MATTHEW CHAPTER 7 — JUDGING OTHERS
MATTHEW CHAPTER 7
1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
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?
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?
These are well-known, and often quoted verses telling us not to judge our fellow Christians. Sometimes, they are misused as an excuse for weak Christians who want to be friends with the world, speak only “politically correct” language, or to not be perceived as “intolerant”—that devil-created sin.
(please see my posts on this subject in other categories on this site)
These “christians” want to be friends of “mammon” (the world) and of God, and Jesus said in Mt. 6:24 and Luke 16:13 that we cannot serve both the world and God. We are to have one Master, Jesus Christ, and one God, the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That being said, we, as Christians, are not to judge others in most things. We are not to judge others from our opinion, no matter how right we may think we are, and we are not to judge them personally. We are ONLY to judge as the Holy Spirit leads, which will not be us judging, but the Lord, and that will be on Truth, and not opinion. So, it goes back to always being in contact with the Lord and not speaking until we know He is leading us.
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.
Before we can receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit in matters of judging or anything else, we must be on solid ground before the Alter of God.
That is done, always, by heart-felt repentance, and receiving the forgiveness won for us by Jesus Christ. Yes, Christians do need to repent after salvation, and often, (see my previous writing concerning this, I will repost in the future also) We need to get our relationship to Him in line, and that is only done by falling on our faces before Him in humble repentance for known and unknown sins.
The Holy Spirit can only communicate with Himself within our spirit
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
So, we need to be in the spirit, with no encumbrances to His communication with our spirit. Encumbrances are not only obvious sin, but stress, envy, pride, depression, etc.
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.
Jesus is saying, again, that we should not just spew the Word of God out there to just anyone. We need to pray about it first, repent ourselves, and cling to our relationship with the Lord, before we speak His Word. His Word, His Truth, is so sacred, we should not throw it out there without thinking and praying first. He said His Word does not come back to Him without accomplishing what it set out to do, but that is when it is put out there by Him, through us. Everything we do and say must have its foundation in Him. If the people aren’t prepared by the Holy Spirit to accept the Word, it will become a tool for the devil, and it can push that person even farther from receiving The Word in the future.
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 used for teaching salvation, which it is also for. But it is used by prosperity gospel preachers, which I believe is a gross misuse of the Word. What Jesus is saying is that,
on the same track of the previous verses, when we seek Him, and His Wisdom, for the right purposes, He will definitely give us that wisdom to promote His Kingdom.
That Greek word for “ask” really means to beg, to crave, to greatly desire. Sometimes our English language dims in its meaning. If we are truly trying to speak His Word, we will repent, humble ourselves, and crave, greatly desire, to know what, when and to whom we are to speak His Word.
He says that when we ask for the right reasons, we will find that wisdom and guidance. It is clear that He is referring to wisdom, and our relationship to Him, because the original Greek word for “findeth” means to perceive, or to see!!!
And when all things are right, the door will be opened, and we will again, experience our personal time with Our Lord and find out what He would have us do and say.
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?
It is clear, by the context of the entire chapter, that Jesus is speaking of spiritual blessings here, not material gain. Although we certainly can be sure that He will provide us with our needs, He never promised, (contrary to what the prosperity preachers teach) to make us wealthy. He alone knows what we should have and what is best for us spiritually, and that should be our only objective.
He spent the entirety of chapter 6 telling us not to seek after material goods, why would He turn around the promise wealth in the next chapter? No, He is speaking of material necessities as only He knows we need, but an abundance of spiritual wisdom and wealth of knowing Him personally!!!!!
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.
“Therefore” means He is summing up the previous statements. This, too, has a daily living side, and a spiritual application. The living side is obvious, however, we can also put it into context with the rest of the chapter, and surmise that what He meant was that if we, as Christians, desire that others be saved, we need first to look at OUR relationship to Our Lord, and our position within His will and His Kingdom.
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:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
This is a pair of verses we’ve all heard many times. However, have we really taken it farther than our salvation? This doesn’t stop at salvation. It has to do with how we live our lives after that. Salvation is our birthday. Its the only part of our lives that determine our eternity, because God forgets our sins after repentance, and its like that part of our lives never happened.
Now, after salvation, is when we need to walk down the narrow street…not to be good enough to be saved, but because we are saved. ..in thanksgiving and love to Our Lord.
If we don’t walk the straight line, we lose communication with Him. Our minds deviate from our enlivened spirits, and we will not be able to know Him like we should. We are in more danger of great deception. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and put on the Mind of Christ.
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.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
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.
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?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
And this is why He said to walk down the strait and narrow street.
We are to watch for false prophets, inside and outside denominational churches, behind the pulpits of large cathedrals, on TV, radio, and internet, as well as inside our living rooms. The devil will work any way and any place he can, and the only way we can discern it is through the Holy Spirit Who lives inside our spirits.
These false prophets and teachers will go against what Jesus just said above. He said in vs 1-4 not to judge our brothers for every sin, but He commands us to judge false prophets and teachers by the fruits of their word, their lives, and by comparing their teaching with the whole Word of God,
The false Christians that He turns away, were the ones who never submitted to His will personally. They memorized scripture, preached good things, and sounded very good, in many cases, but they didn’t have that vital, personal relationship with Jesus that every true believer has. It is different for each one of us, as He says in Revelations 2:17:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
If we overcome, and stay with our Lord throughout our lives, we will receive that promise.
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:
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:
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:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Basing our doctrine on falsehood, on a single verse, as sometimes taught by many famous preachers, who know how to twist the meaning away from Truth, will lead to a huge disappointment because we can’t decide what we need. We must take the whole teaching and want what God wants—pure and simple.
The people of that time saw that. They felt the authority and wisdom from Jesus, and they didn’t even have the Holy Spirit in them to guide them!!! So much more, should we see that!!
Live in the Light of Our Lord 