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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
M A T T H E W.
CHAP. VII.
This chapter continues and concludes Christ’s sermon on the mount,
which is purely practical, directing us to order our conversation
aright, both toward God and man; for the design of the Christian
religion is to make men good, every way good. We have,
I. Some rules concerning censure and reproof,
II. Encouragements given us to pray to God for what we need,
III. The necessity of strictness in conversation urged upon us,
IV. A caution given us to take heed of false prophets,
V. The conclusion of the whole sermon, showing the necessity of
universal obedience to Christ’s commands, without which we cannot
expect to be happy,
VI. The impression which Christ’s doctrine made upon his hearers,
| The Sermon on the Mount. |
|
|
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy
brother’s eye.
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their
feet, and turn again and rend you.
Our Saviour is here directing us how to conduct ourselves in reference
to the faults of others; and his expressions seem intended as a reproof
to the scribes and Pharisees, who were very rigid and severe, very
magisterial and supercilious, in condemning all about them, as those
commonly are, that are proud and conceited in justifying themselves. We
have here,
I. A caution against judging
v. 1, 2.
There are those whose office it is to judge-magistrates and ministers.
Christ, though he made not himself a Judge, yet came not to unmake
them, for by him princes decree justice; but this is directed to
private persons, to his disciples, who shall hereafter sit on
thrones judging, but not now. Now observe,
1. The prohibition; Judge not. We must judge ourselves, and
judge our own acts, but we must not judge our brother, not
magisterially assume such an authority over others, as we allow not
them over us: since our rule is, to be subject to one another.
Be not many masters,
Jam. iii. 1.
We must not sit in the judgment-seat, to make our word a law to every
body. We must not judge our brother, that is, we must not speak
evil of him, so it is explained,
We must not despise him, nor set him at nought,
Rom. xiv. 10.
We must not judge rashly, nor pass such a judgment upon our brother as
has no ground, but is only the product of our own jealousy and ill
nature. We must not make the worst of people, nor infer such invidious
things from their words and actions as they will not bear. We must not
judge uncharitably, unmercifully, nor with a spirit of revenge, and a
desire to do mischief. We must not judge of a man’s state by a single
act, nor of what he is in himself by what he is to us, because in our
own cause we are apt to be partial. We must not judge the hearts of
others, nor their intentions, for it is God’s prerogative to try the
heart, and we must not step into his throne; nor must we judge of their
eternal state, nor call them hypocrites, reprobates, and
castaways; that is stretching beyond our line; what have we to
do, thus to judge another man’s servant? Counsel him, and help him, but
do not judge him.
2. The reason to enforce this prohibition. That ye be not
judged. This intimates,
(1.) That if we presume to judge others, we may expect to be ourselves
judged. He who usurps the bench, shall be called to the bar; he shall
be judged of men; commonly none are more censured, than those who are
most censorious; every one will have a stone to throw at them; he who,
like Ishmael, has his hand, his tongue, against every man,
shall, like him, have every man’s hand and tongue against
him
(Gen. xvi. 12);
and no mercy shall be shown to the reputation of those that show no
mercy to the reputation of others. Yet that is not the worst of it;
they shall be judged of God; from him they shall receive the greater
condemnation,
Jam. iii. 1.
Both parties must appear before him
(Rom. xiv. 10),
who, as he will relieve the humble sufferer, will also resist
the haughty scorner, and give him enough of judging.
(2.) That if we be modest and charitable in our censures of others, and
decline judging them, and judge ourselves rather, we shall not be
judged of the Lord. As God will forgive those that forgive their
brethren; so he will not judge those that will not judge their
brethren; the merciful shall find mercy. It is an evidence of
humility, charity, and deference to God, and shall be owned and
rewarded by him accordingly. See
The judging of those that judge others is according to the law of
retaliation; With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged,
v. 2.
The righteous God, in his judgments, often observes a rule of
proportion, as in the case of Adonibezek,
See also
Thus will he be both justified and magnified in his judgments, and all
flesh will be silenced before him. With what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again; perhaps in this world, so that men
may read their sin in their punishment. Let this deter us from all
severity in dealing with our brother. What shall we do when God
rises up?
Job xxxi. 14.
What would become of us, if God should be as exact and severe in
judging us, as we are in judging our brethren; if he should weigh us in
the same balance? We may justly expect it, if we be extreme to mark
what our brethren do amiss. In this, as in other things, the violent
dealings of men return upon their own heads.
II. Some cautions about reproving. Because we must not judge
others, which is a great sin, it does not therefore follow that we must
not reprove others, which is a great duty, and may be a means of
saving a soul from death; however, it will be a means of saving
our souls from sharing in their guilt. Now observe here,
1. It is not every one who is fit to reprove. Those who are themselves
guilty of the same faults of which they accuse others, or of worse,
bring shame upon themselves, and are not likely to do good to those
whom they reprove,
Here is,
(1.) A just reproof to the censorious, who quarrel with their brother
for small faults, while they allow themselves in great ones; who are
quick-sighted to spy a mote in his eye, but are not sensible of
a beam in their own; nay, and will be very officious to pull
out the mote out of his eye, when they are as unfit to do it as if
they were themselves quite blind. Note,
[1.] There are degrees in sin: some sins are comparatively but as
motes, others as beams; some as a gnat, others as
a camel: not that there is any sin little, for there is no
little God to sin against; if it be a mote (or splinter,
for so it might better be read), it is in the eye; if a gnat, it
is in the throat; both painful and perilous, and we cannot be easy or
well till they are got out.
[2.] Our own sins ought to appear greater to us than the same sins in
others: that which charity teaches us to call but a splinter in our
brother’s eye, true repentance and godly sorrow will teach us to
call a beam in our own; for the sins of others must be
extenuated, but our own aggravated.
[3.] There are many that have beams in their own eyes, and yet
do not consider it. They are under the guilt and dominion of very great
sins, and yet are not aware of it, but justify themselves, as if they
needed no repentance nor reformation; it is as strange that a man can
be in such a sinful, miserable condition, and not be aware of it, as
that a man should have a beam in him eye, and not consider it; but the
god of this world so artfully blinds their minds, that notwithstanding,
with great assurance, they say, We see.
[4.] It is common for those who are most sinful themselves, and least
sensible of it, to be most forward and free in judging and censuring
others: the Pharisees, who were most haughty in justifying themselves,
were most scornful in condemning others. They were severe upon Christ’s
disciples for eating with unwashen hands, which was scarcely a
mote, while they encouraged men in a contempt of their parents,
which was a beam. Pride and uncharitableness are commonly
beams in the eyes of those that pretend to be critical and nice
in their censures of others. Nay, many are guilty of that secret,
which they have the face to punish in others when it is discovered.
Cogita tecum, fortasse vitium de quo quereris, si te diligenter
excusseris, in sinu invenies; inique publico irasceris crimini
tuo–Reflect that perhaps the fault of which you complain, might, on a
strict examination, be discovered in yourself; and that it would be
unjust publicly to express indignation against your own crime.
Seneca, de Beneficiis. But,
[5.] Men’s being so severe upon the faults of others, while they are
indulgent of their own, is a mark of hypocrisy. Thou hypocrite,
v. 5.
Whatever such a one may pretend, it is certain that he is no enemy to
sin (if he were, he would be an enemy to his own sin), and therefore he
is not worthy of praise; nay, it appears that he is an enemy to his
brother, and therefore worthy of blame. This spiritual charity must
begin at home; “For how canst thou say, how canst thou for shame
say, to thy brother, Let me help to reform thee, when thou
takest no care to reform thyself? Thy own heart will upbraid thee with
the absurdity of it; thou wilt do it with an ill grace, and thou wilt
expect every one to tell thee, that vice corrects sin: physician,
heal thyself;” I præ, sequar–Go you before, I will follow.
See
[6.] The consideration of what is amiss in ourselves, though it ought
not to keep us from administering friendly reproof, ought to keep us
from magisterial censuring, and to make us very candid and charitable
in judging others. “Therefore restore with the spirit of meekness,
considering thyself
(Gal. vi. 1);
what thou has been, what thou art, and what thou wouldst be, if God
should leave thee to thyself.”
(2.) Here is a good rule for reprovers,
v. 5.
Go in the right method, first cast the beam out of thine own
eye. Our own badness is so far from excusing us in not reproving,
that our being by it rendered unfit to reprove is an aggravation of our
badness; I must not say, “I have a beam in my own eye, and
therefore I will not help my brother with the mote out of his.”
A man’s offence will never be his defence: but I must
first reform myself, that I may thereby help to reform my brother, and
may qualify myself to reprove him. Note, Those who blame others, ought
to be blameless and harmless themselves. Those who are reprovers in
the gate, reprovers by office, magistrates and ministers, are
concerned to walk circumspectly, and to be very regular in their
conversation: an elder must have a good report,
1 Tim. iii. 2, 7.
The snuffers of the sanctuary were to be of pure gold.
2. It is not every one that is fit to be reproved; Give not that
which is holy unto the dogs,
v. 6.
This may be considered, either,
(1.) As a rule to the disciples in preaching the gospel; not that they
must not preach it to any one who were wicked and profane (Christ
himself preached to publicans and sinners), but the reference is to
such as they found obstinate after the gospel was preached to them,
such as blasphemed it, and persecuted the preachers of it; let them not
spend much time among such, for it would be lost labour, but let them
turn to others,
So Dr. Whitby. Or,
(2.) As a rule to all in giving reproof. Our zeal against sin must be
guided by discretion, and we must not go about to give instructions,
counsels, and rebukes, much less comforts, to hardened scorners, to
whom it will certainly do no good, but who will be exasperated and
enraged at us. Throw a pearl to a swine, and he will resent it, as if
you threw a stone at him; reproofs will be called
reproaches, as they were
therefore give not to dogs and swine (unclean creatures) holy things.
Note,
[1.] Good counsel and reproof are a holy thing, and a pearl: they are
ordinances of God, they are precious; as an ear-ring of gold, and an
ornament of fine gold, so is the wise reprover
and a wise reproof is like an excellent oil
(Ps. cxli. 5);
it is a tree of life
[2.] Among the generation of the wicked, there are some that have
arrived at such a pitch of wickedness, that they are looked upon as
dogs and swine; they are impudently and notoriously vile; they have so
long walked in the way of sinners, that they have sat down in
the seat of the scornful; they professedly hate and despise
instruction, and set it at defiance, so that they are irrecoverably and
irreclaimably wicked; they return with the dog to his vomit, and
with the sow to her wallowing in the mire.
[3.] Reproofs of instruction are ill bestowed upon such, and expose the
reprover to all the contempt and mischief that may be expected from
dogs and swine. One can expect no other than that they will trample the
reproofs under their feet, in scorn of them, and rage against them; for
they are impatient of control and contradiction; and they will turn
again and rend the reprovers; rend their good names with their
revilings, return them wounding words for their healing ones; rend them
with persecution; Herod rent John Baptist for his faithfulness. See
here what is the evidence of men’s being dogs and swine.
Those are to be reckoned such, who hate reproofs and reprovers,
and fly in the face of those who, in kindness to their souls, show them
their sin and danger. These sin against the remedy; who shall heal and
help those that will not be healed and helped? It is plain that God has
determined to destroy such.
The rule here given is applicable to the distinguishing, sealing
ordinances of the gospel; which must not be prostituted to those who
are openly wicked and profane, lest holy things be thereby rendered
contemptible, and unholy persons be thereby hardened. It is not meet
to take the children’s bread, and cast it to the dogs. Yet we must
be very cautious whom we condemn as dogs and swine, and not do it till
after trial, and upon full evidence. Many a patient is lost, by being
thought to be so, who, if means had been used, might have been saved.
As we must take heed of calling the good, bad, by judging
all professors to be hypocrites; so we must take heed of calling the
bad, desperate, by judging all the wicked to be
dogs and swine.
[4.] Our Lord Jesus is very tender of the safety of his people, and
would not have them needlessly to expose themselves to the fury of
those that will turn again and rend them. Let them not be
righteous over much, so as to destroy themselves. Christ makes
the law of self-preservation one of his own laws, and precious is
the blood of his subjects to him.
| The Sermon on the Mount. |
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7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will
he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask him?
Our Saviour, in the foregoing chapter, had spoken of prayer as a
commanded duty, by which God is honoured, and which, if done aright,
shall be rewarded; here he speaks of it as the appointed means of
obtaining what we need, especially grace to obey the precepts he had
given, some of which are so displeasing to flesh and blood.
I. Here is a precept in three words to the same purport, Ask, Seek,
Knock
(v. 7);
that is, in one word, “Pray; pray often; pray with sincerity and
seriousness; pray, and pray again; make conscience of prayer, and be
constant in it; make a business of prayer, and be earnest in it.
Ask, as a beggar asks alms.” Those that would be rich in grace,
must betake themselves to the poor trade of begging, and they shall
find it a thriving trade. “Ask; represent your wants and
burthens to God, and refer yourselves to him for support and supply,
according to his promise. Ask as a traveller asks the way; to
pray is to enquire of God,
Ezek. xxxvi. 37.
Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost, or as the
merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Seek by prayer,
Dan. ix. 3.
Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the
door.” We would be admitted to converse with God, would be taken into
his love, and favour, and kingdom; sin has shut and barred the door
against us; by prayer, we knock; Lord, Lord, open to us. Christ
knocks at our door
and allows us to knock at his, which is a favour we do not allow to
common beggars. Seeking and knocking imply something more than asking
and praying.
1. We must not only ask but seek; we must second our
prayers with our endeavors; we must, in the use of the appointed means,
seek for that which we ask for, else we tempt God. When
the dresser of the vineyard asked for a year’s respite for the barren
fig-tree, he added, I will dig about it,
Luke xiii. 7, 8.
God gives knowledge and grace to those that search the scriptures, and
wait at Wisdom’s gates; and power against sin to those that avoid the
occasions of it.
2. We must not only ask, but knock; we must come to God’s
door, must ask importunately; not only pray, but plead and
wrestle with God; we must seek diligently; we must continue
knocking; must persevere in prayer, and in the use of means; must
endure to the end in the duty.
II. Here is a promised annexed: our labour in prayer, if indeed
we do labour in it, shall not be in vain: where God finds a
praying heart, he will be found a prayer-hearing God; he shall give
thee an answer of peace. The precept is threefold, ask, seek,
knock; there is precept upon precept; but the promise is
sixfold, line upon line, for our encouragement; because a firm
belief of the promise would make us cheerful and constant in our
obedience. Now here,
1. The promise is made, and made so as exactly to answer the precept,
v. 7.
Ask, and it shall be given you; not lent you, not sold you, but
given you; and what is more free than gift? Whatever you pray
for, according to the promise, whatever you ask, shall be given
you, if God see it fit for you, and what would you have more? It
is but ask and have; ye have not, because ye ask not, or
ask not aright: what is not worth asking, is not worth having,
and then it is worth nothing. Seek, and ye shall find,
and then you do not lose your labour; God is himself found of those
that seek him, and if we find him we have enough. “Knock, and
it shall be opened; the door of mercy and grace shall no longer be
shut against you as enemies and intruders, but opened to you as friends
and children. It will be asked, who is at the door? If you be
able to say, a friend, and have the ticket of promise ready to produce
in the hand of faith, doubt not of admission. If the door be not
opened at the first knock, continue instant in prayer; it
is an affront to a friend to knock at his door, and then go
away; though he tarry, yet wait.”
2. It is repeated,
v. 8.
It is to the same purport, yet with some addition.
(1.) It is made to extend to all that pray aright; “Not only you my
disciples shall receive what you pray for, but every one that
asketh, receiveth, whether Jew or Gentile, young or old, rich or
poor, high or low, master or servant, learned or unlearned, they are
all alike welcome to the throne of grace, if they come in faith:
for God is no respecter of persons.”
(2.) It is made so as to amount to a grant, in words of the present
tense, which is more than a promise for the future. Every one that
asketh, not only shall receive, but receiveth; by
faith, applying and appropriating the promise, we are actually
interested and invested in the good promised: so sure and inviolable
are the promises of God, that they do, in effect, give present
possession: an active believer enters immediately, and makes the
blessings promised his own. What have we in hope, according to the
promise, is as sure, and should be as sweet, as what we have in hand.
God hath spoken in his holiness, and then Gilead is mine,
Manasseh mine
it is all mine own, if I can but make it so by believing it so.
Conditional grants become absolute upon the performance of the
condition; so here, he that asketh, receiveth. Christ hereby
puts his fiat to the petition; and he having all power, that is
enough.
3. It is illustrated, by a similitude taken from earthly parents, and
their innate readiness to give their children what they ask. Christ
appeals to his hearers, What man is there of you, though never
so morose and ill-humoured, whom if his son ask bread, will he give
him a stone?
v. 9, 10.
Whence he infers
(v. 11),
If ye then, being evil, yet grant your children’s requests,
much more will your heavenly Father give you the good things you
ask. Now this is of use,
(1.) To direct our prayers and expectations.
[1.] We must come to God, as children to a Father in heaven,
with reverence and confidence. How naturally does a child in want or
distress run to the father with its complaints; My head, my
head; thus should the new nature send us to God for supports and
supplies.
[2.] We must come to him for good things, for those he gives
to them that ask him; which teaches us to refer ourselves to him;
we know not what is good for ourselves
(Eccl. vi. 12),
but he knows what is good for us, we must therefore leave it with him;
Father, thy will be done. The child is here supposed to ask
bread, that is necessary, and a fish, that is wholesome; but
if the child should foolishly ask for a stone, or a
serpent, for unripe fruit to eat, or a sharp knife to play with,
the father, though kind, is so wise as to deny him. We often ask that
of God which would do us harm if we had it; he knows this, and
therefore does not give it to us. Denials in love are better than
grants in anger; we should have been undone ere this if we had had all
we desired; this is admirably well expressed by a heathen, Juvenal,
Sat. 10.
| Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus,quid
Conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris, Nam pro jucundis aptissima quæque dabunt dii. Carior est illis homo, quam sibi: nos animorum Impulsu, et cæca, magnaque cupidine ducti, Conjugium petimus, partumque uxoris; at illis Notum est, qui pueri, qualisque futura sit uxor. Entrust thy fortune to the powers above. Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant What their unerring wisdom sees thee want: In goodness, as in greatness, they excel; Ah, that we lov’d ourselves but half so well! We, blindly by our headstrong passions led, Seek a companion, and desire to wed; Then wish for heirs: but to the gods alone Our future offspring and our wives are known. |
(2.) To encourage our prayers and expectations. We may hope that
we shall not be denied and disappointed: we shall not have a
stone for bread, to break our teeth (though we have a hard
crust to employ our teeth), nor a serpent for a fish, to
sting us; we have reason indeed to fear it, because we deserve it, but
God will be better to us than the desert of our sins. The world often
gives stones for bread, and serpents for fish, but God
never does; nay, we shall be heard and answered, for children are by
their parents.
[1.] God has put into the hearts of parents a compassionate inclination
to succour and supply their children, according to their need. Even
those that have had little conscience of duty, yet have done it, as it
were by instinct. No law was ever thought necessary to oblige parents
to maintain their legitimate children, nor, in Solomon’s time, their
illegitimate ones.
[2.] He has assumed the relation of a Father to us, and owns us for his
children; that from the readiness we find in ourselves to relieve our
children, we may be encouraged to apply ourselves to him for relief.
What love and tenderness fathers have are from him; not from nature but
from the God of nature; and therefore they must needs be infinitely
greater in himself. He compares his concern for his people to that of a
father for his children
(Ps. ciii. 13),
nay, to that of a mother, which is usually more tender,
But here it is supposed, that his love, and tenderness, and goodness,
far excel that of any earthly parent; and therefore it is argued with a
much more, and it is grounded upon this undoubted truth, that
God is a better Father, infinitely better than any earthly parents are;
his thoughts are above theirs. Our earthly fathers have taken
care of us; we have taken care of our children; much more will God take
care of his; for they are evil, originally so; the degenerate seed of
fallen Adam; they have lost much of the good nature that belonged to
humanity, and among other corruptions, have that of crossness and
unkindness in them; yet they give good things to their children,
and they know how to give, suitably and seasonably; much more
will God, for he takes up when they forsake,
And, First, God is more knowing; parents are often foolishly
fond, but God is wise, infinitely so; he knows what we need, what we
desire, and what is fit for us. Secondly, God is more kind. If
all the compassions of all the tender fathers in the world were crowded
into the bowels of one, yet compared with the tender mercies of our
God, they would be but as a candle to the sun, or a drop to the
ocean. God is more rich, and more ready to give to his children than
the fathers of our flesh can be; for he is the Father of our spirits,
an ever-loving, ever-living Father. The bowels of Fathers yearn even
towards undutiful children, towards prodigals, as David’s toward
Absalom, and will not all this serve to silence disbelief?
| The Sermon on the Mount. |
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12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do
to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the
prophets.
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Our Lord Jesus here presses upon us that righteousness towards men
which is an essential branch of true religion, and that religion
towards God which is an essential branch of universal
righteousness.
I. We must make righteousness our rule, and be ruled by it,
Therefore, lay this down for your principle, to do as you would
be done by; therefore, that you may conform to the foregoing precepts,
which are particular, that you may not judge and censure others, go by
this rule in general; (you would not be censured, therefore do not
censure), Or that you may have the benefit of the foregoing promises.
Fitly is the law of justice subjoined to the law of prayer, for unless
we be honest in our conversation, God will not hear our prayers,
Zech. vii. 9, 13.
We cannot expect to receive good things from God, if we do not
fair things, and that which is honest, and lovely, and
of good report among men. We must not only be devout, but honest,
else our devotion is but hypocrisy. Now here we have,
1. The rule of justice laid down; Whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do you even so to them. Christ came to teach us,
not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; what
we are to do, not only toward God, but toward men; not only towards our
fellow-disciples, those of our party and persuasion, but towards men in
general, all with whom we have to do. The golden rule of equity is, to
do to others as we would they should do to us. Alexander Severus, a
heathen emperor, was a great admirer of this rule, had it written upon
the walls of his closet, often quoted it in giving judgment, honoured
Christ, and favoured Christians for the sake of it. Quod tibi, hoc
alteri–do to others as you would they should do to you. Take it
negatively (Quod tibi fieri non vis, ne alteri feceris), or
positively, it comes all to the same. We must not do to others the evil
they have done us, nor the evil which they would do to us, if it were
in their power; nor may we do that which we think, if it were done to
us, we could bear contentedly, but what we desire should be done to us.
This is grounded upon that great commandment, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. As we must bear the same affection to our
neighbour that we would have borne to ourselves, so we must do the same
good offices. The meaning of this rule lies in three things.
(1.) We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to
be fit and reasonable: the appeal is made to our own judgment, and the
discovery of our judgment is referred to that which is our own will and
expectation, when it is our own case.
(2.) We must put other people upon the level with ourselves, and reckon
we are as much obliged to them, as they to us. We are as much bound to
the duty of justice as they, and they as much entitled to the benefit
of it as we.
(3.) We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in the same
particular case and circumstances with those we have to do with, and
deal accordingly. If I were making such a one’s bargain, labouring
under such a one’s infirmity and affliction, how should I desire and
expect to be treated? And this is a just supposition, because we know
not how soon their case may really be ours: at least we may fear, lest
God by his judgments should do to us as we have done to others, if we
have not done as we would be done by.
2. A reason given to enforce this rule; This is the law and the
prophets. It is the summary of that second great commandment, which
is one of the two, on which hang all the law and the prophets,
ch. xxii. 40.
We have not this in so many words, either in the law or the
prophets, but it is the concurring language of the whole. All that
is there said concerning our duty towards our neighbour (and that is no
little) may be reduced to this rule. Christ has here adopted it into
this law; so that both the Old Testament and the New agree in
prescribing this to us, to do as we would be done by. By this rule the
law of Christ is commended, but the lives of Christians are condemned
by comparing them with it. Aut hoc non evangelium, authi non
evangelici.–Either this is not the gospel, or these are not
Christians.
II. We must make religion our business, and be intent upon it; we must
be strict and circumspect in our conversation, which is here
represented to us as entering in at a strait gate, and walking
on in a narrow way,
v. 13, 14.
Observe here,
1. The account that is given of the bad way of sin, and the good way of
holiness. There are but two ways, right and wrong, good and evil; the
way to heaven, and the way to hell; in the one of which we are all of
us walking: no middle place hereafter, no middle way now: the
distinction of the children of men into saints and sinners, godly and
ungodly, will swallow up all to eternity.
Here is,
(1.) An account given us of the way of sin and sinners; both what is
the best, and what is the worst of it.
[1.] That which allures multitudes into it, and keeps them in it;
the gate is wide, and the way broad, and there are many
travellers in that way. First, “You will have abundance of
liberty in that way; the gate is wide, and stands wide open to
tempt those that go right on their way. You may go in at this gate with
all your lusts about you; it gives no check to your appetites, to your
passions: you may walk in the way of your heart, and in the sight of
your eyes; that gives room enough.” It is a broad way, for
there is nothing to hedge in those that walk in it, but they wander
endlessly; a broad way, for there are many paths in it; there is
choice of sinful ways, contrary to each other, but all paths in this
broad way. Secondly, “You will have abundance of company
in that way: many there be that go in at this gate, and walk in
this way.” If we follow the multitude, it will be to do
evil: if we go with the crowd, it will be the wrong way. It is
natural for us to incline to go down the stream, and do as the most do;
but it is too great a compliment, to be willing to be damned for
company, and to go to hell with them, because they will not go to
heaven with us: if many perish, we should be the more cautious.
[2.] That which should affright us all from it is, that it leads to
destruction. Death, eternal death, is at the end of it (and the way
of sin tends to it),–everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord. Whether it be the high way of open profaneness, or the
back way of close hypocrisy, if it be a way of sin, it will be our
ruin, if we repent not.
(2.) Here is an account given us of the way of holiness.
[1.] What there is in it that frightens many from it; let us know the
worst of it, that we may sit down and count the cost. Christ deals
faithfully with us, and tells us,
First, That the gate is strait. Conversion and
regeneration are the gate, by which we enter into this way, in
which we begin a life of faith and serious godliness; out of a state of
sin into a state of grace we must pass, by the new birth,
This is a strait gate, hard to find, and hard to get through;
like a passage between two rocks,
There must be a new heart, and a new spirit, and old things
must pass away. The bent of the soul must be changed, corrupt
habits and customs broken off; what we have been doing all our days
must be undone again. We must swim against the stream; much opposition
must be struggled with, and broken through, from without, and from
within. It is easier to set a man against all the world than against
himself, and yet this must be in conversion. It is a strait
gate, for we must stoop, or we cannot go in at it; we must become
as little children; high thoughts must be brought down; nay, we must
strip, must deny ourselves, put off the world, put off the old
man; we must be willing to forsake all for our interest in Christ.
The gate is strait to all, but to some straiter than others; as
to the rich, to some that have been long prejudiced against religion.
The gate is strait; blessed be God, it is not shut up, nor
locked against us, nor kept with a flaming sword, as it will be
shortly,
Secondly, That the way is narrow. We are not in heaven as
soon as we have got through the strait gate, nor in Canaan as
soon as we have got through the Red Sea; no, we must go through a
wilderness, must travel a narrow way, hedged in by the divine
law, which is exceedingly broad, and that makes the way
narrow; self must be denied, the body kept under, corruptions
mortified, that are as a right eye and a right hand;
daily temptations must be resisted; duties must be done that are
against our inclination. We must endure hardness, must wrestle and be
in an agony, must watch in all things, and walk with care and
circumspection. We must go through much tribulation. It is
hodos tethlimmene—an afflicted way, a way hedged
about with thorns; blessed be God, it is not hedged up. The bodies we
carry about with us, and the corruptions remaining in us, make the way
of our duty difficult; but, as the understanding and will grow more and
more sound, it will open and enlarge, and grow more and more
pleasant.
Thirdly, The gate being so strait and the way so narrow,
it is not strange that there are but few that find it, and
choose it. Many pass it by, through carelessness; they will not be at
the pains to find it; they are well as they are, and see no need to
change their way. Others look upon it, but shun it; they like not to be
so limited and restrained. Those that are going to heaven are but few,
compared to those that are going to hell; a remnant, a little flock,
like the grape-gleanings of the vintage; as the eight that were saved
in the ark,
In vitia alter alterum trudimus; Quomodo ad salutem revocari potest,
quum nullus retrahit, et populus impellit–In the ways of vice men
urge each other onward: how shall any one be restored to the path of
safety, when impelled forwards by the multitude, without any
counteracting influence? Seneca, Epist. 29. This discourages
many: they are loth to be singular, to be solitary; but instead of
stumbling at this, say rather, If so few are going to heaven, there
shall be one the more for me.
[2.] Let us see what there is in this way, which, notwithstanding this,
should invite us all to it; it leads to life, to present comfort
in the favour of God, which is the life of the soul; to eternal bliss,
the hope of which, at the end of our way, should reconcile us to all
the difficulties and inconveniences of the road. Life and godliness are
put together
(2 Pet. i. 3);
The gate is strait and the way narrow and up-hill, but one hour
in heaven will make amends for it.
2. The great concern and duty of every one of us, in consideration of
all this; Enter ye in at the strait gate. The matter is fairly
stated; life and death, good and evil, are set before us; both the
ways, and both the ends: now let the matter be taken entire, and
considered impartially, and then choose you this day which you will
walk in; nay, the matter determines itself, and will not admit of a
debate. No man, in his wits, would choose to go to the gallows, because
it is a smooth, pleasant way to it, nor refuse the offer of a palace
and a throne, because it is a rough, dirty way to it; yet such
absurdities as these are men guilty of, in the concerns of their souls.
Delay not, therefore; deliberate not any longer, but enter ye in at
the strait gate; knock at it by sincere and constant prayers
and endeavors, and it shall be opened; nay, a wide door shall be
opened, and an effectual one. It is true, we can neither go in, nor go
on, without the assistance of divine grace; but it is as true, that
grace is freely offered, and shall not be wanting to those that seek
it, and submit to it. Conversion is hard work, but it is needful, and,
blessed be God, it is not impossible if we strive,
| The Sermon on the Mount. |
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15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a
corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
We have here a caution against false prophets, to take heed that
we be not deceived and imposed upon by them. Prophets are
properly such as foretel things to come; there are some mentioned in
the Old Testament, who pretended to that without warrant, and the event
disproved their pretensions, as Zedekiah,
and another Zedekiah,
But prophets did also teach the people their duty, so that
false prophets here are false teachers. Christ being a Prophet
and a Teacher come from God, and designing to send abroad
teachers under him, gives warning to all to take heed of counterfeits,
who, instead of healing souls with wholesome doctrine, as they pretend,
would poison them.
They are false teachers and false prophets,
1. Who produce false commissions, who pretend to have immediate warrant
and direction from God to set up for prophets, and to be
divinely inspired, when they are not so. Though their doctrine may be
true, we are to beware of them as false prophets. False
apostles are those who say they are apostles, and are not
(Rev. ii. 2);
such are false prophets. “Take heed of those who pretend to
revelation, and admit them not without sufficient proof, lest that one
absurdity being admitted, a thousand follow.”
2. Who preach false doctrine in those things that are essential to
religion; who teach that which is contrary to the truth as it is in
Jesus, to the truth which is accordingly to godliness. The
former seems to be the proper notion of pseudo-propheta, a
false or pretending prophet, but commonly the latter
falls in with it; for who would hang out false colours, but with
design, under pretence of them, the more successfully to attack the
truth. “Well, beware of them, suspect them, try them, and when you have
discovered their falsehood, avoid them, have nothing to do with them.
Stand upon your guard against this temptation, which commonly attends
the days of reformation, and the breakings out of divine light in more
than ordinary strength and splendour.” When God’s work is revived,
Satan and his agents are most busy. Here is,
I. A good reason for this caution, Beware of them, for they are
wolves in sheep’s clothing,
v. 15.
1. We have need to be very cautious, because their pretences are very
fair and plausible, and such as will deceive us, if we be not upon our
guard. They come in sheep’s clothing, in the habit of
prophets, which was plain and coarse, and unwrought; they
wear a rough garment to deceive,
Zech. xiii. 4.
Elijah’s mantle the Septuagint calls he melote—a
sheep-skin mantle. We must take heed of being imposed upon by men’s
dress and garb, as by that of the scribes, who desire to walk in
long robes,
Luke xx. 46.
Or it may be taken figuratively; they pretend to be sheep, and
outwardly appear so innocent, harmless, meek, useful, and all that is
good, as to be excelled by none; they feign themselves to be just men,
and for the sake of their clothing are admitted among the sheep, which
gives them an opportunity of doing them a mischief ere they are aware.
They and their errors are gilded with the specious pretences of
sanctity and devotion. Satan turns himself into an angel of
light,
2 Cor. xi. 13, 14.
The enemy has horns like a lamb
faces of men,
Rev. ix. 7, 8.
Seducers in language and carriage are soft as wool,
Rom. xvi. 18; Isa. xxx. 10.
2. Because under these pretensions their designs are very malicious and
mischievous; inwardly they are ravening wolves. Every
hypocrite is a goat in sheep’s clothing; not only not a
sheep, but the worst enemy the sheep has, that comes not but to tear
and devour, to scatter the sheep
(John x. 12),
to drive them from God, and from one another, into crooked paths. Those
that would cheat us of any truth, and possess us with error, whatever
they pretend, design mischief to our souls. Paul calls them grievous
wolves,
Acts xx. 29.
They raven for themselves, serve their own belly
(Rom. xvi. 18),
make a prey of you, make a gain of you. Now since it is so easy a
thing, and withal so dangerous, to be cheated, Beware of false
prophets.
II. Here is a good rule to go by in this caution; we must prove all
things
try the spirits
(1 John iv. 1),
and here we have a touchstone; ye shall know them by their
fruits,
v. 16-20.
Observe,
1. The illustration of this comparison, of the fruit’s being the
discovery of the tree. You cannot always distinguish them by their bark
and leaves, nor by the spreading of their boughs, but by their
fruits ye shall know them. The fruit is according to the tree. Men
may, in their professions, put a force upon their nature, and
contradict their inward principles, but the stream and bent of their
practices will agree with them. Christ insists upon this, the
agreeableness between the fruit and the tree, which is such as that,
(1.) If you know what the tree is, you may know what fruit to expect.
Never look to gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles;
it is not in their nature to produce such fruits. An apple may be
stuck, or a bunch of grapes may hang, upon a thorn; so may a good
truth, a good word or action, be found in a bad man, but you may be
sure it never grew there. Note,
[1.] Corrupt, vicious, unsanctified hearts are like thorns and
thistles, which came in with sin, are worthless, vexing, and for the
fire at last.
[2.] Good works are good fruit, like grapes and figs, pleasing
to God and profitable to men.
[3.] This good fruit is never to be expected from bad men, and
more than a clean thing out of an unclean: they want an
influencing acceptable principle. Out of an evil treasure
will be brought forth evil things.
(2.) On the other hand, if you know what the fruit is, you may, by
that, perceive what the tree is. A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit; and a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit,
nay, it cannot but bring forth evil fruit. But then that must be
reckoned the fruit of the tree which it brings forth naturally and
which is its genuine product–which it brings forth plentifully and
constantly and which is its usual product. Men are known, not by
particular acts, but by the course and tenour of their conversation,
and by the more frequent acts, especially those that appear to be free,
and most their own, and least under the influence of external motives
and inducements.
2. The application of this to the false prophets.
(1.) By way of terror and threatening
(v. 19);
Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down. This
very saying John the Baptist had used,
Christ could have spoken the same sense in other words; could have
altered it, or given it a new turn; but he thought it no disparagement
to him to say the same that John had said before him; let not ministers
be ambitious of coining new expressions, nor people’s ears itch for
novelties; to write and speak the same things must not be grievous, for
it is safe. Here is,
[1.] The description of barren trees; they are trees that do not
bring forth good fruit; though there be fruit, if it be not good
fruit (though that be done, which for the matter of it is good, if
it be not done well, in a right manner, and for a right end), the tree
is accounted barren.
[2.] The doom of barren trees; they are, that is, certainly they
shall be, hewn down, and cast into the fire; God will deal with
them as men use to deal with dry trees that cumber the ground: he will
mark them by some signal tokens of his displeasure, he will bark them
by stripping them of their parts and gifts, and will cut them
down by death, and cast them into the fire of
hell, a fire blown with the bellows of God’s wrath, and fed with the
wood of barren trees. Compare this with
Dan. iv. 14; John xv. 6.
(2.) By way of trial; By their fruits ye shall know them.
[1.] By the fruits of their persons, their words and actions,
and the course of their conversation. If you would know whether they be
right or not, observe how they live; their works will testify for them
or against them. The scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses’s chair, and
taught the law, but they were proud, and covetous, and false, and
oppressive, and therefore Christ warned him disciples to beware
of them and of their leaven,
Mark xii. 38.
If men pretend to be prophets and are immoral, that disproves their
pretensions; those are no true friends to the cross of Christ,
whatever they profess, whose God is their belly, and whose
mind earthly things,
Phil. iii. 18, 19.
Those are not taught nor sent of the holy God, whose lives evidence
that they are led by the unclean spirit. God puts the treasure into
earthen vessels, but not into such corrupt vessels: they may declare
God’s statutes, but what have they to do to declare them?
[2.] By the fruits of their doctrine; their fruits as prophets:
not that this is the only way, but it is one way, of trying doctrines,
whether they be of God or not. What do they tend to do? What
affections and practices will they lead those into, that embrace them?
If the doctrine be of God, it will tend to promote serious
piety, humility, charity, holiness, and love, with other Christian
graces; but if, on the contrary, the doctrines these prophets preach
have a manifest tendency to make people proud, worldly, and
contentious, to make them loose and careless in their conversations,
unjust or uncharitable, factious or disturbers of the public peace; if
it indulge carnal liberty, and take people off from governing
themselves and their families by the strict rules of the narrow
way, we may conclude, that this persuasion comes not of him that
calleth us,
Gal. v. 8.
This wisdom is from above,
James iii. 15.
Faith and a good conscience are held together,
Note, Doctrines of doubtful disputation must be tried by graces
and duties of confessed certainty: those opinions come not from God
that lead to sin: but if we cannot know them by their fruits, we
must have recourse to the great touchstone, to the law, and to the
testimony; do they speak according to that rule?
| The Sermon on the Mount. |
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21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and
in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house
upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his
house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the
fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the
people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes.
We have here the conclusion of this long and excellent sermon, the
scope of which is to show the indispensable necessity of obedience to
the commands of Christ; this is designed to clench the nail, that it
might fix in a sure place: he speaks this to his disciples, that sat at
his feet whenever he preached, and followed him wherever he went. Had
he sought his own praise among men, he would have said, that was
enough; but the religion he came to establish is in power, not in word
only
and therefore something more is necessary.
I. He shows, by a plain remonstrance, that an outward profession of
religion, however remarkable, will not bring us to heaven, unless there
be a correspondent conversation,
All judgment is committed to our Lord Jesus; the keys are put into his
hand; he has power to prescribe new terms of life and death, and to
judge men according to them: now this is a solemn declaration pursuant
to that power. Observe here,
1. Christ’s law laid down,
Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, into the kingdom of grace and glory. It is an answer to
that question,
Who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle?–the church militant;
and who shall dwell in thy holy hill?–the church triumphant.
Christ here shows,
(1.) That it will not suffice to say, Lord, Lord; in word and
tongue to own Christ for our Master, and to make addresses to him, and
professions of him accordingly: in prayer to God, in discourse with
men, we must call Christ, Lord, Lord; we say well, for
so he is
but can we imagine that this is enough to bring us to heaven, that such
a piece of formality as this should be so recompensed, or that he who
knows and requires the heart should be so put off with shows for
substance? Compliments among men are pieces of civility that are
returned with compliments, but they are never paid as real services;
and can they then be of an account with Christ? There may be a seeming
importunity in prayer, Lord, Lord: but if inward
impressions be not answerable to outward expressions, we
are but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. This is not to
take us off from saying, Lord, Lord; from praying, and being
earnest in prayer, from professing Christ’s name, and being bold in
professing it, but from resting in these, in the form of
godliness, without the power.
(2.) That it is necessary to our happiness that we do the will
of Christ, which is indeed the will of his Father in
heaven. The will of God, as Christ’s Father, is his
will in the gospel, for there he is made known, as the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ: and in him our Father. Now this is his will,
that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy
life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our
sanctification. If we comply not with the will of God, we mock
Christ in calling him Lord, as those did who put on him a
gorgeous robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews. Saying and
doing are two things, often parted in conversation of men: he that
said, I go, sir, stirred never a step
(ch. xxi. 30);
but these two things God has joined in his command, and let
no man that puts them asunder think to enter into
the kingdom of heaven.
2. The hypocrite’s plea against the strictness of this law, offering
other things in lieu of obedience,
The plea is supposed to be in that day, that great day, when
every man shall appear in his own colours; when the secrets of all
hearts shall be manifest, and among the rest, the secret pretences
with which sinners now support their vain hopes. Christ knows the
strength of their cause, and it is but weakness; what they now harbour
in their bosoms, they will then produce in arrest of judgment to stay
the doom, but is will be in vain. They put in their plea with great
importunity, Lord, Lord; and with great confidence, appealing to
Christ concerning it; Lord, does thou not know,
(1.) That we have prophesied in thy name? Yes, it may be so;
Balaam and Caiaphas were overruled to prophesy, and Saul was against
his will among the prophets, yet that did not save them. These
prophesied in his name, but he did not send them; they
only made use of his name to serve a turn. Note, A man may be a
preacher, may have gifts for the ministry, and an external call to it,
and perhaps some success in it, and yet be a wicked man; may help
others to heaven, and yet come short himself.
(2.) That in thy name we have cast out devils? That may be too;
Judas cast out devils, and yet was a son of perdition.
Origen says, that in his time so prevalent was the name of Christ to
cast out devils, that sometimes it availed when named by wicked
Christians. A man might cast devils out of others, and yet have
a devil, nay, be a devil himself.
(3.) That in thy name we have done many wonderful works. There
may be a faith of miracles, where there is no justifying faith; none of
that faith which works by love and obedience. Gifts of tongues
and healing would recommend men to the world, but it is real holiness
or sanctification that is accepted of God. Grace and love are a more
excellent way than removing mountains, or speaking with
the tongues of men and of angels,
1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2.
Grace will bring a man to heaven without working miracles, but working
miracles will never bring a man to heaven without grace. Observe, That
which their heart was upon, in doing these works, and which they
confided in, was the wonderfulness of them. Simon Magus wondered at the
miracles
and therefore would give any money for power to do the like. Observe,
They had not many good works to plead: they could not pretend to have
done many gracious works of piety and charity; one such would have
passed better in their account than many wonderful works, which
availed not at all, while they persisted in disobedience. Miracles
have now ceased, and with them this plea; but do not carnal hearts
still encourage themselves in their groundless hopes, with the like
vain supports? They think they shall go to heaven, because they have
been of good repute among professors of religion, have kept fasts, and
given alms, and have been preferred in the church; as if this would
atone for their reigning pride, worldliness, and sensuality; and want
of love to God and man. Bethel is their confidence
they are haughty because of the holy mountain
and boast that they are the temple of the Lord,
Jer. vii. 4.
Let us take heed of resting in external privileges and performances,
lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eternally, as multitudes
do, with a lie in our right hand.
3. The rejection of this plea as frivolous. The same that is the
Law-Maker
(v. 21)
is here the Judge according to that law
(v. 23),
and he will overrule the plea, will overrule it publicly; he will
profess to them with all possible solemnity, as sentence is passed
by the Judge, I never knew you, and therefore depart from me,
ye that work iniquity.–Observe,
(1.) Why, and upon what ground, he rejects them and their plea–because
they were workers for iniquity. Note, It is possible for men to
have a great name for piety, and yet to be workers of iniquity;
and those that are so will receive the greater damnation. Secret
haunts of sin, kept under the cloak of a visible profession, will be
the ruin of the hypocrites. Living in known sin nullifies men’s
pretensions, be they ever so specious.
(2.) How it is expressed; I never knew you; “I never owned you
as my servants, no, not when you prophesied in my name,
when you were in the height of your profession, and were most
extolled.” This intimates, that if he had ever known them, as the
Lord knows them that are his, had ever owned them and loved them as
his, he would have known them, and owned them, and loved them, to
the end; but he never did know them, for he always
knew them to be hypocrites, and rotten at heart, as he did Judas;
therefore, says he, depart from me. Has Christ need of such
guests? When he came in the flesh, he called sinners to him
(ch. ix. 13),
but when he shall come again in glory, he will drive sinners
from him. They that would not come to him to be saved,
must depart from him to be damned. To depart from Christ
is the very hell of hell; it is the foundation of all the misery of the
damned, to be cut off from all hope of benefit from Christ and he
mediation. Those that go no further in Christ’s service than a bare
profession, he does not accept, nor will he own them in the great day.
See from what a height of hope men may fall into the depth of misery!
How they may go to hell, by the gates of heaven! This should be an
awakening word to all Christians. If a preacher, one that cast out
devils, and wrought miracles, be disowned of Christ for working
iniquity; what will become of us, if we be found such? And if we
be such, we shall certainly be found such. At God’s bar, a
profession of religion will not bear out any man in the practice and
indulgence of sin; therefore let every one that names the name of
Christ, depart from all iniquity.
II. He shows, by a parable, that hearing these sayings of Christ will
not make us happy, if we do not make conscience of doing them; but that
if we hear them and do them, we are blessed in our deed,
v. 24-27.
1. The hearers of Christ’s word are here divided into two sorts; some
that hear, and do what they hear; others that hear and do not. Christ
preached now to a mixed multitude, and he thus separates them, one
from the other, as he will at the great day, when all nations
shall be gathered before him. Christ is still speaking from heaven
by his word and Spirits, speaks by ministers, by providences, and of
those that hear him there are two sorts.
(1.) Some that hear his sayings and do them: blessed be God that
there are any such, though comparatively few. To hear Christ is not
barely to give him the hearing, but to obey him. Note, It highly
concerns us all to do what we hear of the saying of Christ. It
is a mercy that we hear his sayings: Blessed are those
ears,
ch. xiii. 16, 17.
But, if we practise not what we hear, we receive that grace
in vain. To do Christ’s sayings is conscientiously to
abstain from the sins that he forbids, and to perform the duties that
he requires. Our thoughts and affections, our words and actions, the
temper of our minds, and the tenour of our lives, must be conformable
to the gospel of Christ; that is the doing he requires. All the
sayings of Christ, not only the laws he has enacted, but the
truths he has revealed, must be done by us. They are a light,
not only to our eyes, but to our feet, and are designed
not only to inform our judgments, but to reform our
hearts and lives: nor do we indeed believe them, if we do not live up
to them. Observe, It is not enough to hear Christ’s
sayings, and understand them, hear them, and remember
them, hear them, and talk of them, repeat them, dispute for
them; but we must hear, and do them. This do, and thou shalt
live. Those only that hear, and do, are blessed
and are akin to Christ.
(2.) There are others who hear Christ’s sayings and do them
not; their religion rests in bare hearing, and goes no further;
like children that have the rickets, their heads swell with empty
notions, and indigested opinions, but their joints are weak, and they
heavy and listless; they neither can stir, nor care to stir, in any
good duty; they hear God’s words, as if they desired to
know his ways, like a people that did righteousness, but they
will not do them,
Ezek. xxxiii. 30, 31; Isa. lviii. 2.
Thus they deceive themselves, as Micah, who thought himself happy,
because he had a Levite to be his priest, though he had not the Lord to
be his God. The seed is sown, but it never comes up; they see their
spots in the glass of the word, but wash them off,
Thus they put a cheat upon their own souls; for it is certain, if our
hearing be not the means of our obedience, it will be the aggravation
of our disobedience. Those who only hear Christ’s sayings,
and do them not, sit down in the midway to heaven, and that will
never bring them to their journey’s end. They are akin to Christ only
by the half-blood, and our law allows not such to inherit.
2. These two sorts of hearers are here represented in their true
characters, and the state of their case, under the comparison of two
builders; one was wise, and built upon a rock, and his
building stood in a storm; the other foolish, and built upon
the sand, and his building fell.
Now,
(1.) The general scope of this parable teaches us that the only way to
make sure work for our souls and eternity is, to hear and do the
sayings of the Lord Jesus, these sayings of his in this
sermon upon the mount, which is wholly practical; some of them seem
hard sayings to flesh and blood, but they must be done; and thus we
lay up in store a good foundation for the time to come
a good bond, so some read it; a bond of God’s making, which
secures salvation upon gospel-terms, that is a good bond; not
one of our own devising, which brings salvation to our own fancies.
They make sure the good part, who, like Mary, when they hear the
word of Christ, sit at his feet in subjection to it: Speak,
Lord, for thy servant heareth.
(2.) The particular parts of it teach us divers good lessons.
[1.] That we have every one of us a house to build, and that house is
our hope for heaven. It ought to be our chief and constant care, to
make our calling and election sure, and so we make our salvation
sure; to secure a title to heaven’s happiness, and then to get the
comfortable evidence of it; to make it sure, and sure to ourselves,
that when we fail, we shall be received into everlasting
habitations. Many never mind this: it is the furthest thing from
their thoughts; they are building for this world, as if they were to be
here always, but take no care to build for another world. All who take
upon them a profession of religion, profess to enquire, what they shall
do to be saved; how they may get to heaven at last, and may have
a well-grounded hope of it in the mean time.
[2.] That there is a rock provided for us to build this house
upon, and that rock is Christ. He is laid for a
foundation, and other foundation can no may lay,
Isa. xxviii. 16; 1 Cor. iii. 11.
He is our Hope,
1 Tim. i. 1.
Christ in us is so; we must ground our hopes of heaven upon the fulness
of Christ’s merit, for the pardon of sin, the power of his Spirit, for
the sanctification of our nature, and the prevalency of his
intercession, for the conveyance of all that good which he has
purchased for us. There is that in him, as he is made known, and
made over, to us in the gospel, which is sufficient to redress
all our grievances, and to answer all the necessities of our case, so
that he is a Saviour to the uttermost. The church is built
upon this Rock, and so is every believer. He is strong and
immovable as a rock; we may venture our all upon him, and shall
not be made ashamed of our hope.
[3.] That there is a remnant, who by hearing and doing the sayings
of Christ, build their hopes upon this Rock; and it is their
wisdom. Christ is our only Way to the Father, and the obedience
of faith is our only way to Christ: for to them that obey
him, and to them only, he becomes the Author of eternal
salvation. Those build upon Christ, who having sincerely
consented to him, as their Prince and Saviour, make it their constant
care to conform to all the rules of his holy religion, and therein
depend entirely upon him for assistance from God, and acceptance with
him, and count every thing but loss and dung that they may
win Christ, and be found in him. Building upon a rock
requires care and pains: they that would make their calling and
election sure, must give diligence. They are wise builders
who begin to build so as they may be able to finish
(Luke xiv. 30),
and therefore lay a firm foundation.
[4.] That there are many who profess that they hope to go to heaven,
but despise this Rock, and build their hopes upon the
sand; which is done without much pains, but it is their folly.
Every thing besides Christ is sand. Some build their hopes upon their
worldly prosperity, as if they were a sure token of God’s favour,
Others upon their external profession of religion, the privileges they
enjoy, and the performances they go through in that profession, and the
reputation they have got by it. They are called Christians, were
baptized, go to church, hear Christ’s word, say their prayers, and do
nobody any harm, and, if they perish, God help a great many! This is
the light of their own fire, which they walk in; this is that, upon
which, with a great deal of assurance, they venture; but it is all
sand, took weak to bear such a fabric as our hopes of heaven.
[5.] That there is a storm coming, that will try what our hopes are
bottomed on; will try every man’s work
will discover the foundation,
Hab. iii. 13.
Rain, and floods, and wind, will beat upon the house; the trial
is sometimes in this world; when tribulation and persecution arise
because of the word, then it will be seen, who only heard the word,
and who heard and practiced it; then when we have occasion to use our
hopes, it will be tried whether they were right, and well-grounded, or
not. However, when death and judgment come, then the storm comes, and
it will undoubtedly come, how calm soever things may be with us now.
Then every thing else will fail us but these hopes, and then, if ever,
they will be turned into everlasting fruition.
[6.] That those hopes which are built upon Christ the Rock will stand,
and will stand the builder in stead when the storm comes; they will be
his preservation, both from desertion, and from prevailing disquiet.
His profession will not wither; his comforts will not fail; they will
be his strength and song, as an anchor of the soul, sure and
steadfast. When he comes to the last encounter, those hopes will
take off the terror of death and the grave; will carry him cheerfully
through that dark valley; will be approved by the Judge; will stand the
test of the great day; and will be crowned with endless glory,
2 Cor. i. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.
Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he comes, finds so
doing, so hoping.
[7.] That those hopes which foolish builders ground upon any thing but
Christ, will certainly fail them on a stormy day; will yield them no
true comfort and satisfaction in trouble, in the hour of death, and in
the day of judgment; will be no fence against temptations to apostacy,
in a time of persecution. When God takes away the soul, where is the
hope of the hypocrite?
Job xxvii. 8.
It is as the spider’s web, and as the giving up of the
ghost. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand,
Job viii. 14, 15.
It fell in the storm, when the builder had most need of it, and
expected it would be a shelter to him. It fell when it was too late to
build another: when a wicked man dies, his expectation perishes;
then, when he thought it would have been turned into fruition, it
fell, and great was the fall of it. It was a great disappointment
to the builder; the shame and loss were great. The higher men’s hopes
have been raised, the lower they fall. It is the sorest ruin of all
that attends formal professors; witness Capernaum’s doom.
III. In the
we are told what impressions Christ’s discourse made upon the auditory.
It was an excellent sermon; and it is probable that he said more than
is here recorded; and doubtless the delivery of it from the mouth of
him, into whose lips grace was poured, did mightily set if off. Now,
1. They were astonished at this doctrine; it is to be feared
that few of them were brought by it to follow him: but for the present,
they were filled with wonder. Note, It is possible for people to admire
good preaching, and yet to remain in ignorance and unbelief; to be
astonished, and yet not sanctified.
2. The reason was because he taught them as one having authority,
and not as the scribes. The scribes pretended to as much authority
as any teachers whatsoever, and were supported by all the external
advantages that could be obtained, but their preaching was mean, and
flat, and jejune: they spake as those what were not themselves masters
of what they preached: the word did not come from them with any life or
force; they delivered it as a school-boy says his lesson; but Christ
delivered his discourse, as a judge gives his charge. He did indeed,
dominari in conscionibus–deliver his discourses with a tone of
authority; his lessons were law; his word a word of command.
Christ, upon the mountain, showed more true authority, than the scribes
in Moses’s seat. Thus when Christ teaches by his Spirit in the soul,
he teaches with authority. He says, Let there be light, and there is
light.
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