{"id":487,"date":"2014-12-05T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=487"},"modified":"2014-11-16T00:15:44","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T00:15:44","slug":"matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 7:21 contains probably the most tragic truth revealed in all of Scripture. Jesus says, \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Here are a few observations about that moment in Jesus&#8217; Sermon on the Mount:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">\u2022 Some skeptics assert loudly that Jesus never claimed to be God, but Christ\u2019s statements in Matthew 7:21-23 make that a laughable, indefensible position. Consider: Jesus called himself by a title ascribed to God (\u201cLord, Lord\u201d); Jesus claimed to have sole authority over who enters the kingdom of heaven\u2014God\u2019s eternal realm; Jesus insisted that he will preside over the final judgment of humanity\u2014a judgeship reserved solely for God himself; and Jesus claimed to have authority to send evildoers to eternal punishment\u2014also something reserved only for God himself. If Jesus is not God (and I believe he is), then he was a blaspheming pretender to deity, and Matthew 7:21-23 is proof of that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">\u2022 It\u2019s possible for some to mimic God\u2019s miracles, yet not be followers of him at all. Remember the magicians in Pharaoh\u2019s court? They replicated God\u2019s miracles in a failed attempt discredit his authority (see Exodus 7). In Jesus\u2019 time and during the days of the early church, others appropriated Jesus\u2019 authority to work miracles and cast out demons\u2014and sometimes succeeded (see Mark 9:38, Acts 19:13-16). Thus, a miracle itself is not proof of God. In fact, Old Testament law specifically warned against following a miracle-worker if his teaching led away from the one true God (Deuteronomy 13). This situation seems to be what Jesus is describing in Matthew 7:21-23.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">\u2022 At the final judgment, \u201cfalse prophets\u201d of Christ will appeal to their religion for salvation, while Jesus will emphasize a relationship with him. They\u2019ll point to their resume of good works as evidence they belong in heaven: Prophesying in Jesus\u2019 name; driving out demons; performing miracles. Christ, in response, will point to their lack of a personal relationship with him, saying, \u201cI never knew you.\u201d This lends credence to the Apostle Paul\u2019s theology later expounded in his letter to the Ephesians, that grace\u2014not works\u2014is the essential component of salvation (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Heaven awaits those who, by grace, enter a personal friendship with Jesus\u2014not those who try to earn their way into his favor.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[MAT, 178-179]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 7:21 contains probably the most tragic truth revealed in all of Scripture. Jesus says, \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Here are a few observations about that moment in Jesus&#8217; Sermon on the Mount: \u2022 Some skeptics assert loudly that Jesus never claimed to be God,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2],"tags":[208,16,77],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inductivestudies","category-matthew","tag-false-prophets","tag-jesus","tag-miracles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matthew 7:21 contains probably the most tragic truth revealed in all of Scripture. Jesus says, \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Here are a few observations about that moment in Jesus&#8217; Sermon on the Mount: \u2022 Some skeptics assert loudly that Jesus never claimed to be God,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-05T12:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-16T00:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"Matthew 7:21 contains probably the most tragic truth revealed in all of Scripture. Jesus says, \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Here are a few observations about that moment in Jesus&#8217; Sermon on the Mount: \u2022 Some skeptics assert loudly that Jesus never claimed to be God,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-12-05T12:00:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-16T00:15:44+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html","name":"Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-05T12:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-16T00:15:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-715-23-a-tree-and-its-fruit-inductive-studies.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 7:15-23; A Tree and Its Fruit (Inductive Studies)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":494,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}