Matthew 7 | mysite

Matthew 7 – The Rock

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”

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In chapter 5, Jesus told his disciples, that’s us, what he expects us to do. In chapter 6, Jesus told us how he expects us to do things. Now, in chapter 7, Jesus tells us why he expects us to do the things he expects of us, in the manner he expects.

When Jesus says here, “Do not judge.” Does he literally mean that we should never judge others? What about if we are on a jury? What about if we see a brother sinning? Should we not confront him?

The key here is that he said, “In the same way that you judge, you too will also be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” So, in other words, be aware that you will be judged by the same standard.

Many people misuse this verse to silence their critics. They will say that you don’t have a right to tell them that they are wrong. Jesus says that we will be judged by the same standard. So, in other words, if you cannot meet the same standard you are judging, you should not judge.

If we could never judge anyone there would be no standards, no right and wrong. Jesus gives us an illustration of what he is talking about.

Verses 3-5,

So if you are paying attention to what you yourself are doing and not a hypocrite, you can judge. But if you are guilty of the same thing that you are judging, then you should not judge.

Why should you Not judge? Because we will be held to the same standard?

So, what if you are in the right, and you are judging someone for their sinful behavior, or their falsehood, but they never respond, what do you do then?

Jesus addresses this in the next verse, verse 6,

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

In other words, don’t give precious things to people that are not going to see them for their worth. People that do not respond to the gospel, are not worth the wasted time of constantly haranguing them about it. One time, my step-daughter asked me to give her a ride to her church. This was when she had been married to Jaimie for a couple years. Jamie was not a Christian. We talked to him about it a couple of times, but he didn’t respond. I’m sure he got the good news, not just from me, but his sister in law, and his little brother in law as well. So, I drove over there and gave her rides to church for a while. After a while, I asked Jamie if he could give her rides to church because I wanted to go to a different church myself. At first, he just waited in the parking lot for church to get over. Then one day, he decided to go inside and listen to the sermons. Well, one day, he finally went forward to accept Jesus as his savior. When I asked him why he decided to follow Jesus, he said that one of the things that made him decide to follow Jesus was that we didn’t throw it at him constantly. We let him make up his own mind. He also said that he saw how precious it was because we all had happiness in our lives no matter what the circumstance.

Why should we not waste our time on those that do not respond? Because we should use our time on those that will respond.

Why should we keep praying, when we don’t receive? Is it the same way with God?

No, this is different. If we are sure that something is needed, we should keep praying.

Verses 7-8,

If you don’t ask, you won’t get an answer. If you don’t seek, you surely will not find. If you don’t knock on doors, a door will not be opened to you. So Jesus says we should ask, seek, and knock.

Jesus gives us an example in verses 9-11,

So, just as any father will give good gifts to those that ask him, so will God give good gifts to those that ask him.

Why keep praying when we don’t receive?

Because God wants to give good gifts.

Verse 12 is in a paragraph by itself in the Greek,

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

This is the golden rule. Other religions before Jesus had put this principle in the negative. “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.” Jesus puts this in the positive. It is outgoing, rather than internalized to oneself. Instead of just avoiding doing wrong to others, Jesus commands that we look for ways to do to others good things that we would want them to do to us.

What are some examples of living by the golden rule?

There once was a grandpa who lived with his family. As Grandpa grew older, he began to slobber and spill his food. So the family had him eat alone. When he dropped his bowl and broke it, they scolded him and got him a cheap wooden bowl. Grandpa was so unhappy. Now one day the young grandson was working with wood. "What are you doing?" Mom and Dad asked. "I'm making a wooden bowls," he said, "for when you two get old and must eat alone." Mom and Dad then looked sad and realized how they were mistreating Grandpa. So they decided to keep quiet when he spills his food and to let him eat with the family.

A Chinese girl named Li-li got married and lived with her mother-in-law. Since the mother-in-law was obnoxious, Li-li decided to kill her. Li-li went to her doctor to get slow-acting poison. The doctor said, "Just so that people don't suspect you, treat your mother-in-law very nice, as you'd like to be treated." So Li-li was nice to her mother-in-law as she slipped a little poison into her food each day. Now a funny thing happened: the two started getting along much better and became best friends. So Li-li went back to the doctor and said, "I now love my mother-in-law and don't want to kill her; please give me something to counteract the poison." The doctor replied, "I gave you ordinary vitamins; the only poison was in your attitude."

Ryan and Tyler were twins. When the family had pie for desert, each boy complained that the other got a bigger piece. So Mom decided on this policy. She would first cut a double-size piece; then one boy would cut this into two equal pieces and the other boy would choose one of the pieces. The twins appreciated the fairness of this policy and got very good at cutting a piece of pie into two precisely equal pieces.

Now, what if you were a cook that hated broccoli? A customer comes in and orders broccoli. Should you refuse to cook broccoli for him because you hate broccoli?

What if there is a mosque near your church, and the mosque catches on fire and burns to the ground? Should you offer for them to use your church on Friday to have their services? What if they are going to pray curses on all non-Muslims when they have their services?

Why should we live by The Golden Rule?

Because good deeds are returned.
Because it stores up treasures in heaven.
Because it gives you a feeling of wellness.
Because it is a good testimony for Jesus.

Do you think that most people live by the golden rule?

No. This is why Jesus said the next 2 verses, Verses 13-14,

There are a couple related verses in the Old Testament.

Psalm 16:11,

“You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.”

Isaiah 35:8,

“And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it, only those who walk in that Way--and fools will not stray onto it.”

Notice that Isaiah says that the unclean and the foolish will not go down the road that leads to holiness. The word that Jesus uses to describe the narrow road is “tethlimmenē,” which means compressed or troublesome. The imagery here is a narrow path on a mountainside. You don’t have room to go to the left or the right, and you might have more obstacles on the way.

What are some examples of taking the narrow road?

When I was a senior in High School, I was offered a job with IBM.This was in 1973, and the offer was for a salary of $35,000 a year.I wanted to go into the ministry instead.The road I chose was a lot harder, but the experience and the closeness to the Lord as well as seeing the work of the Lord in my life and those around me was priceless.

Why should we take the narrow road?

It leads to life.
It leads to a relationship with God.
It leads to having more treasures in heaven.
It leads to bringing more people to heaven with us.

Next Jesus warns us about false prophets.

Verses 15-20,

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

What are some examples of false prophets coming in sheep’s clothing?

They look and act just like a fellow believer, but they prey on them – usually financially. I know of a pastor that was given a check for 1 million dollars to build a new church facility, but instead of putting it in the building fund, he put it in his own account and used it to hire a detective to find his daughter that ran away.

I was once on the board of a charity. We had a President that also did the fundraising. He did some fundraising in other cities where we did not have a ministry and he used those funds to pay some of his own bills. After this became known, he resigned, started another charity and raised funds for that. When the news told what he was now doing, people stopped donating to it.

Why does Jesus align the fruit of false prophets to trees with bad fruit?

Is it about their result?
Or, is it about their teachings?

I think it is about both of these things.

Let’s take the David Koresh cult for instance. David Koresh taught some things that were not Biblical. For example that he should marry all the women in the cult. There were also some bad results such as child abuse that went on.

Let’s take the followers of Muhammad, for instance. Muhammad taught that he was the last prophet. This is blatantly false according to the Bible. Muhammad’s followers have enacted 1,400 years of war because of it.

What are some examples of recognizing false prophets by their fruits?

Here are some ways to recognize them.

Are they preaching prosperity rather than eternal salvation?
Do they neglect in calling out sin?
Do they fail to call for repentance or deny the existence of hell?
Do they fail to preach that Jesus is the only way?
Do they fail to hold up the inerrancy of scripture?
Do they fail to preach the ethics that Jesus taught?
Do they try to add a “new revelation?”

Were there false prophets in Jesus’ day? Were the Pharisees and Sadducees false prophets? Jesus says he must know us. Verses 21-23,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Why does Jesus say this right after talking about false prophets?

Because he is talking about the false prophets here. Just because you call Jesus “Lord,” do good works, and cast out demons, does that give you a living relationship with Jesus. The false prophets will act like it, but not have what is essential. So what is essential then?

We find the answer to that in verses 24-27,

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

So, how can we tell we have a solid relationship with Jesus?

If we hear his words and do them. It is as simple as that.

And so, this chapter concludes with:

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

Song: The wise man built his house upon the rock.

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