THE SERMON - Pearls Before Swine
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Length
1 hour and 16 minutes
Words per minute
134.74968
Harmful content
Misogyny
14
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Toxicity
81
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Hate speech
87
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Summary
In this episode, Pastor Ken teaches on the role of the spiritual in the business of reproving others. According to Galatians 6:1, there are criteria for who should be involved in this work of restoration, including those who are spiritually mature, and those who have a spirit of gentleness. And lastly, there is a certain disposition that we should keep among ourselves in order to avoid temptation.
Transcript
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amen let's stand for the reading of god's word our text is matthew chapter 7 verse 6
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matthew chapter 7 verse 6 i'll read the text in its entirety when i finish reading the text i'm
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going to say this is the word of the lord at which point i would appreciate very much if you
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respond by saying thanks be to god one final time our text for today is the gospel according to
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Matthew chapter 7 verse 6 the Bible says this do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your
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pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you this is the word of the
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Lord all right please be seated let's go ahead and dive right in by way of introduction I've
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written the following just as everyone is not fit to reprove according to Galatians 6 1 not everyone
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is fit to be reproved according to our text today
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Matthew chapter 7 verse 6. If you're familiar with Galatians chapter 6
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verse 1 this is the text that says that if anyone is caught in
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any transgression you who are spiritual should restore such a one
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but do so in a spirit of gentleness and keeping watch
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at least at minimum, from Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, is that there is a criteria for who
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should be about the business of restoration. Who should actually be about the business taking
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action engaged, involved in reproving others. That is confronting, correcting, rebuking,
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and reproving. Now the purpose in all of this is ultimately love. The purpose is not to condemn
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If the Lord chooses that the person be condemned, then that's something that the Lord determines himself.
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The Lord will soften hearts and sovereignly in his mercy.
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He will soften hearts and then in judgment choose sovereignly to harden hearts.
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The Lord determines the outcome. He determines the results.
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But in this obedience, not everybody is called to do this work of restoration.
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Not everybody is called to be a reprover, to be a reprover.
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At minimum, what that includes is there's an assumption by way of implication.
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It's talking about you who are spiritually mature.
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So those of you who are spiritually mature, if someone's caught in any transgression,
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but not everyone those who are spiritually mature and then the next criteria that's offered is that
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you should do so in a spirit of gentleness you should do so in a spiritual a spirit of gentleness
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that doesn't mean that you're pulling punches it doesn't mean that there's no correction at all
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if gentle correction is so gentle a a fake sense of gentleness that the correction is no longer
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there then it defeats the purpose it's gentle correction that means it really is gentle but it
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also really is correction if you're so gentle that there's no more correction left then that's not
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gentle correction that's not correction at all and you may be doing it under the guise of gentleness
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but it's not true gentleness because true gentleness actually confronts sin out of love
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for sinners so that they might be restored, so that those who are caught and tangled in any
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transgression might actually be restored and set free from that. But that's two criteria already.
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You who are spiritual, that is those who are spiritually mature, in what manner should we
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confront or reprove others? With a spirit of gentleness. And then lastly, there's also a
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certain disposition that we should keep among ourselves, which is making sure that we too
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don't fall into temptation. And again, by way of implication, I think what's in view in terms of
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what particular temptation is the very same temptation for the sin that the person we're
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correcting has fallen into themselves. There are some who would argue that the temptation to be
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avoided here is the temptation to pride. I think that that is a safe assumption. Certainly we don't
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want to give in to the sin of pride, but I think it's more specific than merely that. I don't think
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it's just restoring someone caught in some transgression and watching ourselves to make
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sure that we're not given to arrogance. I think it's also watching ourselves to make sure that
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we're not given to the very same sin that that person is caught in themselves because one of
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the things that Jesus is most concerned about again and again and likewise I think the apostle
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Paul in Galatians is the sin of hypocrisy the sin of hypocrisy that you would reprove one person
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for a particular sin while meanwhile being caught in that exact same sin yourself so those are three
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criteria you who are spiritual should restore be the ones to reprove someone who's caught in a
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transgression spiritual maturity you should do so what manner what mode a spirit of gentleness
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so uh what what kind of person one who is spiritually mature what kind of confrontation
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what what method a spirit of gentleness and and what what heart posture or or what guardrail
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but going and reproving, that you are not the reproved, but in this scenario, you would be
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the reprover. And the point is that there is criteria, there are conditions that the scripture
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sets that should be met to go and reprove others. If you want to go and reprove your brother,
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then you need to meet certain conditions. Not everyone is qualified to reprove.
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in our text today now shifting from Galatians 6 to Matthew 7 verse 6 in our text today instead
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of setting conditions for who gets to reprove here we find qualifications or conditions for
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who should be reproved not for the reprover but for the reprovie the person who is going to be
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reproved the bible sets conditions for both not everyone is qualified to go and confront others
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and also not everyone is qualified to be confronted not everyone is qualified to be
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confronted so not everyone should go and confront and correct others because you're not spiritually
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mature or you cannot do it in the spirit of gentleness or you're arrogant and blinded
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and hypocritical and would fall into the very same sin yourself or already caught in that sin
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you have the the plank in your own eye meanwhile you're pointing out specks in another so not
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everyone should go and confront because not everyone is qualified for that ministry of
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confronting reproving with the end goal being restoration likewise not everybody is qualified
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to be confronted not just to do the confronting but to be confronted not just to do the reproving
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but to be reproved there is such a thing in this world as those who are swine and those who are
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dogs and in the case of swine and in the case of dogs we are actually commanded by christ in
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Matthew chapter seven, verse six, not to give what is holy to dogs and not to cast our pearls before swine.
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But the first reason is because swine and dogs will not appreciate pearls and things that are holy.
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Going on in your notes, Matthew Henry, the late great Puritan, he says it like this.
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throw a pearl to swine and he will resent it as if you threw a stone at him reproofs will be called
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reproaches as they were when someone is a pig when someone is obstinate when someone is deaf
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That's a miscalculation, and it can cost you dearly, as we'll see.
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But another miscalculation is that we can label someone, categorize someone as a swine too quickly.
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But the point remains that there really is a category for this type of person.
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A person who refuses to hear, refuses to listen, refuses to see.
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a person who is not malleable and softened in their heart,
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receptive to the things of God and the message of God,
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there really are such a thing as swine in this world.
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There really is such a thing as dogs in this world.
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And the reason why we would withhold our reproving from such a person,
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correction and confrontation from such a person,
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But not only will there be an absence of repentance from such a person, not only is that person unlikely to respond, but that person, according to our text, Matthew chapter seven, verse six, they actually will respond in a sort of fashion.
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The reason why we want to withhold pearls from swine and things that are holy from dogs
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but because there will be a harmful and destructive response.
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They will respond, but they will respond in a destructive fashion.
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Again, going back to our primary text to read it once more so that we remember it in our minds.
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Matthew 7, verse 6, do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs.
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What is the reasoning that Christ provides for this command?
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Lest they trample them, that is the message, the pearls, the holy things, they trample the reproof.
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They trample the truth of God's word that you're offering to them.
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Let's say trample them underfoot, but it goes a step further and then turn to attack you.
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That if someone is truly a swine, if someone is truly a dog, it's not only that the message of truth that you might offer them will fall on deaf ears and that they'll trample the message itself.
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But they also will be hostile and violent and turn and trample and attack not only the message, but the messenger.
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That they will not only trample on the word of God, but that they would trample on the man of God.
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That they would trample on the one who is reproving and correcting them.
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And not only would this place yourself into a position of danger, but it also places the reputation of Christ in a place of being threatened, which we'll look at here in just a moment.
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Let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head.
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This is supposed to be the posture of the people of God.
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Those who are not swine, those who are not dogs, those who are not so dull of hearing, so hardened of heart.
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They actually are able to receive reproof, receive correction and recognize it when it's done properly.
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when the reproof is true right it's not just any confrontation there is such a thing as foolish
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confrontation there are those who correct and think they're doing so in wisdom but are actually
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merely fools but when true correction comes and it comes from the word of god and it comes by those
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and this correction in itself is definitively true.
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someone who is truly seeking to restore the individual.
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should embody what we read in psalm chapter 141 verse 5 let a righteous man strike me it is a
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kindness right that should be our response to good true correction coming from again it's right there
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baked into the text let a righteous man when a righteous man reproves it is a kindness again
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We're constantly going to be critiqued and criticized and confronted by someone for something.
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So the mark of a Christian is not that they respond to correction,
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viewing it as a kindness without any discrimination, without any measure of discernment.
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In fact, I would argue, because the world is filled with fools, foolish people,
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that most of the criticisms you'll receive over the course of your life are not a kindness at all,
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But righteous criticism, righteous confrontation, if that be ignored, it will be ignored at risk of your own peril.
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In all this, what's required, I hope what you're picking up, the common thread throughout all of this, is the urgent and vital need for discernment.
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that the people of God must be shrewd as vipers.
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That's what we're doing when we seek to discern.
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When we seek to discern between falsehoods and truth.
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And not only that, but exercising discernment not only with the criticism,
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Are they humble and avoiding hypocrisy and keeping watch over themselves
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as they point out the speck in my eye do they have a two by four that's protruding from their own
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but in all of these questions as we seek to answer them accurately what are we doing but making
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judgments you can't live life without making judgments the impetus of matthew chapter 7
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And when he does, he makes wrong judgments.
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Well, you can make true statements all day long.
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It's not as though Christians for the last 50 years
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have been just going around blatantly saying things
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right it's not as though pastors have been going around saying you should love satan
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no they say things that are true the bible contains them they even quote scripture
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but they quote it at the right uh the wrong time and apply it to the wrong things it's a word that's
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not timely i mean satan himself used scripture right he didn't he didn't go to jesus and say
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David speaks of this when he speaks of God's hedge of protection and shield around the righteous,
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that he will not allow the righteous to be devoured or overcome.
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He says, surely I've never seen the righteous go hungry or be without bread.
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He's speaking of the providence and the protection and the steadfast faithfulness of the Lord.
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And especially of God's anointed one that finds fulfillment in David as king,
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but its ultimate, highest fulfillment in Jesus.
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It is true that God would not allow Jesus, His foot, to strike a stone.
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And we see this throughout the gospel narratives again and again.
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They would go around and whisper in people's ears
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and rile up the people who were easily manipulated.
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But until it's his time, they're unable to harm him.
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There are even certain texts in the gospel narratives where it says that Jesus,
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and it says it kind of in common language, as though in passing,
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to where if you're not careful, you can miss how miraculous these statements really are.
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But it says that Jesus is preaching and per usual, people hate his preaching and are angered and riled up.
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And they want to lay hands on him and to seize him.
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And the very next verse is, but he passed through their midst.
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I don't want to read too much into that particular text.
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They're trying to lay hands on him, trying to seize him.
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And they physically can't in a supernatural sense.
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But either way, the point still remains, whether it be within nature, providentially or above nature, supernaturally.
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The point still remains that until it was Jesus' time, this text is true.
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But what Satan is trying to do is to get Jesus to put God to the test.
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To get Jesus to force God, his father, to prove his divinity before his time.
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And through an avenue, a certain means, that was not God's preordained plan.
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And so if Jesus was to listen to Satan in this regard, it would be sin,
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And this is what Christians, if we're not careful, can do.
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And this is what Christians and even leaders historically,
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There's so many things that have to be weighed,
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trying to get Jesus to do something before his time.
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Whether it was directly out of the mouth of Satan
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wanting Jesus to self-preserve, to protect himself.
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isn't that funny that earlier satan directly in the wilderness says hey put yourself in danger
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throw yourself off the temple and jesus says no get behind me satan as it were it's essentially
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the way is it no i'm not going to do that i'm not going to put the lord my god to the test
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but then later peter says the opposite satan says endanger yourself throw yourself off the
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temple to prove that God is real and that you're his son because he'll protect you. So Satan says,
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put yourself in danger, Jesus. And Jesus says, no, Satan. Then Peter says, don't put yourself
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in danger, Jesus. And Jesus says, no, Satan. Isn't that so? So then what's required then?
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Ecclesiastes elsewhere in the scripture speaks of this
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and honored. They knew the times. So even just knowing the word of God does not necessarily
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make you wise. You can know the word of God at a surface level that you could quote scripture,
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but you can quote scripture wrongly, missing its interpretation, that is its meaning,
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But we also need discernment, not only in receiving reproof, but giving reproof.
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Is this person a swine? Is this person a dog?
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Or will they turn and trample underfoot the word that I've brought?
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And not only the word that I've brought, but turn and attack me also.
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Among the generation of the wicked there are some that have arrived at such a pitch
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A fever pitch such a high degree of wickedness
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That they are looked upon as dogs and swine
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They have so long walked in the way of sinners
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That they have sat down in the seat of the scornful
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That's standing, or walking and standing and sitting.
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I can't remember. I think it's Psalm chapter 2.
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But there's a way of walking in the way of the wicked
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and then sitting among the scornful and the revilers.
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What Matthew Henry is saying is that there are some generations of the wicked
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and some individuals among those who are wicked
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that have arrived at such a high degree of evil
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that they are looked upon as dogs and swine.
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that they're no longer content to merely walk the path of sinners,
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but they have now sat down in the seat of the scornful.
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something that we find not just in the text that he's quoting or at least referencing psalm chapter
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two but we find this throughout the scripture as a whole that there is a progression of sin
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we find this in the book of james for instance right that sin beginning at the level of desire
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right that there are evil desires and the desire if it goes unchecked desire that does not accord
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eventually it conceives and gives birth to sin.
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That it's not as though someone just wakes up one day
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that there are some who will receive a light beating
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Meaning, how bad was the sin that you committed?
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and that you chose to sin even despite that grace?
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We see that example laid out or described for us when Jesus is pronouncing woes over certain cities in Israel, Tyre, and Sidon.
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And what does he say? He says, it's not just that you've committed worse sins,
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and therefore you were going to incur, or incurring for yourself more judgment.
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But he says, if the miracles that have been performed in you, these cities, had been performed instead in cities of old, pagan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have turned and repented.
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In other words, what Jesus is saying is not just the degree of your sin, O Tyre and Sidon, is very great.
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The kinds of sin that you're committing, the frequency of sin you're committing, the degree of sin you're committing.
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It's not just the sin itself, but it's also the fact that you are sinning on the backdrop in the context of having such a high degree of revealed grace.
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You're not just sinning like Sodom and Gomorrah that was committing vile acts of sin.
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But you're doing it not just with righteous lot living in your midst, bearing witness.
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but you're doing it with jesus in your midst bearing witness to the truth of the gospel
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and performing mighty signs and wonders proving and verifying that he is in fact the son of god
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that you're sinning in a city where the son of god preached to you and where the son of god
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It's been demonstrated again and again and again.
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And then we can also, in discerning whether or not this is a swine or a dog,
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we can ask the question, and have they been doing this sin?
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All sin, which accords with nature, is still, of course, sin which accords with fallen nature.
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But there are some sins that don't merely accord with fallen nature.
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but sins that categorically go against nature itself.
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For instance, you can have a pagan society that worships Thor.
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That's also polygamous, where the men take multiple wives.
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And that society, if there's polygamy and idolatry, but they're patriarchal, know the difference between men and women, the men are masculine, they fight, they're strong, they provide, they protect.
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and they boast about households with 10 children
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but that society, theoretically, it's plausible,
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Well, I know that because societies like that
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have lasted for a thousand years throughout history human history we have seen pagan societies
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that did not just last for 20 30 years one generation or two generations but lasted for
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centuries centuries of idolatry worshiping false gods centuries of violence committing war crimes
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they would take their opponents tribes that they were at war with and do atrocious things that we
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You know, the comparison is often made of like,
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women in america are not going to molek it is molek but they're not going to molek planned
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parenthood to give one child so that they could have 10 they're giving one child and then two
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years later another child and then two years later another child so that they can have
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none in other words pagan societies that worshiped molek that were degrading to their wives
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so that they might receive ten children in return.
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Children are a blessing rather than a burden.
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They didn't want their society to literally die off.
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They recognized we've got to have at least two children for two parents.
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They didn't say, well, Americans can't have babies,
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so I guess we need to import the third world.
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and not just stupidity because that's kind
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the idea that we would say i hate children i don't want any and and my neighbor's children
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those who actually do have children christians in our nation that have children that are seeking to
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be fruitful and multiply i want to make sure that their children don't have a country by the time
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they grow up and so we're going to open up the gates and let in strangers and aliens and foreigners
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As they're going to blank and pillage other tribes,
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Putting women in combat and positions of civil power
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The accords with nature part doesn't eradicate the first part.
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doesn't provide for the members of his household,
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But that is not a sin that accords with nature.
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That is a sin that's not just a matter of degree,
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So now we're not just speaking of degrees of sin,
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In times past, think of what the Apostle Paul wrote
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but these things not only do they not honor God
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Sin which accords with nature, which is still sin.
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Or sin that is disordered and goes against nature.
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Not only rebels against God, all sin rebels against God,
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but it actually rebels and flies in the face of nature itself.
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Romans 1 gives us, again, just like James, just like Psalm 2, a progression.
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And not just a progression of sin as we find it in an individual person, but as we find it in societies.
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it talks about how men eventually as a society is degrading progressively more and more and more
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eventually you reach a state corporately as a society where men exchange natural relationships
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for those which are what unnatural against nature right so there are relationships that are
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with nature, even though they may still be sinful, like polygamy. And then there are
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relationships that are also sinful and a higher degree of sinfulness. The category itself is more
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perverse, more disordered, more upside down, more directly flying in the face, not just rebellion
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against god the one who created nature but against the nature he created itself so you're seeking to
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bring correction seeking to bring reproof the one you're reproving are they a swine are they a dog
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okay let's consider what's the category of sin next what's the degree and frequency of sin
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and then another speaking back to the example I gave of Tyre and Sidon
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woe to you Jesus pronounces woes on Tyre and Sidon but notice this
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it's not specifically now I think the argument could be made and I would make it
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tyer and sidon were vile in terms of the sin but that's not i think that argument can be made
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but the argument that's explicit the argument that jesus makes so it's probably the safest
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thing to go with you know when when in doubt side with jesus but jesus says if the miracles
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meaning not just the degree of grace or the degree of sin you towns tyer and sidon are committing
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but the degree of grace that I'm displaying and revealing.
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If the miracles, the proof, the revelation, which is grace,
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God revealing himself through his son, Jesus Christ,
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this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
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These miracles, if they were performed in these other cities,
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You remain obstinate and rebellious in the face of grace.
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So that would be another marker that we look for as we're discerning, judging whether or not we should correct someone.
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Whether or not this person is qualified not to reprove, but in this case, Matthew 7 verse 6, they're qualified for the reproof.
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Not to be the reprover, but to receive the correction.
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And then lastly, what's the degree of grace, right?
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In other words, you could find a vile, vile people.
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it would be possible to find a people that is incredibly vile,
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They've been doing this for, well, not centuries.
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Okay, but let's say they've been sinful for centuries.
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Matthew 7 verse 6 is telling us to make a judgment, but to make a right judgment.
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Should we judge from a distance without any Christian ever going that these people are swine and dogs
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and therefore determine they don't deserve the pearls, they don't deserve the holy things,
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we should never send a missionary, never preach the gospel ever at all?
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No, because there's a lot of factors that we can observe.
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categories of sin, frequency of sin, longevity of sin, all this. But there's one category that
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we've yet to witness. There's a piece of data that's currently missing. And what is it? What
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do these people do with grace? What do they do? We know what they do in darkness without the
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Christian gospel being present. But what would they do if God did reveal himself? We know what
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Tyre and Sidon did. The Son of God walking their streets, doing miracles, preaching the gospel,
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and Tyre and Sidon says, nah, don't like it. Let's kill him. All right. Swine. An entire city of swine.
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And for anyone who thinks that's harsh, remember Jesus is the guy who told his disciples,
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And that includes still to this day, you and I, that there are certain contexts and times to shake the dust off of your feet and leave a place.
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And he actually says a town, not just an individual.
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No, Jesus actually carves out a theological category for giving up on entire towns.
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Most people go there, and they go there for a reason.
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One of the reasons is commerce, business, opportunity.
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But another one of the reasons is because they want to leave places like this.
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I hate southern morals and biblical character traits.
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where there are real, tangible, geographic places
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but maybe skip that town. Now, again, hear the caveat, not skip a town that's never had the
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gospel. Not talking about, hey, skip that tribe in the jungle that's never heard the word of God.
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No, you don't do that, right? Because that's the last category that needs to be weighed when
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making a judgment. How do these people respond to grace? Revelation. That's what Jesus is saying
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to trample me to turn and attack me this lesson matthew chapter 7 verse 6 is something that jesus
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experienced firsthand it's not just a principle it is a principle but it's something that
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he knew he himself knew this principle and he modeled it he's not just giving it a command
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something for you but not for himself no he actually obeyed this command himself throughout
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his earthly ministry until it was his time remember what i said earlier once it was his time
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rather than fighting against kicking against the goads once he knew it is time and this is my
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father's preordained will right he prays john 17 in the garden of gethsemane let the cup pass but
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not my will but yours be done and once it's time and it is in fact the will of god then jesus
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Have you ever wondered all the passages where Jesus would heal someone or exercise a demon
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and he would explicitly tell them, don't tell anyone?
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Because his primary function, purpose, was preaching, not miracles.
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The miracles were to validate him as a messenger.
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But Jesus was, before miracle worker, it's Jesus the preacher.
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And he goes to preach and he doesn't want the preaching to be obstructed and hindered by antagonistic crowds that would come with plans to persecute him or arrest him or this.
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So what he does is he goes to a town for a little while.
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He tells people, please don't spread the word that I've done this miracle.
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enough of a crowd, a big enough crowd, enough people,
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And then once the bad faith actors get there, what does Jesus do?
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And then he gets on a boat and tries to lose them.
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And they walk around the whole lake and find him.
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And then a little later, he tries to lose the crowd again.
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And many of the critics are not good faith critics.
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He's not ready for the bad faith critics to actually succeed, capture him, arrest him, and crucify him.
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The doctrine of fleeing, in other words, a thoroughly biblical doctrine.
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friendships that you should get out of there are workplaces that you should be writing your resume
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you should be shrewd about it right you need a job in the meantime don't be foolish
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all right have a little tact but you should be writing your resume and sending it out
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you should be thinking how do i not work for this company for the rest of my life
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i would even argue further than that not just towns you could argue even whole ethnicities
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tribes tongues languages not forever because every tribe tongue and language is going to be before
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the throne of god but there are generations where paul says all cretins are liars and lazy gluttons
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Doesn't mean each and every individual, but it means on the whole, in generalities, high percentage of swine.
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And this, again, is not Jesus, just his permission saying, hey, ministry is hard.
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Bringing correction, bringing the gospel is hard.
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And I'm giving you an allowance, permissibility.
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It's not just that Jesus is leaving you an off-ramp
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because he's concerned about your personal comfort
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No, this is Jesus actually as the one who owns all things,
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It's actually not him concerned about your comfort.
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It's not, hey, sometimes there will be some individuals or some peoples or some towns
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or some generations or some places that are really, really hard.
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And everything you're operating with are my resources, my investments.
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it's not just you're allowed to throw in the towel if it hurts no it's that you're not allowed
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to waste the master's money that's what you're not allowed to do and there's a certain point
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with categories of sin degrees of sin longevity and frequency of sin and how much grace
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has this person had and yet they still rebel against god how much grace and preaching and
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evangelist and gospel has this people had this nation had this city had this state had and they
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yet still hate jesus at that point it's not just hey things were tough
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and now you can move to oklahoma city and have a good life with conservatives no it's no these
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people are vile and you need to stop wasting my investment and spend it better there's better
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ground that will receive the seed and produce a crop 10 30 60 100 fold and you are commanded
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to be good investors producing a return for the master
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that's that's the point so it's not just your preservation that's in the text too
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don't do pearls before swine pearls uh swine they don't see it as a pearl you giving them
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something of value they just think you're you're attacking them why are you throwing rocks at me
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it's a pearl why are you throwing rocks at me it's it's a loving correction and reproof
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why are you reviling me they just see it as reviling they see it as slander even though
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it's true and they're not just going to trample the pearls the message they'll turn and attack
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you the messenger so that is baked into the text self-preservation jesus is essentially saying
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don't be suicidal i want jesus is a shrewd manager the master who owns everything he wants as much
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out of you in your life, your ministry as he can possibly get. He doesn't want you to be a kamikaze
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missionary. He'd rather get 40 years out of your missionary work. He wants a return. So he doesn't
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want you to do things that will get you to be attacked, your reputation destroyed to where no
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one will ever listen or receive from your ministry ever again. So he doesn't just allow for shrewdness
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or allow for at times throwing in the towel and moving on, pivoting, transitioning. He demands it.
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He demands it because Jesus wants a return. Don't go to certain places. Don't go to certain people.
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don't open your mouth don't give that reproof not just because you might not be qualified to
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reprove but that person might not be qualified to be reproved that's matthew chapter 7 verse 6
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use discernment make righteous judgments what do we look for to determine will this person is this
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a person worth reproving? What category of sin are we talking about? Sin which accords with nature
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or sin that flies in the face of nature? Not just degrees of sin, but disordered sin. Okay,
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what's the longevity, the history? How long have they been rebelling like this? And what frequency
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But if this is a person who has been saturated in Christian doctrine,
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has grown up in the Mecca of Christendom in the West,
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and voluntarily placed themselves in a city or a geographic region
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that is dedicated to sodomy, baby murder, and hatred of Christ,
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and I know that that seems intense and some people don't like that but
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then what do you do a lot of people know what they don't
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quick giving problems give me a solution then how do you apply Matthew chapter
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7 verse 6. If not that, then who is a swine? Who is a dog? And I think if people are honest, this is
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what they'll have to admit. Now, it won't help because it's inconsistent and there's no Bible
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to back it up, but this is what they would have to admit. Well, that deals with individual people
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and that description of swine and dogs can never be used to describe people groups. It's only
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individuals you can never describe a town a whole place to which i would just say have could i
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introduce you to the bible have you ever read that before that concept is applied regularly
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c tire c c sidon c crete that's entire generations this wicked and adulterous generation
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that's that's a thing that's a thing so let us be wise examine yourself galatians 6 1 are you
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qualified to reprove to give the reproof are you spiritually mature are you doing it in a spirit
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of gentleness actually wanting restoration to be the outcome and are you humble not giving
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into temptation recognizing your own weakness and propensity to sin spiritually mature gentle
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humble. That's for someone to give a reproof. Also, who are you about to reprove? Are they a
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swine? Are they a dog? What kind of sin are we about to correct? Notice, not just what degree,
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what kind of sin, category. What history of sin do we have here? How long? How frequent?
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And how many times has this person been corrected before?
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has there always been obstinate hardness of heart?
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find a better investment you're not being harsh you're not being mean you're being shrewd
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because jesus the master he demands a return he's given you grace and he expects the grace he's
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given you over the course of your life to be multiplied in others so do not waste your time
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your whole life trying to multiply that grace he gave you with one person who for all intents and
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purposes all signs all indicators point that that person is not going to get it can god save anyone
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yes yes but he can do it with or without you your job is to be fruitful to be fruitful
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and here's the thing you could write someone off as a swine and god and his providence through
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human agency could bring someone else who has not yet experienced how obstinate how rebellious
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they actually don't have the data points to categorize this person as a swine so they're
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actually being obedient based off of what they know and what they know is preach the gospel to
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everyone until they prove that they should be written off this person hasn't had that experience
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yet. And then that's the time and the sovereignty of God and his mercy that the gospel actually
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bears fruit. That has happened hundreds of times. But that doesn't change the first point that if
01:15:44.580
you've been there for years again and again and again and it's no and it's no and it's no, then
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move on. So you actually are called to move on. Someone else who doesn't have that experience,
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doesn't have that data point, so they're not able to make a judgment, a right judgment, accurate
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judgment they preach the gospel and maybe that's the time where god causes the seed to grow
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blessed be the name of the lord he's sovereign working all things all these different parts
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moving parts all the pieces of the puzzle our job again is just obedience obedience
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go preach reprove correct witness evangelize but be shrewd get a return