Can you explain Matthew 7:6?
Listen: 133.1
What an important verse! It’s one that we all do well to know the meaning. In Matthew 7:6the Lord says, “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.” As believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord has entrusted us with precious and holy truths. The things of the Lord have a tremendous value. We read in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” We have the precious truth of the glorious Gospel of Christ. It is only those who truly believe on the Lord Jesus, who have an idea of its great worth. The Apostle Paul said in, Philippians 3:8, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” The Apostle considered the knowledge of Christ to be worth more than all the riches of the world. As keepers of the Word of God, we must guard its preciousness and handle it in a holy manner.
The Lord instructs us to tell the whole world about His offer of salvation. We read in Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” However, we must not cheapen our ministry by not using any discernment in going forth with His Word. Let’s look at an account in the life of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:44-46, “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But 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 ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” As Paul and Barnabas preached the Word of God, the Jews there began to contradict them and blasphemed against them, or more literally, they railed against them. At this point, these faithful servants of the Lord ceased to speak to these unbelieving Jews about the Lord. They refused to argue with them seeing that they had no desire to hear the precious truth of the Gospel.
Even the Lord Jesus, Himself did not always share the Gospel. Consider this incident with Herod during His trial in Luke 23:8-9, “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.” The Lord, knowing the hard heart of Herod did not talk to him about his need of salvation. Knowing that Herod had no interest in the truth, the Lord did not even speak to him. The Lord does want us to share the Gospel with everyone, but if we find ourselves in a position where the Gospel is being mocked and evil spoken of, the Lord may lead us to keep silent and not “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs”, or unsaved people.
Besides the Gospel, there are precious truths that just cannot be understood by those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. It does absolutely no good to cast these “pearls before swine.” This is another word used to describe the unsaved. To try to share our precious ‘family truths’ with the unsaved is not only useless, it may cause them to mock the Lord and His truths. 1 Corinthians 2:14tells us, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (133.1)