Matthew 7:6 Throwing Holy Meat to the
Dogs and Pearls to the Hogs
Introduction: In our text Jesus forbids two things: (1) Giving holy things to dogs and (2) pearls
to swine.
I. Jesus forbid
giving holy things to dogs.
A.
It is needful to know what He called “holy things.”
1. The word, holy, means “sanctified: set apart
exclusively to the service of God.”
2. The
3. The
4. The
5. The offerings made at the
a. These were
properly used as food for the priests and their families.
b. But it would be an
improper use to feed them to the dogs.
B.
It is needful to know the meaning of the symbols involved.
1. The disciples were not priests and would not
be taking the sacrificial meat and the showbread
and feeding them to dogs.
2. Thus the disciples would seek to understand
the symbolic message.
3. The holy things committed into the hands of
the disciples were: (1) the gospel (2) doctrine.
4. Dogs to the Jews represented two things: filth and viciousness.
C.
What Jesus was doing was warning His disciples to use extreme care in
witnessing to vile and
viscious men.
1. A lady and her children were once attending
our services: I asked about visiting in
their
home. She informed me
that to do so would make matters hard on her and the
children and be dangerous for me. Her husband was very antagonistic toward religion.
2. Another woman and children attended for
awhile. Bro. A. D. Brown and I went to
visit and
encourage them. They
were not at home. The man informed us
not to say one word to
him about religion.
3. To present the gospel or Bible truth to these
men would be like taking the holy meat from the
II. Jesus
forbid throwing pearls to swine.
A.
There was no danger that they would literally throw pearls to
swine.
(Matthew would be one of
the few who could afford pearls.)
B.
Pearls represent that which is priceless and precious.
(There was nothing more
precious to the disciples than the gospel and doctrinal truth.)
C.
The hogs represented filth.
1. They lived in filth and loved it that way.
2. They would not want a clean place to live.
D.
Can you imagine giving the hogs a pep talk on clean living and giving
them pearls to try to motivate
them
to clean up? (They would trample the
pearls in the mire.)
E.
They may also turn and rend you. (Text)
1. Hogs can be more viscous than dogs.
2. My father-in-law used to tell about a hog
cutting the arteries in both ankles of a bay and
killing him.
F.
Even so there are people who live in immoral filth and would not want it
any other way.
1. They take dope, drink liquor, live in lust and
adultery, commit incest, prostitute their
children, gamble, curse, fight, and speak with filthy
tongues out of filthy minds.
2. To insist on talking with them about holy
things is like throwing pearls to swine.
III. Just what
Jesus is trying to say to us.
A.
You may say, “But I thought we are to present the gospel to every
creature.”
1. That is right.
2. If the Lord had His way, every lost person
would hear the gospel and be saved.
B.
But there are some people who will not let you present the gospel to
them.
1. They will not hear it.
2. They will only abuse the gospel. (Rip it apart like a dog does a piece of meat
and trample it
into mire like a hog.)
C.
To persist in trying to present the gospel and talk about other truths
of God to them only degrades the
truth
of God. (The gospel and Bible truth
deserves better treatment.)
D.
Jesus is saying, “If he doesn’t want God’s gospel, just back off. Let him have God’s wrath.
E.
Likewise, if he will not have your Bible doctrine, back off. Let him alone.
(Bro. Clark and I had that
experience.)
It could even get to be dangerous to
insist.
Conclusion
1. Let us resolve to present the gospel to every
one whom we can.
2. If we cannot, then back off. Matthew 10:14-15
3. One thing you can do, you can live a clean
godly life before them; you can witness to them in that way.
4. If you are unsaved, do not harden your heart
toward the message or the messenger. It
is dangerous to do so.
God wants to save you, but He will
not insist on doing so.
Preached
at