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[0:00] I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas day with each other and the families.

[0:16] I know I enjoyed it. It was good to have my folks in town and be able to spend that day with them as well as our first Christmas in California. And we had a good day.

[0:30] And we try to, we like that holiday. We like that day. As a family, we put on the dog a little bit. As I said to somebody, we try to do a little extra if we can because it's just fun.

[0:41] And I hope you're not a Scrooge. I hope you did too. All right, Matthew chapter 7. And let's begin in verse number one. Let's begin with prayer first. Father, please bless as we open up this holy book.

[0:53] Help us to understand its truths. Help us to apply them where they go and not ever misapply them. And Lord, just give us discernment. Give us understanding. As we read the words that you spoke years ago to your Jewish disciples.

[1:06] Help us to know what you meant. And Lord, to apply what we can to our lives today. We pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Verse number one.

[1:17] You know this verse. You'll probably all quote this one. Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again.

[1:30] Now that's a popular verse. The world doesn't know too many verses of Scripture. But there's one that they know. Somehow they got that one. I guess they do believe the Bible after all.

[1:42] In some cases, if you try to give them the gospel or present a case to them that they need something, that they're not good enough, then there's one that they come out with.

[1:53] And by the way, I'll just mention this. I'm sure you have heard it. I've heard it. And the way I try to deal with that with somebody who tells me that I'm judging them, stop judging me, if I'm trying to convey to them Bible truth, that they're a sinner, that they need a Savior, then my response to this, I'm not judging you.

[2:13] I promise you, I'm not judging you. I'm not your judge. I don't have any power to pass judgment or execute judgment upon you. All I'm doing is declaring what God the judge has already said about you.

[2:25] All I'm doing is try to open your eyes to what God says your condition is, the true judge. He's judged you already. He that believeth not is condemned already. He's already declared that.

[2:38] And so if anybody wants to try to throw up, don't judge me, don't judge me, you're judging me, I say, no, no, no, I'm not. The Lord, the righteous judge, has already declared this to be the case about you.

[2:50] So there's one. They do know that one. That's for sure. Judge not. But let's get into the thought here. It's in connection with, look at verse 12 of the passage, Matthew 7, verse 12. Christ says, Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them.

[3:07] For this is the law and the prophets. And in relationship to others, judge not. Don't elevate yourself to a position of authority over them.

[3:19] When Moses showed up to the Jews, they said, Who made thou a prince and a judge over us? And so Christ is teaching his Jewish apostles, his disciples, and those that followed him into this mount, to not place yourself in that position of authority because what you put on them is going to come back on you.

[3:39] And verse 2 says, With what measure ye meet. Meet means to dispense punishment or harsh treatment upon others. With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again.

[3:51] And this is definitely an Old Testament principle. I'm not going to turn, but back in Psalm 18, we read about God, that he deals with men according to their works. And he says, With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful, and et cetera.

[4:04] And so this is a pretty much Old Testament thought here. But moving forward, or rather, park a second here because we don't want to just throw that out that we can't be judges or judge or exercise discernment as we're told to or we're supposed to, I want to take you to, let's go to, is it first or second?

[4:27] Corinthians. I get these mixed up. It's 1 Corinthians 11. So come to 1 Corinthians 11. There is absolutely some judging that needs to go on in your life.

[4:39] And it's going to start with you. It's absolutely going to start. Matter of fact, keep your place there. If you've got another finger, find 1 Peter chapter 4.

[5:03] We'll start there. 1 Peter 4. And look at verse 17. The Bible says, For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

[5:19] So judgment should start somewhere. It should start within the lives of believers. Now look at 1 Corinthians 11. This is to be performed personally.

[5:30] That is a self-judgment. I'll not read the passage here, but just look at verse number 28. But let a man examine himself.

[5:42] Now later he says this in verse 31. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. That is, if we would judge ourselves and if we would clean up what needs to be cleaned up about our own selves, examining our own lives and hearts, then we should not be judged as in there's nothing for another to judge us on if we've got everything cleaned up and taken care of.

[6:08] We wouldn't be judged of God in verse 32 and chastened of the Lord and condemned with the world if we would have a first of self-judgment. Now come to 1 Corinthians 2.

[6:19] And this is going to be something Christ gets into in the passage in Matthew 7 about the moat in your brother's eye and the beam in your eye and he says to cast it out of your eye first.

[6:37] Well, that's self-judging. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 15 says, But he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man.

[6:49] Why? Because he's spiritual. Because he's already judged himself. And so that's last statement there. He's blameless in the sense that his examination of himself he comes out spiritual and there's no one to judge him.

[7:06] But he himself judgeth all things. Now does that mean he sits in a throne of judgment upon other Christians or lost alike? No. But he's going to judge some things.

[7:18] For instance, come back to let's come back to Ezekiel. I just read this recently. Ezekiel chapter 20.

[7:36] Judge not. Well, there's sometimes where God has the command to judge. Here's a case where God tells his preacher, his prophet, to judge him.

[7:51] Look at chapter 20. Ezekiel 20, we'll begin in verse 1. It came to pass in the seventh year and the fifth month and tenth day of the month that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me.

[8:03] So he's a prophet of God. One that God speaks to and through. And the elders of Israel came to come to his presence. They want to inquire of God so God's going to have something to say.

[8:14] Verse 2. Then came the word of the Lord unto me saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

[8:27] And now he turns the conversation to the preacher. Verse 4. Wilt thou judge them, Son of man? Wilt thou judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.

[8:39] Look at chapter 22. Chapter 22 and verse number 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Now thou son of man, wilt thou judge?

[8:52] Wilt thou judge the bloody city? Yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations. Both times his judging them is declaring to them their guilt and their sin, their abominations.

[9:05] Look at chapter 23. This is a command. And verse number 36. Again, this is the prophet Ezekiel toward Judah and Israel.

[9:18] The Lord said, Moreover unto me, 23, 36, Son of man, wilt thou judge Ahola and Aholaba? Yea, declare unto them their abominations. They have committed adultery and blood is in their hands and with their idols have they committed adultery and calls their sons, etc.

[9:35] All of their sin, their abominations and their guilt, that man is to judge them and he's to stand up and to declare to them their guilt. Now, it could run some further references here into the Pauline epistles and the first Corinthians that were to, were capable and worthy of judging small matters, capable, worthy of judging things amongst each other, the brethren within the local church and not to take it to the law, to the world.

[10:03] Know ye not that ye shall judge angels, he says? And so, let's come back to Matthew 7. You, he that is spiritual judges all things and it's wise to, to exercise discernment in this life and to judge.

[10:20] You do it every day whether you think about it or not. You see somebody that's sitting on the sidewalk all ratty looking and scruffy looking and asking you for something and you probably judge them right there and then and thought you know them, you know what they're all about, you know what they're going to do with the money if you give it to them.

[10:40] As much as everybody wants to claim hard times have fallen upon me, a lot of times you asked for hard times by the choices you made in the past and you made that judgment already when you saw it.

[10:52] And maybe not every judgment will be accurate in those cases. Maybe not everybody's there because they chose to be there. But you judge people all the time. Somebody cuts you off in traffic, you judge them.

[11:05] Maybe they're hurrying to the hospital to deliver a baby. Maybe they're trying to get home because their kids are alone and they said there was a fire. Now probably not but you judge them as that's not the case.

[11:20] They don't have nothing in their life is more important than where I'm going right now is what we think. We exercise judgment all the time for good or evil. Look at Romans chapter 2.

[11:31] One more place here before we move on. Romans chapter 2. Now Christ is teaching them not to put themselves above each other to be judge one over another.

[11:54] And in Romans chapter 2 therefore verse 1 thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself.

[12:06] For thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such thing. And thinkest thou this O man that judgest them which do such things and doest the same that thou should escape the judgment of God.

[12:20] So you don't want to get yourself in a position of authority over others if you can help it to where you have to judge and exercise judgment over them because they're going to be they're going to hate you. Even if you're in a position at a job you know how that goes.

[12:34] You're the one that gets blamed for it when you're just enforcing the company's rules. And then they're going to hate your guts for not letting it slide when it was them. Well you got placed in the position of judgment and it's going to fall on you and they're going to take it out on you and if you can avoid being in that place it's probably a good place to avoid.

[12:53] Matthew chapter 7 but do your job. Matthew chapter 7 now getting to the kingdom side of this as always we're seeing that angle that slant of Christ's teaching and the doctrinal application.

[13:09] There's equal retribution for actions. Remember back in chapter 5 where he told them that you've heard that it hath been said eye for an eye tooth for a tooth but I say unto you resist not evil but whosoever shall smite down our right cheek turn to him the other also.

[13:24] And as we cover the material there we understand that when the king the righteous judge and judges he's called the Lord the judge when he's here on the planet he's going to take care of those things and it's our job to be innocent and here is another case where Christ is going to be the judge.

[13:44] In Proverbs there's a list of verses I scribbled down which I'll skip that deals with the king the king doctrinally speaking the Lord Jesus Christ and how he scatters away evil with his eyes and he brings the wheel over them and the throne or the lands established in judgment and all these things are going to apply very clearly when the king of kings sits on his throne and judges and rules over the world.

[14:10] Now continuing in Matthew chapter 7 in verse number 3 he says Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye? Mote is the tiniest piece of a substance a speck or a particle but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye 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?

[14:34] Good questions. If that's you 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.

[14:46] So there's a problem declaring someone else's guilt when you're just as bad just like Romans chapter 2 declared that you do the same. And it's easy it's very easy isn't it to find fault with other people.

[14:59] It's easy to go home from church and find fault with what somebody else wore or what you heard them saying or when they showed up or if they came or anywhere in life. It's so easy to spot and to pick up the things that you don't agree with in other people's lives.

[15:14] But how hard is it to look in the mirror or even to go humbly before the mirror of the word of God and to admit how guilty you truly are how much of a sinner and how short you fall of the glory of God.

[15:29] The pride inside of you and I is what says I'm fine you've got the problem and I see the moat in your eyes so clearly and how wicked we are how wicked we truly are so Christ says cast out first verse 5 cast out the beam out of thine own eye and that gets back there to 1 Corinthians 11 with the judging yourself or examining yourself before you preach to others check yourself this is kind of comparing a splinter to a 2 by 4 and it's kind of ridiculous to see it that way but that's what it is and so anybody who's going to be easy to find fault they're a hypocrite and just the best thing is to just realize and humble yourself realize you're guilty you're guilty as sin and you're guilty of sin and just back off and keep it to yourself it's something that I learned my mom doesn't remember this at all but since she's here it comes to mind that when I was a young man there was a case of somebody in the church when she was away but there was something that happened in the church and I was conveying it to her and I was really kind of just ragging on the guy because he was to be blamed what he did was wrong and I was just kind of spreading that to her as we talked and she responded in a way that I've never forgotten and I doubt she even has any clue at all to this but what she said was well I find out that I have enough problem with my own relationship with the Lord to worry about other people's problems in their life and I just thought oof it just it slapped me and I thought she's right she's right she's right so that got me

[17:13] I still remember that and it helps me it reminds me of what's going on right here of finding fault with other people when they're yeah they got problems and how quickly I just walk past the mirror and not look at myself first and there's a hypocrite inside each one of us in that regard I wouldn't doubt verse number six moving on a completely different thought here in verse six Christ says give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you now some misinterpret this to say not to witness to people that reject the gospel as if that's the heathen and we are not to give the holy gospel I've even read a book about catholic faith and such that they suggested against missionaries taking the holy gospel to the gentiles but then you're stuck at the end of this book with what we call the great commission so that just doesn't pad out but what is this talking about come back to proverbs chapter 20 proverbs chapter 20 the verse

[18:22] Christ said give not that which is holy unto the dogs proverbs chapter 20 look at verse number 25 the bible says it is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy he's eating it and after vows to make inquiry to find out what that was it's wrong that which is holy is something that has been specifically set apart to or unto God it's something that is sanctified come back to Leviticus and chapter number 2 and I don't want to get bogged down on this so just try to skim start in verse 1

[19:31] Leviticus 2 verse 1 we're dealing with offerings and when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord his offering shall be a fine flour he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon and shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priest and he shall take there out his handful of the flour thereof and the oil thereof and the frankincense thereof and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar to be an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord and the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire now so come to verse let's see verse 10 that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron and his sons a thing most holy offering made by fire these are offerings given to God and portions of them in some cases are for the priest to take in other cases the remnants are to be burned in fire the ashes are to be removed you see that in chapter 6 and taken out to a clean place and so the things that's dedicated to God is once it's dedicated to God you're hands off it's profane to go back and to take that and munch on it or to say this is something

[20:47] I'm doing to partake of now or to partake of it and then later as we read in Proverbs to find out oh was that holy unto the Lord did I mess up and eat something I shouldn't have and so the thought is as Christ says you don't cast that which is holy to dogs that'd be an abomination to take this holy thing that is sacred and set apart unto God as an offering to him and then just throw it to the dogs no Jew that's unheard of as their law would declare and as they are training and they know that and so Christ is talking along those lines things that are ordered to ordained to be in a holy manner Christ is lining right up with that give not that which is holy to dogs neither cast your pearls before swine now there's something interesting about the use of the word dogs and the word swine come to 2 Peter chapter 2 2 Peter chapter 2 and notice the end of this passage that's dealing with false teachers and come all the way to verse 22 it says but it is happened unto them the false teachers according to the true proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire now the usage here of the animals is identical to what Christ says and what we have here is male and female the dog is turned to his own vomit again and when Christ says swine in Matthew here it says the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mile mire and the passage

[22:44] Peter's dealing with is deceivers false teachers but Christ here is not talking about not taking the gospel to the lost but rather Gentiles were considered dogs come to Matthew chapter 10 it's in Matthew 15 where Christ refers to that Gentile woman as a dog indirectly saying it's not me to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs but in Matthew chapter 10 verse number 5 there's explicit instructions for Christ's Jewish disciples to stay away from the Gentiles verse number 5 then these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand notice the context and application of this kingdom of heaven it's only to

[23:45] Israel it's not for dogs it's not for the heathen and Christ is referring to an Old Testament principle that they understood that you don't cast that thing that's set apart unto God out there to those dogs in Matthew 7 neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you in verse 7 he gets into a whole other thought of ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened now before we jump into this we need to be careful applying everything we read in the gospels to us and this is a great example of it this is a prayer promise from God but has this always worked for you have you gotten everything you asked God for have you sought after him with your whole heart

[24:52] I may have told you before I know a fellow who was confused on some of these prayer promises and he had some major things in his life that he was concerned about and so he would write these verses on a little post-it card and put them on his work truck and he'd have them in front of him and he would pray those prayers and read those verses all throughout his work day so frustrated that God wasn't hearing his prayers wasn't answering his prayers he didn't have enough faith for God to hear his prayers he couldn't make sense of why God is not he was saved he meant it with all of his heart and he believed with all of his heart that God would honor his word but God wouldn't honor his word he couldn't figure it out he had trouble with some of this look at chapter 21 Matthew 21 Matthew 21 and verse number 22 another prayer promise very similar 21 22 and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive so that's the believing word is one that preachers can jump on and say well then you don't have enough faith that's why this isn't coming to pass they can pin it on you

[26:10] I know a pastor who closes all his prayers by saying believing say we ask all these things in Jesus name believing and I think is he stuck on that verse there thinking that we have to believe in order you look at our faith and then answer accordingly that's not good doctrine come to Mark chapter 11 this happens a few times some of these you're familiar with Mark chapter 11 I remember reading this as a teenager and thinking to myself how is that so because I just didn't believe that I could exercise this kind of power and authority based on this verse verse 22 Jesus answering saith unto them have faith in God for verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things which you say shall come to pass he shall have whatsoever he saith therefore

[27:19] I say unto you what things so ever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them wow I remember reading that thinking I don't think so I don't think it's up to me I just had a little I don't know a little more discernment maybe than some but now I understand why that's not going to be the case but you go ahead and go out there and pray and try it pick a mountain give it a shot see if it works for you and then what are you going to do are you going to claim that verse are you going to claim it God you said and then hold him to it and then he'll remind you oh but it says believing and you doubt shall not doubt in his heart oh then it's my fault that this mountain won't get cast into the sea and what would the purpose of that be by the way if God would honor his word in that sense and show you something what would you do what good would come of that now regardless of all that come to one more place

[28:22] John 14 this is Christ talking directly to his Jewish disciples that he granted power to power to cleanse lepers to heal the sick to cast out devils and it was their prayer of faith that was going to be acknowledged and answered and there's limitations to these statements and context is everything here John 14 verse 13 and 14 and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son if ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it now there's no qualifier of faith is it so you've got to be careful know who Christ is talking to and this is before his death on Calvary the night of and some discourse that he has with those men and their personal disciples that he handpicked for a ministry that he had given to them this is not something that Christ gave to me and you but you turn on the TV and watch some guys on TV quote these verses and dance around and proclaim all these miracles that God is doing today and that he'll do through you if you'll believe and then somehow you have to write a check to prove that you believe somehow that comes into there and you know all about that but come back to Matthew chapter 7 and we'll wrap this up

[29:59] I like the acronym to start verse 7 ask ask ask seek knock ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you I think it first helps to understand the doctrine of this passage and of Christ and his disciples and the kingdom of heaven and what's going on throughout these gospels to keep yourself from being frustrated and from trying to find something from God that he's not going to give you but by all means ask the apostle Paul says let your requests be made known unto God but notice the difference let's just end on this note come to Philippians chapter 4 notice the difference of the promise God gives to the church through the apostle Paul versus Christ telling his disciples that whatever you ask for I'm going to be there

[30:59] I'm going to take care of it I'm going to give it to you and by the way I don't see them asking for material things they're asking for his power to work something in fulfilling their ministry it's not to get wealthy so anyway back in Philippians chapter 4 there's a promise that we have notice verse 6 be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and here's the promise it's not that God will answer your request the promise is that he'll give you peace and keep your heart and mind verse 7 the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus what the Lord Jesus Christ will give you and I is peace and they say between the problem and the peace is prayer it's our job to humble ourselves to make our requests and supplications with thanksgiving and bring it to God and what he'll do is not promise that I'll fix it he'll promise though that he'll give peace inside your heart that you can not go crazy through the whole thing not have it keep you up at night not lose your appetite be so wound up and tight and full of anxiety when he says be careful for nothing that's what he's talking about so we'll take the peace that's a good promise that's one that you can hang your hat on as a believer and go to but be careful coming through the gospels for those words in red when Jesus

[32:34] Christ is throwing out promises to his disciples you don't want to jump on those and put them onto your wall in your bedroom or be reading them every day claiming them and you know we all got problems and everybody has something that's heavy on their heart and when you go to those verses you're ending up what's the end of that going to be when it doesn't get answered or it doesn't happen because it wasn't a promise to you you get frustrated with God you lose hope you fall out of faith so to speak you walk away from it all and say forget it it's not true so rightly defining rightly dividing the word of truth is more important than we know and it's practical and here's a great case ask and you shall receive seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you well I've been asking and I haven't received it well this promise and it's application is for the Jewish disciples and I'm not going to worry about that one anymore let's close there and we'll go on next week talking about the bread and the fish or the stone and the fish and the serpent and get into some stuff that's going to reveal next week we'll get into some stuff that

[33:56]  I'll show you where some of the new versions make a big mistake in changing some of the words of this text and introduce a doctrinal error and I'll also show you a passage that often gets misquoted about whether people are saved or not and it has nothing to do with salvation and so we'll be careful to understand our Bible better Lord willing fathers we dismiss this Sunday school hour I pray that what was said would be a help somewhere and that we could take these truths and learn them and know them Lord I pray you'll give us peace in our hearts through the turmoils and trials that we face in this life and Lord give us discernment in this book where we would not frustrate ourselves and God I just pray that we'll have an understanding of these things and we pray this in Jesus name Amen