October 1, 2023
Matthew 7:12-28

The title of the sermon is “Keys to the Kingdom.”

Outline:
The Key Point
The Key To Life
The Key To The Kingdom

The Key Point: The Golden Rule

Verse 12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

• Jesus gives the climatic application of the pearls of the kingdom here.
• This is not stated in a negative form. That is, withholding behavior. Instead v. 12 is stated in the positive. It doesn’t withhold action but instead is proactive in giving action. >>
• This here is not Confucius’ Silver Rule: “What you do not want others to do unto you, do not do unto them.’” [>>>][710, Charles S. Braden, The World’s Religions, p. 141]
• In that case “doing nothing” would suffice. (Blomberg, 131, cf. Mounce, Matthew, 63; et al.). Instead we find the golden rule to be active, positive responses.
• Many observe the negative for of this rule. I will do no harm to others by pulling away from people. I will hold my tongue and keep my distance in the future. >>>
• But the golden rule is not like that. We must trade places with people, and ask, What would I want done to be if I were him or her? >>>
• God is good to us and gives us what we need even though we are evil; we are to reciprocate the same behavior to others.
  • Is someone sinful to you > switch shoes.
  • Is someone lonely > switch shoes.

TRANSITION

Now that we have covered the the Key Point of the sermon, The Golden Rule, let’s turn our attention to …

The Key To Life: Finding The Right Gate

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

• This is another difficult passage to interpret for me. WHY? COMMENTS
• ESV = The gate is wide > way is “easy” >>
  • Take note: ESV’s “easy” actually only means “broad.” (Thayer) ESV chose to interpret the word with a contrast to the other way in the text. >>
• The gate is narrow > the way “hard.”
  • ESV hard = to press (as grapes),
  • press hard upon, a compressed way (Thayer)
  • from Homer down = affliction >>
  • so metaphorically, to trouble, afflict, distress. (Thayer)
  • The way is “compressed” i. e. narrow, straitened, contracted (squeezed, LSJ)
  • "Thus, Jesus was saying that the narrow gate has connections with persecution, which is a major theme in Matthew’s Gospel … .[712]²
• Did you notice a difference between the ways in the text? >>>
• “Those who enter” the wide easy way vs. “Those who find” the narrow gate, hard way. (Davies and Allison, 700)
  • This is what Davies and Allison called, "the theme of the two ways … [it is a staple] of Jewish moral theology. (695) COMMENT
  • This has always been the case for God’ people. Deuteronomy 11:26 reads, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse."
  • Deuteronomy 30:15 is straigter to our point: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil."
• Listen to some extrabiblical writing from the Jews: “God has granted two ways to the sons of men, two mind-sets, two lines of action, two models, and two goals. Accordingly, everything is in pairs, the one over against the other. The two ways are good and evil; concerning them are two dispositions within our breasts that choose between them.” (The Testament of Asher 1:3-5)
• Although the idea of two paths, doors, gates etc. were “thoroughly Jewish, it cannot be considered exclusively Jewish.” (Davies and Allison, 696)
  • Listen to some other quotes:
  • Cebes was a member of Socrates’ inner circle around 400 B.C… (Princeton.edu) He wrote, “‘Do you not also see a small door … and in front of the door a way …which is not much frequented; very few … pass here; as it were through trackless waste which seems both rough and rocky? … And there seems to be a high hill, and a very narrow … ascent with a deep precipice on both sides’” (Tabula of Cebes 15:2-3)
• The early church leader Tertullian said it well, “The way of evil is broad and well supplied with travelers; would not all men take its easy course if there were nothing to fear?” (Adv. Marc. 2:13) (Davies and Allison, 697)
  • It’s the reverent, wonderful fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom that starts the search and has us continue searching for the proper actions, the propery ways of God.

APPLICATION

We are looking for the narrow gate. It is unclear if the gate is on the beginning of the road or the end. So I believe we have a passage that could be applied to both the context below it and very possibly the context above it.

1.

• The passage very well could be connected to the the golden rule.
• Therefore, the road would be a daily, often hourly re-commitment to the Kingdom’s teachings, Christ’s teachings --despite the nay-sayers.
• Road carries the idea of traveling.
• Christians and unbelievers are traveling to the same place: the travelers of the broad and easy road are traveling to a judgment before God.
• Christians are walking on the jagged rocks on the uneven path of this life —in full view of the laughing, mocking, persecuting world. In all of this hoping all the while to obey the golden rule more often and more fully.
• I expected to find this view explicitly written about and didn’t in the material I read this week. >>>
• But Carson seemed to agree indirectly when he wrote about Christians engaging in Christian disciplines: “Poverty of spirit is not easy; prayer is not easy; [pursuing] righteousness is not easy; transformed God-centered attitudes are not easily achieved.” >>> (Carson, The Sermon on …, 123)
• As Carson said," There is no room for me to set my opinion against the Lord’s, no room to set goals in any way at cross purpose to his, no room to form attachments which vie for central place the Lord must have." >>> (Carson, The Sermon on …, 123)
• “[L]ife cannot be pursued as long as we are motivated by a desire to please the mass of men. Most men travel the broad road; the narrow road is a little lonelier.” (Carson, The Sermon on …, 124)

2.

• The gate. One time decision for Christ.
• One must have passed through the proper gate and with it traveled the difficult road to be considered worthy of the honor of God. One much choose clearly.
• Davies and Allison said it well, “There are no options when it comes to God and his demands.” (699)
• Jesus re-fixes this same “must choose” faith theology —if you will— in the new contract with humankind. Me and the hard way or the world’s easy way.
• God forces a choice from human. God forces a choice from each individual person. It’s the same common test —familiar to every person who will ever live.
• We humans have the capacity to travel the narrow road with God, but most will say “No thanks.”

TRANSITION

Now that we see that we are to choose the narrow gate and hard way, let us turn our attention to the source of much of the difficulties in life.

Verse 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

• There are many false prophets.
• Outwardly their true character is not telling.
• Through appearance it is not obvious.
• Ravenous wolves = malicious pretenders.

16 You will recognize them by their fruits.

• These cannot be recognized by their words; their words seem fine.
• We are to look for what? What their fruit is. >>>
• Fruit = what their lives leave behind.
• What was the fruit of the false prophets in the early Church?
  • Division
  • Legalism
  • Synchronism
  • Personality contests
  • Destruction of sound doctrine.
  • Infighting

Jesus said in 16b, Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

CAVEAT

• We should not conclude that Jesus taught that believers cannot have any bad fruit. “This cannot be true in view of the hundreds of commands, exhortations, and warnings that Jesus and the prophets and apostles gave to believers in both Testaments. It is possible for a believer to do bad works… .” (Constable)

TRANSITION

Now that we have seen that Jesus placed two paths before us and we have enemies working against is providing some of the pressure let’s turn our attention to …

The Key To The Kingdom: The Application of God’s Truths

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

• Ah! This is were James got his theology. “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” >>> (James 2:26)
• His God brother said it first!
• We act on what we believe.

To start my comments here: People struggle to understand what makes a good work good. (See Carson, 115 ff) A good work IS A WORK OF GOD.

• Jesus did not give a complete theology of good works here in the Sermon. He has in the NT in its totality.
• Good works (life’s moments lived in the Spirit’s work) prove genuine faith.
• Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
• John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
• But our born again self desires what the Father wants from us. >>>
• God empowers us to do His will.
• On Jesus’ teaching here, France commented well, “The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not to be admired but to be obeyed.” (The Gospel According, 146)

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

There are many professing Christians who do miraculous things from a humans perspective but they are hell bound. SOBERING

• The professing Christians are speaking sermons this morning, doing exorcisms, and other so called mighty works. >>>
• But Jesus said they work lawlessness. They are not obeying Jesus at all.
• Blomberg said, “Perhaps these people fooled many on earth, but Jesus knows that they never had a saving relationship with him.¹⁰²” (Blomberg, 133)
• Blomberg is not quite right here however. It seems to me that they were not necessarily trying to fool the word, but instead fooled the most important person in their relationship to God; each fooled themselves.

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Relationship is “founded on the Rock.” The Rock.

• When we pass through the narrow gate we start a relationship with God, the Rock of Ages.
• Knowing Him leads to doing His will properly.
• When we have a relationship with Jesus this means that God has come and lives inside of you.
• There is dialogue between a Christian and God because there is relationship.
• John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
• Question? Does God speak to you directly? This is an important question.
• Some say God does not speak to us directly. Jesus says their is a relationship going on in my children.

Are we living the Sermon on the Mount?

• Is there fruit in your life? Are you leaving life behind or death?
• When we know Jesus, we —by default— have a desire to obey Him completely. Our sin nature competes of course, but our spirit-self wants to please no other person.
• Know too, all of God’s people will have some fruit.
• Mark 3:35, For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
• 1 John 2:17, And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

• Rain fell on the house > euphemism for judgment.
• Jesus or Doom

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Notes

^{Notes from above may not be in numerical order.}

¹ The word “charismatics” from David Hill’s Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings: Studies in the Semantics of Soteriological Consensus (Cambridge University Press, 1976, 327-48) p. 57. As quoted in footnote 12 in France, The Gospel of …, p. 286. Davies and Allison disagree. They see the descriptions as one group. (see 693)
² See Davies and Allison, 700. Also, Constable noted: “See also A. J. Mattill Jr., “‘The Way of Tribulation,’” Journal of Biblical Literature 98 (1979):531-46.”

Works Cited

Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Click here to access the works cited web-page for this document, save those marked as “Notes” or “Other Works Cited”–if any. Most of these cited works correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of general background information and references, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with. ¶ Furthermore, there may be numbered notes that are URL linked; these are usually retained numbered notes from Thomas Constable’s, “Dr. Constable’s Expository (Bible Study) Notes.” These links are preserved “as is” at the time of this work’s formation and I usually include other citation information from Constable as well (e.g. authors’ names).

Other Works Cited

Note: All of the resources below were cited in at least one of the sermons in the Book of Matthew but not necessarily this one.

Augsburger, David. Dissident Discipleship. Brazos Press, 2006.

Blomberg, Craig L. Matthew. New American Commentary, vol. 22, ed. David S. Dockery, et al., Broadman Press, 1992. May be sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/matthew0000blom

________. Preaching the Parables: From Responsible Interpretation to Powerful Proclamation. Baker Academic, 2004. Sourced from archive.org.
(https://archive.org/details/preachingparable0000blom/page/82/mode/1up)

Bruce, Alexander Balmain. The Training of the Twelve. Ed., A.C. Armstrong and Son, reprint 1984, Kregel Publications, 1971 edition.

Carson, D. A. The Sermon on the Mount : an Evangelical of Matthew 5-7 Exposition. 1978, Baker Book House, fifth printing, 1989. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/sermononmounteva0000cars/page/54/mode/1up

_______. When Jesus confronts the world : an exposition of Matthew 8-10. Originally published by Inter-Varsity Press in 1988, Paternoster, 1995. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/whenjesusconfron0000cars/page/n3/mode/1up

Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Our Daily Bread Publishing, web ver.

Davies, W. D. and Dale C. Allison, Jr. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. T. & T. Clark, 1988. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/criticalexegetic0001davi/page/n7/mode/1up

Evans, Craig A. The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: Matthew-Luke. Victor, 2003. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/bibleknowledgeba00crai/mode/1up

France, R. T. The Gospel According to Matthew. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1985.

_______. The Gospel of Matthew. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthew0000fran/page/n6/mode/1up

Harrington, Daniel J . The Gospel of Matthew. Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 1, A Michael Glazier Book, Liturgical Press (publ.), 1991. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthew0000harr/mode/1up

Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke. Baker Book House, 1984.

Phillips, John. Exploring the Gospels: John. Loizeaux Brothers, 1988.

Plumptre, E. H. “Matthew.” Commentary for English Readers, Charles John Ellicott, Compiler/Editor, Lord Bishop of Gloucester Cassell and Company, Limited, 1905. Sourced from BiblePortal.com. Click here for a list of the authors of the CER.

Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Zondervan, 1995.

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