The Housetop

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”

When the teachings of God are taken to a person who is in the category of a dog or hog, they will turn around with your own words and rend you. 

Dogs and hogs can refer to moral depravity to the upmost and those deemed unclean. They are those who are contentious, of an impure mind, with a disregard for others, lacking modesty and morality. Anyone who teaches another gospel, anyone who is a worker of iniquity, and anyone who is working to pull people away from the purity of the gospel of Christ fits into this category.

From 2 Peter 2:22 we learn that when Jesus referred to dogs or hogs, He was referring to those who walk with God and then go back to what Jesus had saved them from. Then, when a well-meaning saint ties to recover you, you start cutting them: “You’re judging me.”  The popularity of that phrase is coming out of the mouth of a bunch of dogs and hogs who have returned to their vomit and mire and now hate anybody who reminds them of it. 

We are a generation that insults the spirit of grace, claiming grace while sinning like a hog and a dog. Many have gone back to their vomit and live like animals - immodest, vulgar, drunkards, fornicators, but claiming grace.

Matthew 7: 1-5 is so misunderstood.  If there has ever been a phrase hijacked by the world and the devil himself, it is “Judge not.”  Two words have never been taken so out of context on a regular basis than these words right here.  The world’s #1 rule is “Judge not,” but this is a twisting of Jesus’ words.

Jesus didn’t take judgement away.  Rather, He clarified what it meant and how we should do it:  1.) We are not to judge based on our own opinions, 2.) we are not to judge others for a sin we are unrepentant of, 3.) and we are not to judge the world.

We have no authority to pass judgment based on our own opinions.  When we deal with the idea of righteous judgement, we must get to a law and ask, “Who authorized this law, and through what authority does this law come?”  This does away with human opinion based on what we think or feel.  We must separate our judgments from God’s judgments because all judgement comes from God.

Hypocrisy must be taken out of judgment.  We are inexcusable in judging others if we are still in the same unrepentant sin, even if we are using the righteous judgments of God.  If we are not living out what our mouth is proclaiming, we are hypocrites bringing judgment down on ourselves.

It’s not our business to judge the world.  God has specifically called out some behaviors of men and said they would be judged.  Our job is to point out the judgments of God and hopefully someone will tremble and repent.  We are to understand the judgments of God, how they apply to people in this life, and exercise them within the Church.

Judgements are not founded on our personal truth, our present reality, or the changing trends.  As Christians we believe God is the final Judge over all the earth and every man will stand before the righteous judgments of God Himself.  The judgments of God are according to truth, and truth is that which agrees with final reality.

We are told to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven instead treasures on earth, but the problem is we love and seek after temporal earthly treasures. Have we missed true riches? Are we blinded by the gods of this world and lied to by the deceitfulness of earthly riches?

We will continue to pour everything we have into the gods of this world until we get a new heart and a new spirit.

When the kingdom of God is revealed to us, the Lord Jesus Christ sets us free and causes a shift in our value system. Everything our heart deemed valuable prior to the revelation of the cross goes away when we discover the kingdom of God. We begin to prize and store up for ourselves the wealth of eternal life and eternal inheritance.

We must ask ourselves these questions: Are we rich in God, or do we have a leanness of soul? How is our treasure in heaven? Did our new birth shift our value systems where we do not value the world any longer? Have we shifted into the kingdom of God, in kingdom bidding, and kingdom business?

It is about God’s economy and God’s kingdom. God doesn’t want your money. He wants you. He wants all of you.

Alms, Prayer, and Fasting are the 3 Secret Devotions of the Christian’s life. These devotions are a matter of Christian fact – not “if” we do them, but “when” we do them. In this episode, we are challenged to do these devotions humbly and privately, not sounding the trumpet in self-glorification. When done this way, we are storing up treasures in heaven and there will be a divine move of God in the open.

We are warned in Scripture that a Last Day’s false teacher will creep in unawares and pervert grace to lasciviousness. This perversion of grace has permeated our society and churches today. Grace has been turned into the justification for all manner of sin and evil one can think of.

It is believed by a multitude that salvation is a futuristic thing, where one can live like the world all their life and in the end go to heaven anyway. There are so many deceived minds who think they are on their way to heaven but live contrary to the teachings of Jesus. This empty confession of faith is a damnable heresy spued out of the mouth of Satan and has become the religious norm of our day.

Grace is not meant to be a word used for subpar performance. It is meant to be the power of God acting inside of us and enabling us to live the way God has said to. Grace is the divine influence on the heart reflected out in the life where we see the believer supernaturally live like God commands us to live. It is the manifestation of the cross doing its work inside of us and making us live above the law of sin and death to the higher law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn’t lower the standard in the New Testament. Instead, He pushed the standard so far up it is humanly impossible to reach without grace and the divine power of God. Grace allows us to perform what God said we could and takes us to places we cannot go in our own human capacity.

The Almighty, powerful God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, that through His blood a righteousness could be attained that would lift us up above the law of sin and death. As Christians, we should not live like regular folk. We should have a righteousness which exceeds the religious norm that permeates our society.  It’s time we believe God for something greater than the substandard thing that’s being portrayed in the church of America today.

We must think as a person who has already been resurrected to life inside and is waiting for the physical resurrection from the dead. And while we wait, we shoot for the mark of the prize of the high calling, doing what Jesus does.

Presumptuous grace is believing the normal Christian life is one of defeat. But believing we have to continue in our sins is a lie that does not agree with what the power of God has done for us. There are many sincere, devout people who have been lied to and do not realize there is liberty available in Christ to free us from the bondage of sin. To flippantly continue in sin is a perversion of the grace of God.

Sin doesn’t have to have dominion over you. God did not send His Son for you to live a defeated life. He sent His Son so you could die, be buried with Him, raise up a new creature in Him, and walk in the victory that’s in Christ Jesus. You do not have to yield your physical bodies as members of unrighteousness.

We should walk in the newness of life and be in the likeness of His resurrection. Get up, take off your grave clothes, and start walking in the victory that is in Christ Jesus. Start acting like a child of God.

The doctrine of Jesus Christ is one of overcoming and victory. If you are still bound in your sin, then you are still in guilt, and you have not had the remedy of God. Christ enables us to live how He told us to live. We are talking about the power of God to salvation.

Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins. The power of God wants to manifest in your life through the grace of Jesus Christ as you become a victor and not a victim.

If a worldly sorrow has set in and is working death in you, repentance from that worldly sorrow could transition your mind to the mind of Christ. Your spirit, your mind, and your emotions could be healed, and you could be made well.

In this session, we look at the sequence of events following Prophet Nathan’s confrontation of King David’s sin and prophesy of his son’s death. What follows is a beautiful picture of how to think correctly and handle grief well.

King David had a tremendous time of remorse and grief as he was riddled with guilt, knowing the judgment for what he had done would land on another person. He sought the Lord in his grief. After the death of his son, David got up, washed himself, changed his clothing, anointed himself with oil, went to God’s house to worship God with all his heart, giving Him thanks and praise, and then had a nice meal. He had an eternal worldview and didn’t vex himself unfruitfully.  This is a picture of godly sorrow.  

A picture of worldly sorrow is when people vex themselves and choose a painful reminder of their grief in order to prolong their mourning, similar to the wearing of sackcloth.  They refuse to continue to live.  

However, there are healthy ways out of grief. The healing of Jesus is available. When you begin to seek the Lord, you will find Him.  As you humble yourself and draw near to God, He will draw near to you.

Our God is a living God. He wants you to live. God doesn't want you to die. So, instead of making a covenant with death, choose life and worship Him. Then the love of God will pour back into you.  You can find healing, love, and life.

Repentance just means to transition your thinking back into alignment with the Word of God and with life.