Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7 as we continue our study through the Word of God. And this evening we are going to finish up our study on the Sermon on the Mount, which is really the King’s manifesto or constitution. As Children of God this is what we are to BE and in the kingdom age these things will permeate the land as righteousness fills the land.
Now we have already dealt with some heavy and difficult subjects, and tonight it won’t be any easier. Why is that? Because these are matters of the heart and unless we are willing to give our hearts completely to the Lord, these things will be difficult, they will be impossible!
We also need to keep in mind that Jesus was not speaking to the multitudes with this sermon, with this teaching. In Matthew 5:1-2 we are told, "And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:" and He goes on with His teaching in Matthew chapters 5-7. Notice, He went away from the multitudes and spoke to His disciples about kingdom living. You see, some look at the Sermon on the Mount as a way to live, a works salvation theology. Not at all. It is what we are to be as the Kings kids, as children of God. Because of what God has done in us these things should flow from our lives. It is as Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-3, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." It is being what God has called you to be, putting your faith into practice!
With that said, let’s finish up this last section on the Sermon on the Mount beginning in Matthew chapter 7, verse 1, and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSES 1-2
1. Here is one of those things that has been greatly misused and misapplied. Some say that we are not to judge anyone because of what Jesus said here. Thus, you can do whatever you want and no one can say anything against you. You can’t be judged! Obviously that is wrong, that is not right for in verse 6 Jesus says that we are not to cast our pearls before swine! You need to judge to do that. Also, in verses 15-20 we are told about false prophets, you have to make a judgment on that!
On the other hand, there are those that condemn and judge you for everything you do or say or wear. They look at you and judge you for the length of your hair, the color of your hair, that you are wearing make-up, that women are not wearing dresses. They look at styles of music and there is a huge variety of styles that are condemned by a variety of different people, some even condemning the use of instruments! And that is obviously wrong, in fact it is very wrong, that kind of teaching is not what Jesus was speaking about, but it comes from the heart of man and it can be very destructive!
Then how are we to take these words from Jesus? First of all, the Greek word that Jesus uses for "judge" is KRINO and it means "to judge to the place of condemnation." Thus, Jesus is saying we are not to judge to condemnation here. Then what are we to judge for? We are to judge for identification and if need be, restoration!
2. In John 5:22-23 we are told by Jesus, "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." But, as you listen to some Christians, they are ready to judge here and now. They are in your face and if you don’t believe what they say you are going to Hell. I am sorry, but I will believe what Jesus says over what man says, and if you want to judge that way, be careful, for that is how you will be judged!
4. In our judging or identification, when we see a person err, we are to love them and correct them with the idea of restoration and not condemnation, and that is exactly what Jesus did in His earthly ministry! I like the way that Jon Courson puts it for it truly brings to light what we are to do. He said: "I do not believe I have the right to point out somebody’s dirty feet unless I’m willing to get down and wash them." May we not forget that and may we apply that to our lives instead of being judgmental and condemning!
5. We must be careful of that self-righteous attitude of looking down upon others or judging their motives, their heart. We must not become hypercritical of everyone, because in the end, you are the only one who is right, everyone else is wrong, and you will never find a church, a body of believers in which you are satisfied with. You will be on your own, starting your own church! You see, there is only one Judge and that is God. All we should be is fruit inspectors or to judge for identification, where a person is coming from, what they are doing or saying. And I will say this, if you are not willing to restore a person, then you are probably condemning them, and that is wrong! And I find it interesting how we want people to forgive our faults, our mistakes, our sins, but when it comes to others, we are hard and judgmental towards them. That is wrong! Be careful! Jesus said that if that is how you are going to treat others, then that will be returned to you and you will be judged by the same standards that you have set! Others will judge you like you have judged them!
VERSES 3-5
1. It seems like Jesus is exaggerating here, but I don’t believe He really is. When He speaks of a huge telephone pole in our eye and a speak in someone else’s, I think He is right! Our sin looks so bad when someone else is doing them and we are right there in their face to judge them. And our sin, that telephone pole, causes us not to see very well, and the solution is we need to deal with our sin, our judgmental heart, because this is a heart issue, before we go to others.
2. Are you coming to a brother to blast them for what they are doing? That is the wrong heart attitude. The whole basis for you going to them was to get them back on track, restoration, not condemnation as I have said. Notice what David said in Psalm 51:10-13, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You." You see, before he could minster to others, before he could help others, he needed to get his house in order, his heart right. And I will tell you this if you don’t, you will come to people with a self-righteous, holier than thou attitude, and that is wrong, it is not a gift of the spirit but a work of the flesh!
VERSE 6
1. To do this you have to judge, not for condemnation but for identification. We are to be as gentle as doves but as wise as serpents! And the idea here is this; are they open, are they truly seeking, are they hungry for the truth, or are they just there to argue and fight? You need to evaluate these things or you will just waste your time, spinning your wheels and going nowhere!
2. There does come a point where it is a waste of time to share with a person, because they are not interested at all. Do not continue casting God’s holy truth with them, they are not interested. Let me give you an example, we have had several Jehovah Witnesses come to our door over the past several years. And I will share with them as they share with me. And they will say things like "Jesus is not Jehovah God, but a god!" Or "The Holy Spirit is not God but a force like the wind or electricity!" And I will show them verses that speak otherwise, that clearly show that Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is not a force but is also God! And yet, they are not interested in the truth, only what they have been taught, and even if they read the truth, they close their eyes to it. Thus, there does come a point in time when you have to just walk away and not continue in the conversation.
3. Now, the $100,000 question is, "How do you know when to walk away, to let it go?" Jesus tells us in the next two verses!
VERSES 7-8
1. In the Greek it is saying, "Ask and keep asking....Seek and keep seeking...Knock and keep knocking!" Ask the Lord for what you need and He will provide for you! Ask Him to open up His Word to you as you seek His truth and He will. Ask Him, that as you knock upon the doors of opportunity that He would open those doors of opportunity so that you may walk through. And it truly is as the Psalmist said in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." He will give you the desires of your heart because as you draw close to Him, His desires will be your desires!
It is as John said, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." I John 5:14-15. According to His will, not ours, and that is my desire, that His will would be done in my life. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, James tells us "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." James 4:3. In other words, selfish, self-seeking prayers are not the will of God. Thus, I want to be in the will of the Father when I ask, when I seek, and when I knock! You see, God desires to answer those requests we bring before Him, He will speak to our heart! Thus, if you don’t know what to do in a given situation, ask, seek, knock, and then wait and listen to His still small voice!
VERSES 9-11
1. Jesus is saying that if our earthly fathers take care of us, give us what we need, provide for us, and when we ask of them they don’t give us things that are empty, or harmful, but good things, our heavenly Father even does more. You see, Jesus moves from the lesser to the greater, from our earthly father to our heavenly Father. And in Luke 11:13 we are told that this good thing, this good gift, is the Holy Spirit! God wants to empower us with His Spirit, all we must do is ask!
2. Some today are afraid of the Holy Spirit, or that if they ask for it God may give them some kind of demon. How foolish and how sad to feel that way. If our earthly father knows how to give to us good gifts, how much more does and will our heavenly Father! Never forget that. God has what is best for your life, all He wants you to do is ask!
VERSE 12
1. Here is a little rule before we get to what has been called the Golden Rule. Whenever you see the word "therefore" you need to find out what it is there for! What we see here is the summation of verses 1-11, do this and the other things will fall into place.
2. This Golden Rule is basically saying that we should treat others the way we want others to treat us. It doesn’t say that is how they will treat us, but if we even stand a chance, treat people with the love of Christ! It is as Paul said in Galatians 5:13-15, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" Many have been devoured because people refuse to serve each other out of love, and thus, self gets in the way and destroys relationships, it destroys lives!
VERSES 13-14
1. Notice Jesus did not say all paths lead to God. Nor did He say 20 paths, 10 paths, 2 paths lead to God. He said there is only one way to God and that is through the narrow gate, through Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:6, "...‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’" There is only one way!
2. But, understand that there are millions of false prophets out there waving people down the broad way, the way of death. It is a "Have it your own way" fast food type of spiritual living! As some would like to argue, "All paths lead to God!" so that would mean the path that Adolph Hitler followed, was a path to God. Or the path that Jim Jones and his followers took is the path to God. Or what about the Baghwan who was out in Oregon, did following him lead to God? Not at all! There is one path to God and that is through Jesus Christ, and the enemy has come in and brought confusion, putting up all kinds of signs pointing to God, at least that is what they say, and the reality is, they are leading people away from the true God. It is as Paul tells us, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." I Timothy 2:5.
3. The other argument that I have heard is that Jesus is too narrow minded! Go figure, if it is right, is it being narrow minded? Of course not. That would be like saying you were caught in a burning building and there was only one way out. And as the fire-fighters came in they tried to lead you out the only way to go, the only way to safety. But you tell them, "You are being to narrow minded. There are plenty of other doors to get out, to find safety." And thus, you burn in the fire because you refused the only door out, and the same is true of people who refuse the Door, the only way out, Jesus Christ!
VERSE 15
1. These false prophets are trying to snatch people away from the truth. And Jesus is warning us to keep back from them, don’t listen to them. They are deceptive, they don’t look like wolves, but like sheep, like us, but they are not. And they will try to destroy the souls of men with their false teachings. How can we tell them apart? Listen to what Jesus says next.
VERSES 16-20
1. We are not to judge them for condemnation, God Himself will do that. But we are to be fruit inspectors. What does that mean? It means we are to listen to what they say and let God’s Word expose it as truth or error. For example, the Mormons teach that you need the book of Mormon today because it is a new revelation of God. How does that compare with what God’s Word has to say? First of all, in Revelation 22:18-19 we are told, "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." I think that is pretty clear, don’t you? But if it is not, then maybe what Paul says in Galatians 1:8-9 will clear that up. He said, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."
Thus, being a good fruit inspector, I can safely say that the book of Mormon is bad fruit, it is not of God. That the angle Moroni who gave this to Joseph Smith, is full of bologni! And you see, in the end all these false prophets, along with their followers will be burned in the judgment, their fruit was bad. Thus, know God’s Word, read it, meditate upon it, make it part of your life, so that as false doctrine, bad fruit comes your way, you will easily see it and expose it for what it is, garbage!
2. During the days of Jeremiah, as today, there were false prophets. In Jeremiah 23:16-17 we read, "Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the LORD. They continually say to those who despise Me, "The LORD has said, ‘You shall have peace’ ‘;and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, "No evil shall come upon you.’" You see, "God is love, there is no judgment coming. Eat, drink and be merry!" That is what these false prophets were saying and they were not drawing people back to God but away from Him. And we see the same today. In some churches you can’t say anything that is judgmental, you can’t even use the word "sin" because it is too harsh, to strong and it might offend someone! Think about that one for a minute. Tell that one to Jesus, how harsh sin was to Him, it nailed Him to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins! We need to heed the warning of Jesus, and not follow after these false prophets. We need to be fruit inspectors!
VERSE 21
1. We just got done speaking about false prophets, and now we are going to see false professors! They give the Lord empty lip service, as Titus 1:16 tells us, "They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." You see, it is not the words you say, the Christian jargon you use, the Christian tee-shirts you wear, but who is Jesus to you? Is He Lord and Savior of your life? There are a lot of people who speak of the Lord but they do not know Him, and thus, they are going to be judged by the Lord. It is as Peter said "This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:11-12.
VERSES 22-23
1. This is a hard one for many to swallow. People serving the Lord, doing work, even casting out demons, doing wonders, doing miracles, prophesying, and yet, Jesus says that He never knew them! What happened? How can this be? How can they do the work of the Lord and yet not be saved?
2. Some believe that demons were doing these things through them, but I am not convinced that is what Jesus is saying here. Let me just throw this out to you. Judas cast out demons, went out doing the work of the Lord, and yet he was not one of them, he betrayed the Lord. Maybe that is what we see going on here. Religious people who don’t have a relationship with the Lord. You see, their actions give them away. Yes, they were serving the Lord, but they were living contrary to God’s standards, doing their own thing. And Jesus will expound on this idea of obedience and disobedience in the next few verses.
3. Engraved on a Cathedral in Germany are these words:
Thus speaketh Christ our Lord to us.
You call Me Master, and obey Me not.
You call Me Light, and see Me not.
You call Me the Way, and walk Me not
You call Me Life, and live me not.
You call me Wise, and follow Me not.
You call Me Fair, and love Me not.
You call Me Rich, and ask Me not.
You call Me Eternal, and seek Me not.
If I condemn thee, blame Me not.
VERSES 24-25
1. Because of all that Jesus has said regarding false prophets, false professors, we need to be careful and build our faith upon the solid rock, a solid foundation, Jesus Christ. You see, our faith is not built upon some man-made system or some works system, but upon Jesus Christ and Him alone! It is as Deuteronomy 32:31 says, "For their rock is not like our Rock..."
2. It is when our faith is built upon Christ, that when the storms of life come crashing down upon us, we won’t get washed away, because our foundation is sure. And the key is not only hearing God’s Word, but living it, applying it to your life, being obedient to it. To me, it speaks of a person who was changed from the inside out, God’s Word cut to his heart and what God did on the inside, overflowed into his actions, it speaks of a person who is saved!
VERSES 26-27
1. Here is the kicker. Both people heard the Word of God, but only one applied it, and that was the wise man. The foolish man had head faith, but it never sank down into his heart to become part of his life. It was an empty faith. Thus, this faith was built upon a shaky, unstable foundation, and when the storms of life came by, it destroyed him, brought his life down. It is as John said in I John 2:3-6, "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." What comes out in your actions is a good indication of what has control of your heart!
2. Many today have built their faith upon various experiences, and that is dangerous. You see, experience is a dangerous foundation to build upon because it is always shifting, it is always changing. But this I can say with 100% confidence, Christ is unchanging, as Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." God’s Word is unchanging as Peter tells us, "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you." I Peter 1:22-25. Build your faith upon Jesus Christ, the Word, and your foundation will not be shaken!
VERSES 28-29
1. This blew the people away. You see, as the Rabbis taught, they would quote others. They would say "Rabbi so-and-so said this..." And they would not teach with authority. Jesus, when He taught, said: "You have heard that it was said....But I say to you..." He taught with authority! Now the crowds were astonished by the teachings of Jesus, they never heard anyone teach like He did, and yet, for many, they were not moved.
2. Many today are not moved by God’s message, that God so loved us that He died for our sins so that we may live. And the heart of God is seen in II Peter 3:9, which says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." The tragedy is, many will reject the narrow path and instead of coming into the loving arms of our Savior, they will come before God as Judge! But the choice is ours. Do we want to just be professors of God or possessors of God? Each has eternal consequences!