Matthew 14

 

Do Not Judge

¹ “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

Many liberals use this verse against believers who want to judge their sins. Liberals use this verse to promote abortion, same-sex marriage, pornography, and other anti-biblical doctrines. Baby Christians will also use this verse when necessary to condone their actions. The Bible does command that evil is to be exposed. Also, the elders of the church are required to judge those in their congregation who are living in sin. Therefore, believers are to judge those who are committing evil. Believers are to judge other believers who are living in sin. However, there is a way that they are to be judged, and a way that they are not to be judged. The details are given in the next verse.    

² For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. 

The standard that these Jewish Messianic believers were to be judged or to judge was the written Mosaic Law. The application for believers is the written Word of God. Unbelievers and believers are not to be judged by human standards. They are to be judged by the Word of God.  

³ Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 

Many believers see sin in the lives of others, but they cannot see their own sin. 

⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 

The believer has to clean out his own life before he attempts to clean out the life of another.

 ⁵ You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 

Those who point out the sins of others without looking at their own sins are hypocrites.

 ⁶ Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. 

God is holy. The mind of God is holy. One can only know the mind of God through the written Scriptures. Dogs in the Old Testament were not the cute, little puppy dogs of today. They were scavengers who traveled in packs and tore their prey apart piece by piece. Gentiles were also called "dogs" by the Jews, but there is nothing in Scripture where Gentiles are called dogs. Dogs were also a metaphor in the Old Testament for homosexual prostitutes.

 

The pearls are the written Word of God. If one does not respect the Word of God, then a believer is not to throw his pearls to that person. If they do, they may find themselves persecuted and executed, just as many of the Jewish messianic believers experienced in the first century. 

Ask, Seek, Knock 

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 

The Greek tense for these three verbs is all in the present, meaning a continuous action. In their prayer life, the Jewish believers were commanded to continually ask, continually seek, and to continually knock. 

⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 

Prayer was not to be continuous repetition, but continuous asking.  

⁹ Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 

If a son is hungry, and he asks his earthly father for bread, then his human father would not give him a stone. This means that the heavenly Father will not give His children something that might destroy them. For example, if a child of God asks for wealth, the Father might say no, because the wealth would ruin him. 

¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 

Jesus used a similar metaphor to convey the divine principle that God does not give His children material things that will destroy their sanctification process.  

¹¹ If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 

Man is totally depraved and evil, but even in this condition, he will give good gifts to his children. If God is good, then he will give even more to His children. Therefore, the Jewish believers were to talk to God in prayer like His little children. They were to ask for things that they needed. If they ask for a fish, and if it is in the will of God, then God will be happy to give it to them. God loves His children and wants to give them gifts. 

¹² In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 

This is the golden rule which is quoted by many believers. The Rabbi Hillel turned this golden rule into a negative, by teaching others not to do to someone else what they would not want someone else to do to them. However, the negative part of this command keeps one inactive. 

The Narrow Gate 

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

 

Jesus taught these Jewish believers that there were two roads that they could follow. The road of Judaism was wide, many were on it, and it leads to destruction. This wide road will not make anyone righteous.  

¹⁴ But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. 

The true way to righteousness was not the broad road of Judaism, but it was the narrow road of believing in Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus will lead a difficult earthly life, because these Jewish messianic believers will experience persecution and even martyrdom. There are very few people who find this road, because only the Holy Spirit can illuminate and guide the way. 

A Tree and Its Fruit 

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 

False prophets dress up like sheep, but underneath their costume is their true nature of a wolf. They act like believers, but they want to destroy the believer by teaching him false doctrine. 

¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? 

Believers can recognize false teachers by the fruit that they bear. 

¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 

A good teacher bears good fruit. A bad teacher bears rotten fruit. 

¹⁸ A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. 

A good teacher will not produce people with bad doctrine. A bad teacher will not produce people with good doctrine.  

¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

The false teachers will be thrown in the Lake of Fire. 

²⁰ So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 

False teachers can be recognized by the fruit that they produce. 

Judgment of Pretenders 

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

 

The Jews were warned that there were many false teachers who would call Jesus "Lord", but they were false believers. 

²² On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’

There are currently many false teachers who believe in a counterfeit Jesus. Notice that those people will be able to proclaim prophesies and miracles in the name of Jesus. They will say "Praise the Lord" and "In the name of Jesus," but this superstitious mantra does not mean that these men are from God. They will be able to cast out demons. They will be able to perform great miracles, such as those seen in many of the charismatic churches today.

Satan could duplicate many of the miracles that the Egyptian magicians could perform during the days of Moses. Therefore, it is Bible doctrine in the original languages, not the performance of miracles, which is the standard of evaluating if a message is from God.  

²³ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ 

These false preachers will perform many miracles in the name of Jesus, but Jesus will send then to the Lake of Fire. Many false charismatic miracle workers are deceiving their congregation "in the name of Jesus." 

Hearing and Doing 

²⁴ “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. 

Jesus spoke about two kinds of builders. Those who listen to Jesus are building their house on a solid rock foundation. 

²⁵ The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. 

Those who build upon the foundation of Jesus will have a strong foundation and a house that can withstand the harsh winds of the satanic world system.  

²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 

Those who do not build upon the foundation of the teachings of Jesus are foolish men. They will build upon the foundations of sand, which is the Oral Law. 

²⁷ The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!” 

Those who build upon the sand of the Oral Law will be destroyed when the storm comes. The coming storm will be the temple destruction of 70 A.D.

 ²⁸ When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed by his teaching,

 

Jesus taught divine viewpoint. These Jewish believers had never heard divine viewpoint from the rabbinic teachers. 

²⁹ because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law. 

Jesus taught from the written Word of God. He interpreted the written Law from divine viewpoint. The experts of the Law taught from the quotations of other rabbi who had created the man-made Oral Law.  

Basically, Jesus promised to fulfill every yod and tittle of the written Law. However, He would not fulfill any of the Oral Law. This teaching denounced Judaism, as it taught that the only way to obtain righteousness was through Jesus Himself. This was not a popular teaching with the Jewish leaders of that day.