Beginning at Matthew 7:6 we have the concluding paragraphs of the Sermon on the Mount. “Do not give that which is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6). Jesus is teaching us that we have to be wise concerning what we speak to whom. In Proverbs 26:4, we are told that we're not to answer a fool according to his folly. We're not to give truth to those who do not appreciate it. That's why we need to have wisdom whenever we talk to people. We're not to have a standard message for everybody. We need to seek God to hear what God wants me to say to each person. This is how Jesus lived, and we must look to Jesus’ example when we try to understand any verse of Scripture.

There’s a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in Isaiah 50:4 which is very appropriate for those who preach the Word, wondering, “What am I supposed to give to a person as God's message?” I first need to discern what his spiritual condition is. This is why I need prophetic insight from God when I speak God's Word to anybody. Giving God's Word is a supernatural thing. If you only think of it as giving a lecture, like teaching chemistry, then you can teach the Bible anytime to anyone. But if you want to minister God’s Word according to the person’s spiritual level, you need to have supernatural insight which only God can give. Isaiah 50:4 says (this is referring to Christ), “The Lord God, the Father has given me the tongue of a disciple, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.” In other words, “In order to get the right word for a weary one who comes across my path, God my Father awakens me morning by morning every day, and he awakens my ear in the morning to listen as a disciple.” Jesus is saying here that He would listen every day, and He would listen constantly so that He could give the appropriate word to the people who came to Him.

One example of this is in John 8. We read of the Pharisees bringing a woman who was caught in adultery to Jesus and quoting the Old Testament Scriptures, which clearly said that she was to be stoned to death. Jesus did not disagree with that because He knew the Old Testament Scriptures. He had given them Himself to Moses hundreds of years earlier! So what does He do? It says that Jesus did not reply. They kept on accusing this woman, and Jesus just stooped down with His finger and started doodling on the ground (John 8:6). He was waiting for a clear word from the Father. “What shall I give these people? What is the appropriate word to give these people who want to stone this poor woman to death?” He was not going to contradict Scripture, since the Scripture which He Himself gave to Moses said to stone her. When He had a word from His Father, He just straightened up and spoke to them (John 8:7 paraphrase), “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone. Go ahead - you can stone this woman according to the law, but only the one who's without a sin can throw the first stone.” And it says that they all went away beginning with the oldest, because the oldest had sinned the most.

One word was enough to handle the situation! It did not take a whole sermon. There were other times when Jesus would say nothing. For example, once when somebody asked Him a question He said in reply, “Let Me ask you a question first: the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or is it from men?” And they began to dispute among themselves, “If we say it was ‘from men’ the people will be upset because they considered John a prophet, and if we say ‘it was from heaven,’ Jesus will ask us ‘why didn’t you believe him then?’” So they didn't know how to reply and so they said, “We don't know. We're not going to say.” So Jesus said, “Well I'm not going to reply your question either” (Matthew 21:27).

Jesus didn't have a standard way of dealing with everybody. Sometimes people came to Him and asked Him a silly question, like, “A man died and his wife was married by his brother, and that happened with his seven other brothers. Who's going to be her husband in the resurrection?” Jesus gave a reply to them; He didn’t just walk away. He took the time to explain to them that in the resurrection there is no marriage. If you look at the replies that Jesus gave, it wasn’t like getting a fixed answer, like you would get if you looked up a computer program saying, “What’s the reply to this?” He was always listening to the Holy Spirit, and that's a very important principle that we need to learn from Matthew 7:6.

Many times, we need to know what the appropriate word for a particular person is. It is so important in all ministry to know exactly the right word to give to people. Why does the New Testament say that we must covet to prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14:1? Every believer is told that he must earnestly desire to prophesy. The reason is that in the New Testament church meeting, if all prophesy, and all have the gift of prophecy (all are not prophets, but all can prophesy), then it says that when someone comes in who is an ungifted man, who probably doesn't believe in these gifts, he's convicted by what he hears and the secrets of his heart are disclosed because he heard a word exactly according to his needs (1 Corinthians 14:24-25). He will then fall on his face and worship God saying, “Boy! God is certainly here, because I got a word according to my need!”

Every single church meeting should be like that. Every church should have people who prophesy prophetic words. You need to wait upon God, and you need to surrender everything to Him to do that. And if you're not doing that, then you're not fit to be a preacher of God's Word. You need to know exactly what is appropriate to give to a person. That is the point of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:6. When you see someone who's like a swine, give him what's appropriate for a swine; when you see someone who is like a dog, give him a bone. You can’t give animals the Sermon on the Mount. 

As we seek for the gift of prophecy, God gives us the ability, at the moment we get up to speak, to discern exactly what the need of the people who are in front of us is, and God will give us the word for their need. This is a very important principle that Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with and it’s very, very important for us to understand - especially for those of us who are called to preach God's Word, whether it’s to unbelievers or believers. We don't despise anyone. If you despise someone, you're not fit to be a servant of God. Jesus didn't despise the worst of sinners. But we need to have an appropriate word according to the need of the people. That is the point of Matthew 7:6.