Don’t Judge Others
After he had spoken these words, Jesus turned back to the large crowd and opened his mouth to them again, saying: “I’m telling you plainly—don’t judge others, or you’ll be judged in return. Whatever standard you use to judge others will be used on you. The same measure you dish out will come right back.”
“Why do you focus on the tiny speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the massive log in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me get that speck out of your eye,’ when you’ve got a log stuck in yours? Hypocrite! First pull the log out of your own eye. Then you’ll see clearly enough to help with the speck in your brother’s eye.”
“Don’t give what is sacred to dogs or toss your pearls to pigs. They’ll only trample them in the mud, then turn and attack you.”
Ask, Seek, Knock
“Ask, and you’ll receive. Seek, and you’ll find. Knock, and the door will open for you. Everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds. To everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
“If your son asks you for bread, would you hand him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, would you give him a snake? If you—imperfect as you are—know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?”
“So treat others the way you want them to treat you. This is what the law and the prophets have always been about.”
The Narrow Gate
“Go in through the narrow gate. The wide gate and broad road lead to destruction, and crowds of people take that route. But the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Know Them by Their Fruit
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you dressed like sheep, but inside they’re vicious wolves.”
“You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree produces good fruit, but a diseased tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t bear bad fruit, and a diseased tree can’t produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit gets chopped down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll know them by their fruit.”
Doing What God Wants
“Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do what my Father in heaven wants.”
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons in your name? Didn’t we do many miracles in your name?’ And I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil.’”
Build on Rock
“So anyone who hears these words of mine and lives by them is like a wise man who built his house on solid rock. The rain poured down, the floods rose, the winds howled and beat against that house—but it didn’t fall, because it was founded on rock.”
“But anyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t live by them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the floods rose, the winds howled and beat against that house—and it collapsed. The destruction was complete.”