Turn with me if you would now
to Matthew chapter 7. Continuing on today in Matthew
7, we're going to look at one verse for our message this morning. It's 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."
I wanted to deal with this one
verse in particular. This is a verse that many people
know and many people quote. Many people have heard this verse.
Let's read it again. He said, 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. That's a verse that is not only
hard to understand, but I believe that is a verse that is very
misunderstood, very much so. It's a complete thought. You
can see if your Bible has those little backward bold P's, it's
a paragraph all its own. And this is a verse that is Not
only hard to understand, but very misunderstood. We hear that
and we think we pretty well know what it's saying. We read that and the natural
response is, well, okay. We pretty well think we know
what it's saying. But after studying this, I realized
that at face value, Before I studied this, what was just naturally
in my mind, I did not really enter into what it was actually
saying. And I'm very thankful for the
fact that the Lord revealed it to me. That's why I want to look
at this one verse. I hope and pray that we're all
very thankful after we see this, that the Lord would reveal this
to us. To me, this is a very encouraging
verse. I know that sounds strange when
you read it at first glance, it doesn't seem that way at all. But entering in to what it's
saying, this is a very instructive and a very insightful and I believe
very encouraging verse of scripture. I believe we're all going to
very happily say amen to it. I believe we will. Now, let's
begin with what it's not saying. Again, this is a difficult verse,
and I want to try, I'm begging the Lord to make it as clear
as He will make it. And I believe the best way to
explain this is to deal with what it's not saying, okay? Verse
six, He said, give not that which is holy unto the dogs. What is holy? Christ is holy. The things of Christ are holy. And he went on to say, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine. Christ is the pearl of great
price. But he is not saying withhold
Christ from people. Don't give the message of Christ
to people because they'll just trample him under their feet.
Lest the pearls, the holy things become trampled and they turn
again and rend you. Don't give Christ to people lest
they trample him. Now Hebrews 10 verse 29 says
that man has in his heart, in his mind, in his will, trampled
Christ underfoot. That's what it says. Man has tried to anyway. Man has desired to and tried
to. But here's the fact of the matter.
Man can't trample Christ. It's not possible. Man wants
to in his sinful flesh. He desires to. He tries to. But
man does not, man cannot, and man will not ever have his way
with Christ. The will of man may be to trample
Christ underfoot. But Christ is not subject to
the will of man. Man is subject to the will of
Christ. Everything that happened the
whole time our Lord was here was the will of Christ. The will
of the Father, the will of the Son. The cross itself was the
will and purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. man in the whole
event of the cross of Calvary, man in that whole event was subject
to only doing the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in that event of Him being
on the cross, Christ was willingly subject to the will of God. And the will of God was to give
the trampling underfoot that his people deserved to Christ. That was the will of God. On
the cross, Christ endured the trampling of God for his people. He was trampled under the foot
of God Almighty for his people. And because of that, this is
what the scripture says. And I love this. If you want
to hear something I love, it's this. Because he endured that
for them, it says God the Father has highly exalted him and put
all things under his feet. That's what it says. Everything. Everything. is under his feet. That's the reality, that's the
truth. So this is not saying, this is
not saying, now you withhold the message of Christ from people
who are really bad. If you find somebody who's really
bad and really dangerous, you withhold the message of Christ
because they may trample him. It's not saying that at all.
Not at all. It's also not saying, if you give, if you share, if
you cast the glorious treasures of heaven, the pearls of salvation, the
riches of salvation that are in Him, if you share them, preach them,
give them, cast them to the wrong person, Those treasures may be
taken from you, and you'll end up in ruin with
nothing. It's not saying that. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. What God gives to His people
can never be taken away from them. You better be careful. You'll lose your salvation, not
if God gave it to you. What God gives to His people
can never be taken away from them. And what God gives to His
people, those treasures and pearls and riches that are in Christ,
they can never be corrupted. The spiritual treasures that
are in Christ are incorruptible, undefiled, and reserved in heaven
for God's people. He said that inheritance will
never fade away. So he's not saying, now you better
be careful or you'll lose it. Not saying that. He's also not
saying, and listen to this one, he's also not saying, don't waste
your breath, which is what I believe most people think when they first
hear that. Don't even waste your breath.
If you find somebody who's just not worthy of the treasure, If
you find somebody who's just not, just doesn't care about
the riches of Christ, they just don't care. Clearly, they'll
do nothing more with them than just ruin them and waste them.
If you find somebody like that, don't even waste your breath.
It's not even worth it. He's not saying that at all.
Not at all. Thank God. And I'd love to just
get ahead of myself and tell you why I thank God. But thank
God, He's not saying that at all. He said, let everything
that has breath declare the glorious news of the Son of God. He said, declare it to all the
world. He said, you go unto all the
world. In Isaiah 40, He said, you cry
to all of that dead grass. Behold your God. Lift up your
voice with strength. He said, Ezekiel, can these dead bones live? These dead, dry bones. You think
about Ezekiel standing out in a field of bones, dead, dry bones. He said, Ezekiel, preach the
gospel to them. Well, Lord, won't I be wasting
my breath? Don't you think somebody ought
to say to me, don't even waste your breath. John 5.25 says, the hour is coming
and now is when the dead, and I hope I'm one of them, when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that
hear shall live. He said, not one of my words
will return void. There'll never be a wasted breath
of His Word. Never. Never is there a time
or a situation where it is not worth our breath to declare the
glorious treasures of Christ. Now, I know that when our Lord
sent out His disciples to preach, He said, if you preach to a house
and they won't receive it, He said, if they reject it and
they don't want to hear it again and they kick you out over it,
he said, shake the dust from your feet and move on. He said
that, but never did he say, don't give it to them in the first
place. He said, you give it to every
house you come to. And as long as they love it and
they receive it, stay with them and keep giving it to them. Well, What if I preach the glorious
treasures of Christ to someone who is a sinner? And after I
preach it to that person, he or she goes off and sins again. Well, what should I do then? Preach it to him again. This is not saying right here,
Now, if they're too sinful, read verse 6 with me again. Give not
that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine. Now, if they're too sinful, don't
even preach it to them. The apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy
1.15, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And he
said, I'm the chief. I'm the chief. And he said, because
of that, he gave the unsearchable riches of Christ to me. That's
who he came to give it to. It's a faithful saying. He came
to save sinners, sinners. Well, what if I preach Christ's
work in salvation alone? What Christ did. His righteousness
before God and the blood that He shed to put away the debt
of sin. What if I preach Christ's work
being everything before God and man's work being nothing before
God and worthless? What if I tell people it's Christ's
righteousness alone and man doesn't even have one? What if I preach
that and a person doesn't believe me? What should I do then? Preach it to them again. Preach it to them again. This
is not saying, now, if they're too self-righteous, you know
that in the scripture, dogs refer to false prophets quite often. Self-righteous. It's not saying, now, if they're
too self-righteous, you know, if they're too hung up on their
own works rather than the works of Christ, then don't even preach
it to them, just don't even, not saying that. The Apostle
Paul told the Galatians and the Philippians, the Galatians, the
Philippians, everybody, he told everybody. He said, I was about
the most self-righteous man that's ever walked the face of this
earth. He said, but when it pleased
God, he revealed his son in me. Why did you do that, Paul? Is
it because you started acting like a sheep instead of a swine? No. I was on my way to kill God's
sheep. And that's when He came to me. We just had a Bible study here
just a second ago on our Lord saying in verse 1, judge not. Leave all judgment in the hands
of God. Think about this, okay? Think about this. If the church
back then, the church that was alive back then, if they had
to make a judgment on Saul of Tarsus, the man who went by the
name Saul of Tarsus, do you think they would have judged him to
be a dog or a sheep? A dog. If the church back then had to
make a judgment on Judas, do you think they would have judged
him to be a sheep or a swine? That judgment is in the hands
of the Lord. That judgment is in the hands
of the Lord and He is not saying, now you need to assess people. You need to size them up and
you withhold the treasures of Christ from every person who
you deem unworthy of it." If you run across a dog or a swine,
don't give it to them. He's not saying that. The fact
of the matter is Christ only gives the treasure of His gospel
to those who are unworthy of it. Those are the only ones He
gives it to. He only gives it to those who
are naturally in the flesh, not interested in it, and only capable of ruining it
and wasting it. He only gives it to those who
refer to themselves as dogs before Him. That's the truth. That is the truth. Now, proof
of that for us is In my Bible, I have a center column with Scripture
references in it. I know that not every Bible has
a column of Scripture references, that's okay, that's all right.
But I'm just gonna tell you that for this message and for this
verse of Scripture, we're gonna look at some Scripture references
here. I am very thankful to have these
because the best way to understand a scripture is with scripture. If you really want to know what
a scripture is saying, look at other scriptures and the Lord
will reveal. He only has one, one word. And I believe the Lord will reveal
this to us by looking at these other scriptures. I have four
of them listed in my Bible. And we're going to let these
four references point us to what this verse is saying, alright?
We've seen what it's not saying. Now maybe the Lord will reveal
what it is saying. It's not saying withhold the
gospel of Christ and the blessings that are in Him from people who
are truly dogs and swine and consider themselves to be dogs
and swine, and the proof of that is in our first reference, okay?
This is what my first reference is. It's Matthew 15, verse 26. Turn with me over there. Matthew 15, let's begin reading
in verse 21. It says, Then Jesus went thence,
and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coast, and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David! My daughter
is grievously vexed with 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.
Verse 25 says, Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord,
help me. But he answered and said, it
is not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. He said, you're a dog. And she
said, truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. 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. She said, I am a dog before you. And he said, I'll give you everything
you came to me for. He freely gave it to a self-proclaimed
dog. We know the story of Mephibosheth.
How much do we love the story of Mephibosheth? He was brought
before David and he fell down on his face and he said, what
is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as
I am? He said, that's what I profess
myself to be, I'm a dog. And David said, everything is
restored to you. The glory of the gospel is, That's
who His goodness is to. Unworthy dogs and swine. This scripture reference proves
that to us. He has mercy on dogs. He does. If you'll go with me back to
Matthew 7, I have three more references. And this is what they are. It's
Job 4, verse 6. It's Job 27, verses 19 and 20. And it's Philemon, and there's
only one chapter in Philemon, verse 5. For the sake of time,
I'm just going to tell you that the one in the middle there,
Job 27, 19 and 20, that's telling us that these holy pearls are
spiritual treasures, not physical treasures. That reference tells us that
keeping our physical treasure will not save our soul. We can
hold on to that treasure and still be trampled and rent in
the end. So these pearls are spiritual
treasures that God gives to His people because of their salvation.
All right, we're going to let these last two tell us what they
are. Turn with me, if you would, to Job chapter 4. We're just going to read this
one reference verse, all right? Job 4, verse 6. It says, is not this thy fear? thy confidence, thy hope, and
the uprightness of thy ways. Your fear, your confidence, your
hope, and the uprightness of your ways, the righteousness
of your ways. These are the spiritual pearls
that are given to God's people as a result of their salvation. And he said, these holy pearls
are not to be cast before dogs or swine, which both represent sinful flesh. Both of them do. Wicked, moral,
it doesn't matter. Humble, self-righteous, it's
all sinful flesh. I'll tell you this very quickly.
Dogs were considered unclean. They were considered to be unclean
animals. You couldn't sell a dog and take the money from the sale
of that dog and give it as a gift to the Lord. It would not be
received. It was unclean. wouldn't be accepted. And what
a picture that is if anything man tries to give to God. It's
unclean. And it's not going to be accepted.
Only what Christ has offered to God will be accepted. Unclean. Swine, hogs, pigs were considered
to be unclean. Unclean animals. When the Lord
cast that legion of devils out of that Gadarean man, He sent
those devils into the herd of swine. That's where they belonged.
In that unclean, sinful flesh. So those two animals represent
the flesh of all of mankind. All of mankind. We don't have
to go looking for dogs and swine. Now be on the hunt for a dog
or a swine. Just look at me. Just look at
anybody. All sinful flesh is unclean,
unclean, unclean. I say with that Canaanite woman
and with Mephibosheth, in my flesh I'm a dog before you. All flesh is unclean, sinful,
wicked, unworthy. And this is what our God said.
Don't ascribe anything to it. Don't ascribe anything to it. Do not cast your holy fear on
the sinful flesh of man. Now, if we haven't gotten anything
yet, and if we're saying, where are you going with all this?
Here's where I'm going with it. May the Lord open our eyes to
this. He's saying, do not cast your
holy fear before man. Fear God alone. Do not put your confidence, do not put your trust in the
sinful flesh of man. Do not say, well, you know, I'm
confident I'm going because I, If we have any confidence, it's
because He. There's nothing to trust in here.
Well, I haven't gone back to my old ways. Are you sure? When
was the last time you searched your mind? There's nothing to
trust in here. Don't put your confidence here.
Don't put your hope. Don't look to and cast your expected
anticipation on the flesh of man, the sinful flesh of man. The end will not be what you're
expecting. That's what he's saying. It won't
come out like you think it will. And do not ascribe the righteousness
of your way. the perfection, the goodness,
the worthiness of your way to the flesh of man. If we cast
those holy pearls on the sinful flesh of man, he said, utter
destruction is coming. Absolute destruction is coming.
Everything we're holding on to is going to leave us trampled
and rent. There is only one place to cast
our all, our pearls of eternal salvation, our fear, our faith,
our hope, our perfection. And the last scripture reference
tells us, we know where it is, but we'll go to it anyway. Go
to Philemon 1, just before Hebrews, Philemon. We'll read this one verse. It's Philemon, verse 5. Hearing of thy love and faith
which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all his saints. Those are pearls too. That love
comes from God through the salvation that is in Christ, faith in Him. Those are pearls that are given.
And where do we cast all those pearls, all those holy pearls?
On the Lord Jesus Christ and on everything that's in Him. Him and everything in Him. In
the end, if we don't want to be torn, this is so, if we don't
want to be torn and rent, then our fear and our confidence and
our hope and our acceptance and our love and our faith, all of
it must be in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must cast it all on
the spotless perfection of the Lamb of God. all of it, the one
who was torn and rent for the salvation of his people. May
everything be ascribed to him. Every spiritual blessing, every
heavenly pearl, may all of it be cast on him. May all of it
be cast on him by his grace and only by his grace. We will never
cast the pearls of salvation on the dogs and swine of our
own sinful flesh. We will not do it. By His grace,
we will not do it. Lord, cast our all on You, and
if You do that, it'll be cast out. If that's where You put
it, it'll be there. If You do that, it'll be done.
To Him be all the glory forever. Amen. All right, Brother Eddie,
you come.