Do Not Cast Your Pearls Before Swine

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. All right, let's turn to the gospel of Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7 and the title of this message is Seek and You Will Find.

The Sermon on the Mount and the Call to Ask, Seek, and Knock

Seek and You Will Find. Two weeks ago in verses 1 through 5, we talked about judging, right? We looked at that famous judge not passage and we'll pick up where we left off. So this will be verse 6. Matthew 7, we'll read verses 6 through 12.

Jesus says,.

To him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. And may God add a blessing to the reading of his word. So starting out here, asking and giving. This is kind of the subjects these words ask and seek and knock.

So to help illustrate this, back in chapter 6, Jesus gave what is called the Lord's Prayer, where we refer to God as what? Father, right? And when children have a need, their parents provide. So as the children of God, when we want something, when we have a need, where do we go?

We ask and seek our Heavenly Father in prayer. So these three words, we're going to focus on them in a few moments. Asking, seeking, and knocking. It's really three different ways of saying the same thing.

But let's first address verse 6, because this doesn't really fit in with the rest of the verses here. Verse 6, about the dogs and the swine. So we're talking about seeking God in prayer, and then you have this statement about dogs and swine.

So what's that all about? Let's first ask, where does that fit in? Have you ever read through the Sermon on the Mount and thought, where does this apply in all of this? Some things seem to come out of nowhere.

So does this statement about the dogs and the swine, does it fit in with the verses about seeking God in prayer? Or does it tie into what Jesus said previously about judging? Well, honestly, it's kind of hard to say.

Just to give you a little insight, when a pastor prepares a sermon, or even if it's something that we say just that comes to mind at the moment, there's usually a logical progression of thought. You might not be able to tell what it is at the moment.

You might hear me talking about something, and, well, he was talking about something else two minutes before. How did he get here? You've thought that, I'm sure, right? And I might be able to explain that, or maybe I can't.

But at least in the moment, there was some connection. So I think it's safe to say that that's true here. Jesus, I'm sure, knew the connection from one thing to another. But we're kind of left to figure it out.

And it is kind of hard to say. But I think Christ's statements about the dogs and the swine, it ties in with his comments about judging hypocritically. Because who was the people that were judging hypocritically?

Who were the hypocrites? Yeah, I mean, they were the scribes and the Pharisees. So I think that's probably who's in view here in verse 6. The dogs and the swine are probably the scribes and the Pharisees.

Why? Because they're the perfect picture of the people that responded to Christ's message, and just responded to Christ, with hostility. And I think you've noticed this, that there are some people you can talk to about Jesus and the gospel and the Bible.

And some people seem interested. Others seem sort of indifferent. And then there's some people that are just outright hostile. So I think the dogs and the swine are them. Verse 6, again, Jesus also was talking about those who are self-righteous, filled with pride.

You know, if somebody is self-righteous, filled with pride, they never, almost never at least, admit that they're wrong. Right? You know these people. And if you try to take the log out of their eye, they, like a wild dog, will bark and bite.

So before we move on, what's an application we can take away from this? Because we always want to make application. Yes, this is what the Word of God says, but how does that apply to me? Without the application, it's like a three-legged stool.

You know, you take out application, you take out one leg, the whole thing kind of collapses. We need the application. So if someone is an atheist, if they're a mocker, and as soon as you bring up Jesus to them, or the Bible, and they start getting mean and nasty, and I've noticed this, some people, all you have to do is say something that's related to that, and immediately they start swearing.

You know, they just add these words, that's a sign. Or if they start getting really nasty about it, hey, fine, don't cast your pearls before swine. And the point isn't to insult them by calling them swine.

I mean, I don't think we should do that, but Jesus is making a point.

Don't bother.

You know, shake the dust off your feet, move on. Talk to someone who's actually willing to listen. So I think that's the advice. But at the same time, I want to be clear, the dogs and the swine are not sinners.

The dogs and the swine are not unbelievers. Unbelievers are not dogs and swine in this context. You know, we want to reach sinners, right? We want to reach unbelievers. Jesus ate with sinners. The dogs and the swine are the people who hate the truth.

So there's a difference. And we know the Pharisees and the religious leaders of Israel, they hated Jesus, and they hated the things that He said, and, of course, they killed Jesus, and they tried to kill the apostles, and they locked up church members and all the rest.

So the dogs and the swine here are not sinners. They are not unbelievers. They are the people who, when confronted with the gospel, they respond with hatred, anger, and hostility. So I think we understand verse 6.

Amen?

Okay, let's move on. So that's kind of the negative part of the sermon or the negative statement. Let's move on to something a little more positive, verse 7. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you. So let's ask, how does this verse fit into the verse before it? I don't think it does. The transition here is abrupt. This is a totally new subject. So before we get into the meaning of this passage, I just want to kind of comment on the big picture of what Jesus is doing.

What are we reading? Yeah, Matthew chapters 5 through 7 are the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is preaching a sermon. So just big picture, is that the way you view Jesus? I don't know if it is or not, but is that how you view Jesus?

When you hear the name of Jesus, Jesus Christ, do you think of him as a preacher? How do people view Jesus? All I can do is base things on what I hear people say. I think a lot of people get their idea of Jesus from artwork, right?

Or from television or from movies. There's a very famous TV show right now that is all the rage with evangelicals. It's called The Chosen, okay? That show has some real problems. They say they represent the authentic Jesus.

I would question that. And if you want to know why, come and talk to me later on. Is a lot of it true?

Sure.

But some of it, I don't know. So when people think of Jesus, here's the problem, one problem, whether it's that show or some movie or some representation of Jesus, when people think of Jesus, they think of that guy.

Well, that guy's not Jesus. Or that famous painting that we've all seen. Remember, you know, the man with the long brown hair in a beard and he's kind of staring off into the distance. When people think of Jesus, they think of that guy.

That guy's not Jesus. Here's the thing. You need to get your knowledge and understanding about Jesus from where? From the Bible. If you're getting ideas that are not here in Scripture, that's a different Jesus.

It's not the Jesus of Scripture. So none of those are the real Christ. And just one other thing. I'm almost certain Jesus didn't have long brown hair. Okay, that's a whole other sermon for another day.

First Corinthians 11 would tell us this. But, you know, the hippie Jesus, and I know especially around here, and I mean no disrespect, but a lot of people when they think of Jesus, it's the hippie version of Jesus.

And I'm pretty sure that's totally wrong. But seriously, how, and I am being serious, how do people view Jesus? Some people view Jesus as the softer side of God. You know, the Father, he's pretty mean and wrathful, and Jesus is just so compassionate.

Like you know that's true. That's how a lot of people see Christ. Others view Jesus, other end of the spectrum, they view Jesus as like a stern judge who's looking down on them with disapproval. Others view Jesus as their buddy.

You know, he's always there willing to listen to me. And there might be a little bit of truth to all of this. But if you've never done it before, I challenge you this morning, view Jesus as a preacher.

That's what he was. Jesus was a preacher and a teacher. If you take notes, write this down. Matthew chapter 4, when Jesus began his ministry, it says, Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

What was Jesus doing?

Teaching and preaching. In Luke chapter 4, when Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach. To preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim or to preach liberty to the captives. And what did Jesus, what did people call him? His disciples and the multitudes, they called him teacher. Rabbi, which means teacher.

So here's the thing, his reign as king is coming. The judgment seat of Christ is in the future. Jesus is Lord, but not everyone recognizes him as Lord. But everybody does or should throughout history, everyone recognizes him as a preacher.

You know, even the Muslims regard Jesus as a prophet.

Did you know that?

They don't believe he's the son of God, but they will recognize he was a prophet. The Jews say a false prophet, but even they recognize that he was a preacher. So, everyone throughout history recognizes this.

Here's the point, for the past few months we've been going through the Sermon on the Mount. What do preachers do? When you think of a preacher, you think of someone who preaches sermons. So, some people go to school.

You know, here's the thing, Jesus, the sermon, this is what I'm noticing about the Sermon on the Mount. It's unlike any sermons I'm hearing today. Who is the best preacher? This is not a trick question.

You know who the best preacher is. So, this is the most famous sermon ever preached. Every evangelical pastor, scholar I know, they'll say this. The Sermon on the Mount was the best sermon ever preached.

Jesus is the greatest preacher. Can I get an amen on that? Jesus is the greatest preacher who ever lived. It's Jesus after all. You kind of have to say that if you're a Christian. You should say that.

Yeah, the sermon, really, it's like no other sermon you hear. You don't get any self-help or motivational speaking from Christ. You notice that's missing? Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornet Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornetchurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.