Here are two commandments that
the Lord gives us side by side. One, he says, judge not, that
you be not judged. If I have a hypercritical, self-righteous
attitude toward others, I will be judged. That's what he said,
judge not. that you be not judged. And then in verse six of our
text, he says, I'm to look at some men and women and see that
they're dogs and they're swine and that I am not to preach the
gospel to them. Now, how do you bring those two
together? Judge not that you be not judged. And yet I'm to
look at men and women with eternal souls and judge them as dogs
and swine and not to preach the gospel to them." Now that's an
awesome thing to think about, isn't it? That's a serious thing. I mean something like that just
kind of overwhelms me. That I'm actually to see somebody
and not give them the holy things of the gospel or the pearls of
the doctrines of the gospel. Now that is a Serious, serious
thing. And this is a commandment our
Lord gives us. Let's read verse six again. 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 meaning of this is on
the surface, we're not to give the holy, precious things of
the gospel to those who have no appreciation for them. Dogs
and swine were unclean animals in the Old Testament. You couldn't
sell a dog and use the money you bought out of selling him
and give it to the temple. The price of a dog was forbidden.
A pig was an unclean animal. You weren't allowed to eat it.
Now, Here I'm called upon to discern
who's a dog, who's a swine, and not to preach the gospel to them,
not to give them the holy precious things of the gospel. You know,
there's a time to speak the gospel and there's a time to hold my
peace and not speak to someone regarding the gospel. If I'm
silent, I'd be right. And if I speak, I'm going to
have the swine turn again and rend me. Now we read in this
passage of scripture of that, which is holy and precious. Give not that which is holy to
the dogs, neither cast you your pearls, that which is precious
to the swine. And the gospel of Christ is the
holy gospel. Holy. The pearls of the great
truths of the gospel and how precious they are. How precious
is the name of Jesus? Thou shalt call his name, Jesus.
We're calling his name that tonight. Thou shalt call his name, Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. How precious
that is to me. I want to be saved from my sins. How precious are words like justification. That's a Bible word. It means that somebody like me,
somebody like you can be absolutely just before God. He doesn't see
you as if you're just, you are just before God. All together,
pure without seeing how precious is that God can make a way to
justify the ungodly. I love the word election, elect. It thrills my heart to think
of God being in such control that he controls who will be
saved. I love that. I love the fact
that election is unconditional, that God doesn't look for a reason
in me to save me, to choose me. He does it as Brian just read,
not because of any righteousness in me. I love redemption. What a word,
redeemed, redeemed. My sins paid for, redeemed by
the blood of the lamb. These are holy, precious things,
aren't they? I love how he foreknew me. I love how he called me. I could
go on and on. You know, we read in Peter of
like precious faith. Isn't faith a precious thing?
You know that the only way that you can have faith is if he gives
it to you, you know, that, you know, that it's all together
out of your reach, unless he gives it to you as a gift. And
isn't it precious to be enabled, to believe the gospel, to rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of the precious promises.
These are precious things. Isn't it precious to know that
his promises run like this. I will. And you shall. I love
that. I will, and you shall. That's
the promise of God. We read of his precious blood
and how precious is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
blood that makes me without sin, that actually puts away my sin
to where I don't have it anymore. How precious is the blood of
Christ. I love that scripture to you,
which believe. He is precious. The holy and the precious things
of the gospel. Now there are some, as a matter
of fact, most who have no appreciation for the truths or the truth of
the gospel. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. This is a passage of scripture
that I used to avoid reading before I understood it. I just
knew I didn't want to read Hebrews chapter 10 for this verse, verse
26. For if we sin willfully after that, we've received the
knowledge of the truth. There remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins. But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. And I don't know how many times
I was faced with, am I going to commit this sin? If I do,
it'll be over for me. I'm sinning willfully. I'm doing
this with my will. And it's over for me if I do
this. I don't know how many times that ran through my mind and
I thought I'd send away grace. There wasn't going to be any
hope for me. That's why I always wanted to avoid that verse of
scripture. Now I'm thankful. That's not what that verse of
scripture means. If we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge
of the truth, the knowledge of how God saves sinners by Christ,
the knowledge of how God saves sinners by grace. If we leave
that. We've left the only hope there
is look what he says in verse 29 of how much sore punishment
suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the son of god like those swine trod under the pearls of the
gospel to find no more value in the gospel than to trod underfoot
the Son of God and to count the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing. Now that word unholy is common. That which is general to all
as opposed to that which is peculiar to the few. That's what the word
actually means. Now how much sore punishment suppose you shall
he be thought worthy who's made the blood of Christ common. Trotting
underfoot the son of God and doing despite to the spirit of
grace. Now this person absolutely has
no appreciation of the gospel of Christ, does he? Now a couple
of things that I think of when I think of this. First, this
gives us a glimpse of the evil of sin. It turns men into dogs
and swine who have no appreciation of the holy, precious things
of the gospel. What an evil thing that someone
could hear the gospel and turn on the one who preaches it and
rend them seeing no beauty, seeing no glory, seeing no salvation
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it produces even
a positive hatred for the gospel and a hatred for those who believe
the gospel and a hatred for God himself. This is a reminder to
us of the great truth of man's sinfulness. that men would respond
to the holy precious gospel in such a way. And you and I would
be doing the same thing apart from the grace of God. We would
be these dogs and swine turning on the gospel. And you know,
another thing I got to thinking about, and I hope this is the
way this reflects. This is what it's doing to me.
This ought to make us reflect on ourselves. Could somebody be seeking to
give me that which is holy and precious? And my attitude is
that of a dog and a swine. I want to ask myself that question.
Am I incapable of appreciation for what they're saying and respond
with a scornful attitude, one who cannot receive correction?
Am I a dog? And I want to ask myself that
question. I don't want to be one of these people. Now, I believe
the main thing taught here by the Lord is the need of discernment
and discrimination in the gospel. That's what's being taught. I
mean, on the surface, it seems kind of rough to consider someone
a dog and a swine, doesn't it? I mean, you don't want to consider
someone in that light. But what is actually being taught
is the need of discernment, an understanding of the gospel,
a discriminating ear so I can understand what I'm hearing and
I can understand somebody's response to that and understand when someone
is a dog or a swine. Now, I need the Lord to be my
teacher in this. I need the Lord. You can see
where somebody can take this and run with it, and just have
a totally wrong attitude, and consider everybody a dog and
swine, but themselves in some little circled area. And I don't
want to do that. But I want to have what the Lord
is teaching in this passage of Scripture, where I have this
kind of discernment. You know, Paul said, beware of
dogs, didn't he? Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. The
mutilators is what that means. These people who teach circumcision,
for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. I love that definition of a believer.
It's so simple. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We
rejoice in him. We glory in him. We worship God
in the spirit only by the spirit of God. And we have absolutely
no confidence in this flesh, my flesh or your flesh, no confidence
in the flesh. Turn with me for a moment to
second Peter. Peter mentions dogs and swine in this passage
of scripture. Verse 20, For if after they have
escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein
and overcome The latter end is worse with them than the beginning,
for it had been better for them to not have known the way of
righteousness, than after they've known it, to turn from the holy
commandment delivered unto them. These are people that leave the
gospel. But it's happened to them, according to the true proverb,
the dog has turned to his own vomit again, and the pig that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now, in order for me
to be able to see who a dog and a swine is, I'm going to have
to have some true God-given spiritual discernment. And I'm going to
have to be able to discern the difference between law and grace.
I'm going to have to know the difference between faith and
works, spirit and flesh, a true discerning ear. That comes from
an understanding of, and a love for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm not talking about a judgmental
attitude. I'm not talking about. He's a
swine. He's a dog. We shouldn't know.
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about something that
arises from a love to Christ, a love for his gospel. That makes
me discern who it is. that's a dog or a
swine. You know, I've seen people over
the years, I've seen many people who seem to have discernment
and then they seem to lose it. They seem to be listening to
the wrong voices and they get to where they can't discern what
they once discerned. Now, if obedience to this command
to give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls
before swine. If obedience to this command
doesn't arise from an understanding and a discerning mind that actually
loves the Lord Jesus Christ, it's nothing more than the evil
judging of Matthew chapter seven, verse one, where he says, judge
not that you be not judged. Now here's the scripture that
came to my mind with regard to discernment. Would you turn with
me to Philippians one. Paul is praying for the church
at Philippi and he says in verse nine. And this I pray. Philippians
one verse nine. And this, I pray that your love
may abound yet more and more in knowledge. and in all judgment
or discernment is what the word means. In knowledge and all judgment
that you may approve things that are excellent or try or test
or know the difference that you may see what differs. That word excellent, my marginal
reading says differs. That you may approve what differs
and choose the excellent. that you may be sincere and without
offense to the day of Christ. Now he prayed first of all, and
this is so important. He prayed that their love would
abound more and more. Now discernment comes from a
love to his person. It's not just somebody who can
spot out error. It comes from a love to his person. And you're so sensitive of his
person and you can't bear that which is contrary to him. Now
that's the attitude I must have that your love may abound yet
more and more. He prayed that their love would
increase, not that their knowledge would increase or their discernment
would increase, but that their love would increase in all knowledge
and in all discernment. And let me give you some scriptures
that give us the importance of this thing of love. Peter said
in first Peter four, eight above all things, and this is how important
this is. It's more important than anything
else above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for
charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Paul said, now abideth faith,
hope, and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is
charity, is love. Remember in Matthew chapter 22,
verses 36 through 39, where the Lord said the first and greatest
commandment is to love God. with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your strength. And the second is likened
to it, that you should love your neighbor as yourself. In Galatians
chapter five, verse 22, we read the fruit of the spirit is love. Somebody once said that all of
the rest of the words are different descriptions of that love. In John chapter 13 verse 35,
the Lord says, by this shall all men know you're my disciples.
How? By your love, one to another. This is the true badge of discipleship.
By your love, one to another. That's how you are identified
as a believer, by your love to one another. In John, first John
chapter four, verses seven and eight, He that loveth not knoweth
not God, for God is love. And in Galatians chapter five,
verse 14, we read that all the law is fulfilled in one word,
love. Is it any wonder that the apostle
Paul said in first Corinthians chapter 14, verse one, make love
your aim, make that your number one priority. You know, we ought
to be dealing with this more often. More often. He says, I pray that your love,
your love to God, your love to his people, your love to men.
I pray that your love will increase. Your love to Christ, your love
to his gospel, your love to his way of saving your love to his
person. I pray that your love would increase
more and more in all knowledge. And in all discernment, you see,
love is increased as our knowledge and discernment is increased.
Lack of knowledge and lack of discernment come from a lack
of love to his person. This isn't about just trying
to find out the pigs and swine and expect no lack of discernment
comes. from a lack of love to his person. If I love his person, it's going
to make me discerning and understand him. Now, we love him as he is
revealed in this book, don't we? Don't you love the Christ
that's revealed in this book? Don't you love the holy Christ?
The righteous Christ? The sovereign Christ? The all-powerful
Christ? the omnipresent Christ, the all
wise Christ, the merciful Christ, the meek Christ. And oh, don't
you love him as he's revealed in this book. You know, I love
him as he's revealed in this book. And as I say this carefully,
I've said it before, but if it were in my power to change him,
I wouldn't do it. He's perfect. There's no other
man like that. If you know me, there's anybody
that knows me that would, there's all kinds of things you'd like
to change about me. And I don't blame you. I would do, but not him. He's all together. Lovely. And the more knowledge we have
of him, the more discernment we will have of that, which is
contrary to him. Oh, I want to, I want to have
discerning ear when I hear that, which doesn't glorify him. And
look what he says in verse 10. He says in verse nine, and this,
I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge
and in all judgment that you may approve things that are excellent. In our love increasing in all
knowledge and judgment, we will approve what is excellent. And
like I said, my marginal reading says we'll distinguish what differs
and we'll approve of that, which is more excellent. Now I can
say this. I see the excellency of being
saved by his righteousness only over being saved by my own righteousness.
Do you see the excellency of that? I mean, it's glorious,
isn't it? You wouldn't want it to be any
other way. I see the excellency of grace over works. And I approve of it. I love it. I see the excellency of the gospel
over the law. I see the excellency of the spirit
over flesh. And this is what produces sincerity. that you may approve things that
are excellent, that you may be sincere. You know that word sincere
is generally translated pure, pure. Now, if I'm pure, that's
what I want to be. I want to be pure. That means
I've got a pure view of the word of God. It's all the word of
God. I have a pure view of man, he's nothing but sin. I have
a pure view of grace, salvation's all of grace, not mixed with
anything else. That's what purity is. I have
a pure view of Christ, he's all my salvation. He's all my desire,
though he makes it not to grow. And that is what will make a
man without offense. He said that you may be pure
and without offense. You know, somebody like that,
they're not, they're not offensive to a believer, are they? Maybe offensive to
an unbeliever, but they're not offensive to a believer. And
they're certainly not offensive to God that you may be pure and
without offense. Now, someone who is opposed to
the gospel that I've been talking about is a dog and a pig. Paul put it this way. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, Maranatha. Let him be damned
upon the Lord's return. If any man preach any other gospel,
let him be accursed. Paul said, was Paul being unloving?
Was Paul being mean and harsh and unfeeling? No, he was someone
who was sensitive to the glory of Christ. He loved his Redeemer,
and that's what made him talk thus. And this attitude doesn't
come from a harsh view of men, but a love to God. Now, I want you to think for
a few moments about the different ways the Lord dealt with men. Remember when the disciples came
up to them about the Pharisees and they said, don't you know
they were offended by what you said? You know what the Lord
said? Let them alone. He didn't say try to win them.
He said, let them alone. Boy, I tell you what, that was
the worst thing that I can think of of the Lord saying that about
me. Let him alone. Oh Lord, don't leave me alone. But he said, let them alone.
They'd be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead
the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch? Now there
is where the Lord did not have his pearls cast before the swine. You look at the way, the difference
between he, the way he treated different people. I mean, we
treat people differently. Everybody's not the same. Look
at the way he treated Nicodemus and look at the way he treated
the woman at the well in the next chapter. Nicodemus talks about
all he knows. We know. You're a man come from
God for nothing. No man can do the things you
do except God be with him. And Nicodemus, you don't know
anything except a man being born again. He can't enter the kingdom
of God. You can't understand a word I'm saying. And look what
he said to that poor old woman at the well. I that speak unto
thee am he. I'm the Messiah. Did he give
anybody else that kind of assurance? He sure didn't give him that.
You know, he said, To those folks in John chapter 6, I think this
is so interesting. And Bruce Cradtree brought this
out in our preacher's class. Look in John chapter 6. I want
you to look at this. He's speaking to people that
he knows are going to leave him. He's omniscient and he knows
these people are going to leave him. But look at the way he talks
with them. This is the Lord speaking. He said to these people that
he knew would leave him, labor not. for the meat which perisheth. But for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. Now he said that, I'll give it
to you. He's talking to people he knew would leave him. For
him hath God the Father sealed. That's the way he talked to these
people. But look what happened at the end of this message. Verse
66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked
no more with him. And you know what he didn't do?
He didn't say, I want you fellas come back. Let me try to, let
me try to restate what I said. No, he watched him leave and
he didn't ask him back. And then he looked at the 12
and he said, well, you also go away. You fellas want to leave
as well? You know, he said to the Pharisees
at one time in John chapter eight, you're of your father, the devil
and the loss of your father. You will do now that strong language,
isn't it? He said, Oh, generation of vipers. How can you escape
the damnation of hell? But yet how tender he was to
that woman taken in adultery. And he said to her woman, where
are those nine accusers? Had no man condemned thee. She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. I think about that leper full
of leprosy. He came up and said, Lord, if
you will. you can make me clean. Now he
didn't know if the Lord was willing. He knew he's able, but he looked
at himself and he wasn't real sure that the Lord was willing,
but he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And the
scripture says, Jesus moved with compassion. Moved. This is the son of God
moved with compassion said, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. I think of how he accepted the
worship of that woman who was a sinner in Luke chapter 7. You
know that Simon said if this man were prophet he'd know what
manner of woman this was. She's a sinner. She was. She was. Yet as she washed his
feet with her tears, and wiped his feet with the hair of her
head, and broke that alabaster box of ointment on him in worship,
he accepted her worship. And he said, thy sins which are
many are forgiven thee. Let me show you something Paul
did. Look at Acts chapter 13. You know this thing of discernment.
I know a lady that thought she had the gift of discernment. And she thought she could tell
who was saved and who wasn't just by looking at them. She
had this spirit of discernment. I kind of gave her the impression
she thought I wasn't. But that's not what discernment
is. Discernment comes from a love
to Christ, an understanding of who he is, an understanding of
his gospel, and an understanding of that which is contrary to
him. Don't you want to have this spirit
of discernment? And look what Paul did here in Acts chapter
13. This is after he preached, beginning in verse 44. And the
next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear
the word of God. And when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy. and spake against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing you
put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. We're leaving you fellas and
we're going to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us saying, I sent thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation. unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and they glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. I tell you where discernment
comes from. Likeness to Christ, love to Christ. That's where
it comes from. And may the Lord give us this
discernment and wisdom And let's begin right here by discerning
the Lord's body. Turn to 1 Corinthians 11. This
is what we're going to end with as we consider the Lord's table,
beginning in verse 23. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he'd given
thanks, he'd break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, he
took the cup and when he had supped saying, this cup is the
new Testament in my blood. This do as oft as you drink it
in remembrance of me. The bread speaks of the wrath
he endured The wine speaks of the forgiveness, the salvation
he procured. This do ye as often as you drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show forth the Lord's death
till he come. There's going to be a lot of preachers tonight
preaching the gospel, showing forth his death till he come.
Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup
of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty. of the body and blood
of the Lord. Now there's another verse of
scripture I used to avoid. I didn't like it because I always
thought, well, it condemns me. I'm not worthy. I'm eating and
drinking in an unworthy manner. You scared me. You know what
I mean? What if, what if I, and the problem was, if I thought
I was worthy, I proved my unworthiness. That's all I do. Let's see, let's
go on reading. But let a man examine himself.
You don't need to be examining anybody else. Let a man examine
himself. And so let him eat of that bread
and drink that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body. You see, if you think you're
worthy, you've completely denied everything that the Lord's body
says and everything that the Lord's table represents. For
this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."
And look what Paul says, for if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when
we're judged of the Lord, we're chastened of the Lord that we
should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren,
when you come together to eat, tarry ye one for another. The Lord's table is something
we do together. Let's pray.