January 8

The Most Dangerous Words Jesus Ever Heard: ‘Lord, Lord’

Matthew 6:25–7:14

Most people think faith means agreeing with God while still running their own life. Jesus says otherwise. He presses past words and goes straight for trust, obedience, and allegiance. This passage does not comfort the self-assured. It unsettles them.

Jesus says, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life” and then anchors it in who God is, the One who feeds the fowls of the air and clothes the grass of the field, and asks the piercing question, “O ye of little faith” ~Matthew 6:25–30. Anxiety is not treated as a personality quirk. It is exposed as unbelief. Worry reveals who you actually trust.

The crowd listening to Jesus is religious. They pray. They give. They judge. Yet Jesus keeps cutting. He says a divided heart cannot serve God and mammon. You will love one and despise the other ~Matthew 6:24. God will not share the throne. Using Him as insurance while living for self is not faith. It is rebellion with Bible words.

Jesus then turns the blade inward. He warns against judging others while ignoring the beam in your own eye ~Matthew 7:3–5. This is not a call to suspend discernment. It is an exposure of hypocrisy. A man who critiques sin while protecting his own is not righteous. He is blind.

He warns about false prophets who look harmless but produce rotten fruit. Fruit is not claimed. It is seen. A good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit ~Matthew 7:17. Profession proves nothing. Direction proves everything.

Then Jesus drops the hammer. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” ~Matthew 7:21. Saying Lord is easy. Submitting is rare. Many will point to religious activity. Jesus points to obedience. “I never knew you” is not spoken to atheists. It is spoken to people who thought they belonged.

He ends with a gate. One is wide. Many go in. It feels right. It costs nothing. The other is strait. Few find it. It demands repentance, surrender, and obedience ~Matthew 7:13–14. Jesus does not apologize for the numbers. Truth is not democratic.

The sin named here is unbelief dressed up as religion. Trusting yourself while claiming God. Seeking comfort instead of the kingdom. Judging others while excusing your own sin. Calling Jesus Lord while refusing His authority. Scripture is clear that faith without obedience is dead ~James 2:17. Sin always has a payday. God is not mocked ~Galatians 6:7. Be sure your sin will find you out ~Numbers 32:23.

This passage warns plainly. God will not be used. He will not be added to your plans. He commands repentance and submission. The narrow way is not improved by sincerity. It is entered by obedience.

Today, examine yourself. Are you trusting God or using Him. Are you obeying Christ or just agreeing with Him. Are you walking the narrow way or standing at the wide gate with religious confidence.

Repent. Turn. Submit. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness ~Matthew 6:33. Do not say Lord and live like king.

Many assume they are safe. Jesus says few are. That is not meant to terrify the humble. It is meant to wake the deceived.

Genesis 18:16-19:38
Matthew 6:25-7:14
Psalm 8:1-9
Proverbs 2:6-15

Unprepared

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But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ~ Genesis 19:16

Old Testament: Genesis 18:16-19:38

In Genesis 19, we’ll see that Jesus did not feel at home with Lot in Sodom, he sent the two angels to look into the situation for him. The angels didn’t walk the streets or visit the public places of amusement. They visited a professed believer to see what his home was like.

Lot’s wife and family were far from the Lord. The salt had lost its flavor, so what hope was there for the city? Abraham was visited when it was light, but Lot received the angels at evening. Abraham’s household obeyed his word as he served the Lord, but Lot’s family only laughed at Lot’s words. Abraham hastened, but Lot lingered and had to be dragged out of the city while God did not find ten righteous people, but he spared Lot and his wife and daughters for the sake of Abraham. While we may hate the sins of Sodom, keep in mind that all those people went to eternal judgment. Lot had no tent or altar, and he ended up in a cave committing terrible sins. Were it not for second Peter chapter two, we might doubt that he was a believer at all.

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ~ Genesis 19:15-16

The Lord is being merciful to YOU today! I urge you to open your eyes and repent Turn your life over to Jesus and prepare for what is coming. Not only will the cities perish but the entire earth. No one will escape the wrath to come that does not repent and turn to Jesus.

New Testament: Matthew 6:25-7:14

Summary:
Do Not Be Anxious
Judging Others
Ask, and It Will Be Given
The Golden Rule

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ~ Matthew 6:25-26

“Did you ever see a beast, or a fowl, that had a trade? but they are fed without trouble.” In the Gemara is added, “Did you ever see a lion bearing burdens, an hart gathering summer fruits, a fox a money changer, or a wolf selling pots? And yet “they are nourished without labour”, and wherefore are they created? To serve me, and I am created to serve my Maker: and lo! these things have in them an argument, “from the less to the greater”; for if these, which are created to serve me after this manner, are supported without trouble; I, who am created to serve my Maker, is it not fit that I should be supplied without trouble? And what is the reason that I am sustained with trouble? My sins.”

From: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

https://know-the-bible.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Matthew-6-33-Seek-First-the-Kingdom-gold.jpg

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~ Matthew 6:33

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ~ Matthew 7:1

Judge not. As the context reveals, this direction does not prohibit all types of judging (Mat_7:16). We are supposed to exercise a righteous kind of judgment with careful discernment (Joh_7:24). Censorious, hypocritical, self-righteous, or other kinds of unfair judgments are forbidden; but in order to fulfill the commandments that follow, it is necessary to discern dogs and swine (Mat_7:6) from one’s own brethren (Mat_7:3-5).

From: MacArthur Bible Commentary

Mathew 7:14

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. ~ Matthew 7:13-14

Many people think that both the narrow gate and the wide gate provide the entrance to God’s kingdom. These do represent two ways that people live. But only the narrow gate—constricted and precise, salvation by faith through Christ alone—is God’s way that leads to life eternal. The wide gate includes all religions of works and self-righteousness, with no single way (cf. Act_4:12); but it leads to hell, not heaven.

From: MacArthur Bible Commentary