In Episode #207 of the Way of the Bible podcast, we continue our examination of the closing words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, focusing on one of the most sobering and revealing passages in all of Scripture: Matthew 7:21–23. In this teaching, Jesus draws a sharp and eternal distinction between those who merely claim to follow Him and those who truly belong to Him.

Jesus declares that not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father. This statement immediately challenges assumptions about what it means to be a disciple. Many equate discipleship with outward expressions—words, works, or even spiritual activity. Yet Jesus dismantles this notion by describing individuals who prophesy, perform miracles, and cast out demons in His name, but are ultimately rejected with the words, “I never knew you.”

This episode explores the deeper meaning behind doing the will of the Father. Drawing from John 6, the will of God is revealed not as a list of external actions, but as a call to believe in the One He has sent—Jesus Christ. This belief is not merely intellectual agreement, but a genuine, Spirit-enabled faith that transforms the heart. It is a faith that entrusts one’s entire being to Christ and results in true righteousness.

The discussion connects this teaching to the broader biblical narrative, particularly the concept of righteousness by faith. Beginning with Abraham, who believed God and was credited with righteousness, and continuing through the writings of Paul in Romans, the episode highlights that salvation has always been rooted in faith rather than works. While works may accompany true faith, they are not the foundation of it.

A key emphasis in this episode is the role of the Holy Spirit. True belief is not self-generated but is enabled by the Father and brought to life through the Spirit. This explains why some who hear the message respond in faith while others do not. It also underscores the necessity of a transformed heart, rather than mere outward conformity.

The episode also addresses the reality that false disciples exist within the broader community of believers. In a world with thousands of denominations and countless interpretations, the presence of those who claim Christ but do not truly know Him should not be surprising. This reality reinforces the importance of personal discernment and a genuine relationship with Christ.

Ultimately, this teaching leads to a deeply personal question: Is one’s faith rooted in authentic belief and relationship with Jesus, or merely in outward expression? The difference is eternal.

As Jesus’ words make clear, the issue is not whether we know about Him—but whether He knows us.

Welcome to Episode #206 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our sixth of eight episodes in our Twenty-Sixth mini-series entitled Return to the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve been marching along instruction after instruction of this closing Chapter of Jesus’ sermon until last episode when we expanded upon the word “Enter” to make significant the otherwise impossible entrance into the throne room of God’s Grace.

Jesus, in these closing snippets of instruction, gave his disciples boardroom-type insights into the kingdom of heaven. In particular, keys to knowing God the Father through the Holy Spirit by knowing increasing in the knowledge of the Son of Man, Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. I have been trying for the past several days to find the words that would sufficiently describe the deep things God our Father delivers to us regarding Jesus through his Holy Spirit, but have not yet found them. So, let us just continue where we left off in the Sermon on the mount.

Matthew 7:15-20 – “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

SIDEBAR: Jesus just dropped another huge block to discipleship and hearing from God. Who are you listening to? I pray you, as a listener, are like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 – Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. No matter what another person or I may say, always affirm your faith and what you hear by the Scriptures and affirmation by the Holy Spirit! False prophets are real and in our midst today, and God allows them to do exactly what he intends through them.

Let’s examine this sidebar. Prophets and their prophecies have been integral to the Biblical narrative since the very beginning of mankind on the earth. Prophets followed two specific paths, which sometimes merged in certain individuals. Some prophets revealed and explained the word of God already spoken and/or recorded to earlier generations to the people in their own day. Other prophets heard the Lord's word and instructions firsthand and either repeated them to the people through an oral tradition or recorded them in writing.

Peter tells us the work of the prophets who recorded what they heard from God in 2 Peter 1:20-21 – Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

This being carried along by the Holy Spirit was evident both in hearing the word of the Lord first-hand, in repeating the word of the Lord, and in giving the instructions of the Lord. The words and instructions from God entrusted to the prophets were both contemporary with the prophets and concerned people and events in the future that had not yet occurred. Isaiah provides one of the most telling of God’s prophetic statements in Isaiah 46:10 – I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'

Welcome to Episode #205 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our fifth of eight episodes in our Twenty-Sixth mini-series entitled Return to the Sermon on the Mount. On our four episodes so far on this mini-series, we’ve been speaking of the veracity of Jesus’ preaching to the crowds regarding the kingdom of heaven and the importance of having ears to hear. This week will be no different, as we take a deeper dive into the first part of last week’s passage and look at what it means to “Enter!”

Let’s begin by reading the passage for our last episode to give us some context for today.

Matthew 7:13-14 – “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.

Last episode, we hammered home the reality Jesus was pointing out to the crowd as he was winding down his talk focused on the kingdom of heaven. Specifically, there are only two places a person can go after their departure from this life. To destruction through the wide gate and easy way that many are upon. In fact, all humanity is born such that this road to destruction is the way all take unless something changes the course of a life.

I believe that if an infant or child, from conception, dies before reaching the age of innocence (the age at which God chooses to judge an individual based upon what they’ve consciously done), then that child, by the mercy and grace of God, enters into the kingdom of heaven. Once a child passes that age, they are of their own making, born into sin and death, already walking on the wide and easy way leading to destruction.

Of their own making refers to our individual responsibility to our conscience regarding right and wrong, and our consciousness of God in regard to who we are ultimately answerable to. The end of the age of innocence of a child is fluid and is greatly influenced by the actions of others. This is a universal reality, not respective of culture or nationality. It is a sad part of the human experience, and part of what Jesus came to make right.

A keyword Jesus used in this passage to point a hearer to the possibility of escaping the road to destruction and finding the gate to the hard way that leads to life was the word Enter. In Greek, that word is eiserchomai - ice-er'-khom-ahee. This word means both a physical entry into a space as well as a spiritual and or metaphysical entry into a physical and or metaphysical space. For example, a spirit entering our bodies, and/or our spirit leaving our bodies to enter a new space for occupation. See 1 Corinthians 15 for more details.

When we die a physical death, our spirit that God gave us returns to him for judgment of what we’ve done in the body, whether good or evil. For the believer, that judgment will be at the judgment seat of Christ and concerns our rewards given for divinely ordained and orchestrated works done through Christ that advance the kingdom. 2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

For the unbeliever, that judgment will occur at the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15 – Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the

Welcome to Episode #204 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our fourth of eight episodes in our Twenty-Sixth mini-series entitled Return to the Sermon on the Mount. On our first three episodes of this mini-series, we’ve been reintroduced to the veracity of Jesus’ preaching to the crowds regarding the kingdom of heaven and the importance of having ears to hear. This week will be no different, as Jesus again identifies a reality that few choose to accept as true.

Let’s just jump right into the mix and see what comes out by the end of this episode.

Matthew 7:13-14 – “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.

If you are a believer, you’ve likely heard this passage and also memorized it at some point, hoping to figure out exactly what Jesus was referring to in regard to the two gates. One narrow and the other wide. One that is hard and found by few, and one that is easy and many are upon it. One leads to life and the other leads to destruction.

Like many of Jesus’ teachings, there are only two options. There is no third gate, or a fence to sit on, or a rest stop for weary travelers. Two gates, everyone is on one or the other. From an odds perspective we all would be far more likely to be found to have taken the wide gate, on the easy way, that leads to destruction. And in fact, we all entered the world by the wide gate and were on the easy road heading for destruction at one time.

Welcome to Episode #203 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our third of eight episodes in our Twenty-Sixth mini-series entitled Return to the Sermon on the Mount. On our last episode, we addressed Jesus telling us, even today, to ask, seek, and knock. I’ve been doing that earnestly in the area of what is holy, which we encountered in our first episode of this mini-series regarding judging others. Matthew 7:6 – Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

This is something I learned from experience and not from my own will power, a morning quiet time, and journaling. I read the Bible cover to cover for 34 plus years and never considered journaling; it wasn’t who I was. Doing the St. Ignatius Spiritual exercises a couple of years ago taught me the practice. Now one hundred and twenty-eight weeks later, I’ve yet to give up an hour, more or less, every morning, mining the scriptures and speaking with God about what he shows me. Over the past two weeks, I’ve been going through the master class notes on the topic of holy found in the scriptures. Yesterday, in my quiet time, I was offered to take a deep dive with Jesus himself into this deep well of precious treasures and stones of vibrant colors. Which I will do and hopefully share on a future mini-series. But first, today’s passage.

Matthew 7:12 – So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

This verse is commonly referred to as the Golden Rule. If taken out of context, you can make it mean a lot of things it was not intended to mean. The last part of the verse gives us the standard to which we should compare our effort in this regard; that standard being the entirety of the Law and the Prophets found in the Old Testament.

Welcome to Episode #202 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our second of eight episodes in our Twenty-Sixth mini-series entitled Return to Sermon on the Mount. We are in the final Chapter of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. In our last episode, we addressed not judging others. I hope you discerned from that episode that Jesus was not merely speaking to his disciples and others gathered below him, but addressing us, believers, throughout the span of church history.

Today, we take a step up, if that were even possible from where we were on our last episode, to a high peak in scriptural instruction that impacts everything. Given our short format, I can only lead you to this upwelling spring of living water. It will be up to you after this episode to drink fully of this water of life and experience transformation as mountains begin to move at your request, hidden treasures are revealed along the path, and ancient doors into secret chambers are unlocked and swung open at your touch.

Let’s start with the passage.

Matthew 7:7-11– “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Welcome to Episode #201 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our first of eight episodes in our Twenty-Sixth mini-series entitled Return to Sermon on the Mount. We veered off the path of the Sermon on the Mount after completing Matthew Chapter 6 on Episode #169. In the interim episodes between then and now, #170 to #200, We dedicated four mini-series to the Return of Jesus Christ. Today, we jump back on the path listening to Jesus’ instructions to his disciples and a gathered crowd.

Let’s start with the passage.

Matthew 7:1-6 – “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Welcome to Episode #200 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our eighth of eight episodes in our Twenty-Fifth mini-series entitled The Return of Jesus Christ. Wait a minute, did I just say 200th episode, WaHoo!!

On today’s episode, we’re taking a Walk on the Beach with DrZ. We’ll be joining a manageable group gathered in the beachside yoga pavilion at Seaside along Highway 30A, to hear from me, DrZ, and enjoy a mid-morning brunch catered by Bud and Ally’s. We arrived just moments ago, and are enjoying sparkling Shirley Temples and mimosa’s after a brisk walk from the public parking area and beach entrance just east of the Water Color Resort. The brunch buffet will be served when I finish this presentation. Let’s jump in.