Contents
• How to judge others
• Ask, Seek, Knock
• Recognizing false teachers

Before reading this commentary, I encourage you to first read the text of Matthew chapter seven.

Verses 1-2

This is a warning, not to Christians, but to the unsaved. For we know that those who are saved will not be judged for their sins. That’s why Jesus died for us. He took our sins upon himself.

It seems that many non-Christians will use this verse “Do not judge” as a rebuttal against any Christian who tells them they need to repent of their sins.

But again, this is not addressing Christians. It is a warning to those who are not saved. It’s telling them that they will be judged using the same judgement which they used against others.

When a non-Christian judges a follower of Jesus Christ for doing that which God commanded them to do, (i.e. inform people of their need for Jesus and to repent of their sins), and the unbeliever judges the believer “why are you judging me!” It is the unbeliever who is judging. The believer has discernment, but the unbeliever casts his judgment as though the believer has done something wrong. The unbeliever will be judged by God with the same measure they used against the believer.

Now, all that being said, the next verses, three through five, are Jesus instructing believers on how to properly judge other people. But remember, saved people will not be judged for their sins by God. Jesus took our sins. Saved people will only be judged according to the good things they did. For those good things they will receive rewards in heaven. See 1 Corinthians 3:8, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Matthew 25:21&35-40. (the unsaved will be judged for their sins, the saved will be judged for their good deeds).

But again, salvation is by faith, not by good deeds.

Verses 3-5

Jesus asks, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?” What’s he saying here? You judge someone for something trivial, while simultaneously overlooking your own glaring shortcomings.

Jesus instructs us to conduct some self-analysis before we start handing out verbal critiques of other people’s actions.

Fix yourself first, then you will be able to give good advice to others. This is how we judge others correctly.

Verse 6

There are some people who are so vehemently opposed to the gospel that there’s really no value in continuing to try to talk to them about God.

“And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” (Matthew 10:14)

Verses 7-11

In my opinion, this is one of the more critical verses in the New Testament. Salvation is by faith. Those who have faith are rewarded with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Later in this chapter we will read about how on the day of judgement many Christians will be told “I never knew you”. Jesus is referring to those who were never filled with the Holy Spirit.

When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, God knows us because God lives in us. The phrase “I never knew you” is not to suggest that God is unaware of some people. God is omniscient and omnipresent. But Jesus said “depart from me, I never knew you”. Those Jesus knows are those who have the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, in relation to the verse presently in question, Jesus says ask, and it will be given to you. What is the “it” which Jesus is going to give? He is talking about the Holy Spirit. If you ask for the Holy Spirit, you will receive it. If you knock, the door will be open to you to receive the Holy Spirit. If you seek the Holy Spirit, you’ll find it. Those who claim the name of Christ, and yet are never filled with the Holy Spirit have zero excuses because all they ever had to do was ask, seek and knock, and they would’ve been given the Holy Spirit. But because they never put their faith into Jesus and never believed him that we ought to ask, seek and knock, they never sought the Holy Spirit. they never received the Holy Spirit.

Most people without the Holy Spirit believe their going to go to heaven because they’re a good person. This, however, is pride. The Bible says that pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18a)

In my opinion, this is the dividing line between those Christians who are saved and those who are told “I never knew you”. It is the infilling of the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ. There’s many Christians out there who will not enter the kingdom of heaven because they never knew Christ. They were never filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus says this himself when he says many will come to me in the last days and will say “we did this” and “we did that” in your name. And that’s when he’ll say “I never knew you”.

Think about it this way, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God will frequently speak to you by various means and methods, after which God can no longer say, he never knew you. He spoke to you. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit and through the power of the Holy Spirit, you have personal interactions with God (i.e. a relationship) He cannot later say, on your day of judgment, “I never knew you” because you could then reply “wait a minute, don’t you remember in August of 2025 when you spoke to me? We had a conversation. I prayed. You answered. So how can you say you never knew me?”

The infilling of the Holy Spirit leads to a relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship should give the believing Christian more than enough confidence to know that Christ knows them personally.

If you have not yet received the Holy Spirit, ask, seek, and knock daily:
• Ask – “Lord, may I have the Holy Spirit Lord?”
• Seek – Read the word of God daily and get plugged into a Bible study group where people who are wiser than yourself can help you to understand the nuances of what you’re reading.
• Knock – Don’t just ask and seek one time and that’s it. Be like the person from Luke chapter eleven.

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’

And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:5-10)

Verses 13-23

The narrow gate is referring to salvation and heaven. The wide gate is referring to hell. The use of the word destruction is also a reference to hell. Many people go to hell. Only a few people go to heaven.

Beware of false prophets. This is what I say over and over again, yet some people want to argue with me. When you first begin attending a church that is new to you, I strongly recommend that for about the first six months you should place the pastor on probation. Be ever watching and ever perceiving. Verify with the Bible that what your pastor is preaching is true. When I say this, people sometimes argue. Some will make an authority argument, by saying that because I have never been to seminary and the pastor has, who am I to doubt his credentials. Other people claim I am casting judgement. They’ll accuse me of being a sinner because I am judging someone. Still others will say that everyone in the pulpit is a servant of God and I should try to learn from everyone.

Jesus, however, says in these verses we are now examining, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” When you join a church, you are making that pastor your spiritual leader. So if he teaches false doctrine, and you become a member of that church, you are agreeing to be spiritually misled.

Most false teachers will preach a mixture of truth and lies, and many times the difference can be extremely subtle. No false teacher will ever stand up in the pulpit and say, “Now I’m going to teach falsehoods.” This is why I recommend six months of attendance before making any commitment, because it might take you that long to identify that subtlety. Everything a false teacher preaches will sound good on its surface. This is why some false teachers have large congregations. They sound good. But you must weigh their sermons, actions and conversations against the Bible.

In the late 1950’s ordained Christian minister Jim Jones formed The Peoples Temple Church in California. But by the 1970’s he began preaching sermons that, if a person knew the Bible well and had been paying attention, would have recognized that his sermons were beginning to reject traditional biblical interpretations. But never the less, his church grew to over 3,000 members.

As time went on, Jones began exerting more and more control over church members, eventually persuading many of them to turn over all their personal finances to the church, which they did. Then in 1978, when confronted by law enforcement, Pastor Jim Jones ordered that his congregation commit suicide. 909 people willingly drank juice laced with cyanide and died.

This is obviously the most extreme example I could come up with. Do I think that every wolf in sheep’s clothing is going to persuade his congregation to kill themselves? No. But if a pastor leads his congregation to hell, what’s the difference? The end result is the same.

Did your mother ever teach you not to accept candy from strangers? Why would you allow a stranger to become your spiritual leader without first vetting whether or not he’s led by the Holy Spirit?

The phrase “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” is proof to the fact that not everyone who claims the name of Christ is saved. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes? Are figs gathered from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. So beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

Verses 24-26

The analogy of good trees bearing good fruits is clever, but what is the application? How do we apply his advice?

“everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

There are two ways to recognize a false teacher, the first is that you take careful notes in church and then go home and look them up in the Bible to see if what the preacher said aligns with what the Bible says.

The second way to recognize a false teacher is to look at their life. Anyone who hears the words of Jesus but does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.

Don’t misunderstand me; every pastor is just a man. One day I walked up to my pastor and showed him the book I was reading. He clearly seemed disinterested. I was a little put off by his response to me. I was sharing with him something I was enthusiastic about, but he acted like he had no interest in it.

Do those actions make him a false teacher? Should I have left that church? No. Absolutely not. We are called to have patience with one another. Furthermore, Satan would love to see you quit a church that teaches the truth of God’s word. Your pastor may not become your best friend. Maybe he failed to say thank you when you handed him a fork at the lunch table. Maybe on your birthday he patted you on the back and told you you’re getting old, to which you were offended. His forgetfulness and personality are not in question. What you want to know is: Does his life align with following Jesus?

Verses 28-29

Jesus taught as one who had authority because Jesus is the ultimate authority.