Matthew 7 – Discerning Righteousness: Judgment, Prayer, and the Narrow Path

Overview: The Call to True Discipleship

🔹 Timeframe: Conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.

🔹 Setting: A mountainside where Jesus teaches multitudes.

🔹 Theme: Discerning truth, persevering in faith, and building a life on Christ’s teaching.

Key Takeaways

🔑 Judgment should be humble and righteous, not hypocritical.

🔑 Prayer must be persistent, trusting in the Father’s goodness.

🔑 The narrow way leads to life; the broad way leads to destruction.

🔑 True faith is revealed by obedience, not mere words.

🔑 Jesus’ teachings form the unshakable foundation of life.

Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment

🔮 The Two Paths – A Biblical Theme – Psalm 1 describes the righteous and the wicked, foreshadowing Jesus’ teaching.

🔮 False Prophets Foretold – Jeremiah 23:16 warns against deceptive leaders, fulfilled in Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7.

🔮 The Firm Foundation – Isaiah’s Prophecy – Isaiah 28:16 speaks of a cornerstone—fulfilled in Christ.

Historical & Cultural Context

📜 Jewish Views on Judgment – The Pharisees judged harshly, but Jesus called for self-examination first.

📜 The Roman World’s Wealth & Worry – Many worried about daily survival, but Jesus taught trust in God’s provision.

📜 The Role of Rabbis vs. Jesus – Unlike the scribes, Jesus taught with divine authority, not human tradition.

💡 Final Reflection: A Call to True Obedience

Matthew 7 challenges us to examine our faith, discern truth, and build our lives on Christ. Superficial belief is not enough—true disciples follow Jesus completely.

📌 Are we judging others without examining ourselves?
📌 Do we persist in prayer, trusting God’s goodness?
📌 Are we walking the narrow way, rejecting false teachings?
📌 Is our faith built on Christ’s words or on shifting sand?

🚀 The Sermon on the Mount ends with a call to action—will we obey or ignore the Master’s words?

Judging Others
Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged. 
Mat 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 
Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 
Mat 7:4  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? 
Mat 7:5  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. 
Mat 7:6  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. 

Ask, and It Will Be Given
Mat 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 
Mat 7:8  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 
Mat 7:9  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 
Mat 7:10  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 
Mat 7:11  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? 

The Golden Rule
Mat 7:12  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. 
Mat 7:13  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: 
Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

A Tree and Its Fruit
Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 
Mat 7:16  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 
Mat 7:17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 
Mat 7:18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 
Mat 7:19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 
Mat 7:20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 

I Never Knew You
Mat 7:21  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. 
Mat 7:22  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? 
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

Build Your House on the Rock
Mat 7:24  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: 
Mat 7:25  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. 
Mat 7:26  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: 
Mat 7:27  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. 

The Authority of Jesus
Mat 7:28  And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 
Mat 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.