These studies through the Lord's
Sermon on the Mount have generally been brought on Sunday
night and Wednesday night, but this one is of such importance
and so striking to me, I thought I would bring it this morning. And I said the last time that
I was going to include this verse with the previous study, but
after looking at it, it deserved more time and a whole message
in itself. Let's read verse 6. This is the
only verse we're going to look at. Verse 6, Matthew 7. The Lord Jesus Christ is preaching,
teaching, speaking to the people. Says in verse six, 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. Pearls before swine, that is
the title of this message, or it could be entitled, Religion
Gone to the Dogs. Nothing our Lord says is insignificant. Everything he said, everything
that came out of his mouth, was of the utmost importance and
full of divine wisdom and vital and of eternal consequences,
every word he uttered. And as with everything our Lord
said, one single verse carries with it divine authority and
power. And I believe this message will
shake up all preconceived notions of preaching, of witnessing,
the gospel to unbelieving, the unbelieving world. Now, what we are doing here this morning is a holy thing. There's nothing holy about this
building. There's nothing holy about these things. But what we are doing here, the
worship of God, the reading of God's, it's called God's holy
word. The reading of God's holy word,
the praying that we do, the singing of hymns of praise. What we do
here this morning, what we're doing is a holy thing. There's no place for levity. There's not much place. There's
no place really for joking and foolishness. carrying on and
all of that. What we're doing here is ministering
about the tabernacle and the things of God. Believers are
called kings and priests unto God. And we minister about the
tabernacle. You know the story in the Old
Testament, how that God ordained common priests to go about the
courtyard and minister about the things of the tabernacle.
That's what we all are. That's what that verse in Revelation
is talking about, Brother Henry. You're a king and a priest. There's
only one king and there's only one great high priest. But you're
a king and you're a ruler in the church. You're a priest in
your home. And all of us here are ministering about the tabernacle
right now, especially I am. This is a solemn time, a very
serious time, an important time. We're dealing with matters of
life, death, judgment, and eternity. Our souls are at stake. This is why the Apostle Paul
said, Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I
preach not. the gospel, isn't it? It's too
serious. We have unbelieving children.
We have unbelieving relatives. We have unbelieving friends.
We may be unbelievers, and our souls are at stake. Woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel, but rather let this time degenerate
into a service of non-essential things. And our message is not one of
negative things, strictly blasting false religion, but as I've said
so many times, a faithful watchman will point out the wolves, will
warn the sheep of danger. Religion today has gone to the
dogs. I'm not trying to be clever here.
But I believe this is exactly the meaning of what our Lord
is saying here. That which is meant to be holy, the worship
of God, you read it for yourself in Jeremiah 7, that which is
meant to be holy has been reduced to food and fun for all. The preaching of the gospel has
been relegated to the scrap heap. It's a kind of a sideline thing
now instead of instead of the central thing that goes on in.
And so-called churches. It's relegated to the side. I
challenge you. I challenge everyone in here
to pick up the average bulletin that is produced in the average
denomination all over town, wherever you go, pick it up, look at it,
see what it consists of, see what the services are, what's
going on in the services. What you will find is various
announcements, various this and that and the other, song after
song, after song, after choir, after special, after invocation,
after this and that and the other. And you have to hunt and search
for the preaching. Down here it'll say 20 minutes.
preaching by the pastor, and then on and on again. Not here. Not going to get that way here,
by God's grace. Not going to get that way. The
reading of the Scriptures. This is so important. This is
so important. Dare we meet before God Almighty
and not open up His Holy Word and see what He has to say to
us. The reading of the Scriptures is so important. The real pouring
out of one's heart has been replaced with various things. Services
are reduced to food and fun for all. Brother Barnard, Brother Ralph
Barnard, he was like a John the Baptist come to town. That man
was full of salt, so saucy. He said whatever came to his
mind, but it was constantly on his heart. John the Baptist said
it. He called a spade a spade. But
Brother Ralph Barnard used to say preachers are entertaining
sinners on their road to hell. I want you to turn over with me
to Ezekiel forty-four, the book of Ezekiel chapter forty-four. Isaiah, Lamentations, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, chapter 44. Our Lord said, Give
not that which is holy unto dogs. Paul said in Philippians 3, he
said, Beware of what? Dogs. The concision of religious
leaders. Did you know that the pulpit
and a pew today are filled with dogs? Isaiah, I'm not laughing, it's just sad,
but Isaiah, he certainly did reveal false preachers for what
they are. And he said in chapter fifty-six,
verse ten and eleven, he said, the watchmen, preachers, they're
blind, they're ignorant, they're dumb dogs. They can't even bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving
us. Greedy dogs, he said. Greedy dogs. Got their pockets
open. Never have enough. Well, the
blind are leading the blind today, and everyone's falling into a
dip. There are uncircumcised strangers
in the house of God. Ezekiel 44 is saying here. Look
at it with me. Ezekiel 44, look down at verse
9. Thus saith the Lord God, no stranger. Now, he's talking about ministering
before the congregation. He's talking about The priest
back then, he's talking about preachers today. No stranger,
uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my
sanctuary. Of any stranger that is among
the children of Israel, and the Levites that are gone away far
from me, when Israel went astray, which
went astray away from me after their idols, they shall even
bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in
my sanctuary." They're preaching, having charge at the gates of
the house, ministering to the house. They slay the burnt offering,
they sacrifice the people. They shall stand before them
to minister unto them, because they ministered unto them before
their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity.
Therefore, have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the
Lord God? and they shall bear their iniquity. They shall not
come near unto me to do the office of a priest unto me, nor come
near to any of the holy things in the most holy place, but they
shall bear their shame and their abomination which they have committed."
There are strangers, people who are strangers to the covenant
of promise, men who are, he quoted, uncircumcised in heart, unsaved
men preaching about idols, gods that cannot save. You know, God
has done all he can do. Now it's up to you. He can't
do, he's done all he can do. He can't save you unless you
let him and so forth. Idols, figments of men's imagination,
greedy dogs and so forth. Religion has gone to the dogs. And then in our text, the Lord
says here in verse six of Matthew seven, he says, neither cast
ye your pearls before swine. Everybody here is familiar with
that verse. We've quoted it. Neither cast
ye your pearls before swine. Pearls. Well, look at Matthew
13, over a few chapters to Matthew 13 with me. What pearls is the
Lord talking about here? What is that pearl, that great
pearl? pearl of great price. It's Jesus
Christ is who it is, the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at Matthew 13, verse 45. Now, this will be a very
informative, very instructive, very interesting message to you
if you stay with me. Verse 45, now, the Lord gave
this parable in Matthew 13 and says, Now the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, seeking many things. And many people are seeking religion,
seeking this and that and the other, seeking peace, seeking
happiness, seeking whatever in religion, pearls, when they don't
know that one pearl will suffice. Who, this man, when he was seeking
goodly pearls, verse forty-six, when he found one pearl of great
price, great value, went and sold all that he had and bought
it. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
the religion a man or a woman needs. In him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead in one person, in a body. He is all
the religion men and women need. The Scriptures speak of Jesus
Christ as being full of unsearchable riches. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, wealth that can never be told, riches exhaustless
of mercy and grace. My, my. In Christ, they're called
an inheritance incorruptible, an incorruptible inheritance.
The Scripture says, In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. And those who have Christ are
rich. beyond understanding, rich toward
God. God said, He has made Christ
to be unto us wisdom. A man who has Christ knows everything. Do you know that? That's what
1 Corinthians 2 says. He that is spiritual discerneth
all things. We have the mind of Christ. That's
the only way you can discern all things, is seeing all things
gathered together in one in Christ. Wisdom. You know how to get to
God. You know who God is. You know
how you can approach God. You know how you're going to
be with God. Accepted by righteousness. We covered that last week. What
you desperately need before a holy God. Sanctification. We've got to be changed. We've
got to be holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight.
Christ is made unto us for sanctification and redemption, all these things.
And the Scripture says we are blessed with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies. Your name is written in the breastplate.
If you trust Christ, if you believe Christ, if you rest in Christ,
if you know Christ, your name is spoken in heaven right now. Your name. is being mentioned
in heaven right now. Christ is our dwelling place,
the scripture says. You know, there's a lot of people
looking for mansions in heaven. Everybody's talking about the
mansions in heaven. I'm not looking for a mansion. I'm looking for
a man. I'm looking for a mansion. Christ
is my dwelling place. I'm looking for a man. Like old
brother Ed Hale's song says, I'll be looking for Scari. I
know I'll see Moses and Elijah, old Daniel and Samson I'll see,
but I won't have much time to talk to them. I'm looking for
the one that died for me. Not a mansion, but a man. And
in him, in Christ, is gold, silver, precious stone, pearl of great
price. The person and the work of Christ.
Let me talk to you a minute here. The person in the work of Christ,
what we call the gospel, is absolutely the most glorious
thing that God Almighty has ever created. It's the most glorious
and magnificent creation. In it are contained all of the
wisdom that God Almighty can reveal to human beings—all all
of the glory of God's person, all of the beauty, all of the
majesties of heaven, infinite glories. Christ and his gospel
are full of wonder. And I don't expect you to understand
this unless you've seen that wonder and amazement. Christ
and his gospel are full of glory and splendor, glorious things,
splendid things. splendid thing. And they deserve,
Christ, His person, His work deserve every accolade, the highest
praise, the highest honor, the highest glory and worship that
man can drum up. The highest. And even then we
won't touch the hem of the garment. Even then we won't rightfully
understand, because I hadn't seen, neither have ears heard,
nor entered into the heart of Man, the things that God has
prepared for them that love Him. Even true believers can't enter
into the spirit of worship, cannot rightly understand who Christ
is and what He's done. And certainly no mere mortal
man, a preacher, can stand up here and proclaim the excellencies
of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would take an
eternity. That's what we're going to be
doing throughout eternity, is sitting with our mouths wide
open. our eyes wide open, gaping in wonder and amazement at the
excellencies of the knowledge of the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't do it in thirty minutes,
forty-five minutes, an hour. It takes an eternity. That's
what we're going to be doing. Perhaps a man is a fool to stand
up and try, but nevertheless the Lord says, do it. Get up
there. and speak of the excellencies
of the knowledge of Christ. Lord, I'm just a child, Jeremiah
said. Moses said, well, I'm not an eloquent man. I can't do that.
Paul said, who's sufficient for these things? I can't do it.
Timothy said, I'm just a boy. Do it anyway. All right. But you know, even though you have this glorious
message, a person in the work of Christ, You could take one attribute
of the Lord Jesus Christ, one attribute of our great God, and
preach on it for the next twenty years. Even though that's true, men
today, the gospel today, so-called gospel today, is like a jewel
in a swine's snout, like a gold ring in a pig's nose. It's like a diamond in a sow's
ear. The gospel, this glorious gospel, in the hands of swine. And they've cast it down and
trodden it underfoot to where men and women think this gospel,
this glorious person and work of Christ is just something you
can do with as you please. You can accept or you reject.
Or I might listen, I might not. Beg me to come and I might come
listen. Methodism today. You know, this
is Methodism's byword. You've ever seen this bumper
sticker on cars of people that belong to the so-called United
Methodist Church? You know what it says? It says,
Offer them Christ. That's the byword. It's been
around for several years now. Have you seen it? Anybody seen
it? It's on the bumper sticker of those who call themselves
Methodists. I remind you, George Whitefield
started that, the Methodist, not that same, but he started
the Methodist church. Offer them Christ? The Scripture
says Jesus Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
And this man, the Scripture says, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Christ is not to be offered unto men. He's to be declared unto
men. He's not up for acceptance or
rejection. We are. You understand that? You do here. Most don't. Christ is not—nowhere in the
Scriptures does it say, accept him. No. He is not on the auction
block here. He is not up for our acceptance
or rejection. We are, though. We stand before
him. It is not, what will you do with
Jesus? It is, what is the Lord of glory going to do with me?
He is not to be offered. He is to be worshipped. Barnard used to say this. Here's
another one of his sayings. Barnard used to say, men are
trying to sell Jesus. They're trying to sell him. Just
like Judas did for thirty pieces of silver. He said, if they can't
get a dollar, they'll take a dime. They'll give you Jesus for whatever
you're willing to pay for. Doesn't that describe religion
today? Casting the pearl of great price
before men and women who could care less and trod underfoot. I believe this is the essence
of what the Lord is saying here. Preaching. Let me talk to you
in two ways. Let me dwell on this casting
your pearls before swine in this matter of preaching and the matter
of witnessing. This is the context. Our Lord
had been talking about judge not and so forth. And then he
brings this up and says, don't cast your pearls before swine.
We need to rightly divide the word of truth. Jude said, of
some have compassion and of others make a difference. I didn't quote
that just right, but that's the essence of what Jude said. Some
having compassion, but just have some discernment here. Don't
cast this great pearl before swine. All right, I'm going to
talk about preaching and we'll talk about witnessing. Preaching. Number one, what is being preached
today? What is being preached today?
This is the crux of preaching today. God loves you. Christ
died for you. Right? Now, let's talk about
the love of God this morning. The love of God. That seems unbelievable. Let's talk about the love of
God this morning. I have fifteen minutes. Let's
talk about the love of God. You can't do it. The love of
God, that love which drew up salvation. Oh, the love that
drew salvation's plan, the God's plan. Oh, the grace that brought
it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span. The love of God. Oh, love of
God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong. It shall forevermore
endure, the saints and angels, the love of God. How long do
we have to talk about it? That drew up salvation's plan,
that conceived this covenant. What a glorious word, the mighty
covenant of redemption, and elected a people, chose a people out
of a doomed race, a people that were going to hell, going to
split hell wide open. But yet the love of God set his
affection on some of those scoundrels. and sent the Lord Jesus Christ
down to be a sacrifice for them, a substitute for them, to purchase
their pardon, to become a bloody sacrifice that they might go
free, to take their weapon, those scoundrels, and then sends the
Holy Spirit in time to call them to a place they don't want to
come, yet woo them and convict them and convince them and draw
them, Scripture says, draw them with cords of love. It's the
goodness of God that led you to repent. The goodness of God,
the love of God, that everlasting love that goes on to say, I've
loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
I've drawn thee to me, yea, you. The love of God, that love of
God which shows a holy and a righteous and a just God who doesn't have
to save anybody. But yet it shows this holy God
who's of two pure eyes to look upon iniquity. It shows this
holy God reaching down into the muck and the mire and pulling
out a filthy, wretched, vile, despicable creature who is no
soundness in him from the sole of his feet to the top of his
head, and watching him and and the blood of Christ and pure
water, clothing him in a glorious white pristine robe of righteousness,
setting him up there, changing, whittling, conforming him to
the blessed image of his Son, and someday taking that worm
all the way to the throne of glorious self, turning him, transforming
him or her into a Son of God Almighty, glorious to the eye,
a spectacle to be beheld by angels themselves. Talk about the love of God quickening,
changing. Yet preachers today are casting
this pearl to porcelain. Aren't they? They're saying,
God loves you, and God loves you, and He wants to save you
if you'll let Him. What does that make of the love
of God? What does that say about the love of God to you? Come
on, just take that out to its practical application, to its
logical conclusion, okay? God loves you. He's done all
He can do. He wants to save you. He loves
you. He wants to save you if you'll let Him. But He can't
unless you let Him. He's done all He can do. It's
up to you. He loves you, though. What does that tell you about
the love of God? Doesn't that make the love of God powerless? He said, God loves me, yet I'm
going to go to hell anyway. What kind of love is that? It's
powerless love. He can't do anything for you.
He's done all he can do. Let me tell you something. If
God's done all he can do, that's all that can be done. It makes
the love of God cheap and worthless, doesn't it? Doesn't that make
the love of God cheap? God loves you. He has a wonderful
plan for your life, but he can't fulfill it. You have to do it. What do I need the love of God
for, then? If it's up to me, why do I need the love of God?
It makes the love of God of no value to anyone. And I've used
this illustration before. I love my daughter. I love her
dearly. She's the apple of my eye on
this earth. One of them. But I love my daughter dearly.
Now, as much as life within my power I'm going to give her the
very best of things. As much as life was in my power,
because of my love to her, Nancy, I'm going to keep her from harm
to the point of laying down my life for her. If it was within
my power to keep her from all harm, all bad influences, from
ever being hurt, from ever being in harm's way, if it was within
my power, because I love her so much, I would do it. Wouldn't you? For your children? Well, sure you would if you didn't.
If you wouldn't, you wouldn't love them, really. I can't. I can't. Hannah, your daddy is
powerless. Only by the grace of God. God
gives me all the strength I need. God's not powerless. He says, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. His love is sovereign. His love
is omnipotent. Not impotent, omnipotent, all-powerful. If he sets his love and affection
on a child of Adam, they're going to be his. They're going to be
given the best of things. They're going to be taken out
of harm's way, except only what he allows to happen for their
good. But he's going to take—that love
will take that child all the way to safety. Salvation! Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan is more than a plan. I'm not so sure I like that word,
plan. It means you draw something up and hope it comes to pass.
No, it's a purpose. God purposed it. He said, I've
purposed it. Shall I not do it? I've spoken
it. I'll bring it to pass. And He
says to old sinners, I've loved you. I've loved you. Started way back when. I'll have
you. And nobody's going to have you.
You're not your own. You're bought with a price. And
what I love, I say. Never mind. I don't have that
power. If I did, I'd exercise it. God
does, and He does. Love. Hail sovereign love that
first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free,
eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God
who rules the sky, I fought with hand afflicted eye. I didn't
like it. This is a sinner, a beggar, you
know. Indignant justice, though, stood in view. God's holiness.
But to Sinai's fiery mount I flew. I can keep the law. But justice
cried with frowning face, You can't come near this mountain.
It's no hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress. I found I have no hiding place.
Not too long, a heavenly voice I heard, and mercy's angel form
appeared and led me on with a gentle pace to Jesus Christ, my hiding
place." Hail sovereign love, sovereign love. That's pearl
number one. If we could go on polishing up
and talking about that glorious pearl and holding that before
the sons of men, we're not going to cast it down there to do with
as you please, are we? I'm not going to cast it down
under the swine's feet. We're going to hold it up for
the sheep to behold and to glory and to worship God about. The love of God is not to be
accepted or rejected or done with you, you please. It's to
be had in admiration and glory. Pearl number two, the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now listen to this. The Scripture says, it is the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Isn't it? That's what it says in John David.
It is the blood. He says, the life of the flesh
is in the blood, and I've given it to you on the altar. For a
sacrifice, it's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Not when I see your faith. Get
it? When I see the blood. That's the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, isn't it? Now talk about the crucifixion of Christ,
what he did at Calvary. When I see what he did on your
behalf, I'll pass over you. How important is the blood? How important is the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ? How important was that blood
back to those Israelites in the days of the tabernacle? Ask that
Israelite standing out there, standing outside the Eastern
Gate. Ask him. Ask those bunch of people huddled
up who had sinned against God a great sin. And Moses said,
I don't know if God will accept you or not. I don't know what
God's going to... He wants to... God is going to
wipe you out if something's not done. Time and time again this
happens. They sinned against God. And
Moses said, I better go in. Aaron better go away. As those
people stand out there who would stand against God who had wrote
risen up in rebellion against God. Ask them how important the
blood is. And Aaron, the high priest, goes
in there to the holy of holy place with a bowl of blood in
his hand, his hands shaking like a leaf, buddy. He knows who's
in there. It's your kind of glory of God
Almighty. God Almighty. He takes that blood in there,
and the door or the flap of the tent closes behind him. How important
is that blood, sir? If God doesn't accept that blood,
we're gone. If God doesn't accept that sacrifice,
if we don't see smoke rise up through that tent, we're goners. He's going to wipe us out. Ask that little woman sitting
in that hut today, the death angel, that little hut in Egypt.
Ask that Israelite woman sitting in that hut with all her little
children around her and her husband as a death angel passes through
Egypt slaying every firstborn. Ask her. She's got her arms around
her firstborn lovely child, and here comes a death angel through
those trees. How important is the blood to you? Ask her, is it your faith that's
going to save you to keep you from dying? Huh? Is it your good
work? Is it your morality? Is it your Jewish heritage? Is
it because you're a Jew you're going to be saved? Oh, no, she
said. Go outside and look on the door. It's that blood. That's
what's going to save me and my house. It's that blood. You ask the true child of God,
what is it to save you? Is it your faith? Is it your
decision in Jesus? on Jesus? Is it your worth? Is
it your sincerity, your religiosity, your knowledge, how much you
know about sovereign grace? Is that what's going to save you,
Sherry Anderson?" They'll say, no, it's the blood. It's the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, by His own precious blood,
entered into the holy place, not made with hands. He entered
into there at once, having obtained eternal redemption for man. It's
the blood. And He's right now pleading His
blood and His person, his work, before the right hand of God.
That's what saves. That's who saves. The person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is all my salvation. All of it. Who he is? He's the
Son of God. God must accept him. Spotless
Lamb of God, we need a Lamb. Not any will do. We've got to
have God's Lamb. It must be, it shall be perfectly
accepted, without spot or without blemish. I can't produce one. What he did, what did Christ
do? He made sin for me. He took my licking. He took every
stroke of God's wrath against me. Death, judgment, hell, he
bore it all for me. Where he is now, where Christ
is right now, is all my salvation. There's a man at the right hand
of God. And not just any man, it's the
God-man, the God-man, the Son of Man. At the right hand of
God, he says, Now I ever lived to make intercession for you.
He first bones in a tomb in Jerusalem. That's the bones of a man named
Jesus. He said, I'm lost. I'm a goner. But if there's a
man sitting at the right hand of God who has scars in his hands
and his feet, and God's smiling at him, I'm saved. Not because of what I've done,
not because of who I am, not because of what I haven't done.
Because of who he is, where he is right now, what he's done.
Now let's talk about this thing of witnessing for about five
minutes. Give me five minutes, would you?
This is interesting. And I gleaned much of this from
Arthur W. Pink, a man I had great confidence
in that he was a true and faithful preacher of the gospel. Preaching
bears witness of that. Witnessing. Look at the text
again. Verse six. 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. Nowhere in the scriptures I challenge
any man on the top side of God's earth, preacher, I don't care
if he is a doctor, I don't care if he has degrees, I challenge
any man anywhere, any woman, whoever it may be, anywhere,
to find in the scripture anywhere where one single prophet one single apostle, one single
preacher ever approached anybody at any time and tell them that
God loved them and Jesus Christ died for them. Find it. You'll
not find it. It's not in there. Did you know,
John, did you know this? I found this out. Jesus Christ,
He preached everywhere. You know, He didn't preach in
the streets, though. He didn't stand on the street corner. He
went into the synagogue. That's significant, because those
who were seeking the Lord came to him, and he preached to them. Seek me, and you'll find me.
Well, he didn't go out on the street. He went out on the hilltop,
yes, but it says his disciples came to him. Did you know that
Jesus Christ, in all of his preaching in public, never talked about
the love of God Almighty? You know that? Did you know that? He only did
it in private, Terry, to his disciples. He said, The Father
loves you because you love me. Look it up. I challenge anybody. The book of Acts, wherein are
recorded all of the preaching, all of the travels, missionary
journeys of all the apostles. Acts of the early church, the
preaching of the early church, the word love is never mentioned
one time. That's all that's being preached
today. Sammy, they go up indiscriminately to anybody on the street. God
loves you. You can't say that. Christ didn't say that. Do you know that Christ didn't
even preach the atonement to everyone without exception? No, he didn't. No, he didn't.
He spoke many things in parables. Why'd he do that? You know, the
disciples couldn't understand that either. He spoke in parables.
Henry, he'd get up, and there'd be a large crowd, and the disciples
would say, Hey, we're going to have a revival now. There's going
to be a lot of people. Get saved now. Our boy's got
a big crowd now. They're going to join our church.
Peter, you're going to have ten more members. And the Lord was
preaching parables. And everybody ended up scratching
their heads. And the disciples pulled him over to the side and
said, Lord, why are you preaching parables? He said, because it's given unto
you to understand. It's not given unto them. If
I wanted him to understand, I'd make it understandable. He said,
I want you to understand, and therefore I'm going to reveal
it to you. He never revealed the meaning
of those parables to everyone without exception. He did to
his disciples. He was transfigured before three men. We beheld his
glory as of the only begotten, full of grace and truth, Peter
said. Was that Peter that said that?
We beheld his glory. Who did? Three men. Three fishermen. Oh Christ, Lord, show everybody
who you are and they'll fall down and worship you. No, I'm
not going to. I don't want them to. I want
you to. I could if I wanted to, but I'm
not. Three men. When he rose from the grave,
oh, now they're going to believe. Now everybody's going to believe
he rose from the grave. Roberta, he only appeared to
his disciples. Did you know that? He didn't
go out in the streets and say, I'm a risen. He said it to his
people, I'm risen. Not to everybody. He did these things from the
wise and the prudent, self-sufficient, self-righteous. Pilate had him
before him. Now, here's your opportunity,
Lord. Here's your opportunity to preach the message that's
never been preached before. Pilate said, What is truth? What a sermon topic. What a message. What's he going to say? Him who
is truth. Tell him, Lord. I'm not giving to him. He didn't
answer him, did he? What is truth? He turned to his disciples at
one time and said, I'm the truth. Didn't he? Come here, I want
to let you in on something. I'm the truth. I'm going to tell
you the truth. I'm going to let you in on some
secrets. But it's been kept hid from the foundation of the world.
But in these last days are revealed unto who? of the church. The church. Let me, in closing, read this
to you from what Brother Pink said. Don't get comfortable, listen
to me. See that Bible closure about a time ago? No, I want
you to listen to me. I didn't just, I'm not filling
up the last five minutes here. I wrote, I put this down for
your edification. In certain circles, it has been
taught that once a man or a woman, as soon as a person experiences
the saving grace of God in his heart, it's his bound duty to
preach Christ to all his acquaintances and endeavor to become a soul
winner. And if he doesn't, he is indifferent
to people around him and he doesn't care about the welfare of those
around him. Where did Christ or any of his
apostles bestow such a commission on any young convert. Didn't the Lord say, go home
and tell your people what great things the Lord has done for
you? Listen to this. Where did Christ
or any of his apostles bestow such a commission? He says in
Psalm 66, verse 16, Come and hear all ye that Fear God, and
I will declare what he hath done for my son." That warns us against publishing
the most sacred experiences of our heart to all and anybody
without exception, to the unregenerate who have no more capacity to
appreciate the sovereign operations of the Spirit than swine do to
rate pearls of great value. But is not the young convert
a witness for Christ? Yes, but how? Peter said, you should show forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Brother Pink says, a changed
life, an unworldly walk is most effective witness of all. Didn't
I tell you before, I said, didn't Christ say, let your light shine?
He didn't say, let your horn toot. Huh? Words come easy, folk. We talk
a good ball. It's easy to talk a good ball
game. You can tear it all down with one action. Zeal needs to
be tempered with knowledge. The holy things of the gospel
are not to be thrown out there indiscriminately. The precious
secrets of his love, which the Lord has revealed to us, are
not to be communicated to his enemy. God doesn't love everybody. His wrath abides on some people.
He's angry with some people. That might be better to say some
people, God's angry with you. If believers defy this
restriction, they must not be surprised at meeting with insults
and incurring the ire of those that they attempt to force these
mysteries upon. Christ said about the Pharisees, Jude, I tried to quote this,
Jude 22 is where it is, of some have compassion making a difference. What a discriminating word is
that? Making a difference. We are bidden to go from the
presence of a fool, Proverbs 14, 7, when thou perceivest not
in him the words of wisdom. Leave him alone. We are not to lower our Christian
dignity by arguing with him. We are bidden to be ready. Listen
to this verse. We've all quoted it. Be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is
in you. Right? Not beat him down and
make him listen to you. When asked, you know, there's
another verse in Proverbs twenty-two, verse twenty-one, it says, him
that sinned unto thee. So Paul did. They sinned unto
him. He said, come, we will hear the
things you have to say. So he preached upon those of Griffin and Felix
and all that, with meekness and fear, not with bombast and impudence. The epistles of the New Testament
are to be read to who? Who are the epistles to be read
unto? What did the apostles say at the end? I charge thee that
thou art to read these epistles to who? The Church, the Holy Brethren.
Right? And cast these things before
swine. We've got to make a difference,
haven't we? We've got to have some discernment. That's what
we're to pray. We pray for wisdom. We pray for discernment. Have
compassion. But make a difference. And know
whom to talk when the Lord opens the door and when he doesn't.
You know, the Lord will open his door. What the Lord opens,
no man can shut. Right? What the Lord shuts, no
man can open. I've tried it, Henry, haven't
you? Talk till you're blue in the face. You know, Christ said, My sheep
will hear my voice. I know them. They'll hear my
voice. My father was telling us this illustration about Mindy's
dad. Now, I'll leave it on the table. Her
father, the Lord has used this man to bring in more people to
hear the gospel than anybody I know. Wouldn't you say that,
Mindy? You wouldn't believe how many
people have been brought in to hear the gospel. Now, he's not
a theologian. He'd be the first to tell you he's not well-read.
He doesn't have a and education. He can't quote scriptures readily
like some may be able to. He won't call himself a theologian.
He wouldn't begin to. You know, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. It's the excellence, it may be,
of God, the excellence of the Father. One day he was out, he
used to own a golf course, and when the Lord saved him, just
like most of you and all of you, the Lord saved He got on, he
started, anybody that listened, whenever he was brought up, he'd
tell them, you know, like me, nose-to-nose with that fellow
did. Well, he was in a clubhouse, and he talks real loud. You all
know Eddie, don't you? Talks real loud. And he was talking
to a fellow about the gospel, and his crude way of saying it,
he would say, now you just, this is it. He's a boy, when he says
it's it, you better believe it. He believed it. And he was telling
that man, And that man didn't care. He didn't care. But you
know, there was another fella over to the side, listening.
A fella he knew well. He wasn't talking to him. He
was talking to him. How many years later was it? It was now. Just now. The last couple of
years, Eddie saw this man come to church. one day to worship. And he's been there ever since,
been there for months now. Loves the gospel there every
sermon. He went up to him and said, I forget his name, brother,
what? Bill, Bill. He said, well, how
long have you been here? I've never seen you here before.
He said, well, I've been coming for months, sir. I love this
gospel. And he said, well, where'd you
hear it? How'd you first come to hear
that? He said, I heard it from you. He said, I don't remember. He
said, no, you were talking to another man, and I overheard
you talking. I can't help but overhear you. And I overheard
you, and you know, it sparked my anger. And here I am. His sheep will hear his voice.
They'll hear his voice. He knows them. They'll follow
him. You don't have to beat the highways and the hedges. No,
you don't. And don't cast this great pearl.
The great pearl of God's love and Christ's person and work
before swine to trod them underfoot, and they'll turn again and rend
you with it. They'll twist what you say. Twist
it around. Find me a man who's really interested
now, a woman who's really interested. And this is how you can know
the difference. Jeanette, Ed, whoever. This is how you can
know the difference. You find me somebody, all they
want to do is sit there and argue. I'm not going to argue with him.
That's what Proverbs 16 said. Go from the presence of a man
when you perceive not in him the words of wisdom. He doesn't
want to hear what you have to say, what the Scripture said.
He wants to argue. He wants to tell you what he thinks about
the Scripture. Don't do it. Don't cast that pearl before
that swine. Will you find me somebody now? who says, let's
examine together. I really want to know. I don't
understand that. No, God doesn't require everybody
to understand the Scripture, just to believe it. Nor does
He require every baby in Christ to understand everything the
Word of God says, just to believe it. And He'll show them in due
time. And don't act like we know everything yet. We don't. But
find me somebody who's really interested. I want to know. I've
got a question for you. I really want to know the answer
to this. Talk to me. Talk to her. Witness to her. Tell her the gospel. Use good
sense. The glory of God's at stake here,
right? Who cast that pearl? The poor
swine. Because religion's gone to the
dog. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss this.