Matthew 7:18

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. A GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT, NEITHER CAN A CORRUPT TREE BRING FORTH GOOD FRUIT. Obvious as is the truth here expressed in different forms-that the heart determines and is the only proper interpreter of the actions of our life-no one who knows how the Church of Rome makes a merit of actions, quite apart from the motives that prompt them, and how the same tendency manifests itself from time to time even among Protestant Christians, can think it too obvious to be insisted on by the teachers of divine truth. Here follows a wholesome digression....

15-20 Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin....

Verse Matthew 7:18. _A GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT_] _Love_ to God and man is the root of the good tree; and from this principle all its fruit is found. To teach, as some have done, that a state of salvation may be consistent with the _greatest crimes_, (such as _murder_ and _adultery_ in David,) or that the righteous necessarily sin in all their best works, is really to make _the good tree bring_ _forth bad fruit_, and to give the lie to the Author of eternal truth....

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 7:1 (2) As anxiety about the things of this life hinders us Godwards (Matthew 6:19), so does censoriousness manwards (Matthew 7:1), our Lord thus tacitly opposing two typically Jewish faults. Censoriousness—the personal danger of having it (Matthew 7:1, Matthew 7:2), its seriousness as a sign of ignorance and as a hindrance to spiritual vision (Matthew 7:3), even though there must be a r

A GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT,.... A man that is unprincipled with the grace of God, has an experimental acquaintance with the Gospel of Christ, and is guided by the Spirit of God into all truth, as it is in Jesus, cannot knowingly deliver, maintain, and abide by any doctrine that is contrary to the glory of God's grace, and the person of Christ, the work of the Spirit, the fundamental doctrines of the Bible; or what is repugnant to the experiences of God's people, and prejudicial to their souls. NEITHER CAN A CORRUPT TREE BRING FORTH GOOD FRUIT. A corrupt preacher, one destitute of the truth of the Gospel, reprobate concerning the faith, who never had any experience of the doctrines of grace, and denies them in the theory of them, cannot, consistent with himself, and his own principles, deliver, or preach good doctrine; or that which tends to produce any good fruit, either...

While we are reading, let us also be adoring at the same time, for the. words of Christ have a gracious divinity about them; they are infinite; they are omnipotent. There is a kind of life in them; a life which communicates itself to those who hear them. Our Saviour did not preach sermons: he preached texts; all his sermons are full of golden sentences, not hammered gold leaf, like those of men, but they are ingots of solid gold, and the gold of that land is good, the most fine gold; there is none like it. Thus he preaches in the seventh chapter of Matthew. Matthew 7:1. _Judge not that ye be not judged._ Set not up for critics, especially in the act of worship. Probably there. is no greater destroyer of profit in the hearing of the word than is the spirit of carping criticism. Mat

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Judgment of Righteousness.(Matthew 7:1 .) 2. Warning against False Prophets.(Matthew 7:15 .) 3. Warning against False Professors. (Matthew 7:21 .)_ The chapter which follows contains the last words of the great discourse of our Lord. The contents of this chapter are very instructive and form a most fitting end of the declaration of the King. The first few verses contain a warning against judging. We have in the beginning of the chapter something which is altogether different from the last section of the sixth chapter. There we saw the heir of the Kingdom in the midst of the world, how he is to trust in and depend on the Father and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, h

EPILOGUE. Warnings and exhortations close the new Law, like the old (Exodus 23:20 ff.). MATTHEW 7:13 F. THE TWO GATES AND THE TWO WAYS (Luke 13:24). The picture is based on Jeremiah 21:8, and is frequent in Jewish and Christian writings. The way that leads to life (the word has eschatological force) involves difficulties and tribulation (_cf._ Acts 14:22). MATTHEW 7:15. FRUIT THE TEST OF PROFESSION. Lk. ...

GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT. In these two verses the Lord points to the uniform law of nature. Every tree bears after its kind. As is the tree so is the fruit. The grape bears grapes, the fig figs, and the thistle thistles. The same principle holds good in the moral world.. good man will show forth good deeds, or will bear good fruit in his life, while. bad man will bear fruit according to his nature. If. man claims to be. teacher sent from God and lives an evil life, like Joe Smith or Brigham Young, for instance, it is evident that they have corrupt natures and are deceivers. In other words, the Savior bids us look at the life of every teacher. This applies to the preacher, the Sunday-school superintendent, and the Sunday-school teacher. Do they live good, exemplary lives? Then they are good trees....

THE ERROR OF JUDGMENT (Matthew 7:1-5)...