Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

In this chapter our Savior dispels the fears of His disciples concerning temporal things, and especially their fear of persecution and their fear of need.

Verses 1, 2. In the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trampled upon one another, He began to say unto His disciples, first of all, Beware you of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. What, therefore, can be the use of hypocrisy? Hypocrisy leads a man to pretend to be what he is not. His only hope lies in not being discovered. But, as Christ declares that "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known," hypocrisy becomes insanity as well as iniquity! Therefore, keep clear of it in every shape and form.

3-5. Therefore whatever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which you have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you, My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear Him, which after He has killed, haspower to cast into Hell; yes, I say unto you, Fear Him. There is nothing, comparatively, to fear in death considered by itself. If that were the end of man, he need have little or no fear even of God, Himself. But inasmuch as after death there is another state which is everlasting and unchangeable, there is grave cause for the ungodly to fear Him who, "after He has killed, has power to cast into Hell."

6, 7. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So particular is the care of Divine Providence.

7, Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. And if He counts the sparrows, and cares for them, He certainly will not forget you!

8, 9. Also I say unto you, Whoever shall confess Me before men, Him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of Go: but he that denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.Mind what you are doing, then, you who never confess Christ before men, because, according to the context of this passage, you are set down as having denied Him. Christ first speaks of those who confess Him and then of those who do not confess Him—and He describes them as virtually denying Him. On another occasion, Christ said, "He that is not with Me is against Me. And he that gathers not with Me scatters abroad." Examine that attitude of yours, which you suppose to be neutral, and see how Christ regards it—and then ask yourself whether you can be satisfied to remain in it any longer.

10. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven. What is the sin against the Holy Spirit? We do not know and I think it is a great mercy that we do not know. I will tell you one reason why I think it is a great mercy, and that is because the devil is continually tempting poor distracted souls to commit that sin. I have, within the past week, seen several persons who have been frequently tempted to commit it. Only, happily, they did not know what the sin against the Holy Spirit was! And, therefore, they could not persuade themselves into the belief that they had committed it. I have seen many people who have told me that they have committed the unpardonable sin, and I have asked them to sit down and tell me what that sin was, for if they could do so, I would find out something that I did not know! In every instance I have very soon been able to say to them, "Though I do not know what the unpardonable sin is, I am quite certain that what you mention is not that sin, for such sin as yours has frequently been forgiven." It is a blessing that we are left in the dark concerning that matter! Only as I have often said to you, do not presume upon your ignorance. This warning is something like the notice you see put up on certain great men's estates, "Man-traps and spring guns set here." If you go round the mansion, and say to the owner, "If you please, Sir, will you tell me where the man-traps and spring guns are?" He will say, "No. Why should you want to know where they are? You keep from trespassing and then it will not matter to you where they are." That very indistinctness about the warning is a part of the preventive power which surrounds it! You have no right to go trespassing there at all, so keep away from the place! And you are not told what the unpardonable sin is, though there is a sin which is unto death and there is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which shall not be forgiven.

11, 12. And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take you no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say: for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. He has often done this. If you will read in Foxe'sBook of Martyrs, the answers given even by unlearned, illiterate men and women who were taken quite at unawares, and assailed by subtle questions, you will see that they often answered in a remarkably wise way. They could not have answered better if the questions had been before them for months! They frequently baffled their cunning adversaries by their wisdom and sometimes by their wit, for the Holy Spirit taught them in the same hour what they ought to speak.

13. And one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. He rudely broke in upon Christ's discourse when He was preaching upon these important matters because he wanted the Savior to act the part of a judge in his dispute with his brother!

14. And He said unto him, Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you? Some present-day minister, if this request had been made to him, would probably have said, "Well, I may save some litigation, perhaps, if I attend to this matter." As a general rule, Brother, you had better mind your own business! Your Master, who was far wiser than you are, would not entangle Himself with the affairs of this life and, usually, true wisdom suggests that we, also, should keep ourselves apart from them.

15-17. And He said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? This was his dialogue within himself. He might have answered at once, "As I have more than I can use, I will give some to the poor! Why should I need to lay up my fruits, to let them get moldy and corrupt? There are many poor people starving at my very gates—I will let them share in what God has so bountifully given to me." This might have been his answer to the question, "What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?" His reply, however, was a very different one.

18, 19. And he said, This will I do: I willpull down my barns and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul It is, "my," all through—my fruits, mybarns, my goods. The man was eaten up with selfishness and did not recognize the fact of his stewardship. He did not know that even his own soul did not belong to him—he thought it did—"I will say to mysoul."

19, 20. Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be which you have provided?"You fool." That is God's opinion of the man who means to build bigger barns in order that he may, himself, enjoy what is about to be taken away from him! He was a fool to be laying up in store for others to scatter. Many a miser's heirs have lived to ridicule him. He was the rake that gathered up a heap of gold—and they are the shovel and fork that scatter it! They drink the old man's health and are much obliged to him for stinting himself that they may drink so deeply.

21, 22. So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And He said unto His disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought It really means, "Make it not a matter of anxious care. Take no inordinate thought."

22, 23. For your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.Everybody admits the truth of this saying of the Savior, though all do not see everything that is involved in it. Therefore, as the soul is more important than all else, look well to your soul, look more to your life than to your food!

24. Consider the ravens.It is quite possible that some of them were flying overhead just at that time, and that Christ pointed to them and said, "Consider the ravens."

24, 25. For they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them: how much more are you better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? "You cannot lengthen your body." Or perhaps the Savior meant, "You cannot lengthen out your life."

26. If you then are not able to do that thing which is least It really is a matter of very slight consequence whether you are a little shorter or taller.

26-29. Why take you thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. Full of carking care and anxiety about little things or, indeed, about anything!

30. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things. Therefore He would have you so live—industriously, prudently, thriftily—that you shall get these things and shall not waste them when you have them. But He would not have you live in an anxious, worrying, depressed spirit, as if you had no God, no Heavenly Father, no all-sufficient Friend—and as if there were no all-wise Providence, and you were left to drift about uncared for and alone. It is not so. O God of the lilies and God of the ravens, You will be the God of Your people, too!

31, 32. But rather seek you the Kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. He may not give you much here, but, in due time He will give you the Kingdom! He may give to worldlings more of these secondary things—these husks, these mere illusions, these mirages of the desert—than He gives to you—but for you there is prepared a city that has foundations and a Kingdom that shall never pass away! Therefore patiently wait until the appointed time and fear not, "for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

33, 34. Sell that you have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts. For where your treasure is, there will your heart also be. It is not only important to lay up that which can truly be called treasure, but also to lay it up in the right place—"a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts." Such treasure as that will not harm us if we set our heart upon it and, by-and-by, in God's good time, we and our treasure shall both be in Heaven!

35-37. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. And you yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the lord when he comes shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. This always seems to me to be one of the most remarkable of our Lord's utterances while He was here upon the earth. His whole life was one of condescension, which was never more clearly manifested than it was when He, the Lord and Master of All, took the position of Servant of all, and washed His disciples' feet! Yet He here tells us that, if He finds us watching when He comes again, He will once more take His place as our servitor!

38-44. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have allowed his house to be broken into. Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of Man comes at an hour when you think not Then Peter said unto Him, Lord, do You speak this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who, then, is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he has.