Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: I probably don't need to ask this, but have you ever lain awake at night, staring at the ceiling wondering how you’re going to make ends meet? Maybe an unexpected bill showed up. Maybe work slowed down. Maybe something shifted in your family, your health, or your future, and now anxiety is whispering in the dark.

Well, maybe the better question isn’t if you’ve experienced that kind of worry, but when was the last time? Welcome to Thru the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, and if you know that middle of the night anxiety, let me tell you two things right up front. Number one, you’re not alone, and two, there is an answer. Not my answer, not a financial strategy, but counsel straight from the lips of Jesus.

In Matthew chapter 6, he addresses the age-old fear of not having enough. As the Bible bus continues our five-year journey through the whole word of God, Dr. J. Vernon McGee shows us what our Lord says about worry and how Christians can rest even in uncertain times.

Now, as we settle in, I want to share two letters that remind us how God’s word meets people right where they are. First, here’s a note from Mike, a long-haul truck driver.

Steve Schwetz: I’ve been listening to you since 1989. Thanks to God for your app. I listen every day now. When you drive a truck, you can’t get the same radio program each day, so the app helps so much. I love the interaction with your listeners and their testimonies, and I’m very grateful to be able to help with the cost of maintaining the Bible bus. Keep up the good work.

Steve Schwetz: Well, thanks for your support, Mike. And as you drive, know that with your help, we’re reaching areas just like the ones that you pass through as you drive your truck. And then from halfway around the world, we received a story from Mufe in Vietnam.

Steve Schwetz: I cannot read. Even though I believed in God, I did not understand very much about him. But by listening to Bible teaching every day, I slowly began to understand who God is and what he teaches. Before I became a Christian, I listened only to teachings about spirits. My thoughts were negative and my words were harsh. I often scolded my husband and children. I complained about everything, even the weather and our crops.

Steve Schwetz: But through your programs, I began to understand God’s word more clearly. I prayed and asked God to change my thoughts, my words, and my actions. I learned that everything around me, my family, my relatives, our crops, the rain, and the sunshine, are blessings from God. Now, my words have changed. Instead of complaining, I thank and praise God. Today, I am much happier than before. I thank God for bringing me out of darkness into his light and for giving me so many blessings.

Steve Schwetz: Well, isn’t that what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 6? A change of perspective, moving from anxiety and complaint to trust and gratitude. Let’s pray.

Steve Schwetz: Heavenly Father, teach us the truth that you’ve hidden within your word, and replace our worry with trust and grow our faith. In Jesus name, Amen.

Steve Schwetz: Now, here’s our study of Matthew 6 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we return back today to the study and the Sermon on the Mount. We come to the seventh chapter. But I said last time that I’d have a further word to say relative to these material things that were mentioned last time like money and material things, the relationship of a believer to those things.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now a great many people think that money is something that ought never to be discussed in the church. We just should talk about spiritual things. Well, the Lord Jesus certainly had a great deal to say about it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now the Sermon on the Mount has a very definite interpretation as it relates to the coming kingdom. The King is putting down here his manifesto. Well now, since the King is our Lord, he’s our Savior, then what he says, we ought to listen to it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, it doesn’t mean that you can make this your religion in the sense that you don’t need a Savior and you can keep it. You could never measure up to it apart from His strength. Now, I suppose that as he’s shown these externalities, that they are important, but that unless they’re done in the right way, they become meaningless.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we see the relationships of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven actually to God here. And it’s revealed in these external acts of righteousness. We’ve seen it had to do with alms, giving of alms. Don’t do it publicly. Don’t do it for display. It’s a relationship between you and God and expresses that relationship.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the same is true of prayer. Actually, the most effective prayer is when you enter into your closet and pray privately. I’m not much for public prayer meetings, by the way, because of the fact the deadest service in any church today is a prayer meeting. You can’t have anything deader than that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I used to try to build them up, and I soon discovered that if you have 50 dead saints praying, you don’t improve it by getting 100 dead saints. You still have a pretty dead prayer meeting. What we need is a great deal more of private prayer of that type of thing, and it should be done between a person and God.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we have also fasting. It’s put on the same kind of basis. Fasting has a value. I’m convinced of that, but not publicly. It should be a private, personal matter between the soul and God. And then money is a real test of your relationship to God.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You see, money can become your god. The almighty dollar is the god of many today, and covetousness is called idolatry, you recall, by Paul. Therefore, we’re not to attempt to put treasure on earth, but you actually can put money in the Lord’s work. And by doing it, and if it is the Lord’s work and is used for the propagation of the gospel to get the word of God out, then, my friend, it can be translated or transferred to heaven. It becomes legal tender in heaven. And that’s where we gather treasures in heaven.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now he mentions this matter of the material things, our relationship to the material things. Listen to him again as I go over this. He says, “Behold the fowls of the air,” Verse 26, “they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now don’t misunderstand. A great many people misunderstand. Actually, the birds of the air, they can’t sow. They can’t reap, and they can’t gather into barns, but you and I can. But we are to do that with the same abandon that the little bird has. The little bird’s trusting God to take care of him, and we ought to do that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That doesn’t mean that we should not exercise judgment because he’s given us that judgment. And a Christian asked me, he said, “You think a Christian ought to have insurance?” Sure ought to. That’s one of the means that you have today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the important thing is that we’re not to go through this life with these things becoming a burden to us. For instance, verse 28, “And why take ye thought of raiment?” Just think of the style shows. Think of today the dress of both men and women, the time that is consumed.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I’m sure that all of you have had the experience of your wife saying, “I can’t go. I don’t have a dress.” And maybe you’ve said, “Well, I certainly can’t go to this affair. I just don’t have the right kind of a suit or necktie to wear.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: “Well, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin.” Well, they can’t toil or spin. And yet God takes care of them. You toil, and you spin, but don’t let it become the burden to you.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Of course a Christian ought to dress as stylishly as they possibly can, and ought to dress nicely. I think to be sloven in dress, and to be sloven in our actions is really not honoring to God. Then our Lord said, “Just look at the flower. Look what God does for it.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: God, I think, wants us to use color and be beautiful, as pretty as we can. Some of us don’t have much to work with to begin with, but we ought to do the best we can with what we’ve got and look the best. Because he said, concerning these, “Consider the lilies.” And yet I say unto you that even Solomon and all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now God’s able to clothe the grass of the field. Today it is, tomorrow it’s gone. He’s able to take care of you.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: So this idea of being overly anxious about the things of the world. May I say this ought not to be our goal in life. We ought to put there, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” And then, as he takes care of the flowers and the birds, he’ll take care of you. But the thing to do is put him first.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: “Take therefore no thought, no anxious thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” And someone has said that today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday. That’s it. And how true that is for many of us.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, Chapter 7, we come to the last chapter, and you have here the relationship of the child of the King with other children of the King. And it must be maintained by prayer. Then he gives some final warnings here. He says, “Judge not that ye be not judged.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And believe me, that’s one that has really been misunderstood. It doesn’t mean a child of God is forbidden to judge others. But it means this: “Judge not that ye be not judged.” It means to decide, to distinguish, but it also means to condemn. It means to avenge, and it actually can mean to damn.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It means here that we are not to judge the inward motives in the same sense of condemning because you do not know why your brother did that. We can’t understand it. We can only see the outward acts. And he doesn’t forbid us judging wrong actions and evil actions, as we’re going to see.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But the point is, “Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Well, it means simply this: if you’re harsh in your judgment of others, you will be known as that kind of a person who’s harsh in his judgment of others.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: There are certain people, you know them, I know them. Somebody says, “Don’t pay any attention to what he says or she says. They never have a good word.” Well, you see, they’re being judged by the way they judge. That’s what he’s saying here.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now he says, “Why beholdest thou the mote that’s in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that’s in thine own eye?” And actually, what he’s talking about here is a little piece of sawdust, and you judge that piece of sawdust in your brother’s eye, and you’ve got a whole log, a great big redwood log in your own eye. That is exactly what our Lord is saying here in this connection.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now he says that you’re in no position to do that. “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye,’ and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? You’re in no position to judge. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” And this matter of harsh judgment is certainly something that we need to be very careful of.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The Lord, I think, makes it very clear that we are not to sit in harsh judgment. But he also said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” And sure we’ve got to determine what’s fruit.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the late Dr. James McGinley, he put it in his rather unique fashion. He says, “I’m no judge, but I’m a fruit inspector.” And we can really tell whether a Christian’s producing fruit or not.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, he’s putting us now on the horns of a dilemma. He says, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now you’ve got to determine who the dogs are, haven’t you? This is not a four-legged dog he’s talking about. And you have to determine who the pigs are, the swine. And you’re not to cast pearls before swine or give that which is holy to dogs. Therefore, there is a judgment that you and I need to make.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: There are certain places that it wouldn’t be worthwhile to say a word. I remember a friend of mine was in the Tennessee legislature. He was a heavy drinker, and he got marvelously, wonderfully converted.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And when I go down to Florida, in fact, when I’m in Boca Raton, Florida, I see him down there. He’s a really choice servant of God today, and how he’s changed. He’s a different man than he was when I knew him as a young fellow, and of course, I was different then also because he and I ran around together. Practically an alcoholic, his wife left him, and home broken up it looked like.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then he had this marvelous conversion. And he was in the legislature, and the fellows knew how he drank, and they heard he got religion as they called it. When he came in one day, they all were looking him over. And finally, one got up and addressed the chairman of the meeting and said, “I make a motion that we hear a sermon from Deacon So-and-so.” Everybody laughed.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He got up, he was equal to the occasion. He said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to say.” He said, “My Lord told me not to cast my pearls before swine.” And he sat down. They never asked him anymore, and they never ridiculed him anymore.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: There are certain ones, it won’t do you any good to speak to them, you’re wasting your time. Well, he tells us what we’re to do. “Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, very candidly, ask, seek, and knock refers definitely to this. Now, you may be able to use it in other relations, and I’m sure you can, but this is what it has reference to. Now, you’ve met a person. How are you to treat that person? Are you to judge them harshly? Or is this a swine or a dog?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, when I start out from home in the car of a morning, and I always ask the Lord, I tell him, “I’m going to meet some new people today and I want him to tell me how I’m to act.” There are some people that will need my help, and I can help them, and I want to be able to put my arm around them and help them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But there are some other people that I meet, I better be careful. They’ll put a knife in my back. And I’ve been taken in. Oh, you’d be surprised how many times I’ve been taken in by those that I ought not to be taken in by.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I could tell you many instances. I don’t have time today of how I’ve been taken in. Isn’t it interesting that Peter in the early church, he knew Ananias and Sapphira were lying. I can never tell when a fellow’s lying. We don’t have that spiritual discernment today that they had in the early church.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I think it’s a gift today. I think some people have it. To tell the truth, I think my wife has it. I’ve found out that she’s warned me about several individuals. She said, “Be careful, I.” And others she said, “I think you ought to help so-and-so.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And I found out that her judgment’s been good, a lot better than mine is. Probably a woman has a little better spiritual discernment in these matters. May I say to you, this is important, you see. And we are to go and make it a matter of prayer.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: When you meet new friends, do you ever ask God to make it clear to you how you’re to treat them? Well, I found out it’s a good idea to do that. And then he goes on to say that God wants to help you in these matters. “What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Ask a fish, he give him a serpent?”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he says, “If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Now the golden rule comes in right here. “Therefore,” and that’s the most important word here, “therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophet.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: All right, you meet somebody. How are you going to treat them? You don’t know. You’re not to judge. But the other time, if it’s a dog or a swine, you sure better know because I’ll tell you, the swine will kill you. I’ve discovered that. You have to watch a lot of phonies today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, what do you do? Make it a matter of prayer. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you.” This is the principle that you should operate on therefore. But, may I say, all of this comes together in one package. Don’t lift the golden rule out and say, “I live by it.” Let’s understand what the Lord’s talking about.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now he says, “Enter in at the strait gate, wide is the gate, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, many there be which go in that, because strait is the gate, narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, few there be that find it.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now the picture he’s given here is not the old picture of a big broad way with a lot of fun on it and a very narrow way. What he’s giving is a picture really of a funnel. You enter the funnel at the broad way, but it keeps narrowing down until you come to death and destruction and hell.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The other one, you begin at the narrow part, and that’s where Christ is. He’s the way, the truth and the life. And you enter there, and he says, “I’ve come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly.” And the more you walk with him, the wider it gets. Remember in Ezekiel, out from the throne there came a river. It was just a little stream at first, and it widened out, and finally it became an ocean.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That’s what it means, become a child of God, it gets better every day when you’re a child of God. That’s what he’s talking about here. Now he says, “Beware of false prophets.” The church is to beware of false teachers. “But they all come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they’re ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that’s the good way. “Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?” He says, “You’re to know them by their fruits.” That’s the thing we should watch for in the lives of these. And now he says, “Not everyone that says unto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You can run around and mouth about living by the Sermon on the Mount, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. How about doing it, my friend? And if you do his will, you’ll come to him as Savior and recognize you need a Savior.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out demons, and in thy name done many wonderful things?’” Well, you say to me, “Why these miracle workers today? You know God’s with them.” Are you sure of that?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: “Then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’” “Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I liken him unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Rain descended, floods came, the winds blew, beat upon that house. If you come to him, he’s the foundation. No other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now when you come to him and rest in him, you can build on that foundation.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And you can build a life that has fruit in it, not by your own effort, but that which the Holy Spirit produces. That which is gold and precious stones and silver. And then there is the other house, and that house is built on sand.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: What is that sand? That’s human goodness, human effort, the old weakness of the flesh. My friend, may I say to you, you need something better than you have to offer today. And he concludes this by saying, “For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” That’s the kind of a teacher he was. He came teaching with authority. He’s not just repeating something.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And you and I today need to recognize that we haven’t anything to say unless we can say it with authority. Unless you believe it. I don’t want to hear a man giving me a string of theories that he’s never tried them at all. He knows nothing about them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Today we have a gospel to give, a message to give, a message of salvation. And we know it works because it’s worked in our case. And we have the witnesses of others. And it’s by coming to Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Friends, the Sermon on the Mount, it’s a glorious passage of scripture. Don’t bypass it. Don’t say it’s not for today. It is. And if you read it aright, it’s going to bring you to the person of Jesus Christ. And you’re going to come to him, and you’re going to say, “Lord, you’ve said these things, and I don’t measure up to them.” And I know you want them done, and I can’t do them in my own strength. And I’m guilty before you.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I’ve fallen short. And I need your mercy. I need you as a Savior. And you turn to him, then he gives you the Holy Spirit that he might produce these things in your life.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And so today, all of us are building. Where are you building your house? You building it on the rock foundation which is Christ? Sure you got to have good works, not to be saved, but to demonstrate to others. You need that fruit. Are you building on the foundation or are you just building out there on the sand? That won’t stand the white light of his presence. Oh that you and I might be brought to Christ through the Sermon on the Mount. And so until next time, may the Lord richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Yes, the Sermon on the Mount goes much deeper than the simple meaning of stories. In our next study, Dr. McGee gives us an extra lesson just on the Sermon on the Mount. Now, this message puts the whole study in perspective, helps us focus on the real message of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. In preparation, let’s read these important chapters and be ready to receive all that the Lord has for us in the study of His Word.

Steve Schwetz: If your heart’s inclined to go even deeper, discover the many free resources that we make available to you over at TTB.org. If you haven’t yet, you can begin by reading Dr. McGee’s booklet, "How to Understand the Bible." And then another one is our Bible companion for Matthew. It’s really a perfect compliment to our study, and the discussion questions will help you focus your thinking on what we’re learning in God’s Word.

Steve Schwetz: Now, these are just two of the many free Bible study resources available in our app or at TTB.org. Take some time to look through them all and see what strikes you. I warn you though, a few minutes can turn into a lot longer as God’s Word pulls you in and he himself draws you close. Again, that’s TTB.org or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find something specific.

Steve Schwetz: And of course, you can always write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And when you reach out, let us know how you’re listening to Thru the Bible, whether it’s with the app, online, YouTube, or maybe your favorite radio station, or some other way.

Steve Schwetz: However you hop aboard the Bible bus, we really do want to know, and your quick feedback helps us map the route as we follow God’s leading to take His whole Word to His whole world. So thanks for punching your ticket and riding along with us.

Steve Schwetz: Now join me this weekend for Dr. McGee’s never-before-aired sermon, "John the Baptist and John the Prophet." And then meet me back here as we’re ready to drive back into Matthew 5. Maybe someone that you know would benefit from joining us on Thru the Bible. Why don’t you invite them? Scooch over in your seat on the Bible bus and make a little room for one more. I’m Steve Schwetz. For the whole Thru the Bible family, we’re praying that you would know the peace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Steve Schwetz: Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you’ll be amazed at what God teaches you from His Word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. It’s a blessing that keeps on going. That’s what we believe at Thru the Bible.