Welcome to Episode #209 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our first of eight episodes in our Twenty-Seventh mini-series entitled Response to Sermon on the Mount. In our last mini-series, we took six episodes to cover all of Matthew 7, except the sermon’s closing passages, Matthew 7:24-27 and 7:28-29. We’ll cover these passages in this mini-series.
I encourage you to imagine yourself having just heard Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that began with Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and ended with Matthew 7:23 – And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’.
Imagine you just heard Jesus deliver this sermon; not a word slips past your mind or drops to the ground. Off the top of your head, what strikes you as most important? Or, did you sense Jesus was speaking to someone else?
As I’ve mentioned a couple of times in prior episodes, I have changed my views on the Sermon on the Mount several times, each time taking a more conservative approach to the text’s applicability to life in the kingdom of heaven now, and not yet. One of the keys to my changing views resides in the significant closing statement Jesus makes and the crowd’s response. Both of which, when taken together, are worthy of exploring over an entire mini-series. We’ll take them a verse at a time.
On today’s episode, we’re going to introduce Matthew 7:24-27. Let’s jump right in.
Matthew 7:24-27 – “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
What we will explore today is Jesus identifying the gateway into an intimate relationship with God our Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus prayed to his Father the night he was betrayed, saying, John 17:3 – And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Jesus had said earlier of eternal life in John 6:40 – For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. John says earlier in John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Did you note a shift in that third passage? Let me read John 3:36 again, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Let me restate this slightly to make clear. Those who believe in Jesus have eternal life. Those who do not OBEY Jesus shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on them. Why is that so significant?
Jesus has identified in Matthew 7:24-27 two builders who both “HEAR” the words of Jesus (a wise builder and a foolish builder). The wise builder hears Jesus’ words and puts the into practice. The foolish builder hears the words of Jesus and does not put them into practice. The wise man builds his house on the rock, while the foolish man builds his house on the sand. There are consequences to the choice of foundations, we will explore later.
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