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| SERMON #169 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, MAT 7:6. Our text teaches us not to give that which is holy to the dogs. The Lord Jesus is teaching us how and how not to exhort. "...neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." This is not an admonition not to exhort; it is an exhortation on how to exhort. It is precious to see the harmony in the gospel. We must exhort, but the Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount teaches us how to exhort. Exhortation is to invite, beseech, or entreat "with all longsuffering and doctrine." 2TI 4:1-3 tells us, "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." This is not a suggestion, but it is a charge that is laid on each and every one of us. We are to "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." We must have patience. Reproof must be done in a way that edifies each other by speaking the truth in love. There is such blessed harmony when we remember the first five verses of MAT 7 which preceded our text, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." These first five verses teach us how to judge and reprove the actions of our brother based upon God's law and His Word and in the manner which His Word commands. This is so important within our walk of life. We must obey the Word and commands of God. The Word not only tells us we must exhort, but it also tells us how. There are those who will not endure sound doctrine, therefore our text admonishes, "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," MAT 7:6. We must examine our own hearts to determine whether our efforts are coming from a judgmental spirit, a condemning atmosphere, or from a motive of love. We must speak the truth, but we must speak it in love and tenderness. EPH 4:15-16 says, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." It must be in a loving spirit. After teaching the need for judging between right and wrong, and the need to exhort daily, Jesus counters with our text which seems quite the opposite. After He has taught us that we must exhort and how to do it, He comes with that which appears to be the opposite, but it is the same thing. Let's examine this. Jesus 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," MAT 7:6. The Lord has shown us that we must not only give exhortation, but we must receive it. We must reprove others, but we must receive reproof. We cannot submit ourselves to the judgment or rebuke of those who have that self-righteous beam in their eye. The Lord Jesus is teaching us that when someone comes in a hypocritical manner with a condemning, judgmental spirit, we cannot submit to them; if we rebuke them, they will mock our contrite heart and hate us for a loving rebuke. When a person comes to us in a hypocritical, condemning way, it is not a time we can open our eye for them to come in to examine our heart. That would be putting their feet upon our pearls. We may not come to others with a condemning, hypocritical spirit, but neither can we submit to, open our eyes, nor come with contrition and a loving spirit trying to confess our faults to someone ready to trample our pearls under their feet. The primary object which Jesus had in view, in the context in which our text is spoken, has to do with the hypocritical spirit of the Pharisee. He tells us we cannot cast our pearls before them to be trampled upon. Look at the harmony and blessed truth when we add PHI 3:2, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." The word concision is a very important word which means, "literally cut off," i.e., beware of those that cut off. This refers to a hypocritical, self-righteous spirit in those who say with a condemning spirit, "I see this and this in you; you are going to hell." That is literally cutting one off. It makes one shudder to see the concision in churches. They require that members meet every jot and tittle of their check list of what they believe, (rather than what the Word of God calls salvation), or be cut off. We must beware of concision, of those who would literally cut one off. When we place our pearls which are the hope of our salvation before the hypocritical legalists who cut off every one whom they judge as unclean, they will trample them under foot as in the matter of Mary Magdalene. I would like to share a time with you when I visited with a pastor; the man had cancer and knew he was about to die. He knew his time was short. As we visited, our hearts flowed together with the oil of the Holy Spirit. As I bid him farewell, he said that when there is such a spirit of love, he could speak of those things that were most precious to his soul, but then he complained that with some of the elders of his church he could not share those things with them because they would cut him off. They would slight his experiences as being too short and not meeting their long check list of experiences which they required. Therefore, he told me that when they come to him, sitting in the judgment seat asking, "Pastor, what do you have to share?" he would answer, "I have nothing to share." Now let's look at the case of Mary Magdalene; it is exactly that in LUK 7:37-39, "And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. [See a sinner whose heart had been touched by the Lord; she wept over her sins. One who had a humble and contrite heart before her Lord!] Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner." Mary Magdalene came with a contrite heart and a humble spirit before the Lord, washing His feet with her tears. What a blessed place! What a blessed place if you and I could come there once in a while. However, see the self-righteous beam in the eye of the Pharisee who "...spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner." The Pharisee did not see the contrition, the humility, or the weeping over her sins. He had a spirit of condemnation; he had the nerve to think within himself that if this Man were a Prophet, He would know that she was a sinner. She was confessing her sins; she didn't deny that she was a sinner, she was a broken-hearted sinner who had found the Saviour, i.e., one to save her from her sins. If she would have come before such a Pharisee in the same spirit of contrition, revealing her heart, she would have been casting that which is holy before dogs. Even though the Pharisees were the church leaders, that would have been casting her pearls before the swine for they would have turned to rend her. When she came weeping over her sins before the Lord Jesus Christ, He understood not only her heart, but also the heart of the Pharisee. This is what the Lord Jesus is teaching us; we cannot come with a humble and contrite heart to confess our sins before a self-righteous Pharisee. That would be violating the admonition to not, "cast ye your pearls before swine." When we try to speak of our remorse over sin to those who are enemies of the truth, those who despise a humble and contrite spirit, we cause God's name to be blasphemed. That is the reason we may not do it. Look at ACT 13:44-45, "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. [Now watch those judgmental hypocrites.] 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." The whole city had gathered, and there were many like Mary Magdalene. They came because they were blessed by what they heard, but the self-righteous Jews were filled with envy and jealousy because the people were following Paul instead of them. They spoke blasphemy, contradicting Paul, not because what he said was untrue, but because it made them jealous. Those who are dogs and swine will "turn again and rend you" for telling the truth. Our text is not saying that we are not to share our spiritual pearls with our fellow man, or even that we are not to give our testimony to those who are unconverted. We must, however, identify those whom Jesus referred to as dogs and swine; those who have knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ but scorn the truth because they love to wallow in the pollution and sin of this world. They are the ones who know the truth, but reject and desecrate it as illustrated by the Jews and Pharisees. 2PE 2:19-22 identifies the dogs and the swine, "While they promise them liberty [They understand the truth], they themselves are the servants of corruption [Like Balaam they will sell their soul for the reward of unrighteousness]: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. [They are the dogs and swine.] For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." They knew and understood the truth, but they were never transformed by the truth. Do you see the filth and pollution? They had a carnal Christianity. Their hearts were never renewed; their affections were never renewed. They were never transformed into lambs and brought into the fold. They were dogs and remained dogs; they were swine and remained swine. They returned to wallowing in the mire of sin. If you come to them with your pearls, they will trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you with ridicule and condemnation. Why? What they see and hear condemns their conduct. They will not come to the light because their deeds will be reproved. Jesus commanded that we are to be a light to the world. MAT 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." We must allow our light to shine before men; it doesn't say just before God's dear children but before the world. We must be aware of how we shine that light. We read of this in 1PE 3:15-16, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ." Do you see what this is saying? The wife is the type of the church as we see in EPH 5: 23-33. By her meek conversation, she wins her husband who is not walking according to the Word because he beholds her chaste conversation. Your testimony is of little worth if what you say cannot be seen in your walk of life. However, our reproof must be done in season. That is an important point. When we reprove a person, it must be done with a meek and humble spirit "While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear," 1PE 3:2. They behold our walk of life; they watch to see if our conversation is in harmony with our walk of life. They want to see if we truly act what we preach. We may not rashly judge a person to be a dog or swine just because we see a wrong spirit in them, and therefore refuse to speak to them about the Lord. That would contradict MAT 7:1-5. Jesus is saying we must prayerfully wait an opportunity to speak a word in season. It is not that those people should not be reproved or rebuked, nor is it that we should not testify unto them. The important point is that we are not to do it in such a way that they trample upon it. We are to act in a way that it can and will be received. Once while visiting with a person, he was cursing and blaspheming God's name. I could have risen up and told him to stop swearing, but then who would be the authority? The Lord or me? I prayerfully laid it before the Lord to give me an opportunity to speak a word to him in season. About fifteen minutes later, the Lord gave me an opportunity that I could use a passage of Scripture to answer a question he had asked. Instantly he rose up defensively saying he was as religious as I was. I didn't argue with him, but I did say, "But there is still a difference between you and me; the distinction is that I fear God, and you do not." After I explained what it meant to fear God, i.e., to have a holy reverence for God's name and His will, the Lord gave me a chance to speak a word in season. We were together for three days after this encounter, and I never heard him use another profane word. In ISA 50:4 we read, "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned [that is what's important!], that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." The Lord is telling us that we must listen for an opportunity to speak a word in season, but we do not have the authority to condemn another person. The word spoken must be in humility, contrition, and in season. We must have an ear to hear when it is the right season. Moses, the meekest of all men, saw his need for the Lord to teach him how to speak a word in season. We must ask the Lord to give us an ear to hear when it is time and to give us words to speak a word in season. EXO 4:10-12 gives us the confession Moses made, "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Eloquent speech is not necessarily appropriate nor is it always an asset; it is not a requirement for saying a word in season. We need to understand that it is the Lord who gives a word in season. He gives the ear to hear and the eye to see when the time is right. We need to be taught by the Lord. When we see a person in need of reproof, we need the Lord to give us words to speak so He is glorified. Then the person will be convinced. The synonym for the word reproof is convinced. We must be able to convince them that what they are doing is wrong; we must convince them that our reproof is brought with a humble and contrite spirit. Those whom our text refers to as dogs and swine are those who scorn the truth and will hate you for reproving them. There is a difference between those who have not heard the truth and those who know but scorn the truth. Watch what it says in PRO 9:7-8, "He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." We must beware of the person who scorns God and holiness. Christ commands us not to cast holy things before him. Does this mean that the scornful person is never to be reproved? No. It means that when you see a scornful atmosphere, attitude, or spirit, quite often in God's own people, you must be careful what you say, when you say it, and how you say it lest you make them hate you. I've seen times that it was impossible to reprove one of God's dear children because they were in a wrong attitude. Quite often you must wait for the right time to reprove them. We must be able to receive reproof as well as give it. Those who hate reproof are fools because God's Word commands us to reprove one another. You cannot reprove a fool because, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise," PRO 12:15. When you and I cannot be reproved, we are acting foolishly because we forget that in a multitude of counsel there is wisdom. When we are so set in our own ways, and that way seems so right in our eyes, that we can't be told a thing, we are acting foolishly. Those who listen to counsel are wise. PRO 15:5 says, "A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent." We are not to reprove those "fools" who despise instruction. We are not to cast that which is holy before such a person. "Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words," PRO 23:9. That does not mean we just turn them over to Satan without seeking and finding an opportunity to speak a word in season. "A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke," PRO 13:1. PRO 15:32 says, "He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding." However, we don't answer a fool according to his folly. We don't answer a fool in such a way that we make him feel he is justified in his ways. ECC 7:5 says, "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools," in other words, the boasting of those who are wise in their own ways. Those dogs and swine spoken of in our text are those with whom you cannot share your pearls of self-knowledge as David spoke of in Psalm 51 because they would take your humble confessions and judge you vocally, going about as a barking dog, slandering your name. Remember, we considered Psalm 51 in the last sermon of how David's heart was prepared. He prayed that the Lord would give him an understanding of his own heart so he would be able to be a good reprover. When you come to those who would vocally judge you, in other words, going about as a barking dog slandering your name, you are to "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs..." You do not speak to a person in such a spirit the way David was speaking in Psalm 51. They would trample on it as happened to Mary Magdalene. She was humble and weeping over her sin, a contrite, loving sinner before Christ, but the Pharisee stood in his self-conceit, with a self-righteous beam in his eye, passing judgment. The other side of the admonition of our text is that we cannot hold our eye open for examination unless we are fully convinced the other person is lovingly trying to help us. I have felt reproved when someone spoke to me, but I was not able to confess my wrong because I knew I'd be slandered and God would be blasphemed. We must beware of this. Persons who handle God's Word so roughly with condemning harshness lack the tenderness to effectively reprove or help remove sin in the lives of others. TIT 1:9 says, "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." The word convince is used in the above verse. If a person reproves another in a condemning manner, it is not as effective as one who comes with a convincing attitude. It is one thing to say, "You can't do that;" it is another thing to sit down in a humble spirit to convince a gainsayer of the authority of God's Word. The human heart is deceitful, but one doesn't help another by saying, "You are wrong here, here, and here." We start by confessing how weak we are in ourselves and that we are so concerned by what we see for we know our own heart. We know by what we see that they are walking in the slippery lane, and doing that which ought not to be done. Those who have learned by God's grace to know the plague of their own heart have learned to understand that when we begin to yield to temptation, we are sure to fall. Jesus is not saying anything against reproving, but He is cautioning against speaking out of season, i.e., in a time and place it will not be received. So we must prayerfully wait for the time which is in season. For example, suppose a group of people have just been sporting with some unclean gesture; if you tried at that time to reprove with God's Word it would be out of season because everyone is standing there laughing and having a good time. That is just not the time and place to throw God's Word in the middle of their dirty joke. We are to walk in love, and not partake of evil "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient," EPH 5:4. The best admonition would be to just walk away without cracking a smile. That would be the best reproof because they would realize something wasn't funny. They would realize by the fact you, turned and walked away because their humor was offensive, reproved them without saying a word. The admonition to speak a word in season is taught in MAT 10:16, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents [to pick the right time to speak], and harmless as doves," to pick the right way to reprove. We are to speak with love, but at the right time. This is synonymous with EPH 4:15, "But speaking the truth in love." Let's consider a Biblical illustration of this which beautifully makes this point. Daniel did not attend King Belshazzar's great feast where they brought the vessels of gold from God's house to worship the gods of gold and silver. Daniel's absence was a reproof, an admonition, and a preaching in itself. Daniel was one of the governors, one of the king's lords, but his absence spoke louder than words. He did not cast his pearls in front of the swine. Daniel did not go in such a time to reprove the king. When the king was feasting and drinking from the vessels of gold taken from the house of God, Daniel didn't go in to reprove him. He spoke to the king when he could speak a word in season. Daniel waited for the right time. What happened? While they were mocking, Daniel was praying. When the king saw the writing of the man's hand on the wall and the laughing and joking were over, Daniel could speak a word in season. Daniel reminded the king how God had humbled the pride of his father, Nebuchadnezzar. Then Daniel reproved him saying, "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified," DAN 5:22-23. Belshazzar was one who knew the truth but did not adhere to it. Did Daniel reprove him? Oh yes, he laid his sin naked before his eyes, but he didn't do it while he was laughing and mocking. It is important to understand there is a time to speak a word in season, but we can't do it while there is a scornful spirit. There are times when we must make a public choice between God's honor and sin. There are times when we must stand for what is right if our life depends upon it. We will not take part in their sin. You see, Daniel was not there when they dishonored the Lord. Sometimes we can just excuse ourselves and walk away, as when someone tells a dirty joke, but Daniel was there when the handwriting was on the wall. We see an example of when one must stand in DAN 3:16-18, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." The king demanded that they take part in his sin. They stood; they did not yield. V:17 continues, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." We may never yield to the point where we become partakers of sin, even if it is a matter of costing us our life. We may not take part in sin while we wait for a time in season to reprove. We may not become a partaker of another's wrong as a means to avoid offending someone. We may not yield even if our life depends upon it. It isn't a matter of saying, "Just this once..." They said, "we are not careful to answer thee in this matter," they stood for the honor of God, and they would not yield. Our text is teaching that if we place that which is holy before dogs or cast our pearls before swine, we not only bring reproach upon ourselves, but we cause God's name to be blasphemed. Jesus says that when you find that men will not receive His Word, you must withdraw yourself from them. When you try to testify to a person, give them a loving rebuke or reproof, and you immediately see the rising of a scornful spirit, you must withdraw. MAT 10:13-14 says, "And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet." You must not try to impose God's Word upon anyone. Our text speaks in the plural sense, i.e., "dogs" and "swine." This implies there are groups and organizations of people who have no desire for the truth from whom we must turn away. We must leave them alone and not provoke them. If there is a church group that does not want to hear the truth, we must leave them alone. 2TI 3:5 tells us, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." Leave them alone; don't go to them and provoke them causing God's name to be blasphemed. The Lord used the refusal of the Jews, as a group, to turn the Apostle Paul unto the Gentiles. The Jews as an organization had refused him. We read in ACT 18:5-6, "And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." Paul would not cast that which was holy before those dogs, nor would he cast his pearls before those swine. He left them as a group, shook his garments and said he would be free of their blood, and left. Notice it was a group that Paul turned from, i.e., it was a people, the Jews who were openly vicious. These were not individuals, but a group of individuals. Paul did not rashly pass judgment upon them, but after their actions revealed their hearts, Paul washed his hands of their blood and turned unto the Gentiles. He did not stand there passing judgments or condemnations upon them. He left them in the hands of One who judges righteously. This example shows open, vicious, blasphemous, intentional trampling underfoot of God's pearls that were preached unto them, then turning to rend those messengers of God. TIT 3:10 says, "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;" One does not go back to such scornful people to rebuke them. One wipes their hands of them to be free of their blood. The first five verses of our chapter do not forbid judging between right and wrong, nor do they teach that we are not to exhort one another, but the principle taught is that we cannot do so with a hypocritical beam of self-righteousness in our eye. As we pointed out in our last message, a person cannot be an effective reprover without the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite spirit. If you come to a person in any other manner, for the purpose of reproof, even one of the brethren with whom you have close fellowship, you are not a proper reprover. "A broken and a contrite heart" in the reprover over his own sins becomes an excellent oil on the head of those being reproved. We heard this in the last sermon in PSA 141:5, "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities." The righteous are those who have the right attitude toward their fellow man. It is necessary that we not only know how to give exhortation, but how to receive exhortation. God's Word commands us to exhort each other daily! That is God's command. HEB 3:12-14 says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." In other words, we are to take notice, take heed, observe, keep our eye on any spirit of unbelief in our neighbours. We must be shepherds to each other; every one of us must watch and exhort daily, but also receive exhortation daily. The purpose of exhortation is to keep us from falling away. The Lord wants us to exhort and help each other identify the sins in our life. We need the help of each other to identify unbelief that creeps into our lives. We must redeem the time, "...because the days are evil..." EPH 5:17-21 says, "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." We are to be aware of what the Lord would have us do, and be familiar with His Word. Do we see the Godly principles? We are to submit ourselves one to another; in other words, there is no one person who stands above others. We are to stand in fear of God; that means we stand in holy reverence and respect for God and His will. We are commanded to have concern for each other's welfare, exhort each other, and provoke one another unto love and good works. We must have a concern for our fellow man as we see in HEB 10:24-25, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Why must we not forsake the assembling of ourselves together? If there are no occasions when we are together, we cannot exhort one another. We are commanded to exhort one another daily, and as we see the day approaching when we will be taken from this life, so much the more. The older we get, the more we should adhere to this and realize the necessity of this exhortation that we will prevail unto the end. Now let's take notice of the Apostle Paul's words as he saw the day approaching. He said in 2TI 4:6, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." The assembling of ourselves together is because we love His "appearing;" we love to come together as the Lord Jesus tells us,to come to the light. We are told in JOH 3:19, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Now how about the righteous? They come to the light so their deeds may be revealed as we read in JOH 3:21, "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." If we are to exhort one another, we must come to the light; we must love His appearing. We must know that when we come together, He is there. MAT 18:20 says, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." We are to come together for the purpose of exhorting, to examine our heart, to look at each other's credentials, and to help each other identify areas we must bring to the light so our deeds can be made manifest. We must realize this so much the more as we see the day approaching. The Apostle Paul says the crown of righteousness will be given "and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Amen. |
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