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Responding to questions from listeners about casting pearls before swine, hearing audible voices from God, and seeing visions of Jesus in dreams. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
What did Jesus mean when he said do not cast your pearls before swine? When Paul heard the voice of God, was it an audible voice that he heard? And are converts from Islam seeing Jesus in their dreams?
The answers to these questions when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in God's Word, so that we may have the mind of Christ. Find all our videos, books, and more at our website www .utt .com. Now here's your host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky.
You're welcome. And I'll actually be mentioning in this episode a book I'm working on. Ooh. Yeah, maybe we'll hit the website before the end of the year, God willing. So speaking of reading, I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Costs of Workplace Rudeness.
You don't read newspapers. No, I read them on my phone. Oh. Yes. I only pick up the newspaper that gets thrown at the end of our driveway with all the coupons in it to use for fire kindling. Oh, that's where it goes.
Yeah, that's what ends up happening to those newspapers. So here's how the article goes. When we're pressed at work, it's tempting to let manners slip. Whether it's ignoring a colleague's email request, snapping at someone in a meeting, or interrupting a conversation to respond to a text message, modern workplace rudeness is varied and rampant.
What? It said snap at somebody during a meeting. Yeah, thanks. I'm trying to read here.
Because rudeness, defined as offensive words or deeds that go against social norms, can be more subtle and benign than harassment or bullying, targets may assume that it's just a routine, if unpleasant, part of the workday.
But a growing body of research suggests that rudeness can harm an employee's well-being and job performance. Really? Really. So you mean to tell me that bad moods, pride, vulgarity, belittling, disregard, grudges, gossip, and put-downs negatively affect a person's job performance?
Who knew? I'm totally shocked. As a homeschool mom, do the kids negatively affect your job performance when they've been rude and ignoring you and not listening to what mommy has to say? Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Yeah. I'll take that as positive affirmation. Yeah. This is the Friday edition of When We Understand the Text and we take questions from listeners which you can submit by email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
This first question comes from Henry and he says, what does Matthew 7 -6 mean? I've been asked about this verse in the past and I'm at a loss as to what G-M-A-L-E means. Well, let me reach around here and get my Bible, which I apparently didn't have open on the desk in front of me when we got started here.
You even went upstairs to get that. I did. I even went upstairs to get the one which did not have the pages that get stuck together. So Matthew 7, part of the Sermon on the Mount, and the more famous verse out of this particular chapter is, judge not lest ye be judged.
That's the one that even secularists love to throw back at Christians. Oh, yes. And that's how the chapter begins. Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.
And with the measure that you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye?
You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
That would be Matthew 7, 6. So that's the particular question or the particular verse that Henry asks his question about. Once again, do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
So this verse is given in the context of what Jesus has just said about judgment. So as we're talking about judgment, it is necessary for us to have to discern whether a person has heard the gospel or not and whether they're following it or not.
And if we offer correction to that person, will they receive it or won't they? And if they don't receive correction, rather than showing themselves as a person who is wise, who loves correction as the book of Proverbs describes them.
So a fool hates correction, but the wise love discipline and knowledge. So if a person shows themselves as a disciple of Christ, they will love correction, the correction of a brother, and they will change their behavior.
But the person who continues to be belligerent and will not heed correction shows themselves to be not of the people of God, but that they are dogs and pigs. And so if you give, if you throw your pearls before pigs, they will trample them underfoot and the pearl is useless.
So save gospel correction for somebody who loves it and disregard the person that will not receive it. Another way that this is put is by the apostle Paul in Titus chapter three, starting in verse 10.
As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self condemned. Same instruction that Jesus is giving here in Matthew 7, 6.
They're just referring to adults, not children, correct?
Yes, I'm sorry, love. But your multiple attempts at correcting our children are going to have to continue. I just wanted to verify. But when they refuse correction and they have shown themselves as lost.
And so when it comes to correction within a church context, if a person will not change their behavior based on also the guidelines that we have given to us in Matthew 18 on confronting a brother who has been living in unrighteousness, right?
If they will not receive that correction, they should be disregarded as a person who is self condemned. So the instruction that Jesus gives there in Matthew 7 is often used to say that we should not judge anyone.
But the reality is that that passage is Jesus saying we are supposed to judge, right? Do not try to take the speck out of your brother's eye when you've got a log in your own eye. You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
So you should correct your brother. But if your brother does not receive that correction, he's a dog or he's swine, right? According to what Jesus is saying, it's the words of Jesus, folks. I'm not the one that is calling them a dog or a pig.
All right. Although I do like the analogy when it comes to, you know, wrestling or arguing with a person that just wants to argue. There's the old farmer's colloquialism that is don't wrestle with a pig because you'll just get dirty and the pig likes it.
Next question. This is from Rose in Harrisburg. Always good to hear from Rose. Hi Rose. And I think I think I didn't make this connection when we did our 500th episode. But Rose was one of the first questions that I ever answered, ever responded to in a Q &A.
And she was also in our 500th episode. That's totally cool. Yeah. So she was she asked one of our very first questions and also had that landmark episode number 500. That's awesome. So, Rose, you're back on the show again today.
And her question is, hello, Pastor Gabe and Mrs. Pastor Gabe. Hello. I was wondering if you might address a question that I have on an upcoming Friday Q &A. And this would be that Friday Q &A regarding the following word found in 2 Corinthians 12 9 concerning Paul's thorn in the flesh.
But he God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Did Paul hear this as an audible voice from God? I know that on the road to Damascus, he heard audibly from Jesus.
So I can assume this, too, was an audible word from God. So how about it? Do you think that Paul heard audibly from the Lord or was it a voice in his mind? I'm not sure. Okay, well, I think that Rose is on to something and understanding this in the proper context when she recognizes that Paul heard an audible voice from God from heaven.
How do we know that Paul heard an audible voice on the road to Damascus? Because he said so. So in Acts chapter 26, Paul is sharing his testimony before Agrippa and he says, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
So this is Jesus speaking to Paul in an audible voice that was even in Hebrew. And Paul even clarifies the voice that was speaking to me was in the Hebrew language. So I think it is right for us in that context to believe that whenever a prophet heard from the Lord, even in the Old Testament, they heard an audible voice from God and it was in their language.
Now not everybody heard it. Oftentimes it was just the prophet. Like you take, for example, when Samuel was looking to anoint the next king of Israel after Saul and he went to the house of Jesse and all the sons of Jesse are passing before him and God says to Samuel, I have rejected these.
So where was the voice that Samuel heard? Well, he was only hearing from God, but everybody else that was present would not have been hearing from God. Right. And then there are other times when the voice of the Lord comes as in a dream or a vision.
So going all the way back to Genesis, Genesis 15 one, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. And this is the same story where God takes Abram out under the night sky and shows him all the stars and says, your children will be as countless as the number of the stars in the heavens.
And I've mentioned Samuel once, Samuel, first Samuel 1510, the word of the Lord came to Samuel and the context, just like with Abram, is also at night in that particular passage. In first Kings 1320, the word of the Lord came to the prophet and it's an unnamed prophet there.
This was the the prophet and the man of God, neither of whom are given names there in first Kings 13, but but the word of the Lord came to the prophet and it has all indications that it came to his mind, but it spoke to the prophet directly.
And then he told the man of God what the word of the Lord said to his mind. Does that make sense? He told the man of God? Right. Because they were, they were both prophets, but they don't have names. So in that particular story, one is called the prophet and one is called the man of God.
Right. So anyway, I'm sorry, I picked a confusing example. So here's another one, another one from first Kings and this one involving Elijah. Okay. Okay. So there's a name. There's a name for it. All right.
So first Kings 17, two through four, and the word of the Lord came to him, depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
Here's one of the things that I have noticed whenever I've gone through the scriptures and studied when the word of the Lord comes to somebody, it is always clear and it is always saying exactly what God means for them to understand.
Right. It's never ambiguous. It's never puzzling. Right. The word of the Lord is always direct and clear instruction. Now visions may not always be, sometimes visions are confusing. I'll give you an example of this.
So Jeremiah, in Jeremiah chapter one, it says the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying what do you see? So the word of the Lord is asking Jeremiah what he sees. Okay. And Jeremiah says, I see a boiling pot facing away from the North.
What does that mean? So Jeremiah sees something, a vision that isn't clear to him, but the word of the Lord is. So then the word of the Lord said to me, out of the North disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land for behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the North declares the Lord and they shall come and everyone shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.
So Jeremiah sees a vision that he doesn't understand, but the word of the Lord clarifies exactly what this vision is supposed to mean. So the word of the Lord is always clear and direct and understood, whereas a vision from God is not always understood.
Another example of that is in the book of Daniel when Daniel is shown a vision, but he doesn't understand its meaning. And so he prays to God to understand the meaning of the dream, but it's weeks until the angel Gabriel comes to him and is able to give him the meaning of the vision that he saw.
So until then, Daniel's vexed because he wants to know the meaning of his vision, but he can't comprehend it until Gabriel explains it to him. So again, the word of the Lord is always clear, but the vision may not always be.
And sometimes I think one of the more common examples of the word of God speaking to a person is in a dream. So in 1 Chronicles 17, 3, that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan. 2 Chronicles 7, 12, then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night, understood as in a dream.
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. We're also familiar with the Lord speaking to Joseph in a dream about taking Mary and the baby Jesus out of Bethlehem because Herod was looking to kill all of the boys two and under in the region, and so they fled to Egypt.
And the wise men also instruct, although it's not very descriptive as to how they were instructed to go a particular way and not to return to Herod. But we also have in the New Testament, the word of God coming to a person in a dream.
I got a book that I'm working on, and the book talks about this very thing. The name of the book is Jesus Called, and Here is What He Said. Yes. I like that. So it's warning against the dangers of books like Jesus Calling, and then people making statements of the word of the Lord came to me and told me to tell you this.
Well, no, the word of the Lord did not come to you. But the way that we have the word of the Lord explained to us in the scriptures is that the prophet or the apostle, in the case of Paul, heard a direct audible voice from God, and it wasn't mysterious, and it was always clear, and it was never wrong.
Whatever God said is what happened, which is also what we've been reading lately in Second Kings, in that even Jehu, who was not fully a God-fearing man, when you go on and you read about the end of Jehu's reign, although he destroyed the Baal worship and the priests of Baal, he did not destroy any of the other idols that were worshiped in Israel.
So he was obedient to what was directly said to him to follow along with according to the word of the Lord. But he... But not anything more. Right. Not anything. He did not truly have a heart that loved the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Now, Pastor Alan Nelson of Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas, I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago, so Alan was who I stayed with. He shared a comment on Twitter that was made by another pastor.
And the comment was this, there's too many voices telling you who you should be. Who you should be should come from knowing him and his voice talking about God. Knowing him and his voice alone, even scripture is secondary to his voice.
Yeah. I may hold on to that quote from my book. We hear the voice of God through the scripture. That is how God speaks to you. He speaks to you through the Bible. Right. You speak to him through prayer.
Right. You do not hear audible voices from God. That is only his prophets and his apostles who heard the word of God speaking audibly to their mind. You don't. And there's no more. You don't hear from God that way.
And there's no more. Right. Right. Because as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, eight, I am the last, last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared also to me. This is Paul saying he is the last apostle.
And there was no other apostles who would be appointed after him, right? It was they who were specifically chosen and appointed by Christ to carry his word, his gospel to the nations. The apostolic age has concluded.
It is over. There are no longer any apostles who are audibly hearing the voice of God. That brings up our next question. This one comes from Alex in Miami, Florida. Woohoo. Hopefully you can get this.
Yes. I hope that the recovery efforts there in Florida are going well. From Hurricane Irma. Yes. And we will be praying for you at the end of this, end of this broadcast. Yes. So thank you for that reminder.
So Alex from Miami, Florida says, I really enjoy watching your videos and podcasts. My question is, should we trust people who claim that they were unbelievers before, but then had a vision or dream about Jesus and became believers?
Does Jesus talk to unbelievers in their dreams or show them visions so they could learn the truth and become believers and get saved? Or are the people who claim that they had a vision or a dream about him and become believers?
Are they lying? Because I read a Christian article that says that Muslims in the Middle East are having dreams about Jesus and becoming Christians. Thank you so much. Well, let me first be clear that no one becomes a Christian because Jesus appeared to them in a dream.
There is only one way that a person becomes a Christian, and that is by hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and turning from their sin and believing the gospel. That is the only way a person gets saved.
And that's Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And then somebody might say, but if Jesus is appearing to them in a dream and talking to them, then that is the word of Christ.
But oftentimes what they're saying that they are hearing Christ say in those dreams is not the gospel. It's not in the Bible. It's not something that is in the Bible. And furthermore, it is stated for us in the scriptures not to believe a person who says, look, there he is.
This is in Matthew 24, which we've been reading this week as we've been talking about the Olivet Discourse and Paul's teaching to the Thessalonians about the end times. Becky's making a face because she hasn't listened to those episodes.
I listened to today's. Thank you. All that six minutes. You've listened to today's because we've been doing it. No. Oh, yeah. Yesterday. Yesterday. The Old Testament study. Yeah. You listen to the Old Testament study.
Yeah. Because we're recording this on Thursday. Yes. So that's what. It throws me off every time. I'm just giving her a hard time. That's what I'm doing. Yes, he is. You be nice. So Jesus says that false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders.
So as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect, see, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.
For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the son of man. Wherever the corpse is, there are the vultures will will gather. And the explanation that I gave on that passage earlier this week is or it might have been last week that I read that particular verse, verse twenty eight.
But where there are false teachers, there are people who are dead in their spirits following after what the false teachers say. So that's the that's the meaning of that verse there in verse twenty eight.
So when somebody says, look, here is the Christ appearing to a select group of people in secret, do not believe what it is that they say. Now if a person sees a vision of Christ in a dream or something to that degree and it causes them to seek out the gospel and they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and they repent and believe, I'm going to say, praise God.
Definitely. I'm glad that whatever it was that they saw caused them to seek out the gospel and hear it. That is very exciting. And turn from their sin and become a Christian.
But it's exciting only because they turned. Because they heard the gospel.
Yeah. Right. It's only exciting because they heard the gospel, not because they had a vision and a dream. You can't verify that. It's subjective. I know that whatever it was they saw was not actually Christ.
I mean, we just, you know, talked about First Corinthians 15, 8, Paul saying, last of all, he appeared also to me. There could be any number of reasons that they think they saw Christ in a dream because you can just go to dream.
You can go to sleep thinking about it and have a vision of Christ. Right. Which which, by the way, I want to know, what does he look like? You know. Yes. I was kind of curious that, too. Probably doesn't look like what Jesus actually looked like.
But anyway, it's probably their own expectation of what Jesus would look like. So the this is common among Muslims, as Alex is pointing out here. And Jesus is actually mentioned in the Koran. He's mentioned more often than Muhammad is.
Wow. So so it's not like Jesus is absent from the Muslim religion. So what reason would they have to go to sleep and see Jesus in a dream? It is common in the Muslim faith for there to be dreams and revelations and visions and all this.
That's exactly how the Koran came about, because Muhammad had been visited by the angel Gabriel underscoring throughout the Muslim religion that they would believe in such visions and prophecies of this kind.
And then those Muslims in the rare cases who actually do turn from the Muslim faith and become Christians are largely charismatic, and they usually believe some very false things in their doctrine. And that's not to disregard all Christians who are formerly Muslims.
You just have to listen to the message that they preach. Is it the gospel or not? Have they truly heard the gospel or are they just following a vision that they had in their mind? But I don't think that we should believe claims of having seen Christ in a vision.
That doesn't tell you anything. Listen to the words that they say. Are they sharing with you an understanding of having heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and turned from their sin and are now a Christian?
Or is what they're saying more subjectivity based on what they think in their own mind or what their vision of Jesus told them rather than what they read in the scriptures or heard someone preach to them about the gospel?
Right. All right. So that's the answer to the question, Alex. Thank you very much. And if you have a question that you would like to submit, send it to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. My bride is fading because it's been a long week.
I'm sorry. Well, you and I have seen each other all of like, what, an hour all week long? Total. Pretty much. Yeah. So this is now an hour and a half. Now an hour and a half. This is now a third of the time that we have spent with each other all week.
Just how busy things get when the school year starts. Let's pray. Okay. And then we'll be done here. Lord, we thank you for this time together and this time in your word. And I pray that we continue to be edified by the things that are taught to us from the Bible, not what we think in our minds or what we think we heard or what somebody else said the Lord said to them, but specifically what you have said to us through your prophets and apostles who gave us the word of God.
What a blessing this is and how much it is so easily disregarded. Even when we have stacks of Bibles and we don't understand the privilege that we have of having the word of God written in our own language so that we can sit down and read it and have you speak to us and guide us.
And so I pray that we're diligent to come to this word and understand what you have said, not what we want you to say, but understanding your voice through the pages of scripture and that we also would want to talk to you through prayer.
And so work on our hearts and minds in that way to love your word and also cast our cares upon you because you care for us. And on that note, I want to lift up the people in Florida who are, uh, who are right now cleaning up in the aftermath of hurricane Irma, uh, already seen wonderful reports of, of a lot of the work that is being done there, but we know that much more needs to be accomplished.
And so I pray that the spirits of your children have not been dampened, but that they would be encouraged all the more by the help that comes their way, that they would give praise and glory to God and in their lives, be a testament to the goodness of the God whom they worship, who even in the midst of a storm is lifting them up high above the waves, uh, and that they stand in humility and awe and reverence and repentance before the Lord, our God.
I pray the gospel is being preached even in the midst of this tragedy, whether it's in the wake of hurricane Harvey in Southeast Texas or hurricane Irma in Florida, and that, uh, people are hearing the gospel maybe for the very first time and repenting from sin and trusting in Jesus Christ as savior.
It is by the word that we believe and we are saved. And so keep us faithful to this word in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen.
Hey, you said you wanted a thankless job, you know, where I said I wanted to thank you. You did. You said you didn't want to hear any compliments or anything like that.
You just want to hear I'm saying like, I just want to work in a miserable environment. I was just thinking we should swap places because mom, a mom job, I thank you all the time for your job. The kids don't, well, yeah, you won't get any thank yous until they go off to college and realize, you know what?
Life is hard. I don't even think I thanked my parents yet. I did. I thanked my parents after. John did. He's like, you'll realize when you're in college. I'm like, no. I told all my siblings that. I did.
I said, you just wait. My brother told me. Yep. And I was like, no, I still don't get it. He's like, you'll, you'll see that there were, they were right about everything. I'm like, no. No, I'm going to be stubborn to the end.
I was.