Let's turn together to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. Last week we considered the first five verses with that often used and often misused passage of judge not, do not judge, judge not that you be not judged. In verse 6, some say that it fits with this section, some say that it doesn't, some say it's disconnected, it is connected or it isn't, and I believe it is in some ways, but it also stands a bit by itself. A difficult verse. Before we read verses 1 through 6 together, we'll turn to chapter 10, Matthew 10, and read together the first 16 verses of Matthew chapter 10. Hear now the Word of our God. He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles. First, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew. James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. Philip and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector. James, son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions, Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message. The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse those who have leprosy. Drive out demons. freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts. Take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it. If it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. And turning back to Matthew 7, the first six verses. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. In the words of our text, do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. There ends the reading of God's Word. May He add His blessing to it this morning. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Yes, a heavily used buzzword in our society today is the word discrimination. We hear it often in cries, for example, that something is unfair or there is unjust treatment being given or that someone's rights are being robbed or violated. On Webster's Dictionary, the word discriminate is given the primary definition that it deals with distinguishing and discerning between things and then understanding their differences. And we all do that. We all discriminate in that way whether we understand that's what we're doing or not. But there's also a secondary definition which seems to be the one that society kind of keys on. It says that it is to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit. And this, again, is what we hear today. For example, we hear cries about the unjust treatment, for example, of women in the workplace or those who are a part of the homosexual community or of minorities or illegal immigrants. And we must confess that there is much sinful discrimination that takes place that is not based on one's merit. Here, Jesus commands kingdom citizens to exercise a righteous discrimination. When it comes to properly handling the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, God's kingdom citizens are commanded to... He commands spiritual discrimination of dogs and hogs, as the text points us to. Now, as we read this verse and begin to understand it, it might be quite shocking to us. Because of course, we would admit that we can't read the heart of another. And what our Lord is calling us to here, indeed, we must be very careful. There's no doubt about that. But we can't begin to read the heart of another. Only God can do that. And our Lord had just taught us, do not judge. And then He turns around and says, in a sense, but do judge. He had said, do not judge, and we said, of course, last week, that that does not mean that we are never to make a judgment or a decision or a determination about something. We are, as God's people, as believers, to be able to discern or judge based on the standard of God's Word, be able to discern or judge who are pigs and dogs? Who are wolves in sheep's clothing? God's people are to be able, in the strength of the Spirit, to test the spirits. To judge between right and wrong, between good and evil. But when our Lord says, do not judge, He makes it clear that we are not to judge hypocritically without critically judging ourselves by the very same standard. And even then, you recall, we are called to speak the truth in humility, in charity, in love, striving to help others to see their sin and fight against their sin and if it is God's will to remove that sin. But now it's as if He says to all this, but not always. Not always. And indeed, this is very, very difficult for us as believers to comprehend because we would think that we are called to share and to spread to the Gospel at all costs, all the time, to everyone. Even John Calvin says, in essence, we are to desire the salvation of all that we come in contact with, which is indeed true. Yet our Lord says that we are, borrowing from that definition in Webster's, we are to make a difference in the treatment of some, in how we treat some, based on their individual merit, or we might say their demerit, based on their character in response to the standard of the Gospel, depending on how they respond to the good news of Jesus Christ and the message that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Kingdom citizens are called to exercise spiritual discrimination of dogs and hogs, first of all, because of who they are. Jesus uses dogs and pigs here, giving a vivid picture of feeding something to these animals. But what is he talking about? I mean, we know that he is not literally talking about the animals, the pigs and the dogs. He's talking about man. He's talking about people. But in order to understand exactly what He is getting at, what kinds of people He is talking about, we do need to understand the nature of these dogs and hogs, at least how they were understood back when Jesus preached this message. When Jesus preached and mentioned dogs, His listeners then would not have thought of dogs the way we do. They would not have thought of nice house pets or yard pets that are tame and lovable and loving, that those that you pet them once, and they're devoted to you for life. Those kind of pets that even if you ignore them for a couple of months, they are forgiving and they're loyal to you. He's not talking about the kind of pets that we teach to sit or shake or roll over or fetch your newspaper or your slippers. He's not talking here about man's best friend. But his audience would have understood that Jesus was referring to semi-wild, savage scavengers. Those dogs that roamed the streets freely, that foraged through the garbage dumps. Those that would fight off other animals in order to protect their turf. Those that would threaten or howl or snarl or were greedy or were shameless. Simply those that were dangerous. Dogs were despised in Israel. And to be eaten by dogs as Jezebel was, was a sign of God's curse. And a person of worthless character would be called, often would be called, a dog, one who was despised. And then there are the hogs, the pigs. We know that they were also unclean and contemptible and filthy and Israel was to have nothing to do with them. One commentator suggests that possibly the kind of pigs that Jesus is talking about were those that were related to or came from the European wild boar that was dangerous and was capable of violence. But together we know that Jesus is pointing to what was an abomination. That which was savage and vicious, dangerous, unsatisfiable, ungrateful, intolerant, and selfish. So what do those dogs and hogs represent? We might be tempted to say unbelievers. It's partially true. Not all unbelievers. We might say a certain category of unbelievers. Those who upon hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, upon hearing the good news of the Kingdom being at hand, those who present themselves as openly hostile, as openly as God-haters. Those who present themselves as those who have absolutely no interest in the truth of Jesus Christ and in the salvation that He came to accomplish. Those who are hardened to the Gospel. Those who despise God and who demonstrate their hostility at every opportunity through their words, through their actions, through their reactions. Hogs and dogs here represent the awful effect of sin upon mankind. That sinful and carnal mind that Paul says is hostile to is at enmity with God. Those who are openly, we might say, enemies of God. We think of the Pharisees, for example. Jesus spent quite a bit of time in dialogue with the Pharisees, but it wasn't because they were interested in Him. It wasn't because they cared about Him or had any interest in what He had to say. It was in order to trap Him. They hated Him. They wanted to destroy Him. Or we think about Luke chapter 23. Jesus is on trial there. And it's kind of amazing. He stands both before Pilate and then you know before Herod. And he is questioned by both and he answers unbelieving Pilate, but he doesn't answer unbelieving Herod. We read in verses 8 and 9 there, when Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him from what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. Herod should have known better, but he only wanted to be entertained by Jesus. He wasn't interested in the person of Jesus or in the work of Jesus. And in essence, our Lord says, to these you will not give the demonstration of the grace of the kingdom. They don't want it for the right reasons. Believers are not to hypocritically judge their brothers as we've considered in verses 1-5, but we are called to righteously judge dogs and hogs between unbelievers who seem to be willing to hear. Many are tolerant, we know. Many are willing to hear what we have to say between them and those who clearly can't stand anything Christian or about Christians. The Bible is clear, as tough as it may be for you and I to understand, the Bible is clear that we are called to withhold the Word of God and the graces of the kingdom from them. Matthew 10, beginning at verse 14 again, Jesus says, If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 2 John 10-11 says, If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, he's talking there about the teaching of Christ, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. In the same way to fail to stand up for and defend the name of Jesus is to join in its abuse. The reason that we are called to discriminate and to withhold God's Word in the second place is because of what God's Word is. It's His. It's His. Jesus says, Do not give what is sacred to the dogs. It is believed that maybe He was referring there to the food portions that were dedicated, consecrated, set apart only for the priest to eat and not to be thrown out into the back alley for the scavenger dogs to get. It was sacred. The Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is sacred. It's His Word. It is consecrated to God. It is His very own. It belongs to Him. It is of Him. It is for those He has determined to bring to Himself. It is consecrated to Him because it is the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the revelation of salvation. It is the power of God unto salvation. and it is that foolishness by which He saves those who believe by the grace of God. It is God's revelation of our need and of the accomplishment of satisfying our need in Jesus Christ. And that Word, that Gospel, is to be treated with honor and respect by kingdom citizens, especially because it will not be treated that way by spiritual dogs and hogs. And God's Word is not only His, but it is also ours. As believers by His grace, He has given it to us. It is a precious treasure. It is not worthless gravel that we walk upon and take no notice of. It is pearls, He says, that which is to adorn mankind. It is a priceless treasure. Beloved, there is no physical wealth. There is no earthly treasure that can even compare to that treasure that answers to our eternal need. There is nothing more precious than having my sins forgiven and being accepted by God. And there is nothing more wonderful than the way that God accomplished that. It is a treasure. Valuable. Precious. Life-giving. Lasting. Or we may lose everything that this earth has to offer us, but this treasure remains forever. And it is to be protected, guarded, not hoarded. Indeed, we are called to preach the Word, to be ready in season and out of season, to take it to the ends of the earth, to those who will hear. But God's people are called to guard it. Just as we guard those things that are valuable to us in this life, we take out insurance. We put stuff in a safety deposit box. We equip certain possessions with alarm systems. We guard them. And the Lord Jesus Christ calls us to protect and keep this treasure from those who openly show themselves to hate and disgrace God and His church and His people and His message in the third place because of what they will do with it. The text says again, Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. It's a dangerous picture. If you have spent any time in the mountains or in any of our national parks or certain places, you may see signs that say, Don't feed the bears. I don't think we see too many signs that say, Don't feed the squirrels or the deer or the birds. Those things seem to be okay, but don't feed the bears. Why? Because if the bear is not satisfied, it will turn and tear you apart. The word picture that our Lord gives us here is of a man sprinkling pearls on the ground. And those pigs, they think that those pearls look like peas or something that is pleasing to the taste or satisfying to the taste. But as they greedily gobble them up, they find them to be hard to chew and tasteless and unappetizing and unsatisfying and worthless and in anger, they spit them out, they trample on them, and they turn on the One who fed them. And that is the way it is with some when it comes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's exactly how they find it. And that's how they express it. And we find that evidence in Scripture in Proverbs 23, verse 9. We read, Do not speak to a fool, for He will scorn the wisdom of your words. Or we think again of Jesus' own example. He treated the Pharisees and the scribes differently than He treated the tax collectors or the woman caught in adultery or those whom the Pharisees labeled as sinners. He preached the Gospel to these sinners, but He did not preach the Gospel to the Pharisees and the scribes. They wanted nothing to do with it. And He instructed His disciples to leave when their preaching was rejected. In Acts 13, we read about the Jews in Antioch. After hearing Paul and Barnabas preach the Gospel, we are told that they were filled with jealousy and they talked abusively. And Paul says in verse 46 there, since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. And in Acts 18 in Corinth, we find something very, very similar. And there Paul says, your blood be on your own hands. He says to Titus in Titus 3, verses 10 and 11, warn a divisive person once and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful. He is self-condemned. Self-condemned. We think of Stephen right before he was stoned and after he had preached the Gospel. We read that when they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at Him. Indeed, beloved, this is difficult. It's difficult for me. It's difficult, I trust, for you as God's people because we are called to preach the good news. And indeed we are. Jesus isn't saying stop preaching to everyone who will listen. But stop preaching to those who hate it. who snarl at it, who want nothing to do with it. You see, that's a hard reality for us, isn't it, that as believers, that some will not receive the truth of God's Word because it does not gratify them, it does not satisfy them, they are blind to their need for the Gospel, they see no value in it. It is utterly offensive to them. And they want nothing more than to silence it, to destroy it, to turn others against it. and we experience this hatred maybe directly or maybe more in general in a variety of ways i think of certain movies that i've heard about over the last couple of years depicting jesus as gay or as being in a romantic relationship with mary magdalene how blasphemous what's scoffing at the truth and the beauty and the preciousness of our savior and the word of God. Or I think about a couple of times when I know that the Gideons had handed out New Testaments in front of the public high school up the street, and afterward you see so many of them thrown out on the streets and the cars riding over them because so many want nothing to do with it. Maybe you have encountered co-workers or neighbors who, after they find out that you're a Christian, instead of respecting you a little bit, they make fun of you to your face or where they make jokes out of cursing or taking God's name in vain right in front of you just to get at you, to see how you'll respond. In our society today, there's a cry for the removal of Christian symbols and Christian language from the public arena of life. Or we think about modern day martyrs, those that we can't even begin to imagine what they are going through, but some who even have acid poured down their throats because they will not take back their confession of Christ. There are so many out there who hate the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom and His people so bad they will do whatever it takes to get rid of them. And as such as these, when they show themselves as such, we are called to keep silent. Not to endlessly share the Gospel with those who scorn it. Not to keep company with them because of the danger of their influence on us. the time comes when the constant resistance is to be punished by a departure of the messenger and the message of the good news. And beloved, there is no more terrible punishment on this side of judgment. Though they don't understand it, for someone to have the Gospel shut off to them. A foretaste of the eternal punishment when the Word of God will be shut off for good. We are called to be discriminating for the protection of God's Word, to protect, to stand up for His honor and glory among men, and also to keep spiritual hogs and dogs from further blasphemy so that we might not give them the opportunity inasmuch as we are able, not give them the opportunity to openly blaspheme the name of God. To try to keep them in some way from adding to their guilt. And beloved, that's also why we are called to guard the Lord's table. This table is for professing believers, for those who are able to say by the grace of God, as Melissa said, I love the Lord Jesus. I really do because of what He has done for me. And therefore, we are called to warn those living in open and unrepentant sin that as long as they remain unrepentant and unbelieving, they have no part in Jesus Christ. Again, as difficult as this may be for us to comprehend, we are called to withhold speaking the truth of the Gospel to those who despise it. But not to stop living it. We are not to treat spiritual dogs and hogs as they treat the Gospel. We are not to treat them vindictively, but instead to be wise as serpents, as snakes, and harmless as doves. You see, God's kingdom citizens are still commanded, as Jesus has been teaching throughout, we are still commanded to be humble and loving and charitable, especially to our enemies. Not returning evil for evil, but being salt and light in the world. Heeding the Word of the Lord through Peter. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks. Don't just blurt it out all the time. But to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have, and to do so, Peter says, with gentleness and respect. There's also a call here for self-examination. We are to ask ourselves, what does the Word of God mean to me? Am I afraid? Am I unwilling to suffer for it or to protect it? Or is the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, the most precious possession that I have? Is it something that I would never, ever want to be without? Do I embrace it by faith? Do I live by it? Do I cherish it? Does it govern my life, my gratitude, and my obedience, and my relationships? Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly my only hope? And is His Kingdom my one desire? To that end, is the Lord's Day of worship and hearing the Word preached, Is it the highlight of my week? Oh, beloved, may we as believers not trample the Gospel of Jesus Christ by compromising our profession of faith. May we not trample it by looking more like the world in our activities than those who are adorned with the truth. May we not trample it by despising the Word of God with our actions. Yet praise be to our God and Father that yet the preciousness of this treasure includes that it is lasting, it is effective, it will not be lost, but the blood of Jesus covers and pays for all of our sins. Beloved, the Word of God itself discriminates. It cuts a straight line between those who believe and those who do not. There is no sitting on the fence. And this text, along with the first portion, 1-5, prepares us for Christ's division of mankind into two groups which we will see vividly, the Lord willing, in verses 13-27. There are only two kinds of people. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God, and those who don't. Those who reject Him. Only two. None others. You're either here or you're here. And one day, God's patience will end with the world. And Jesus Christ will come in judgment and then it will be too late. It will be too late. Those who reject it will never ever again have an opportunity to hear the Gospel. On that day, the message of salvation through Jesus Christ alone will come to an end forever. And those who despised and rejected Jesus Christ and laughed at even the faintest suggestion that they needed Him, they will have their eyes open. Then they will see the truth of Jesus Christ. Then they will see the glory of His people. But also, they will see that the one that they rejected is the very one that they are absolutely hopeless without. They will run. They will cry. They will try to escape, calling for the mountains to cover them from the glory and the unbearable sight of the Judge of the universe. He will discriminate based on merit. They will receive the torment that they themselves have earned while God's people will receive the precious reward of eternal life earned by Jesus Christ alone. And His judgment will be final. But praise God, it's not too late. Today is still the day of salvation and our Lord's promise to all who look to Him in repentance and faith, only those, but all those, every single one, His promise is, Whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. Beloved, praise be to God that He opened our eyes by faith to the truth and the preciousness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we love it more and more every day. And may we treasure it always. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, indeed, this is a hard truth for us to comprehend. We know, Lord, that there are those who scoff at Your Word, who take every opportunity they are given to blaspheme Your name and to spread that around to others. We pray, Father, that you would give us strength in the midst of those situations. We pray too, Father, that we would not be those by our own actions or speech. Give them opportunity and that we too would not trample upon the Word of God. We thank you for this precious treasure. Help us more and more to see just how precious and how valuable it is. as we are reminded of the depths from which we have been saved to the heights of glory to which you have brought us. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in his name we pray. Amen.