Matthew 7:28

Astonished at his doctrine— Or, his manner of teaching. See Mark 1:27 for he taught them (Matthew 7:29.) as one having authority. This authority plainly appeared in these words, but I say unto you, &c. and in Matthew 7:22 have we not prophesied in thy name, &c. from which it is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ was not a teacher only of God's will, but a law-giver, and invested with a much greater authority than any of the prophets that went before him;—and not as the scribes. The Vulgate and Syriac versions add, and the Pharisees, whose lectures, for the most part, were absolutely trifling, being drawn fromtradition, or from the comments of other doctors, which these ignorant and corrupt teachers substituted in the place of scripture, reason, and truth. If we may judge of the teaching of the scribes in Christ's days, by the Jewish Talmuds, or even by their Mischna, nothing could be more generally contemptible; and their frigid and insipid comments and lessons could no more be compared with those strains of divine eloquence with which our Lord's discourses abounded, than a glow-worm can be compared to the sun. Beza has observed that Ην διδασκων, he taught them, or rather, he was teaching them, refers to the continued course and general character of his teaching; of which this divine sermon is a noble specimen. Most of the things contained in it were delivered by our Lord oftener than once; for they were of such importance, as to admit of a frequent repetition. Therefore, says Macknight, in agreement with Doddridge (see on ch. Matthew 5:1.), the sermon which St. Luke has related, although the same with this in the matter of it, may very well have been different in point of time. The commentators, indeed, are generally of another opinion; swayed, I suppose, by the similarity of the discourses, and of the incidents attending them. Farther, although throughout the Gospels we meet with almost all the precepts contained in this sermon, we are not to infer hence, that there was no such discourse ever pronounced by Christ, but that it is a collection made by St. Matthew, of the doctrines and precepts which he taught in the course of his ministry, as some learned men have affirmed. The reflection wherewith the Evangelist concludes his account of this sermon seems evidently to prove that the whole was delivered at once. It came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, &c. that is to say, had ended this discourse to the people, &c. See Chemnitz and Hammond.

Inferences.—All our religion should begin at home; and, instead of being uncharitably severe in censuring others, we should be carefully looking into our own hearts and ways, observing and condemning all that is amiss in ourselves, and labouring by divine grace to reform it. Without this, what will all our pretended zeal, professions of Christ's name, gospel privileges, prayers, and either preaching or hearing of the word, come to? And what a dreadful disappointment will many formalists in religion meet with at the last day! Our corrupt hearts must be changed by renewing grace, before we can be truly holy in our lives; and our principles must be right before our practices can be so. The best way, therefore, of knowing persons and doctrines is by their fruits, according as they are agreeable to the word of God or not.—How should we dread the thoughts of following the multitude to do evil, lest we follow them into hell; or of building our hopes of happiness on insecure grounds, lest they fail us, to our final destruction! And how earnest should we be in our applications to a throne of grace, that we may go along with the happy few to everlasting life, or may be wise unto salvation! Blessed be God for the high assurances we have, that the humble, importunate prayer of faith shall not be in vain; that our heavenly Father will, in the riches of his mercy, hear and answer us, and freely bestow the best of blessings upon us; and that by a faith which is productive of real holiness, we shall rest on a sure foundation, weather every storm, and get safe to glory. But, oh! how concerned should we be, not only to hear and admire the doctrines of Christ, but to be lovingly acquainted with them!

REFLECTIONS.—1st, The proud and self-righteous are ever most censorious.

1. Our Lord forbids all rash judgment, unreasonable jealousies, evil surmising, and rigid censures. Judge not, uncharitably, unmercifully, under a spirit of revenge or prejudice; decide not concerning a man's spiritual state from some single act or circumstance, nor pretend to know his heart, much less to determine concerning his everlasting state: to his own master he standeth or falleth. This precept does not forbid the judgment of the civil magistrate, nor our forming conclusions of others' state as well as our own, agreeably to the word of God; for, though our own judgment may be fallible, his must be according to truth.

The prohibition is enforced by a weighty reason: Judge not, that ye be not judged. Our charity and mercifulness to others will be the means of securing the like favourable judgment to ourselves; whilst a spirit of censoriousness will provoke the resentment and ill-will of others, and be returned generally in as liberal abuse: besides, what is infinitely more to be feared, God will give judgment without mercy to those who shewed no mercy, and with rigour of severest justice will call those to his bar who dare usurp his throne, and sit as self-authorised judges of their brethren.

2. He gives us some rules about reproof; not forbidding the kind jealousy of love, but condemning the magisterial rebukes of self-sufficient pride. Before we look at the faults of others, we should well consider if there be not greater in ourselves. For how unreasonable and unjust would it be with malignant eye to mark, aggravate, and with severity condemn, the infirmities and follies of others, the mote which is in their eye; while we extenuate, excuse, or justify, what is far more culpable, the beam which is in our own? or with what face of hardened effrontery can we dare set up for reformers of them, while greater evils, unredressed, lie at our own door? This is the grossest hypocrisy, and such pretended zeal against sin but a greater abomination in God's sight, who trieth the heart. Before we presume to correct others, we should therefore reform the evils in ourselves; lest they should retort, Physician, heal thyself; and our admonition, though just in itself, be rejected with contempt.
3. Christ forbids not only uncharitable censures and magisterial rebukes, but imprudent and unseasonable reproofs. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine. Where men discover their profaneness and impiety; professedly infidel, or avowed enemies to the truths of God; who despise instruction, and are but more exasperated by admonition; there it would be folly, and abuse of things sacred, to persist in rebuking them; and we can only expect insult and harm to ourselves, without any profit to them, or glory to God: but, while prudence is enjoined, we must take care not to make our caution an excuse for our cowardice; not to think men swine till we have found them so; nor be afraid of any consequences when duty calls us, even in the face of persecutors, to bear a faithful testimony to the truths of God.

2nd, Prayer is the means appointed of God to obtain of him the supply of every want, spiritual and temporal; and therefore,
1. The command given is; Ask, seek, knock; implying the fervour, diligence, constancy, and importunity, which must be used, if we would obtain the relief of our necessities; and a deep and humbling sense of our wants, and faith in God's promises, will engage us so to do; without which there can be no availing prayer.

2. A gracious promise is annexed. They who thus pray shall surely succeed: God will hear and answer them according to their various wants. Every petitioner, without respect of persons, who thus in faith draws near to God, receives an answer of peace, finds acceptance and favour with him, has the door of mercy opened, and is welcome to enter, and freely take out of God's fulness whatever blessing he needs. Note; They who refuse or neglect to ask, deserve to want. The prayerless soul will be left inexcusable.

3. As an engagement to pray with assurance of being heard, our Lord enforces his command by an argument drawn from the compassions of our earthly parents. Evil as we are by nature, scarce one can be found so unnatural as to be deaf to the cries of his own flesh and blood, much less inhumanly to give his children things noxious, instead of the food that they want. If then, in such corrupted creatures as we are, such compassions and regard are found towards our offspring, much more will the Father of mercies graciously hear and grant the petitions of his dear children who wait upon him: his love, his power, are infinitely greater than ours, and therefore they shall want no manner of thing that is good. Their own requests, perhaps, may be sometimes improper, unnecessary, unreasonable; and these prayers he will best answer by kind denials; whilst all that his wisdom and goodness see fit shall be given them, in such manner and measure as shall be most for their benefit and his own glory. 3rdly, We have, 1. The conclusion and sum of the foregoing commands; the golden rule, universally applicable in all cases,—To do unto our neighbours as, according to reason and religion, we might expect they should do for us, if our situations were reversed:—to do them no injury; to give them every assistance in our power; to deal with them in uprightness and integrity, without making the least advantage of their ignorance or necessities: and this doctrine both the law and the prophets inculcate; and in this the commands of both, respecting our duty towards our neighbour, are summed up. The rule is short, and easy to be remembered; but how wide and difficult the practice!

2. Christ urges us to all diligence in securing eternal life, and points out the only way thereto: Strive to enter in at the strait gate. The gate is Christ, his infinite merit and intercession: it is strait; as it admits none of the trappings of pride and self-righteousness, and calls us to part from all our most beloved sins, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Christ. And as this will require much labour, prayer, and self-denial, Christ urges the necessity of striving to enter in.

[1.] Because of the ruin and danger which attend the ways of sin, in which the multitude walk unconcerned; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction. There no restraint withholds the unbridled appetite; there pleasure, riches, honour, spread their lure; there all may find the gratification of their darling poison, or are engaged so to hope by that wily tempter, who welcomes all with fairest promises of joy and happiness; and many there be which go in thereat, naturally disposed to follow the bent of their fallen minds, and walking every one in his own way. To swim therefore against the stream of besetting temptations, and the tide of custom too, is difficult: but let us remember that the end of these things is destruction; that these paths lead down to hell; that, whether they be those of carelessness and neglect about the soul, open immorality, or self-righteous hypocrisy, all tend to eternal misery, and meet in the place of torment.

[2.] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. There we must stoop low, our pride be mortified, all self-dependence be renounced; there the restraints of God's law hedge up the way, and leave us the narrow path of holiness only to walk in; there our very nature must be changed, our inveterate evil habits subdued, our corruptions mortified; there we must expect to meet with many trials, afflictions, and temptations; there every inch must be won with perpetual war against sin, earth, and hell; and every step must be taken with watchful care, since dangers and snares are at the right hand and at the left:—no wonder then there be few that find it, comparatively few at least. When therefore the difficulties are so great, the diligence should be proportionable; and if there be but few, comparatively, saved, we should strive to be of that number; and the issue will repay our pains: eternal life will infinitely more than compensate for all the struggles of the way.

4thly, False Christs and false prophets would shortly arise; and false teachers were already abundantly numerous. Against these the Lord therefore cautions his disciples, and sets down marks whereby they may be distinguished.
1. Our Lord describes them as wolves in sheep's clothing; such as the Pharisees and Scribes were, who, with exterior marks of sanctity, and austerity in their manners and garb, were inwardly full of enmity against the doctrines of grace and true holiness, and in their spirit hypocritical, proud, and covetous. And probably our Lord has respect to the false apostles, the judaizing teachers, and all who should ever afterwards appear in his church, preaching the abominable doctrines of man's self-sufficiency, justification by works, and the like; grievous wolves, Acts 20:29 whom gain, not godliness, Romans 16:18 has drawn into the ministry. Beware of them.

2. He lays down the rule by which we must prove all who pretend a mission from him: Ye shall know them by their fruits, just as easily as a tree is known. They who are evil can no more preach the truth, and live it too, than a thorn can bear grapes. And, on the other hand, where the soul is right with God, there the fruits of truth and holiness are necessarily produced. Two ways the prophet may be known;

[1.] By his life. Is his conduct exemplary; self-denying, humble, meek, zealous? Does the love of God and of men's souls appear to influence and actuate him in all his works and ways? At least, in the general temper of his mind, and tendency of his conversation, is this manifested? These are good fruits of a good tree. But is he worldly-minded, proud, sensual, indolent, more willing to fleece than to feed the flock? rigid in exacting the wages, but unwilling to be employed in the work, of the ministry? encouraging, instead of reproving sinners, by his example; conforming to the ways of a wicked world, instead of being transformed in the spirit of his mind? These are evident proofs of the falsehood of such a prophet's pretensions.

[2.] By his doctrine; which seems chiefly intended here: for a false prophet may with the veil of hypocrisy cover his iniquities so as to appear righteous unto men. But are his doctrines according to truth, and drawn from the sacred fountain? does he preach the dignity or the desperate wickedness of man by nature? does he declare the damnable nature of sin, the utter guilt of every man by nature and practice, and the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness; or encourage the false hopes of sinners by smooth prophesies, and soften the harsh terms of hell and damnation, that he may not offend the ear with such inharmonious sounds? Does he exalt the divine Redeemer, his person, his offices, or slightly pass over these glorious subjects, for dry ethics, and lectures on morality? does he enforce religion as an experimental thing, as the work of God's Spirit in the heart, purifying the inner man? or does he dwell on mere external forms and duties; as silent about divine agency as if he knew not whether there were any Holy Ghost? Does he offend sinners by the freedom of his rebukes, and the formal and self-righteous by his scrutinizing detection of their hypocrisy? or does he study to please men, and, like the false prophets of old, secure the good word of the deluded and misguided world? By these and the like fruits shall they be known. Try therefore the spirits, whether they be of God; for many false prophets are gone out into the world; 1 John 4:1.

3. He declares the terrible end of these wolves in sheep's clothing. As the barren tree is only fit fuel for the flames, so are these marked for ruin; the axe of death shall shortly be laid to their root, and ruin eternal be their portion. Beware therefore of false prophets; lest, deluded by them, you partake of their plagues.
5thly, We have the conclusion of this awakening discourse, and the deep impression it made on the hearers.
1. Our Lord shews that no profession of religion, destitute of the power of godliness, will stand a man in any stead at a judgment-day.
[1.] It is not saying, but doing, that must prove our genuine religion. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, in boasting profession and noisy devotion, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, be enrolled as living members of his church, or be admitted inheritors of his glory; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is heaven, who truly believes on him whom God hath sent, takes him for his Lord and Master, not merely in word and tongue, but in deed and in truth; obedient to his commands, following him in righteousness and true holiness, desirous to do his will on earth as he hopes shortly to do his will in heaven. Reader, is this character thine?

[2.] Many in the day of Christ will appear to have deluded themselves with false hopes, whose pleas will then be fearfully silenced. Many will say to me in that great day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Many of those who may have filled the highest stations of the church on earth, have been to appearance the most zealous preachers, or public professors in it, yet proved no better than Balaam or Caiaphas: yea, and in thy name have cast out devils, as Judas, and many others, no doubt; and in thy name done many wonderful works? even working the most astonishing miracles: and yet Christ declares, Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, all ye that work iniquity. Notwithstanding all your pleas, your hearts have been false and faithless, and your professions utterly unsound; and therefore your portion must be, to depart accursed with the devil and his angels. Learn hence these awful truths (1.) That a man may be a minister of the gospel, yea, distinguished with gifts and successful in his labours, and yet be finally cast away; may be the instrument of saving others, and perish himself; may cast out devils from the hearts of others, and harbour them in his own. (2.) Names may pass upon men, but God searcheth the heart. There are secret sins to be found in many under the cloak of most glaring profession; and they shall receive greater damnation. (3.) In the day of judgment, terrible will be the disappointment of those, who all their lives long were working, as they thought for life, were esteemed as patterns of piety, and cried up as the excellent of the earth, and yet will be found not only to have deceived others, but to have deluded themselves, falling from the height of self-righteous hopes into the depths of endless despair, and from the gates of heaven driven into the belly of hell. Let every man prove well his own work, and judge himself, that he may he found sincere and without offence at the day of Christ.

2. He enforces the truths that he had delivered, by an opposite parable of a wise and foolish builder, describing the different foundations they laid, and the different issue of their labours.
[1.] The wise builder, his labours, and success, are described. (1.) His character is given; He heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. Herein is seen the mind that hath wisdom: he receives the truth in the love of it, obeys the precepts, is influenced by the Gospel as a living principle of action, and seeks conformity in heart and life to his divine Lord and Master. (2.) He builds upon a rock, on Jesus Christ, the only sure and safe foundation, depending an his infinite merit, powerful intercession, and free, rich, and unmerited grace alone for pardon and acceptance: and under the teachings of his word and spirit, and the supports of his grace, the glorious superstructure rises of righteousness and true holiness. As he builds for eternity, he is jealous in labouring to make his calling and election sure; and in every good word and work seeks to approve himself to the great Master. (3.) He who thus faithfully and perseveringly builds upon and rests upon this rock, stands against every storm. He may expect, and will meet with many a severe blast: the rain of temptation within, the overflowings of ungodliness without, the wind of persecution, all may unite their fury against him, to move him from his steadfastness, to shake his confidence in Christ, to discourage or seduce him from the good ways of the Lord; but, resting on this rock, and cleaving to this Saviour, the faithful soul shall stand: he shall stand in the day of evil; in the hour of death he shall be supported; his work shall stand the fiery trial; and in the day of judgment he shall be approved and rewarded by the Lord of life and glory.

[2.] The foolish builder, and his sad end, are set forth for our warning. (1.) His character is, that he heareth the sayings of Christ, and doeth them not. He makes profession of religion, and attends upon the ordinances, but goes no farther; the doctrines of the gospel have no deep effect upon his heart, nor an universal and abiding influence on his conduct. (2.) He builds upon the sand, leaving Christ to rest upon something in himself, and looking for acceptance, in whole or in part, on account of some external things wherein he differs from others, whether moral duties, alms, honesty, and the like, or on the form of godliness, baptism, prayers, frequenting the house and table of the Lord, &c. Or if he has a speculative knowledge of the truth, and knows the vanity of these things, he rests on that knowledge, without any experimental possession of the blessings of the gospel; and then it profiteth him nothing: or if his notions are yet more spiritualized, he makes his inward feelings, or supposed gifts and graces, his confidence, depending upon what he calls the Christ within, which is but a more refined self-righteousness, and a more subtle delusion: and therefore, when the time of trial comes, his house will fall, and crush him under its ruins. If persecution arises for the word's sake, such are quickly offended; in times of affliction and trouble, their hopes cannot support and comfort them; and in death they utterly fail; at least, if the hypocrite's hopes stand out to the last, they die with him; destruction and despair from that moment seize him; and too late he discovers the fatal mistake, when it is irremediable, and his eternal state is determined.

3. Great was the impression made by this discourse of our Lord on his audience: they were as men thunder-struck; astonished with the uncommon power, weight, and energy which attended his preaching. They admired the dignity with which he spoke, addressing them in his own name as one invested with authority: and his sentiments were new, as well as weighty; utterly unlike the flat and spiritless comments of the scribes, who servilely adhered to the traditions and decisions of their rabbis. And yet, alas! the impression soon wore off from many, from the most of them. So easy, so common, is it to hear with admiration the eloquent or powerful preachers of the Gospel, to feel a transient glow, and notwithstanding to continue in ignorance and unbelief, under the power of sin, and perish everlastingly.