godliness, but to those who, by clear evidences, have manifested
a hardened contempt of God, so that their disease appears to
be incurable. In another passage, Christ places
the dogs in contrast with the elect people of God and the household
of faith. It is not proper to take the
children's bread and to give it to dogs, which I read in Matthew
15, 27. But by dogs and swine, he means
here those who are so thoroughly imbued with a wicked contempt
of God that they refuse to accept any remedy. Hence it is evident
how grievously the words of Christ are tortured by those who think
that he limits the doctrine of the gospel to those only who
are teachable and well-prepared. For what will be the consequence
if nobody hears the pious teachers well-prepared For what will be
the consequence if nobody is invited by pious teachers until
his obedience has anticipated the grace of God? On the contrary,
we are all by nature holy and prone to rebellion. The remedy
of salvation must be refused to none till they have rejected
it so basely when brought to them, as to make it evident that
they are reprobate and self-condemned. As Paul says of heretics in Titus
3.11, there are two reasons why Christ forbade that the gospel
should be preached to lost despisers. It is an open profaneness of
the mysteries of God to expose them to the taunts of wicked
men. Another reason is that Christ
intended to comfort his disciples that they might not cease to
bestow their labors on the elect of God in teaching the gospel. Though they saw it wantonly rejected
by wicked and ungodly men, his meaning is, lest this inestimable
treasure should be held in little estimation. Swine and dogs must
not be permitted to approach it. There are two designations
which Christ bestows on the doctrine of salvation. He calls it holy
and compares it to pearls. Hence we learn how highly we
ought to esteem this doctrine, lest these trample them under
their feet. Christ appears to distinguish
between the swine and the dogs, attributing brutal stupidity
to the swine and rage to the dogs. And certainly, experience
shows that there are two such classes of despisers of God. Whatever is taught in scripture,
for instance, about the corrupt nature of man, free justification
and eternal election is turned by many into an encouragement
to sloth and to carnal indulgence. Such persons are fitly and justly
pronounced to be swine. Others again tear the pure doctrine
and its ministers with sacrilegious reproaches, as if they threw
away all desire to do well, all fear of God, and all care for
their salvation. Although he employs both names
to describe the incurable opponents of the word of God Yet by twofold
comparison, he points out briefly in what respect the one differs
from the other. Well, I'm sure those words have
put it more ably than I've been able to. But it is, as I say,
a single verse which we should not pass over, and we should
meditate on and realise the importance of it, and especially, I believe,
with regard to our own personal blessings that we've been favoured
with, we are to declare those to the Church of God, but we're
not to declare them to the world at large who would not understand
and who would trample them underfoot. May the Lord bless his word.
Amen. I'll ask him tonight is him one
hundred and fifty four. One hundred and fifty four.