You can tell a lot about a person spiritually by how they respond to rebuke. In Matthew 7, Jesus speaks of two types of people.
1. The Hypocritical Believer
The favorite Bible verse of some people is Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” They believe Jesus is saying that we are never to judge anyone for anything. But that cannot be right because later in verse 5 Jesus said, “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.”
Jesus was warning against hypocritical judgement. He said, “Take care of the sin in your life before you try to help someone with the sin in their life." Then He mentions the second type of person.
2. The Hardened Unbeliever
Matthew 7:6 “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.”
Two types of animals are mentioned in this verse—dogs and swine. We know this is referring to an unbeliever, because 1) Back in verses 3-5 he is referring to a “brother.” 2) Dogs and swine always represent unclean animals. God’s children are sheep, not dogs and swine.
Jesus said that a believer will respond correctly to loving rebuke, but not a hardened unbeliever. They will no more appreciate loving rebuke than swine appreciate pearls. It does no good to rebuke a hardened scorner. Throw a pearl to a swine and he will resent it as much as if you had thrown a stone at him.
True believers will have a tender heart when they are rebuked. When Nathan confronted king David about his sin, David didn’t get mad at Nathan. He said, “I have sinned.” On the other hand, there have been some who I had to rebuke who, even though they ‘professed’ to be a Christian, they responded to rebuke just like a hardened unbeliever would.
So, pastor, the next time you are faced with a professing Christian who will not respond biblically to your loving rebuke, take heart. You are probably not talking to a sheep.