Hey everybody, I'm Matt. This is the 10-Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And I just recorded this massive block of stuff about the last few verses of the Sermon on the Mount. And it was all going so neatly that I just got carried away, which means I've had to do abrupt cuts. If you have not listened to the previous two episodes, you might want to go catch those real quick because this is really just the third chunk of all of this one block of thought as we land the plane on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven. All right, let's get cooking. Let's hit this last little text and we'll be done. 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. The rain came down, the storms rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, yet it didn't fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law. We'll touch back on that one next time around. Bottom line is the Sermon on the Mount ends on a bit of a downer. It is not this proactive. Come on, guys, come follow me. That sounded like Madonna. Come on, girls, you believe in love. I didn't mean to do that. Like, come on, everybody, follow me. It's gonna be this great, happy thing, and you're gonna feel affirmed and better about stuff. And let's put the proactive spin on this. No, he chooses to end this on the negative spin, on the consequences and risk of hearing all of this stuff, of evaluating his character and his credibility to make these claims and saying no. And therein lies the rub of the Sermon on the Mount. If you're feeling overwhelmed by all of that, we're gonna run through and summarize all of it around this last two verses, 28 and 29, tomorrow. But I think the simple equation coming out of the Sermon on the Mount is this if everything Jesus said is true and he is qualified to say it, this is the easiest decision ever. You're king, I'm not, I'm in. Cool. Where do I sign up? But for any sane, rational person, those ifs are really big ifs. Well, yeah, if it's true, well, yeah, if there are unicorns, I'd like to start a unicorn farm. I mean, you got to investigate this thing and think really hard about it, count the cost to use Bible language to consider whether this holds together. Is this credible? Does this address the issues it sets out to address? And does Jesus have the credibility to back this up? And that question is going to be what prompts the narrative thrust of the next two chapters we're going to be looking at together. Can Jesus back it up? Is he actually a king that can tell us there's a kingdom? You can't see it. There's no crown on his head. How do we know? Well, he'd have to show me something really significant if I was sitting on that hill. I would want to believe this, but I'm sorry, I got a family, I got a job, I only have the one soul. I don't want to burn it on something fake and give my whole life to this thing, and then maybe at the end of life be like, oh, whoops, that didn't make any sense. No, it's understandable there's a vetting process. And I don't think this series of statements that we're looking at here, this or this, this or this, this or this, these Sith-like absolutes, and I'm saying that tongue in cheek. Obviously, I'm I'm not calling Jesus a dark space wizard, but I think these absolute comparisons are meant to ring in the mind of the audience over time as they walk down the hill with them in the first place and see what happens next. They're meant to ring in the mind of the audience who was reading Matthew back in the day as they watch Jesus walk down the hill and see what happens next. And they're meant to ring in the mind of people right now who are thinking about it. As we ask the reasonable question, does this check out? Does Jesus check out? And fortunately, this is beautifully organized, so we're going to get data to plug into those variables in the equation and get more clarity as to what sensible answers might be in response to it coming up in the very next chapter. If this is difficult to resolve in your brain, if the binary choice that Jesus is leaving you with is troubling to some degree, and if you feel like you don't have all the information you need to know really what to do with it in the most honest part of yourself, whether you're a Christian or not, then the next stuff we talk about is going to be for you. Get ready for a major shift in tone and style in our conversation as we get back into more action stuff over the next couple of chapters. And if you've been hanging around here for a while, you already know this is the deal, but I'm going to say it again. The reason we get to do this is because there are people who support the program at patreon.com/slash TMBH podcast, which is also linked down below in the show notes. You do not have to join them in supporting this thing because it's free and it's always going to be free. But for those of you who do that, and for those of you who might be thinking of it, thank you a ton. That is so above and beyond. It's so encouraging. Honestly, it's a really important part of how I even pay my bills for my family. And it buys my time to be able to put thought and energy into this. So thank you so much. I cannot properly articulate how much that means to me. A Matt is a 10 minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do it again soon.