The Gospel of Matthew Part 15
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Matthew 7:13-29 Two Ways
Matthew 7:13-29 Two Ways
Recap last week - (Ask, Seek, Knock, Golden Rule)
We now come to the conclusion of The Sermon On the Mount. We’ve actually been nine weeks on these three chapters...and we’ve just scratched the surface!
In this conclusion, Jesus is not offering new ethical teaching so much as he is telling his listeners that they must choose. We’re going to see two ways, two trees, and two houses in this section. We have to make a choice.
This is not a new teaching. It is an old teaching in a little different package. We see the OT version of this in Moses’ farewell speech...
19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
20 by loving the Lord your God, by obey His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
In a sense, in Jesus’ concluding words of SOTM, He is echoing Moses’ concluding words.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Jesus taught that there are only two ways or two roads. One way has a wide gate and a broad road. He says that there are many on this road. It is the easy way. It is the popular way. But where does it lead? Jesus says it leads to destruction. The other way is a narrow way and the gate into it is small. In other words, it is difficult to get into and it is a difficult way to walk. Jesus says few even find this way.
This is easy to understand but it is hard to accept. We live in a day of easy-believism. Just believe in Jesus and you will be fine! The implication often is that it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we’ve made a profession of faith. But this is not what Jesus taught here and in the subsequent verses.
We sang a song when I was growing up that would definitely not be popular today. It was called “Broad Is the Road.” I found another name for it which is “The Almost Christian.”
1. Broad is the road that leads to death,
And thousands walk together there;
But wisdom shows a narrow path,
With here and there a traveler.
2. Deny thyself and take thy cross,
Is the Redeemer's great command:
Nature must count her gold but dross,
If she would gain that heav'nly land.
3. The fearful soul that tires and faints,
And walks the ways of God no more,
Is but esteemed almost a saint,
And makes his own destruction sure.
4. Lord, let not all my hopes be vain,
Create my heart entirely new,
Which hypocrites could ne'er attain,
Which false apostates never knew.
That would never make the top of the CCM charts today, but the words are true!
You know, when people die in this country, it is almost assumed that they are going to heaven...no matter what choices they’ve made in their lives. And it is pretty easy to find a preacher who will preach a sinner into heaven. But the scripture teaches that most people are not going to make it. I would even dare to say (and I hope that I’m wrong), that most professing Christians won’t make it to heaven. Jesus taught that the way to heaven is a narrow way. Few even find it, let alone walk in it.
So now he goes from the two ways to talking about false teachers:
15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
So after he points us to the narrow way, he gives us a warning. Beware of false prophets. He says that they come in sheep’s clothing. The appear to be harmless. After all, who could be hurt be sweet, fluffy sheep! But he says that that is just their outward appearance. Inside they are ravening wolves.
This is one of Jesus’ most famous metaphors. Almost everyone knows the phrase “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” but few probably realize that it originated with Jesus. And it is a powerful metaphor...one that is very applicable to today.
There is a lot of Bible teaching today, but how much of it is genuine! We live in a time of the “Tic Tok Generation” where anyone can make a video on Tik Tok, Facebook, or YouTube and put it out there for people to watch. I have no doubt that some are quite good. I have found helpful teaching on the internet. But we have to beware. There are those that come with what appears to be a harmless message, but actually, it is a destructive message. One example today are those who are preaching and teaching that Israel today has no relevance to the Israel of the Bible. It is just a chance thing that the Jewish people came back into their own land after 2000 years, even after the Bible prophesied that it would happen. That I believe is a false teaching. There are many more out there. But how can we tell whether a teacher or a prophet is to be trusted? Well, read on!
16 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
17 “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Jesus says that it is through their fruits that you will know them. By the way, this scripture gives the lie again to the interpretation of “Do not judge” meaning that we should never judge anyone. He is saying here that the way we can discern between true and false prophets is by examining the fruit of their lives. We should ask questions like, “What kind of life is this person living?” “What fruit is being produced by this person’s teaching?” When it comes to prophesies, I would ask, “Is there proof that something this person has prophesied actually came true?”
The fact of the matter is, we hardly ever ask these questions. And when it comes to someone who is teaching on the internet, it is often very hard to determine the fruit of that person’s life. An example of someone that I would listen to is Franklin Graham. I know the fruit of this man’s life. Samaritain’s Purse, which is an organization that he founded, is one of the most effective and Christ-centered organizations out there. And I have never heard a word of scandal about him, which was also true of his father.
But if we don’t know anything about someone, we should be very careful with their teaching. It grieves me to see how many will go after about any teaching out there that reinforces their own thoughts. Often people will prefer their favorite YouTube teacher over their local pastor’s teaching. This is sad to me.
So here Jesus says that by looking at the fruit, we can tell what kind of tree it is. If I see a tree full of apples, I know that it is an apple tree. But also, a good tree is going to produce good fruit. A diseased tree cannot produce good fruit. Jesus says that a bad tree is one that does not bear good fruit. That tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
One thing that we will see with false prophets is that they are all about themselves. If you see someone who talks more about themselves than about Jesus, that should be a red flag. Another red flag is if they are always asking for money. Jesus said that we cannot serve both God and money.
Paula White-Cain, who is President Trump’s faith advisor, posted on YouTube last year around Passover that for those who donated $1000 or more (as the Holy Spirit leads you), they unlock divine-and monetary-rewards. She promised that they will receive seven supernatural blessings. The blessings she says that they will receive...”God will assign and angel to you. He’ll be an enemy to your enemies. He’ll give you prosperity. He’ll take sickness away from you. He will give you long life. He’ll bring increase in inheritance, and He’ll give a special year of blessing.” All for only $1000! What a deal! This is the very definition of a false prophet to me.
We need to pray for her, that she will come to repentance. And also for President Trump that he will not be affected by such false teaching.
Thoughts?
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
These are solemn words. It is not just those who profess Christ who will enter heaven, but Jesus says only those who do the will of His father will enter. In other words, its not just what we say, but how we act. To do the will of the Father means that we have a close relationship with the Father...that we know his will and we obey his will.
This seems to be especially concerning those who are false prophets. He says that there will be those who will come to him and claim that they have performed miracles in his name, and even cast out demons. Jesus says that he will say to these people, “I never knew you” then He quotes from Psalm 6:8 in saying “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” When He says that He never knew you, He is saying that I don’t have a relationship with you. We were never intimate with one another.
We know that, as Paul teaches, salvation comes by the grace of God alone and that is not according to our works. However, our obedience should be the hallmark of our faith. Jesus says on the one hand that those who enter the kingdom will be those who do the will of the Father. Those who are refused are those who are lawless, that is, those who are not obedient. Obedience is important!
Then Jesus’ final picture:
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
The Tony Evans Bible Commentary III. The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)
I once had a crack on a wall of my house. No matter how many times I had it fixed, the crack came back. Finally, I learned the problem wasn’t with the wall; the problem was a shifting foundation. Many of us have “cracks” in our lives—emotional, relational, financial—but we address the symptoms and not the source of the problem.
First we had two ways, then two trees, now two houses built on two different materials. This is a vivid simile. Notice that Jesus says that the first man is a man not only who has heard the words of Jesus but heeded the words of Jesus. Again, it is not enough to hear, but we need to heed...to obey. We could literally memorize the entire sermon on the mount and even all of Jesus’ teachings, but if we don’t obey them, we are not wise but foolish.
So this first man is considered wise. Is he wise because of the materials that he uses to build his house? In is case, no. Why does Jesus call him a wise man? Because of the foundation that he chose. He chose to build his house on the rock. THE rock not A rock. What is that rock? We might say Jesus and we wouldn’t be wrong. But to be more precise, it is the teachings of Jesus that we are to build our lives on. And I think it would not do violence to say not just the things that Jesus taught but the things that his followers like Paul taught through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, the foolish man is not foolish because there is anything wrong with the house he built. Actually, they could be the exact same houses. What did this man build his house on ? The shifting sand. What a foolish thing to do!
You know, this house might look grand. From the outside, you could look at both houses and not see any difference. But what happens that tells the tale? The wind and the rain comes, right?
We all know that in this life, the wind and the rain will come. None of us will escape those things. The question is, what have you built your life on? There are many who profess to be Christians, but when difficulties come, they are nowhere to be found. This reminds me in some ways of the parable of the sower, which we will get to in chapter 13. Only one of the four seeds that were sown produced anything of any value.
Matthew D. Conclusion: The Kingdom or Destruction (7:13–27)
The people represented by the two builders share one similarity and one difference. Both “keep on hearing” the words of Jesus. The present tense may imply that both hearers had been exposed to his teachings. In any case, both hearers were now accountable to obey what they had heard. However, the first person “keeps on doing” what Jesus taught, while the second “keeps on not doing” what Jesus taught.
The first man was wise; the second man was foolish. The first man found stability and blessing in this life and in eternity; the second experienced calamity in this life and in eternity (the rain, floods, and winds can represent both hardships in this life and God’s final judgment).
The Tony Evans Bible Commentary III. The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)
The wise man heard Jesus’s words and acted on them—that is, he built on a foundation of rock (7:24–25). To do so is harder and more time consuming. The fool built on sand. This is easier, cheaper, and faster to do. But the choice of approaches raises a question: How long do you want your house to stand? You cannot build a skyscraper life on a chicken coop’s foundation. If you want stability in your personal life, your family, your ministry, and your community, you need the strong, sturdy foundation of God’s Word—which includes both knowledge of the Bible and applying it to life.
The storm revealed which man was wise and which one was foolish. The trials of life will expose what your foundation is made of.
Thoughts?
Except for the first two verses in chapter 5, all the words that we have read in 5, 6, and 7 until now have been in red (if you have a red letter bible). They are all the words of Jesus. Now at the end of chapter 7 and the end of the sermon, we go back to black. We see in these last two verses what was going on as Jesus was finishing up his message. At the beginning of the sermon, we are told that there was a crowd gathered, but Jesus went up on the mountain or the hill and took his disciples and began to teach them. Now, we find out that the crowd must have followed him up the mountain as he began to teach. Now there is a crowd up on the mountain.
28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
So the people are amazed at his teaching. I am told that the Greek tense tells us that they continued to be amazed at his teaching. Why? Because he was not quoting this or that scribe, but he was speaking under his own authority.
Matthew D. Conclusion: The Kingdom or Destruction (7:13–27)
Jesus did not leave it to the crowd to perceive his authority (7:28–29). He claimed it openly. This is quite an audacious claim, unless he actually had the authority to make it. Jesus did not give his skeptics much room to maneuver in their opinion of who he was—he was either everything he says he was … or he was nothing at all. He must be fully accepted or fully rejected, for no “good moral teacher” would say the astonishing things Jesus did unless they were true. Jesus is God’s Son.
