“But since this is part of the Sermon on the Mount, a discerning soul would have figured out that there would be a VAST amount of ‘believers’ in the crowd; right? Matthew 7:1-2”
Well, Jesus was speaking to a multitude, but I don’t see any reason to think most of them were believers. Jesus was performing miracles and people were coming from all around to see him when they heard of this, so I think most of them didn’t know much about His teachings before that. Now there obviously were some believers in the crowd also, but the Sermon reads to me as if it is directed to those who don’t know Christ’s message and are just hearing it.
I didn’t say ‘most’, I said ‘vast’.