Okay, go with me to Matthew's
Gospel, Matthew chapter 7, as we continue to look at our
Lord's wonderful Sermon on the Mount. This is the Lord God of
Heaven preaching. We need to sit up and pay attention.
This is not just any sermon. This is God's sermon, the Son
of God speaking. Every word is vital. Every word is vital. I learned so much from this,
and since you are no different than me, I know you need this
too and will be helpful. Look at verse 6. Our Lord said in Matthew 7, 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." Now, the Lord is speaking
to His disciples, and I consider myself one of His disciples,
and you do too. So He's speaking to us, and He's
telling them and us not to give God's holy Word to dogs, or not
to cast the gospel of Christ, which is the pearl, who is the
pearl of great price, to swine, lest they trample it under their
feet and turn on you. Now, if you are like I am, you
need the wisdom and the discretion to know what speaks and to whom
to speak, and who not to speak to, when to speak, when not to
speak, and how to speak. Do you? I do. When to speak,
not to speak, when not to speak, who to speak to, who not to speak
to, and how to speak when I do. And I feel like Paul, though
I know these things, but how to perform them I find not. And
I'm certainly no master on this subject. I'm learning with you.
I learned a great deal here. All right, now what he's talking
about? He talks about that which is holy. He's talking about the
holy Word of God. He says, don't give it to dogs.
Holy, as you know, means consecrated or sanctified, something that
is set apart or set aside from common, ordinary things for God,
consecrated, holy, set apart for God's glory. It's different
than anything else. It's holy. It's not common. It's not ordinary. It's something
other than, something higher than, okay? That which is holy. Now, God is holy. Holy, holy,
holy. God is holy. God is not to be
spoken of as we would speak of a common man, is it? Now the
things, the reason the Lord said this, in the last days men will be
blasphemous. God is holy. He is not to be
spoken of in a common way. He's not to be spoken of as we
speak of men. We don't refer to God as we refer
to men, as if we were talking about a man. God is holy. God is high. We don't use His
name in any way, any common way, but we make mention that His
name is exalted. David prayed, unite my heart
to fear His name. Is this needed now more than
ever? God's Word is holy. God is holy and His Word is holy. It's consecrated, set apart.
God's Word is not like any other book. God's Word is not to be used
as any other book. God's Word is not to be referred
to or quoted as we would quote any other man's book. It's not
to be quoted alongside with anything any man has to say. Like, well,
Gandhi says this, and the Bhagavad Gita says this, or the Koran
says this, or the Bible says that. God's word is holy. God said he's magnified
his word above his name. That's how zealous God is for
His Word. That's how zealous. And our Lord
gives this very careful command to us, don't do this, doesn't
He? Don't do them. God's Word, and
what a lesson this is for us in preaching. God's Word is to
be... I've heard this a thousand times
from my pastor. God's Word is declared, not explained. God's Word is declared, not shared
like we do a poem when we share a poem. No, sir. We're not talking
about the words of Rudyard Kipling. We're talking about the Word
of God. God's Word is to be declared, not to be argued, not to be debated. It's not even to be discussed
in an intellectual fashion. It's holding. Don't give that
which is holding to dogs. The Son of God is holy. He's called the Holy One of Israel.
Again, we're not to speak of Him in a common way. Jesus said
this. We refer to Him as He is, the
Lord Jesus. And we do not speak of Him or
His words lightly. He's not to be compared with
any man, is He? Not to be quoted as any other
man. God's Spirit is holy. Holy Spirit, isn't it? He is
not to be spoken of lightly. Oh, my. Oh, my. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, you can say a word against the Son of Man, but anybody that
says a word against the Spirit of God, unpardonable. What's
going on today? What's being said about the Spirit
of God? How has the Spirit's name been blasphemed? It's just
needed. It's just needed. Sure is. The
Spirit of God. And false preachers who are called
dogs themselves. In Isaiah 56. You've read it
with me. Dumb dogs. In Philippians 3. I can't tell you how many times
dogs are spoken of and we are warned about them. Philippians
3. Revelation, the very last chapter, one of the last things
he warns us of is outsider dogs. No. False preachers who are themselves
dogs give out this holy word. Speak of the holy God. In Psalm
22, our Lord, hanging on the cross, said, Give not my darling
to the dog. And how men take the gospel of
Christ, Christ dying on the cross, and cast it for swine to walk
on. We, now more than ever, if nobody
hears this, we need to know. Now, one of the great errors
of today, or blasphemy, is that men misapply the Word of God. And they give it out, all of
the Word of God, indiscriminately to everyone without exception
of them. And that's why you see all these signs with the Word
of God, if God be for us, on the back of 18 wheelers. If God
be for us, who can be against us? Who's that talking to? God's
people. That's not talking to everybody.
Now, this is the prevalent error today. Men who don't know the
Scriptures and twist it. Go with me to 2 Corinthians 1. Go over there. The promises of God are in Christ
and they are to those in Christ. The promises of God. Promises
of God. And men today misapply God's
Word and give it out indiscriminately to anyone and everyone. It doesn't
apply. It's giving that which is holy
to God. And all you hear today is, God
loves you and Jesus died for you. That's giving God's love to dogs. That's preaching Christ's blood
in such a way that swine trample all over it. Now, we've got to
deal with this. The Lord said to it. He warned
it. And it's not only a lie. Brother Barnard came to Ashland,
Kentucky, I don't know how many years ago, 1950. Preached a tent
meeting in Central Park, and all of the local churches were
there, so-called churches were there, and there were preachers
and people, a lot of people there weren't there. And he stood up
and said this, the two greatest lies ever been told, named neither
one of themselves. He said, number one, God loves
everybody. He said, that's a lie. Number
two, Christ died for everybody. He said, that's a lie. And he
said, and the ad was there, he said, you could hear everybody's
jaw hit the floor. Because that's what everybody
believes. That's what everybody believes. No prophet ever stood in a public
place and said that. We as preachers need to know
how to apply this Word. No prophet ever stood up and
told a crowd indiscriminately, God loves you. Never. No apostle ever stood up and
said that in a public place. Peter at Pentecost didn't even
mention the love of God. Oh, he did later to those that
repented and believed Christ. Jesus Christ is the pearl of
great price. Scripture talks about a jewel
of gold. The truth is like a jewel of
gold. You don't put it in a pig's nose. Let's look at 2 Corinthians
1, verse 20. It says, All the promises of
God in Him, that is, they're in Christ, are yea, yes, and
in Him. You see that? They're in Christ.
So that means they're to whoever's in Christ. As we've often said,
you know, if there was a bumper sticker on the ark, it was on
the inside. Smile. God loves you. But on the outside, it's a mockery
of God in it. And it's a mockery to men. It
doesn't mean a thing. God's love, God's promises, God's
Christ, these promises are in Him. Yea, and Amen in Him. And look at this, unto the glory
of God. To the glory of God. And thereby thus. Who's us? This was the church
at Corinth. And Paul was talking about himself
and Silas and Timothy who preached this gospel. We preach all of
God's Word, the whole counsel of God. We preach it to all men,
but apply it with discretion. We apply it with discretion.
You and I, when talking to people, witnessing, every one of us are
witnesses of the Lord, of the gospel. And we need to know,
don't we? We need to know when We are giving
something to a dog. Who's a dog? In the context,
the Lord spoke of judge not, didn't He? Judge not. Well, He's talking about your
brother. We need to know who that is, don't we? We need to know who that is. So this is where we need wisdom
from above, don't we? Wisdom greater than us. Discernment
that we don't have. We need wisdom like Solomon. The two ladies came to Solomon
and they both claimed to be true, didn't they? They both had a
story. He needed to get to the bottom of it. Who's telling the
truth? Who's real and who's not? We
need the same wisdom in dealing with people. In fact, we need
wisdom greater than that. We need the wisdom of our Lord
Himself. Our Lord dealt with everybody. All manner of men did. Our Lord
dealt a great deal with Pharisees. And Pharisees, go with me to
Proverbs 26. Proverbs 26. Our Lord dealt with
Pharisees. And of some of them, and we'll
read this in a little while, some of the Pharisees He told
His disciples, leave them alone. Didn't He? Leave them alone. And then at other times, Like
Nicodemus, he talked with him. He gave him an audience. He spoke to him. He even spoke
the truth to him. Pilate wouldn't say a word. Say
a word to him. Wouldn't answer him. Would he? The Lord talked with some, didn't
talk with others. The Lord dealt with the woman
at the well. We need to know how and who and when and when
not and so forth. Proverbs 26, and I can't tell
you how many verses I found concerning this. Let me read a few to you
and then we'll read that one. But in Proverbs 9 it says this,
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame. He that rebuketh
a wicked man will get himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner
lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he will
love thee. Give instruction to a wise man,
he'll be wiser, but don't rebuke a scorner." Well, I need to know
who a scorner is. Listen to this in Proverbs. He
says in verse 7, "...go from the presence of a foolish man
when you perceive not in him the lips of knowledge." In other
words, get away from him. I need to know, don't you? I
need to know who that is. Listen to this. In Proverbs 15,
he says, A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither
will he go unto the wise. Now here in Proverbs 26, these
two verses are back to back in verse 4 and 5. Answer not a fool according to
his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. If you go to the
book of Timothy and read what the Lord told Paul to tell young
Timothy, the preacher, he told him to avoid foolish questions. Don't answer them. Striving is
about the law. So the same thing with Titus.
Same thing with Titus, didn't it? Don't do it. Don't answer. I need to know. Do you? I need to know. When and who
not to speak to. Verse 5, though, the very next
verse says, answer a fool according to his folly. The Lord just said,
don't answer a fool. In other words, for a man, and
we'll go in more deeply here in a moment, but if we can discern
that this fellow is a fool, he doesn't really want to know the
truth. He wants to argue. Don't do it. Don't answer. If you perceive in him that he's
not going to receive a thing you say, don't answer him. But
then, the very next line says, answer him according to his father,
lest he be wise in his own conceit. Don't let him get away with that.
And he said to Titus, their mouths must be stopped. David one time said, I kept my
lips. Remember that? I was done with silence. I'm not going to say anything
before the wicket, but he said, while I amused, my heart was
burning. He said, finally, I couldn't
help myself. I had to say something. We needed
an old window unless we spout off. We don't want something
off the top of our heads. We want something from God's Word.
We don't want to, well, I'm getting ahead of myself. We need wisdom. Where do you get it? Any man lack wisdom, James said.
What'd he say? Let him ask. Let him ask. Father. Father in heaven who
gives it liberally. Need it? How much do you need?
Well, give me as much as Solomon. I don't have as many people to
lead, but I need the same wisdom. I'm not faced with as many people.
with our Lord, but at the same time, I need the same wisdom. I need to know how. Let him ask. I need to know whom to speak
to, whom not to, what to say, what not to say, when to speak,
when to be silent, how to say it. And listen, see if this doesn't
hit home. I don't want to use this verse,
casting pearls before swine, as an excuse for my cowardice. Anybody? Anybody? I see every head in here now.
I don't want to use this. Well, I don't want to cast my
pearls before swine when I'm just really afraid to say something. I don't want to do that. Nor
do I want to reject the wrong person. I don't want to call a man a
dog who's a sheep. I don't want to call a person
a swine when they're one of God's at last. Anybody need this? What to say? How to say it? When
to say it? I need it worse than anybody.
Go to Matthew 15. Now, here our Lord illustrates
this. Our Lord, this is shown clearly
in this Gospel of Matthew, discerning dogs and swine from sheep. Matthew
15. The Lord in this chapter is dealing
with Pharisees, and oh, how He was surrounded with dogs. And again, Psalm 22 said dogs
have surrounded him. And he's hanging on that cross.
They're all around him. Those same Pharisees. They're
just spewing out stuff. Did you catch the severe words
that Jude used a severe word. Why did he do that? Do you know
what they're saying about our God? Do you know what they're
saying about our Christ? Do you know what they're saying
to men about the truth, how they're twisting it? This is serious. Like our subject Sunday morning. This is the truth and this is
serious here. We're not playing games. It's a serious matter. It's a matter of life and death.
What men are saying is leading people to hell. No laughing matter. I mean, it's serious. And the
Lord used severe words in Jude and Titus and Timothy. Severe
words. Their mouths would be stopped.
Filthy beast, He called them. Ungodly men, Giena called them,
and so forth. And our Lord dealt with many
of them, these Pharisees. And He said to the people in
verse 9, In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. He said this four times in Mark's
Gospel, chapter 7, they lay aside the word of God and teach man's
word. Now that is evil, isn't it? Evil. Evil. That's keeping back man's only
hope from him. and lying on God. You see all
this stuff in the name of God that God supposedly said, this
God campaign on billboards, you know, a slogan that's got God's
name written on it? What if they just said that about
you? What if they put something like that about you? It's much
more serious. It wouldn't matter what it does. It does when it comes to our
Lord. And our Lord said they reject the Word of God teaching
of man. Now, verse 10, he called the
multitude to the people, the common people, and he said, You
listen to me, hear and understand. It's not that which goeth into
the mouth that defiled the man, but that which goeth out of the
mouth that defiled the man. Then came his disciples. Now,
Kelly, you and I were talking about this. The disciples, like
nearly everybody, were impressed with the Pharisees. These fellows
had the wool pulled over their eyes. That's why the Lord kept
He kept warning them. Beware of the Levitan scribes
and the Pharisees. He kept warning them over and
over and all the people. They were impressed. These fellows
came across as being very nice and very sweet and very kind
and very moral and very godly. I don't know if you see what
I'm talking about. And he said to the people, and
he said these things about the scribes and Pharisees quite And
the disciples came and they said, the Pharisees were offended. That's what the disciples said
to our Lord over in Luke's Gospel. Don't you know the Pharisees
were offended by this? You offended them. Well, here's how we said it in
verse 12. Noah said, the Pharisees were offended when they heard
this, and he said, Every plant my heavenly Father has not planted
shall be rooted up. Leave them alone. They'd be blind
leaders of the blind. They're making people fall into
the ditch. Think about David. When he said,
do not I hate them that hate thee. Oh, I hate them with a
perfect hatred. That is a mature hatred, an understanding
hatred. I consider them my enemy. I made
that sermon. I want to love my enemies, but
not God's enemies. So the Pharisees were offended. And the Lord said, leave them
alone. All right. Now, in the same chapter, in the same chapter,
A woman came to him. Look down in verse 21. He went
to the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Behold, a woman of Canaan came
out the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy
on me, Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But he answered her not a word."
And we've looked at this many times, but the Lord is trying
her. And you know, the Pharisees got
real mad when he was, remember when he was writing in the sand,
aren't you, don't you hear what we're saying? Remember that?
He didn't answer them as if he didn't hear them. And they were
demanding of him until he got rid of all of them,
except for one. They were getting to the heart
of what, who, who's true and who's not. And so he didn't answer
her, but he spoke to her through his disciples. She went to His
disciples and they came to Him and said, Send her away. She
cries after us. And He answered through them. He said, I'm not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Christ said through His
apostles, Go tell her I'm only here for my elect. I didn't come to save everybody.
You go tell her that I will save my elect lost sheep of the house
of Israel. I didn't come to save goats.
There are goats and there are sheep. I didn't come to try to
save all men. I came for my people. Salvation
belonging to the Lord, Psalm 3, His blessings upon His people.
You go tell her that. See how she responds. Well, then what did she do? She
came and She worshipped Him. Before she got an answer, before
she got a thing out of Him, before she got any mercy, she came to
the Lord Jesus for one reason, to worship. True worshippers
worship God. Lord help me. Then, He called
her a dog. Then he said to her, it's not
right, it's not fit, that I give the children bread. This is bread
from heaven. This is manna. I'm the bread
from heaven. That holy thing that came down
from heaven. Dogs aren't worthy of me. It's not right to give
this holy bread that belongs only to God's people to anybody,
especially a cat that's out there with a dog. He called her a dog. What's she going to say? She's
going to turn, get mad and run off. I'll have you know, I'm
a... It's how you know. She said, here's what she said,
the one word, truth. She didn't say, well, that's
true, but that's true and this is truth. In other words, everything
you are, You don't have everything you say about me. You don't have
to answer me. I'm unworthy. I'm a dog. Everything you say is absolute
truth. The whole truth and nothing but
the truth. Just give me some crumbs. I'm a dog, yeah, but
I'll be your dog. A whole woman. He said, praise
your faith. And I know he was smiling. with
joy saying this, I've never seen great is thy faith. Oh my. And her daughter was made whole
that very hour. Here's the key to understanding
it. Whoever says it, I can tell you
this much, whoever says they're a dog is not. They're probably a sheep. Does
that help? Whoever's out to worship, whoever
receives the Word of God, It's probably not a dog. It says it's
truth. Those on the contrary, on the
other hand, many who say they're sheep and yet hate the truth,
they're a dog. They're a dog. A wolf in sheep's
clothing. The point is, true seekers, true seekers. I heard just yesterday someone
asked one of our members what I preached on last Sunday. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't
believe it. I've never heard anybody ask
that. I've never heard anybody ask
that. You wait, Gabe. You know, you can talk to people
about their occupation. Someone works on a railroad and
you can talk to them all day about the railroad and be interested
in them, but they won't ask you one thing. about what you believe,
what you do. Not one thing. They're not interested.
They don't want to talk about it. Talk to somebody that's a
plumber about plumbing. Talk to somebody that's an electrician
about electricity. But they won't ask you one thing. It's like
you've got AIDS. But this woman, Brother Marvin,
a woman said to him one time, what is the truth? My, my. Even far between, aren't they? God give us. People like that. And one of the old writers said,
reproofs are taken by sinners. Here's the key. If you can find
a sinner, tell him the gospel. They're a hard thing to find,
aren't they? I'll have you know I'm as good
as any other man. Walk off. But if you can find a sinner,
you can tell him. Christ came to save sinners. Their reproach is scorners. A
scorner, what you say about sin and being a sinner is a reproach
to them. Sinners receive it as a rebuke
that they do. I can stand up here all day.
We can stand up here all day and call God's people dogs, worms,
wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked, and they'll all just sit
there. That's right. That means they're not. That
means that they're whom the world's not worthy. That they're sheep. My sheep hear my voice. What
is His voice? It's a voice of wrath. It's a
voice of love. It's a voice of firm voice. It's a voice of kindness. It's
a strong, loud voice. It's a soft voice. It's a voice
of reproof. It's a voice of exhortation.
It's a voice of conviction. It's a voice of comfort. They
receive it all. They receive it all. I need that.
I need that. I can't tell you how many times
I've preached messages with almost apologizing, but it's the Lord's
word like this. And those I think don't need
it, it convicts them the most. Those that do aren't even there. The Lord knows. But, you know, we need to know,
after talking with someone, discern who they are and what they are,
as good as anyone else. No, you're not one of God's own.
Don't need any mercy or sovereign grace. Well, then you're a dog.
What to say and how, all right? Our Lord dealt with the rich
young ruler one time, didn't He? How to deal with different
people. We meet different people from
all walks of life, and we need to know where they are and how
to deal with them. The rich young ruler, the Lord
didn't deal with him like He did the woman at the well. The
same basic truth. But the rich young ruler, here's
what He said to him. He met him where he was. He said,
sell everything you have and follow Me. Because how hardly
shall they that have riches have it. Oh, that convicted him greatly. Nicodemus. Then he dealt with
Nicodemus. Listen, the rich young ruler,
one of the gospels says the Lord beholding him loved him. Only
time it ever says Jesus loves somebody. Only time in the Bible that he loved that man. So this
rich young ruler came up to him and says the Lord seeing him
loved him. How do you think he dealt with
it? He told him the truth in love. But it convicted him. It made him where he was with
the truth. He didn't pull any punches, we
like to say. He didn't mince any words, did he? He told the
truth. Man needs to hear this. It convicted him greatly. And
he went away sorrowful. But we think he's the apostle
Paul. Brother Todd and I do anyway.
You can't prove us wrong. If the Lord loved him, I guarantee
you this, he saved him. He saved him. Whoever he was,
he saved him. He loved him. But he dealt with
him in that way. And Nicodemus one time came to
him. And can you hear this? Can you hear Nicodemus? I've
run into many of them. Good Master, we know that you do the things
that come from God. You couldn't if God was not with
you. And you say, you know, and he began to tear down his intellect.
You must be born again. You're not going to figure this
thing out, are you? You've got to be born of God, like a little
baby. I have it totally revealed to
you. And Nicodemus, huh, he said, you a master and you don't know
these things? Our Lord had so much wisdom. I need the same
wisdom. I run into Nicodemus' all the
time. Woman at the well. Here was a woman. Married five
times. Living with a man. But she's
religious. She's still religious. She went
somewhere where they told her it's alright to live with somebody. And the Lord said to her, that
man you're living with is not your husband. and this water,
and you're trying to get all this satisfaction from these
men and from this world and everything in it, and it's not going to
satisfy you. I've got water that you need.
And if you knew, you would ask, and I would give it to you. He created a need in her. She
said, give me this water. He convicted her of her sin.
Oh, don't you know, that smote her. That man you're living with
is not your husband. He'd been a miserable failure
as a wife. I convicted her. Oh, I'm a sinner. Give me this
water that I don't thirst again. And he revealed himself to Nicodemus. And on and on it goes. On and
on it goes. Oh, man, I had so much more to
say on this, but I've got to quit. What to say? What do we say? Well, it's safe
to say to anyone we come across And here's what our Lord told
one person. Go home and tell your friends,
tell your family, what great things the Lord has done for
you. You cannot go wrong there, can you? And in doing that, you
know who we're talking about now. We're not talking about
ourselves. We're not talking about our church. We're not talking about
even the preacher or the message. We're talking about what great
things the Lord has done for us. And you start with the Lord. Oh, God is holy. God is sovereign. God saveth whom He will. God
hath mercy on whom He will. And I was a wretched sinner,
blind, miserable, poor, naked. I kept blind and I was blind.
Now I see why. Because God revealed Himself
to me. I didn't figure it out. God was seeking me. I wasn't
seeking Him. God called me. I wasn't calling on Him. Salvation
of the Lord. This is what happened to me. I tell them what great things
the Lord has done for you. Speak the truth." And Paul said,
go back to Jude and read this in closing again. It will mean
more to you this time. In Jude, in closing, Paul told
young Timothy, oh my, listen to me, I don't want to
misquote it. He said, The servant of the Lord must not strive,
but be gentle unto all, apt to teach, ready to teach, patient
in meekness, instructing those that oppose himself. If God for
adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the
truth." And he said, in another place, we speak the truth in
love. It's better to err on the side
of love and kindness than being hard, that's for sure. But even
in love sometimes a scorner will hate you. A scorner will always
hate you. But he did tell us to speak the
truth in love. We can be dogmatic without being
proud. We can be firm and still be kind,
can't we? You can speak the truth. And
today, they call it a message of hate, don't they? When really,
you tell men the truth, it's a message of love. We're trying
to keep men's souls out of hell. We're telling the truth. But
they call it hate. Hatemonger. Hateless. No, it's
not. We can warn people without being
angry at them. Look at this. Did this really
strike you? Verse 22, it said, Of some have
compassion making a difference. That's what we need. We need discernment in who we're
dealing with and how to deal with them. have some compassion
and make a difference. Others save with fear. In another
place, well, he told young Timothy, he said, preach the Word. Be
instant, always, in season, out of season. Listen to it. Reprove,
rebuke, correct with all longsuffering and doctrine. You that are spiritual, the man
be overtaken of the fault. You that are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of kindness, considering thine own self. So,
I need something that I just don't have. My nature. Wisdom that comes from above. This discernment of how to deal
with people. Alright, how? How are we going
to get it? And we've already answered that. How did Solomon
get his? He answered lots of hard questions.
He dealt with so many people. How did he get it? He asked the Lord for it. He
didn't ask for riches. He didn't ask for health. He
asked for wisdom, and the Lord gave it to him, an uncommon wisdom,
wisdom from above, like our Lord's wisdom. So I need to say, well,
ask, he said, in the very next line we're going to look at,
he said, ask, and you'll see. Okay, stand with me.