FEBRUARY 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

 FEBRUARY 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, Precious Jesus, thank you for the visit from the Holy Spirit yesterday that reminded me that every day is a “Good Day” because of Your Sacrifice on the Cross and what that means to the world and its great impact on not only our eternity but in our everyday lives — but mostly for the Great Sacrifice You Personally made and the Personal Suffering You endured for my sake! 

Lord Jesus, as I think about all You have done for me I am also reminded by the Spirit that part of that Suffering was for You to be in the grave and experience death for us so that at the end of our life we would look forward to sharing another experience that You so Graciously Share with believers! Just like You experienced “life” for us by being born of the flesh, You also have experience “death” for us, and not just “death” but the worst death imaginable so that You can Truly say “I know what you’re going through and Rejoice for I Am the Victorious Life and I am also Victorious in death! Praise be the Name Jesus Christ. 

 AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has now taken us through 5 Questions that have been woven together as only the Master Weaver can and now He is beginning a new section with a new Question but the object is the same, to Teach us the Truth of God! This new section for JQ#06 in Matthew 7:15-29 which actually contains two Questions, but if the section is studied in context, both Questions are essentially the same, just asked at different angles which Jesus always does to get us to think more completely about the Lesson and the Truth of God that He is trying to Teach us. 

As I studied this section I see that it is broken into 3 sub-sections. Sub-section 1 is verses 15-20 and deals with “false prophets”, Sub-section 2 is verses 21-23 and deals with false profession of who our “Lord” really is, and Sub-section 3 is verses 24-29 and is a parable of two builders and warns us to build our lives on the True Foundation that is the “solid rock” and not on a false foundation that is the ever-changing sands of humanism. 

There is one key phrase that the Holy Spirit pointed out that pulls this all together and that is where Jesus is Teaching the parable of the two builders and in the middle of His Teaching He says:

 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand…” (Matthew 7:26) 

This verse spoke to me and said that if we “listen and hear what Jesus is saying” and “study His sayings” then we will not “fall for false prophets” nor profess anyone but “Jesus Himself as Lord” and we will not be guilty of having 

“prophesied in any name but the Name of Jesus”. 

And lastly the obvious: if we build our life on the “Rock” that we will have 

a True Shelter in time of storm. 

Read this passage again with these thoughts in mind and see if Matthew 7:15-29 is not 3 insights to the same issue of being a True Christian, for we can only truly be a Christian if we listen, live, and follow Jesus Christ, and Him Only! From this viewpoint we can give Jesus the obvious answer to His two Questions found in this section:

JQ#6a — “Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16) and  

JQ#6b — “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’” (Matthew 7:22) 

To fully answer this Question we must also recall that during one Passover in Jerusalem that Jesus performed many signs and wonders and many believed in Him because they had seen His Miraculous “signs” yet we read:

 “but Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,

 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, 

for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25) 

Therefore we should be very careful to build our Spiritual Life on the solid “Rock”!