41 How to Know If You're on the Road to Life (Matthew 7:12-29)

Krisan Marotta: Good morning and welcome to the Wednesday in the Word Podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today is the 41st talk in our series on the Gospel of Matthew and the very last one on the Sermon on the Mount. Today we're gonna study Matthew chapter 7, verses 12 through 29. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below the podcast, or you can find them by going directly to wednesdayintheword.com slash Matthew 41. You can find all previous episodes in this series on wednesdayintheword.com as well as a lot of other Bible study materials. I'm so glad you joined me and thanks for listening today. Well, today, after 28 podcasts, we finish the Sermon on the Mount. As I understand it, the section we're looking at today is intended to summarize and conclude the sermon. These verses wrap up two great themes that we've seen throughout the sermon, and I'd like to summarize those themes by quoting two verses from the Old Testament. Theme one is summed up by Leviticus 1918, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And theme two is summed up by Proverbs 1625. There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way to death. Before we jump into the passage, let's review how we got here. The first four chapters of Matthew's gospel are basically introductory material. In those chapters, Matthew gave us the genealogy of Jesus. He told us the story of Jesus' birth and his upbringing, mostly from Joseph's perspective. He told us about the ministry of John the Baptist, of the baptism of Jesus and the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Then in chapter four, verse twelve, Matthew began describing the Galilean ministry of Jesus, his early ministry. He gives us a narrative introduction in four twelve through twenty two, a summary statement in four twenty three to twenty five, and then he gives us the Sermon on the Mount starting in chapter five. This is a pattern that Matthew repeats. He gives a narrative section and he follows it by a discourse. For example, we're going to see another narrative section in chapters eight and nine, followed by another discourse in chapters ten and eleven. Chapter four ended with a general summary of the ministry of Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus made the surprising choice to base his early ministry in Galilee and not Judea. He calls Galilean fishermen to be his disciples and ultimately his apostles. He traveled throughout Galilee healing people and proclaiming the gospel message, which Matthew had summarized as repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. As Jesus traveled, taught, and healed, he attracted a great deal of attention. Great crowds of people heard him and sought him out and came from all over to hear him teach. And Matthew tells us that Jesus has begun his public ministry. He's healing every kind of disease. There are great multitudes following him from all over the region. He's becoming a big deal, and people are coming to hear him teach. So what is he teaching? Well, prior to this sermon, Matthew only told us two things. In four seventeen, Matthew said Jesus was teaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And in four twenty three, he was proclaiming the gospel or the good news of the kingdom. So Jesus is teaching that God has promised to send his Messiah, his anointed one, to establish God's rule over all the earth. This is the kingdom of God. The Messiah will defeat all sin and rebellion and rule over God's people in peace and righteousness forever. So good news, the day of the Messiah's kingdom is coming upon us. However, if you want to find a place in that kingdom, you need to repent. So I, Jesus, the king of that kingdom, am here, and what do you need to do? You need to repent. Now remember, Jesus was teaching these things to first century Jews. Their religious understanding had largely been shaped by the Pharisees, who were the primary teachers in the synagogues at the time, and he's calling these Jews to repent. You can imagine how they might respond. They might say something like, Well, wait a minute, Jesus, we're Jews. We are the chosen people of God, we're the children of Israel. We have been taught by these great students of Scripture, the Pharisees, what do you mean repent? We're ready for the kingdom now. What do we have to repent for? And Jesus answers that question. He describes the people who will be forgiven on judgment day and who will receive eternal life in his kingdom. And that is the main purpose of the Sermon on the Mount. As we've seen, the sermon is a corrective to the teaching of the Pharisees. He's saying, This is what I'm calling you to, this is what godliness looks like, this is what it doesn't look like, and it doesn't look like what you've been taught by the Pharisees. So I think his main goal is to turn his Jewish listeners away from the teaching of the Pharisees and turn them toward an understanding of true godliness. And understanding what true godliness looks like is just as relevant for us today as it was for his original listeners. Because we are all inclined to make the same kind of mistakes the Pharisees made. And of course, we're still dealing with the same God. This is still the picture of godliness that he requires. So the entire Sermon on the Mount has been about one topic. Who is it that's going to be accepted by God? And now he's going to summarize it with these two themes that we've been talking about. Let's start with Matthew 7.12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Well, this is a very famous verse. It's known as the Golden Rule, and throughout history, this verse has been the subject of much debate and discussion among philosophers and theologians, and I'm not going to get into all that kind of debate and discussion. Instead, I'm going to focus on how this verse fits as a conclusion for the Sermon on the Mount, how it fits in context. As we've been talking throughout this sermon, to love your neighbor is to act for your neighbor's benefit. What kind of feelings you have for your neighbor is irrelevant. He's not calling us to have warm, fuzzy feelings for our neighbor. Feelings are irrelevant. It's how we treat them, how we act toward them that counts. To love your neighbor as yourself is to put yourself in your neighbor's place and then act for your neighbor's benefit in the way you would want to be treated. And Jesus adds this phrase, for this is the law and the prophets. Okay, what does he mean by that? Later in Matthew, Jesus defines the two great commandments. This is Matthew chapter twenty two, verses thirty-four through forty. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. Well, I think the golden rule is another way of stating that second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus says, for this is the law and the prophets, I think what he's telling us is this is of fundamental importance. This is one of the two great commandments. Of all the things that God has told us, this is one of the two most fundamentally important concepts. Love God alone and love your neighbor as yourself. Put yourself in the other person's place, and then act toward that person as you would want to be treated. This fundamental truth is behind much of what is found in the law and the prophets. The law forbids murder, theft, vengeance, taking advantage of the poor, and so forth. And all of these things are wrong because in part they represent a refusal to love our neighbors as ourselves. They represent a refusal to act toward others as you would have them act toward you. I would also argue that the principle of the golden rule runs throughout the Sermon on the Mount. If you've been listening to this series, think about how many times we went back to Leviticus 1918 to explain the verses under discussion. Jesus starts this verse with therefore, your translation might have so I think the therefore goes back beyond the immediate previous section to the whole sermon. He's wrapping this up. He's saying, based on everything I've said so far in the sermon, therefore do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So he is summarizing and restating everything he's been teaching in the sermon. And this summary statement is one of the themes he's been exploring, this fundamental moral truth that we must embrace, and this moral truth that lies behind much of what we find in the sermon. And that fundamental truth is this there is a God and you are not him. You are no more or less important than your neighbor. God made you both in his image. When you submit yourself to God, one of the truths you embrace is the truth that your neighbor's welfare is as important as your own. One of my mentors called this the principle of the mirror. When you look at your neighbor, it's like looking in a mirror. In a very significant way, you are seeing yourself. Now obviously there are differences, but in a fundamentally significant way you were seeing someone just like you as if you were looking in a mirror. And we have seen this throughout the Sermon on the Mount. Why can't I congratulate myself as being righteous if I haven't murdered anyone but I merely hated them? Well, as we talked about, hatred is inconsistent with loving your neighbor as yourself. Why can't I appeal to an eye for an eye as a guide for how I treat people? Well, again, as we talked about in that section, because taking vengeance is inconsistent with loving your neighbor as yourself. Why can't I love my tribe and hate my enemies? Again, because hating your enemies is inconsistent with this fundamental truth about loving your neighbor as yourself. Why is it so important that we be merciful and forgiving people? Well, as we've talked about in the sermon, when we look at our neighbor, we are looking in a mirror in the sense that we are seeing another sinner just like us. If we admit that we ourselves need mercy, then we understand that to condemn our neighbor is to condemn ourselves because we're in the same situation. Why can't we judge and condemn others? When we look into the face of someone who has sinned against us, we're looking in a mirror. We are seeing a sinner just like us. The standard that condemns the other person also condemns us. That's the principle of the mirror. When I'm looking at my neighbor, I'm seeing someone just like me. And that's been one of the themes that we have seen throughout this sermon. All of us sinners are in the same boat. What they deserve, we deserve. A significant part of the moral instruction of this sermon is built on this principle of the mirror. Now let me clarify two things about the golden rule. First, sometimes the golden rule is taught as a way to have good relationships and an ordered society. It's taught as treat other people well and then other people will treat you well. And this is a way to produce good relationships. It's a way to produce a good society. And sometimes practicing the golden rule does produce good relationships, but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes the people you act kindly and mercifully toward mock and scoff you in response. And that's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is not saying be nice so that others will be nice to you. If anything, he's saying be nice regardless of how others treat you. He is entirely focused on our own motivations. Our job is to love our neighbor as ourselves. How our neighbor responds is not the issue. They may respond well, they may not, but my responsibility to act for their benefit remains the same, regardless of how they respond. A big part of what it means to be a sinner is that I'm thinking about me more than I'm thinking about you. As a sinner, I act in the way that benefits me most. Economics is based on that principle, and we all know it is true. We act in our best interest, often with a selfish and sinful disregard for the needs of others. Jesus is telling us put yourself in the other person's place. How would you evaluate your behavior if you were on the receiving end instead of the giving end? Then act toward your neighbor in the way that you would want to be treated. So the golden rule is a fundamental principle to living a godly life. Second, the golden rule is not meant to stand by itself all alone. It is a fundamental principle, but it doesn't tell us everything we need to know. How do I decide what's in my neighbor's best interest? How do I decide what's in their welfare? That can get really complicated, and sometimes I can't even figure out what's in my own best interest, let alone someone else's. Figuring out how to act or respond in any given situation takes wisdom. It takes the kind of wisdom Jesus has been spelling out in the sermon. This whole sermon gives us a picture of what people look like who are trying to live by the golden rule. Now the golden rule doesn't give us specific guidelines for specific situations. Instead, it's more like a compass. It gives us a fundamental direction from which to approach any situation. The goal is over there in that direction. I may not know how far away the destination is, but I can tell if I'm headed in the right direction by my compass. Similarly, the golden rule gives us a way to evaluate if we're on the right path, if we're going the right direction, but it doesn't give us the specifics or how we might need to act in any given circumstance. So the golden rule summarized one of the main themes that we've seen in this sermon, love your neighbor as yourself. The rest of the verses wrap up the second major theme of this sermon. I called the Golden Rule the principle of the mirror. I'm going to call this second theme the two roads, or as expressed in Proverbs 1625, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Now Jesus is speaking to a historical situation where the Pharisees are the teachers of Israel, and the Pharisees would have agreed in principle with what Jesus is saying. Yes, there are two roads in front of us. One leads to life in the kingdom of God and one leads to destruction. The Pharisees called the people of Israel to obey the law of God. They studied and preached the law, so it's kind of shocking that the Sermon on the Mount spends so much time saying don't be like the Pharisees. Now we modern believers are used to thinking of them as the bad guys, but the Pharisees were the religious role models of the day. To the Jews Jesus is speaking to, they were the good guys. Yet throughout this sermon, Jesus has been describing those who are on the right road, those who will inherit a place in the kingdom of God, and those who are on the wrong road who won't inherit a place, and the problem is contrary to popular belief, the Pharisees are on the wrong road. God's people are poor in spirit, merciful, forgiving, repentant, and so forth, but the Pharisees were often self righteous and judgmental. God's people seek treasure in heaven, life in the kingdom of God, but the Pharisees seek the treasures of this life, including the praise and approval of their peers. So from beginning to end, Jesus has laid out these two distinct paths. Blessed are the poor in spirit, but woe to those who are rich in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn, but woe to those who laugh. And we've talked about all those ideas as we went through the sermon. On the one hand, we have those who are growing in faith and humility and mercy and seeking life in the kingdom of God. And on the other hand, we have those who are self satisfied and hungry for the riches of this world. And Jesus has been urging them to take the path that leads to life and not be fooled by the piety of the Pharisees because they are on the wrong path. All right, let me read Matthew seven thirteen through twenty nine. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And when Jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. Now in this section we see four variations on this theme of the two roads. First there is the broad way and the narrow way. Second, there are the false prophets with the bad fruit, and there are the true prophets with the good fruit. Third, there are those who will call Jesus Lord but will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and there are those who will call Jesus Lord but will enter the kingdom of heaven. And fourth, there are those who build on the sand whose house will be destroyed, and those who build on the rock and their house will stand. Now I would argue that we need to understand these metaphors in light of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. If we read these verses alone, you realize right away that Jesus is not very specific. He doesn't tell us how to recognize the narrow gate, how to find it, or how to choose it. He doesn't tell us what bad fruit looks like. He doesn't say what the will of God is that the person who calls Jesus Lord should be doing, and he doesn't tell us how we find the rock to build on or how we avoid the sand. He doesn't have to answer those questions here in these verses because he's already answered them in the rest of the sermon. He's already told us who's going to Inherit eternal life. He's told us who the blessed ones are. He's told us what kind of righteousness we need to have, and it's not like the Pharisees. He's told us what we should have our hearts set on when we pray. He's warned us against the path of the hypocrites, and he's urged us to seek the treasures of heaven. Now at this point in the sermon, he's impressing upon us the need to choose, to choose the right path. He's already told us the essential issues of faith and how to find life. Now he's confronting us with the need to make the choice. He's described those who will enter eternal life, and now he says, so choose life, and he gives these four metaphors to drive the point home. Let's look at the first metaphor, the gates. Matthew seven, thirteen and fourteen. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. He says two things here. And second, those who choose the way of life are in the minority. Presumably, the reason most people don't choose the road to life is because they don't want to. They don't view it as a good option. The wide versus the narrow ideas clue us in that the road to life is not as attractive as the road to destruction. And if you think about the Sermon on the Mount, it's not hard to see why. The road to life requires repentance, humbly admitting that we are evil. It requires that we pursue love and mercy because we see ourselves as in the same boat as other sinners. We must endure the hostility and the persecution of those who reject Jesus. We must seek the treasure found in the kingdom of God rather than the false treasures of this world. By nature, we're foolish blind people. Taking the road to life requires waking up and opening our eyes. It requires admitting that we were wrong. It requires turning from the lies of this world and turning back to God. And that's not an easy thing to do, and it can be very costly. Making that choice can cost us, our family, our friends, and even our very life. And Jesus is saying, yes, the road can be difficult. It may not look attractive at first glance. It may look wrong because no one else seems to be taking it, but it is the road to life, and if you want life, you have no other option. Now let's look at the second image, Matthew seven, fifteen through twenty. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. This image of the wolf in sheep's clothing is fairly easy to understand, but let me point out a few things anyway. Wolves are the classic enemies of sheep. One of the shepherds' main jobs was protecting the sheep from wolves. Wolves are the predator and sheep are the prey. In the Gospel of John, Jesus describes himself as the shepherd who does not abandon the sheep to the wolves. Now, in this analogy, we're supposed to picture ourselves as the sheep. Someone who looks like a sheep comes among us. This person seems to be just like us, just one of the sheep, but under the disguise he is a ravenous wolf who is actually there to destroy. And Jesus is warning his followers that people are going to come who claim to know the way to the road of life. They will claim to have a message from God, and yet in fact they are not from God at all. They are not promoting the word of God, they are destroying it. And in one sense, this picture matches what Jesus has been saying about the Pharisees. They present themselves as teachers of the law, but in fact they are worldly and self righteous, and Jesus has been warning, don't be like them. Later in Matthew, Jesus will use similar but much harsher language to describe the Pharisees. This is Matthew twenty three verses thirteen through fifteen. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across the sea and land to make a single proselytite, and when he becomes a proselytite, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Well, that's not very gentle language. He calls them blind guides. They presume to lead others to the truth, but they are blind themselves. So on the one hand, I think it seems very straightforward to understand the sheep as the people of Israel and the wolves in sheep's clothing as the Pharisees who proclaim to be teaching the word of God but instead are leading them astray, and that really fits. But I think Jesus also has something else in mind. In the next section, he narrows his focus to those who follow him, and it's possible that he's already narrowed his focus here with these verses. And if so, then the sheep would represent the followers of Jesus and the wolves in sheep's clothing, any generic false teacher throughout history. And that expands this section beyond the immediate generation listening to Jesus to all the generations who come after. And throughout history we've seen people who claim to be proclaiming the word of God, but in fact they are destroying the people of God and leading them astray. I think it's likely that Jesus is speaking more generically to the future here. But if he is focused on just the Pharisees, this idea is certainly applicable to the future. Because the same problem that generation had with the Pharisees, that kind of thing has been continuing throughout church history. So how do you tell the difference between a wolf and a sheep or between a false prophet and a true prophet? And Jesus says you know them by their fruit. Once again, the good fruit and the bad fruit is the kind of thing he's been describing throughout the sermon. The true prophets, the true sheep, will be poor in spirit, humble, merciful, peacemakers, seeking life in the kingdom of God, and so forth. The false prophets will be worldly as we've defined it, focused on the pleasures of this world, self righteous, judgmental, and unloving. And then he goes on with what I think is perhaps one of the most terrifying passages of Scripture. This is Matthew seven, twenty one through twenty three. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The new thing in this section is this language of those who call Jesus Lord. Up to this point in the sermon he's been contrasting the Pharisees and the hypocrites and the Gentiles with everyone else, presumably the children of Israel. Now he zeroes in on the subset of people who call him Lord, and he's saying even among those who claim to follow me, Jesus, some are going to be on the wrong path. We've already seen how the religious leaders like the Pharisees could be on the wrong path and turn out to be hypocrites, and now he's saying, But some of you, my listeners, who think you're my disciples, you may be on the wrong path too. Living a religious life is no guarantee that you'll be in the kingdom of heaven. And we've seen that idea throughout the sermon. Your righteousness must be different than that of the Pharisees. They were pious, they were religious, and yet they were on the wrong path. That kind of self righteous piety is not enough. Likewise, not even living a religious life as a Christian, claiming to be a follower of Jesus is a guarantee. You may be able to point to many great acts of charity and compassion that you did in the name of Jesus, but that's not a guarantee. That's not necessarily evidence of anything significant. The real evidence is, as he said, whether you are one who does the will of the Father. If you are one who practices lawlessness, the fact that you call Jesus Lord means nothing. Okay, so now we have the big terrifying question. What does Jesus mean when he says we must do the will of the Father in verse twenty one? And then in seven twenty three he describes those who will be condemned as workers of lawlessness. What does that mean? Who are those who do the will of the Father and who are the workers of lawlessness? And this is where I would argue that we are to understand those verses in light of the entire sermons. He means exactly what he's been describing since chapter five. The one who does the will of God is the one who has embraced the truth that Jesus has been laying out in this sermon, humbly repenting before God, being merciful, hungering and thirsting for holiness, seeking first the kingdom of heaven, counting on the promises of God, seeking to follow what God says is true, seeking to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves, all the things that we've been talking about throughout the Sermon on the Mount. The lawless ones are those who, like the Pharisees, claim to follow the law of God, but in fact they are using the law to pursue their own self righteous and worldly gain, and all of us can fall into that same trap. The issue is not whether you name the name of Jesus and can get nine out of ten questions right on a theological exam. The question is are you the sort of person Jesus has been describing in the Sermon on the Mount? Now remember, the kind of person he's been describing is not necessarily perfectly obedient and courageous in every given situation. We are sinners, but we're honest sinners. As we go through life, we'll be in situations where we must confront very basic questions like who am I counting on? What am I hoping for? What do I really think is true? What is truly important to me? What kind of life am I seeking it? And where do I think I'm gonna find it? When we face those kinds of situations, the true followers of Jesus will choose to follow God. We will embrace and seek to live out the truth of God and to count on his promises. So being religious in and of itself is not a guarantee. We have to be people who have saving faith. It's also important to realize that not all the so-called teachers of Jesus are worth listening to. There are lots of ways to be a Christian that don't actually match up with the teaching of Jesus. Numbers are not an indication. The fact that a teacher might run a megachurch or have a worldwide following is not necessarily a divine stamp of approval. We are called to be wise. We're called to be discerning and to look at how and whether this person lines up with the kind of thing we saw in the Sermon on the Mount. There's a lot of books out there, there's a lot of self-help philosophies out there which present themselves as being Christian, but they're not. Be discerning. Naming the name of Jesus and calling him Lord is not the real test. You have to mean it in the profound way we've been talking about. The test is whether you live like what Jesus said is true. And that includes all the things he's been teaching in this sermon. It's not enough to claim to believe, you must live your life in light of what you claim to believe. And notice that's the point he's going to pick up on next. Everyone who hears and acts on my word. This is Matthew seven, twenty four through twenty seven. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Well that image is really clear and vivid. The poet Edna Saint Vincent Millet wrote a little two line poem that captures this image. She wrote, Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand. Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand. Well, that's kind of the whole point. It doesn't matter how big and grand the palace is, if it's built on sand, it's just not going to last. And that's how we're to picture our lives in this world. Are we building on rock or are we building on sand? Have you founded your life on the solid eternal truths of the gospel or not? If you have, God will ensure that you will withstand all the hurricanes that come at you in this life. You will find life and blessing in the end. Well, how do you build on the rock? He tells us you hear and you act. You act on all the kinds of things Jesus has been teaching in this sermon. You hear and embrace the truths that He has proclaimed, and you seek to live in light of them. This sermon contrasts those who take the road to life with those who take the road to destruction. And we want to read these verses in context of everything we've been studying since chapter five. Repentance instead of stubbornness, humility instead of arrogance, mercy instead of vengeance, hungering for holiness rather than hunger for wealth and power or security, seeking the approval of God rather than the approval of men, forgiving rather than judging all the things he's been teaching in this sermon. Then chapter seven concludes in twenty eight and twenty nine, and when Jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. I'm actually going to handle these verses with the next podcast in Matthew because I want to spend some time on this idea of authority. But just to conclude, notice how much importance Jesus gives to the Sermon on the Mount. You may recall from the very first introductory podcast to the Sermon on the Mount, we talked about the historical debate over this sermon. In places the sermon doesn't sound very Christian. It doesn't sound like it has a lot of gospel in it. In fact, it sounds like it has a lot of law in it. It appears to have a kind of you better be like this or else undertone. Most Christians would describe the gospel as something like this if you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again, then you will be justified by your faith and be saved. Well, if that's the gospel, then this sermon doesn't look like it has much gospel in it. It doesn't talk about Jesus dying for our sins, doesn't mention the resurrection, doesn't talk about justification by faith. Instead it lays down what we've seen can be read as an impossibly high standard. And some theologians have concluded that the Sermon on the Mount is not intended for us today. But notice what Jesus says If you act on what I Jesus just said, you are building on the rock and your house will stand. If you do not act on what I Jesus just said, you are building on the sand and your house will fall. That's how important this sermon is. The Sermon on the Mount shows us the way to the narrow gate, the road to life, and where to build our house. Like the gospel, the Sermon on the Mount shows us how to find life, and yet it doesn't talk about justification by faith and so forth the way Paul does. It doesn't explicitly argue that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, although I would argue that's implied by what he says about acting on my words. But even though Jesus doesn't spell out the cross here or the specifics of God's plan for salvation, he's describing the heart of the believer. He's describing people who have saving faith. When we hear that Jesus is the Christ who died for our sins and was raised from the dead, why do we believe it? Because by the grace of God we have hearts that are humble. We hold the four convictions of saving faith. We know that we're sinners. We know that we need God's mercy. We know that God owes us nothing and we long to be free from our sins. So when we hear the good news that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, we respond with joy because we know that's exactly what we need. That's the answer to the problem that I know that I have. We know that this world cannot truly satisfy or fulfill us because it's corrupted by sin and death. When we hear the good news that the king has come and will come again to establish his kingdom over all the earth and to vanquish sin and death, we shout for joy. We welcome all the good news of the gospel because our hearts are willing to admit that we need it. This sermon describes the hearts of people who are going to respond to the gospel. To choose the narrow way is to choose to believe the gospel. Those who are poor in spirit, merciful, humble, and so forth are the ones who embrace and believe the gospel, and to them belongs the kingdom of heaven. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. You can hear all the episodes in this series on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. There is no charge, no spam, no ads, and no donations. It's all free to help you improve your study skills and understanding of scripture. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please subscribe, leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen, and most importantly, tell a friend what you learned. And if you can, tell them where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates of heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.