A Deeper Look at Matthew:  An End-Times Bible Study
Copyright 2012
 
 
Matthew 7
 
            Wow, you've heard Matthew 7:1 before, "Judge not that ye be not judged."  Compare this to Leviticus 19:15 "in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor."  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:3 that he doesn't even judge himself.  Jesus says in John 7:24, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
            So in Matthew Jesus says not to judge, while in John Jesus says to judge with righteous judgment.  But Jesus expounds upon what He says in verse 1 in verses 2 through 5.  So many people are hypocritical; they call someone a rotten adulterer or greedy for the filthy lucre when they themselves are the adulterers and greedy for money.  How can you judge your neighbor of something when you have the same problems - AND EVEN MORE - in your own life?  That's just it you are NOT FIT TO JUDGE ANYBODY!  Only God is fit to judge because God does not commit any sin.  He has no bias or prejudice, either.  It says in John 5:22, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son."  But don't you see Jesus is the perfect judge because He is perfectly holy and righteous?
            Jesus goes on to say in 7:3 that we need to take the log out of our own eye before we judge the speck in our brother's eye.  I mean, how dare you curse your brother for his iniquity when you, yourself, are caught up in iniquity!  Only when you become pure and holy like Jesus are you fit to judge your neighbor!  So, when you get HOLY you can judge!  Listen to James 3:8-10, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not so to be."
            Today we live in perilous times.  Morality is at an all-time low.  Hate and pride are at all time highs.  The wicked are in power.  And it will only get worse.  But you need to know that evil has a way of destroying everything around it and everything in its path until it finally destroys itself.  Satan will soon devour even his own tail in order to stay in power (www.prophecies.org).  Love expands outward blessing everything while hate and evil curse and destroy everything around it until it finally destroys itself.  God is allowing these evil times to develop so that mankind learns a valuable lesson that EVIL DOES NOT PAY and EVIL DESTROYS ITSELF.  I know that is a hard saying but that is the way it is.  Sorry for digressing.
            Now I want to expound a bit on Matthew 7:6.  Read it.
            Jesus says not to give what is holy unto the dogs.  I ask you, how can a dog with minimal understanding appreciate a Holy Communion wafer?  Does your dog know about the Sacrifice behind the Holy Communion bread?  You wouldn't give your dog your graduation diploma from high school or your wedding album to chew on for a toy, would you?  Dogs are created with lesser understanding than us so you don't give them important things to chew on or eat!  And you certainly don't give Holy Communion to a dog.
            Likewise, you don't cast your pearls before swine.  What does Jesus mean by this?  Well it is for the same reason Jesus spoke in parables!  Jesus says in Matthew 13:13, "Therefore speak I to them in parables:  because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."  Just like you don't give pigs pearl necklaces to wear.
            Hard and wise sayings are not appreciated by foolish, ungodly people.  Jesus always told the parables to the entire group but, just as it says in Matthew 13, Jesus would explain the meaning or the deeper truth behind the parable to HIS disciples, although I'm sure Judas Iscariot wasn't listening!
            It's like reading the Bible to the antichrist.  Now why on earth would anybody do something so foolish and dumb?  Foolish, wicked, ungodly people do not want to hear the gospel of Jesus!  Indeed, the word "Jesus" is an offense to them.  The Ten Commandments are an offense to them.  If you read the Ten Commandments to a prophet like John the Baptist, he will love you for it.  But if you read it to a man like Herod, he would want to kill you just the way he wanted to kill Jesus!
            Matthew 7:7 to 7:11 is an interesting section.  Jesus says to the people - ASK.  God is in total control and has everything in the world to give you!  How can you expect to receive ANYTHING from God if you do not ask Him.  Now what is the most important thing you can ask of God?  Ask Him for salvation!  Say to God, "Please give me YOUR precious Holy Spirit and save me."  Ask God to save you!  Lamentations 3:26 says,- "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD."
            If you are lonely, ask God to put a friend or a spouse in your life.  How can you expect to receive anything from the Lord if you do not ask it of Him?  Ask so that you can receive!  Now the Lord may not give it to you because it is outside of His will for you.  You need to ask it of Him according to His will for your life.  And don't ask a million dollars of Him because you lust after money.  Or, don't ask God for a Ferrari because you want to show off to your friends.  It needs to be according to God's will for your life.  The Lord wants to give things to you.  He wants to bless your life.  He loves you and it His good pleasure to give to you.  ALL things are at His disposal and His resources are truly unlimited.
            Jesus makes the point in 7:11 that even evil people know how to give good gifts to their children.  Even an evil dad wants to give a new baseball mitt to his son when his son asks it of him.  I can still remember, it must have been in 1986 when my dad came home from work one day with a brand new football and baseball mitt for me to play with.  Parents like to bless their children with nice gifts and God is the same way.  He is our ultimate Father and He is better than any earthly father could ever be.  He is our ultimate Father, figuratively and literally.
            Now, I think everybody has heard Matthew 7:12.  This is the famous "Golden Rule."  "Do unto others as you would have done unto you."  It is very similar to Leviticus 19:18 where it says to "love your neighbor as yourself."
            The golden rule is not exclusive to Christianity; many pagan religions including Islam and Humanism have their own versions of the golden rule.
            About 13 years ago I stumbled across a book on the Internet called The Platinum Rule.  Have you heard of the "platinum rule?"  It goes like this - "Do unto others as they would like done unto them."  I would say that if this was such an important concept, though, Jesus would have mentioned it 2,000 years ago when He gave many of His important sermons.  I am certainly not going to preach against the Golden Rule even though the platinum rule may have merit.
            Take a look at Matthew 7:13-14.  Jesus says to the people that they need to enter in at the narrow gate, not the wide gate because almost everybody takes the broad way to destruction.  He goes on to say that the narrow gate leads to life (eternal life) and that few there be that find the narrow gate.
            Take a look around you...at the world around you.  It seems to me that most people are spiritually dead and not interested in God or following God's rules at all.  Do you notice this?  Most people care very little for God or hate God altogether.  They are in a spiritual fog.  Every now and then you come across a person that is full of "light" and truly loves God.  It is very hard to find a person like this, however.  Most people are on the wide path to destruction, as this verse so clearly says.  Most people are only concerned about their life on earth and give no thought to where they will go once they die.  Then, they die and they are IN SHOCK!  Hell is truly shocking and what goes on there in the center of the earth every day is shocking.  PLEASE ACCEPT JESUS!
            Jesus talks about false prophets, them being wolves in sheep's clothing, and their fruits, in Matthew 7:15-20.  Jesus mentions later, in Matthew chapter 24, that in the last days perilous times will come.  These are the days in which we now live.  Jesus says that false prophets shall come and deceive many, and if possible, even the elect (the elect are the heaven-bound people.)  Have you heard of the guy that prophesied the rapture twice in the year 2011 - Harold Camping?  He spent huge amounts of money on books and literature for years saying the end of the world was coming and the rapture would be on May 21, 2011.  I found out about this many years ago when I saw his full-color advertisement in the Reader's Digest.  Jesus warned us about people like this.  I can only imagine how many of the elect believed that the rapture would happen in May of 2011.
            These false prophets come to you as sheep, quoting Scripture to you and using smooth-sounding words to entice you.  But they have hearts of wolves and care little about the true sheep (elect); they only care about personal gain.
            Jesus says we can know people like this and spot them by noting their "fruits."  What does Jesus mean by "fruits?"  Well, let's compare them to the fruits of trees and plants.  There are many plants that produce beautiful fruit like Hemlock (Conium maculatum), but, if you eat it, it will kill you.  It is just like the doctrine of these false prophets that are alive today.  If you eat the fruit of a false prophet, it can KILL YOU SPIRITUALLY.  For example, a false prophet I found in 2007 said in his book that hell does not exist.  And I thought he might have been right.  But, doctrine like this can kill you!  Hell does exist and almost everybody goes there when they die!
            So, how can we identify a person with bad fruit?  Note what the apostle Paul says in Galations 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
            So, there you go.  Simply, those people that practice the works of the flesh belong to Satan.  Their flesh rules them and certainly not the precious Spirit of God.
            Now what about the good people?  How can we identify them?  In Galatians 5:22-23 we find them.  Here it is: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."  Paul goes on to say that those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lust.
            The true people of God exhibit the fruits of the Spirit while the people of the devil exhibit the works of the flesh.
            Jesus says something very telling in 7:21-23.  Let me tell you, there is such a delusion today among so many "Christians" that think they belong to God but do not.  Doesn't almost everybody that goes to church think they are going to heaven?  So many pay their tithes and offerings, pray a little bit, and put their time in at church but they are simply not saved and do not have the Spirit of God.  And that's just it - people like this think they DESERVE heaven and believe God owes this to them because they do these things.  So, in that sense, their worship of God is not sincere.
            Jesus speaks to people like this in these three verses.  Jesus mentions several times in the gospels that many are called but FEW are chosen.  Simply, the call goes out to the whole world to accept Christ as Savior, but, of these, few are chosen to go to heaven.  So many are in SHOCK when, at the judgment, they find themselves on the left hand of Jesus among all the goats.
            Read 7:24-27.  What kind of foundation does your spiritual house have?  If it is founded on the truth of God's word and the love of God and neighbor, your house is built on the rock.  When the winds and rain comes, the rock stays where it is and does not move.
            However, if your life is founded on worldly "wisdom," the love of pleasure, and the love of money, you have built your house on the sand.  Do you not see that things like these are not ETERNAL?  They come and go.  Building your life around these things will destroy you.  Today, right now, the economy is collapsing and so many people have built their foundation on money.  Let me ask you - what would happen to our economy and way of life if God allowed a terrorist attack where the electricity went out nationwide?  We would be reduced to a third world country overnight.  Eventually, during the tribulation God is going to let this happen, and everybody will see what type of foundation they have built with their life.
            People that have God stationed firmly in their lives, when panic and chaos hits, are barely budged because their lives are founded on God.  Those who have built their lives around anything else will have their houses reduced to rubble when devastation hits.
            Note 7:28 - the people are blown away by the doctrine of Jesus.  He literally blows their finite minds with His infinite wisdom.  This is the way it is when you listen to Jesus - He literally blows your mind and it says here in 7:28, that the people were astonished at His doctrine.
            The last verse of chapter 7 says Jesus taught the people with authority and not as the scribes.  Note the difference.  When the scribes teach their false doctrine, which it always is, they do not teach it with authority.  Jesus, when He teaches the truth, He teaches it with authority.  The truth must always be taught with authority.  Truth and genuine authority go hand in hand.