Matthew Chapter 7

¹ Judge not, that ye be not judged.

• People incorrectly take this to mean that we aren’t to judge and if we do, we will be judged. The actual admonishment is to judge righteously without hypocrisy.

² For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

• The goal of judgment of another isn’t to lower them and shame them, it’s to bring them into repentance and restoration. If confronting someone doesn’t include a plan for their recovery, it’s unrighteous judgment. If it doesn’t come from love, it comes from pride and arrogance.
• If we confront the sin in someone else’s life and we ourselves are committing the same sin, we will also be judged by the same rules we used in judgment.

³ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

• Being able to see the sins in the lives of others better than your own sins is hypocrisy. If you can’t even see your own sinfulness, you are too blind to be doing sin extractions in the lives of other people.

⁴ 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?

• You can’t help a person with a small problem while you have a huge problem of your own.

⁵ 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.

• Deal with the sin in your own life before trying to deal with the sins in the lives of others.

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.

• Not everyone is able to or wants to hear deeper spiritual truths and they will react hostilely if you try to share it with them so don’t share these things with them. When I was first born again I visited my aunts house and was witnessing to my cousin who is the same age as I am…we were both 19-20 at this time. I told him how to be saved and said if he ever needed someone to talk to or to pray with, just call me day or night. When I was leaving my aunt followed me to the door and let me have it… the whole time she was listening and getting angry at me because sharing the Gospel was going against Catholic doctrine according to her beliefs. She said, “You were raised a Catholic and you will die a Catholic!!!!” She was furious because I shared actual salvation from the Bible…and not through the Catholic Church.

⁷ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

⁸ For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

• These verses are NOT an assurance that no matter what we ask for, seek out or door we try to open, if we pray for it… God will give it to us. That would be contrary to the Sovereign nature of God. What this is saying is to receive, we need to be asking, to find we need to be seeking and to have doors open, we need to be knocking. These things are done in prayer.

⁹ Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

¹⁰ Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

¹¹ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

• If we Ask, Seek and Knock by praying to God, he is going to give us the good things we ask him for that align with his plans and purpose. There have been things that I prayed for that I found out later on would have been bad for me to receive. God is so loving and kind, he didn’t give me what I asked for, but instead gave me what I needed. The best prayers are the one where I didn’t try to tell God how to fix things, but instead just handed the situation to him and asked for his help.
• The thing about asking, seeking and knocking is that sometimes it changes our heart so it align with God’s plan. Then we find we revise our prayers and start asking for what we really need instead of what we think we need.
• An error of the Word of Faith movement that has leaked into other Churches is that you will get everything you pray for so you need to be careful not to ask for something that would hurt you. The notion that God will answer your prayer and bring onto a believer something that would harm them is heresy. Verses 9 -11 addresses this idea of God giving us something harmful. God wants to give us good things, not bad ones. People need to stop acting like God is in heaven rubbing his hands together waiting for a chance to do something mean to someone because they prayed the wrong way. This is not the nature of our loving father.

¹² Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

• This verse starts with “Therefore” which should be taken to mean “With all of this I’ve spoken about you can see that God would have you to treat others in the same manner as you would like to be treated because it is in keeping with the Law and the things taught by the Prophets to do so.”

¹³ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

• The way to hell is a careless life of serving yourself and doing what you want to do. There are so many ways to indulge the sinful flesh…the path is wide.
• The way to heaven is repenting (having a change of heart about sin, asking for God to forgive you) and accepting the sacrifice Jesus gave when he laid down his life as the payment for your sins… picking up your cross and following Jesus. The Path to eternal life with Jesus is the width of the Cross and the only way to stay on that path is to be nailed onto the cross. It’s a life of following Jesus. This isn’t about works either… this is about the truly regenerated, now dedicated to following Jesus. While we may stumble, the grace of God holds on to us so we don’t fall.
  Galatians 2:20²⁰ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

¹⁶ Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

¹⁷ Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

• The verse tells us to look at the fruit of a person and determine if the person is of God or not. This means we ARE to judge… but there are guidelines to this. In the first few verses the word instructs us to judge our fellow brothers and sisters with righteous judgment…. first by looking inwardly to see if we are walking in unrepented sin, then once we are humbled by that experience, and it should humble us… then we are to go to our brother or sister and bring them lovingly to repentance.
  Here in this verse we are to look at the fruit being produced by someone who claims to be a prophet to determine if this person is in fact a true brother or sister or a wolf looking to destroy the sheep.
  The verse asked if we ever gathered grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. Looking at the core beliefs of these prophets along with the fruits they produce and comparing those things to what the word teaches provides the judgment to expose this false prophet as a ravening wolf.
• Sometimes people believe false doctrine and are very sincere about their beliefs…other times people use doctrines as a means to make money and serve their flesh. Either way, both bring spiritual death. If the belief a person is teaching doesn’t line up with the word of God…and it doesn’t produce good fruit (Godliness)… it isn’t of God.

¹⁸ A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

• The false prophets are rooted and grown in sinful flesh, so they can’t produce anything godly… the flesh does not produce godliness.
• A person who has been regenerated by Jesus will naturally produce good fruit. A Christian may sometimes have a lack of fruit, but the Lord will prune them so they become productive and fruit bearing. John 15:2 ² Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

¹⁹ Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

• The person who is in the flesh and producing fleshly fruit is cut down and burned. This is the person who rejects Jesus and is never born again.

²⁰ Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

• So we are to judge the fruits and by doing so, it will expose who their master is. If the fruit is bad, they are children of the devil and if their fruit is good (aligns with the Word) then they are of God.

²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

• Simply saying the sinners prayer and having a religious experience is not enough to save the soul. But, we need to also be careful here not to derail on the other side of the road and think salvation is works or needs to be “kept” by works… that’s not true either. The very brief way to say this is… God is looking for believers who aren’t simply looking for a ticket to get out of hell, but instead believers who want a genuine relationship with him. This person comes to him with that yearning carrying nothing but their sinfulness and sorrow over it… and with helpless repentance they surrender to Jesus their sin to be cleansed away…and with hope in their heart they receive the greatest gift ever given …they are now able to have that relationship they yearned for with God. This is the soul that gets regenerated and is truly born again. Because of this desire…and the gift they were given… and the regeneration… they bare good fruit… there are works that follow them… not to earn salvation but BECAUSE of it.
• There will be many who will say the sinners prayer and from their flesh attempt to serve God without this full surrender and those will hear the most frightening words an ear will ever hear… “Depart from me, you that work iniquity.”

²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

• I think these folks convinced themselves they were right with God because of all they thought they were doing for him. From what this verse says they say to Jesus, you can see they were convinced their works would gain them enterence into heaven… which means they missed what it means to be saved completely. I even think you can say that you are saved by grace through faith…. without ever coming to really know what that means. You can say that while making sure you attend every service… reading your Bible…. witnessing… praying over people… casting out devils… but still completely lacking understanding about salvation through grace and completely understanding that it will ONLY be by the blood Jesus shed… that you are saved.
• I didn’t do anything at all to cause my life to begin, God and my parents did all of the work to create me…. I also can do nothing to cause my salvation….God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit did all of the work…my only action was to believe. This belief, when it is real belief…causes a powerful even to occur… my regeneration… complete with the desire to take up my cross and follow Jesus as evidence of this new life. The action of following Jesus is the result of and not the cause of my regeneration.

²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

• Jesus says to this person “I NEVER knew you…” NEVER knew them…. that means they were never born again.

²⁴ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

• Jesus outlines what it takes… “HEAR THESE SAYING OF MINE AND DO THEM” Doing what Jesus says to do takes being born again and regenerated….so that we are a good tree producing good fruit. Then we will be like a house built on a Rock that the rain and winds can’t tear down.

²⁵ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

²⁶ And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

The foolish attempt to build salvation on the sand…with actions that look like they are right…. but when these are tested with the wind and rain, the house falls apart spectacularly.

²⁷ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

²⁸ And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

• Jesus taught them in a very straight forward well informed way… unlike the way the scribes had been teaching… which I’m sure was hard to follow and left the person feeling like they were hopeless. I’ve listened to teachers who like talking about remote subjects using little known words and euphemisms designed to showcase their intellect more than teach the word…and I’ve listened to teachers who went down so many side trails to explain every tiny things in an exhausted way that I lost focus of the topic completely.

²⁹ For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

• When Jesus taught his authority to teach his own words was felt by everyone. They were learning from the Author and it was clear. What a day that will be to look on Jesus and listen to him expound on his word. I look forward to it.

Note: I look around at the world right now and the lawlessness… I’m so homesick. My prayer is to see people the way God wants me to see them… to not be dragged down by all the things that are out there designed to induce rage and hatred. More than ever we need to walk close to Jesus.

Maranatha