Thru the Bible - Questions & Answers

Guest (Male): Jesus said, do not cast your pearls before swine. So, what did he mean? How does this apply to us today? Well, if you stay with us, you'll find out.

Guest (Male): This is the question and answer program with Dr. J. Vernon McGee, a ministry of the Through the Bible Radio Network. We begin with a very important question that many of us have asked. It comes from a listener in Warrenton, Virginia who writes, each day I read and study God's word. Each day I pray that God's will be done in my life. How do I determine the will of God?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: May I say to you that unfortunately, this is not something that you can answer. If somebody wanted a combination to a safe, you could give them that combination that could open the safe. And are you could just put down certain rules. And by the way, there've been several books written on this. Fact of the matter is I started to write a book on it one time. And I thought, well, the rules and the regulations that I followed may be altogether different. In fact, it may be the very opposite for someone else. And fact the matter is I don't find that there are too many that could follow my pattern at all.

When God called me to the ministry, I had a very easy way actually of determining what the will of God was. I was a very poor boy and I could not go to school. And at that time, the government was not sending boys through school. And if you went, you had to work. I found myself having finished college and ready for seminary and the Great Depression broke out in the early '30s. Well, I want to tell you that I was in a bad way at that time. I couldn't get a job or anything and I just had to put the matter down before the Lord.

And he provided by the way and I even got a job that summer finally. And I have discovered actually that if a person wants to do the will of God, if you really sincerely in your heart want to do the will of God, you feel that there is something he wants you to do. And you start in that direction. And if he doesn't want you to do it, why he'll put up a roadblock and you can't go that way. Then you can come back to square one and start all over again. And if there were just two ways open, you know now the other way is the way to go.

That is the hit and miss method. And very candidly, it's the method that many of us have followed through life. If you feel that God is going to show a green light at every corner for you and have an arrow pointing the way he wants you to go, that's just not the way it's done. Even Ruth in the book of Ruth, when she went out to go into the fields of Boaz, she did not know what field she went in at all. She did not know that her decision she made determine whether Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

But it was just that important and yet God did not put up an arrow or anything like that. And I'm afraid a great many people are looking for that sort of thing. I believe that you come to a crossroads and you have to take one road. And that was what I did on one occasion. And I didn't know what to do, go this way or that way. And I heard Dr. Ironside say that in about 85% of the decisions he had to make that he did not know at the time he made those decisions whether he was in the will of God or not.

It came out later whether he was or not. Well, that answered my question. I was at the crossroads. I had to make a decision. I was in Texas. My decision was shall I go east or go west? And I had to call to California and a call to the east. Frankly, I took the one to California and I don't think I made a mistake by the way. I think that was God's will. Now that's the best that I can say to you. I don't think that there's any rule or regulation in spite of all the books that are out.

If you're willing to do God's will and will keep it before him, I'm sure of one thing that you're going to come out where I don't know. But you will come out where God wants you to be. And it may not be by him indicating at this present moment just what it is because he doesn't lead quite like the books say that he does.

Guest (Male): Our next question comes from a listener in Lenoir City, Tennessee. She writes, would you please address the problem of being unequally yoked in the sense of an unbeliever?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, may I say to you that the passage that you are using comes from 2 Corinthians. You did not give me the scripture, but I'm sure this is the passage that you have referenced to it's in 2 Corinthians the 6th chapter. And it's at verse 14. I think I should turn there and read that. I am turning to 2 Corinthians now, the 6th chapter. And I begin reading at verse 14. He says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?

Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? The whole point of Paul's statement is that in that day the Corinthian believers were being yoked together with idolatry. In other words, many of them said they could become Christians and still go up to the temple of Belial, up to the worship actually of Apollo and Venus. And it was gross immorality. And it was of course idolatry. Paul is saying that you cannot be yoked with that and at the same time be a Christian. Now that is the thing that he is saying and that is the direct interpretation of it.

Now that's been stretched out to mean that you cannot be a member of a Bible church and be a member of a liberal church. Or that you can be a member of a liberal church and not be a member of a Bible church. That means you're unequally yoked together. May I say to you, I don't think that is the direct application of it at all. However, I have a feeling that you can certainly make an application in that direction. I do not think that a Christian ought to go in partnership in business with a non-Christian.

I could give you a dozen illustrations, I know, in my ministry of man in the church that went in partnership with the unbeliever. And the unbeliever can use methods that the believer cannot use. A man told me that when he sold his business, he'd worked for 30 years to make that name of the business a reputable name. And he said that the man he sold it to was an unbeliever and he was cutting corners, dishonesty in his dealings to that man. He's an unbeliever. He thinks it's all right. In fact, he talked to him about it.

And he felt like that he was doing business the way that he should do it. He said that it's just ruining the name of that business that he'd been so long building it up. Therefore, a believer ought not to be yoked together in business. Now he was not in partnership with him at all. But he couldn't be. That was the first step that the man wanted was him to be a his partner. Well, he turned that down. He saw that very clearly. And there have been so many men that have found themselves in a business with a partner that's dishonest.

And they cannot be that as a child of God. And I think that it has reference to that. Now I don't want to be extreme in my interpretation. But I do believe that it does have reference today. And I cannot understand how a person can be a member of a church and sit Sunday after Sunday and listen to a man absolutely deny the deity of Christ, actually ridicule the inspiration of scripture and continue on as a member in that church. I do not understand it. And I know that a great many people do that. I would say that this has reference to that.

And I think that is the sense of it. This party here says I have attempted in as much as I am able to live a life which might reflect my Christianity. But alas, I'm bound to stumble from time to time. Well, I think your stumbling has nothing in the world to do with being unequally yoked together. Now I feel that it's true in marriage today especially. I do not think a believer ought to marry an unbeliever. In fact, I made it a practice in my ministry not to do that. Of course, I do know that it's turned out in several cases where especially the man in order to get the girl claimed to be a Christian.

But he was not a Christian at all. It worked out that he was anything but a Christian. And the girl finally had to leave the unbeliever. But that was of course misrepresentation. And it's hard to deal with that. And so my feeling is that if you have married an unbeliever, you've done a very unwise thing. But if you as a believer and that was the thing that existed among the Corinthians was that both of them were unbelievers and one heard the gospel. And the question was should the believer leave the unbeliever? Or if the unbeliever wants to leave, should the other one attempt to hold on to him or her?

Well, Paul said that if the unbeliever wants to go, let him go because of the way the thing worked out. But if you have married an unbeliever and knew it when you married him, then my point is that you ought to try to work that out because as a Christian I don't think you would have the right to just walk out just because of the fact that you've made that mistake. Now apparently this part that's written this has reference to marriage. And I would say that it's very unfortunate to be married to an unbeliever. I'm sure that you're not having as happy a marriage as you'd like to have.

But you find yourself that you are married to him. And I would say that you ought to make an attempt to try to work it out. I would not compromise one whit my Christianity if I were you. Not bend to doing something that was absolutely unchristian, contrary to the morality of a Christian. I would not stoop to do a thing like that. And if he seeks to leave you, then you just have to let him leave you. But you must hold the Christian principles and of course try to win him. But the way that they try to win him today is not my idea of witnessing for Christ by the way.

And I would say that you should make the gospel very clear to him and what you believe and your principles and have some understanding in that particular area.

Guest (Male): We come now to a question from a listener in Hanover, Illinois who writes, could you please explain the statement Jesus made, do not cast your pearls before swine?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Let me say that that is found in the so-called sermon on the mount. And it's in a series of injunctions which he gave that had to do with he started by saying judge not that ye be not judged. And that is he didn't say that you're going to be judged with the kind of judgment that you judge other folk, but rather that if you are a critic of other people constantly sitting in judgment on others, then you'll be known as that kind of person. You're going to be judged. The interesting thing is that down here as a human being if you become a judge, you're going to find out that you're going to be judged also by your peers and those that are round about you.

And if you're known as that kind of a person, well, you'll be known as that kind of a person. And then he gave a series of talks. He said thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye. And then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thine brother's eye. Don't be trying to take a mote out of somebody else's eye when you've got a beam in your own. And the contrast of course is that you're judging some little thing in someone else whereas you may be guilty of things far more serious.

And that would be like for instance you judge some person. Maybe you say this miss so and so uses too much lipstick. Well, that's a very small item by the way. And maybe she needs that much. I don't know. But you judge her for that. Well, may I say to you this business of gossip is lots worse than using lipstick. And sitting in judgment is lots worse so that you have the beam and she has the mote in her eye. And then he goes on to say, give not that which is holy under dogs. Now Gentiles were known in that day as dogs.

Israel didn't have a very high estimation of Gentiles. And neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. Well, this is something that is maybe a little difficult to interpret. But I think the Lord meant it like this. There are certain people that you're wasting your time witnessing to them. Now that may seem very strange to you. But there are times, there are situations and there are people that it's worthless for you to attempt to witness to them. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

When I was pastor in Nashville, there was an man that I had known when I worked in the bank. He had become actually an alcoholic and his wife was getting ready to leave him. But he was a man that had gained some prominence. He had been elected to the state legislature. And he had a wonderful conversion coming out of Murfreesboro one night. He saw a tent up of an evangelist and he stopped. He was about half drunk then. He was going into Nashville to get a room in a hotel and he intended to commit suicide because his wife said she'd had enough.

She was going to leave him. Well, he went into that tent, sat in the back and went to sleep. And after the service, they came and sobered him up. He was pretty well known to the people in the town. And several interested in him sobered him up. And then the evangelist talked to him, presented the gospel to him. And he was really soundly converted. It was a tremendous change. He never tasted a drop from that day to the present. Now it got back to the legislature what he'd done, that he'd been converted. He was known for the fun and the kidding that he carried on when he was in the legislature.

So, the minute he walked in, they began to kid him. They said here comes Deacon so and so. And they told him. Finally somebody said, preach us a sermon. And others gave out the same cry. And they were making quite a bit of it. And the moderator, he rapped for order, but he couldn't get it. And finally this fellow stood to his feet. And all he said was this. He said, my Lord told me not to cast my pearls before swine. And he sat down. May I say to you, that was the best use of that passage of scripture that I've ever heard.

That was very appropriate at that time for that godless legislature was kidding him. They did not want to hear the gospel. They were not interested in it at all. They were ridiculing him and the stand that he had taken. And I would say that he used that verse of scripture to very good advantage. And I think that there are times when you should not witness at all. I have another friend here in California. This fellow was drunk and a friend of his. And he came to him and he said, I'm drunk and I want you to talk to me and give me the gospel.

He told the man, he says, you go and sober up. And I'll give you the gospel as you're no condition to hear it now. That would have been casting pearls before swine. We turn now to a question from a listener in Hillsborough, Ohio who asks, would you please discuss the issue of rewards for the Christian? 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 12 through 14 seem to indicate that there will be some type of rewards. But Christ's teaching in Matthew seems to indicate otherwise. I'd like to turn and read the passage that you've given in 1 Corinthians.

And that by the way is in the 3rd chapter. And I want to read now. You've given me verses 12 and 14. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, would hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it. Because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Now there are two things that we need to know. Number one is that we're told that some people build with gold and silver and precious stones and some build with wood, hay and stubble.

What does fire do to wood, hay and stubble? Well, it consumes it, reduces it to a shovel full of ashes. What about gold and silver? Well, it's refined by fire. The dross is drawn off. And you get the pure gold. So that actually it's not the amount of work you do, it's what kind of work you're doing. Are you working for the Lord? Do you know there a lot of big haystacks being built today? Preach a friend of mine down in Florida is telling about another friend of ours. I said, how's he getting along? He says, oh, he's building the kingdom.

He has three services, you know, every Sunday morning. Not much else. Sunday night is pretty weak soup. And I don't think he has Bible study on Wednesday night. But a big show for Sunday morning. Well, that could be. I hope it's not. We know this man and it could be wood, hay and stubble. And that's going to go up in smoke. So, it's not the amount of work you do, it's the what kind of work are you doing? That's important. Then the second feature and that's back in Matthew 20, all got the same thing. Why?

Because he didn't pay them according to the amount of work they did. He paid them according to their faithfulness. You see, at the end of the parable about the talents and the pounds why it says, well done thou good and faithful servant. He didn't say whoopee, you really did a big job down there. You got the multitude. No, may I say to you, faithfulness is the basis on which he rewards. Faithfulness and then the kind of work you're doing. That is is it for him or for your glory? Are you doing it for self? Are you doing it for the savior?

Makes all the difference in the world. So, that's the basis on which he rewards.

Guest (Male): Our final question today comes to us from Lexington, Kentucky. This listener writes, would you please explain the difference between an evangelical, a fundamentalist, a neo-evangelical and a neo-orthodox individual?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, I would like to try to answer it. And again, I don't need the Bible to get the answer for this one. There are these different groups now. And we have them in the church today and in the Christian community that some are called fundamentalists, some are called neo-evangelical and neo-orthodox individual. Well, let me say that labels are not very good. I frankly don't want a label put on me. But I find they do it anyway. I am called a fundamentalist. And then sometime I say I'm not true to the fundamental position. Well, what is the fundamental position?

Well, a fundamentalist is one who believes the Bible is the word of God. That's square one. That's where you have to begin. And by the way, it's not only square one, but it's the bottom line that they rest on the Bible is being the inherent word of God. And as a result, they believe in the deity of Christ and there are many other things that they believe in. They believe in the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Now the other one that you ask about, a neo-evangelical is apparently according to some a fundamentalist who has surrendered a great deal of his beliefs, especially his belief concerning the inerrancy of scripture.

That seems to identify a neo-evangelical. As a result, he cooperates with the liberal movement. He's neo-evangelical. I've been called that also, but it's not true. And then a neo-orthodox. Now orthodox means you believe in the great truths. And one that's neo-orthodox is a man who uses orthodox terms. But he does not mean by those terms what we mean by them. They believe in the resurrection of Christ, but not the bodily resurrection, they say. They say they believe in the death of Christ, but they do not think he shed his blood for the sins of the world.

Guest (Male): As we close today's program, let me just tell you that we have numerous resources including books and CDs by Dr. McGee which are available for purchase. So, if you'd like a copy of our resource catalog, simply call us right now and leave a voicemail message. And when you do call, be sure to leave your name, address and the call letters of the station. Or you can browse our online bookstore anytime. Now today's program's available on a single CD for those of you who may be interested in having a copy for yourself or to pass it along to someone else.

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