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THE WISE BUILDER
IT is of great importance in preaching the Gospel, to discriminate between the different characters to whom we deliver our message, and to separate the precious from the vile. If this be neglected, the wicked will hold fast their delusions, and the righteous continue in bondage to their fears: but if we be faithful in the discharge of this part of our duty, those among whom we minister, will be led to a knowledge of their own proper character and condition. Our blessed Lord, at the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount, shews us how we should apply our subjects to the hearts and consciences of our hearers. In the words before us he describes,
I. The character and condition of the godly—
Their character is drawn in simple but comprehensive terms—
[“They come to Christ:” this is absolutely necessary to their entrance on the divine life: till they have come to Christ under a sense of their own guilt and helplessness, they have no pretensions to godliness; they are obnoxious to the curse of the law, and the wrath of God [Note: Joh_3:18; Joh_3:36; Joh_5:40.].
After they have come to Christ, “they hear his sayings;” they sit at his feet, like Mary [Note: Luk_10:39.],” desiring to be fully instructed in his mind and will. With this view they study the Holy Scriptures, and “meditate in them day and night:” with this view also they attend the ordinances, and “receive the word, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God [Note: 1Th_2:13.].”
They do not, however, rest in hearing his sayings; but they go forth to “do them.” They desire to know his will in order that they may do it. They love the most searching discourses, because by them they discover the evil of their own hearts, and are led to aspire after a fuller conformity to the Divine image: nor would they rest, till they feel every “thought and desire captivated to the obedience of Christ.”]
Their condition is exhibited in an apt similitude—
[A man who builds his house upon a rock, shews that, however temperate the weather may be at the time he is building, he expects tempests to arise: and when the storms do come, he feels himself secure, from a consciousness that his house is so constructed as to withstand their violence.
Now a godly man resembles him in foresight and in security. He knows that, though he may at present be able to live in some tolerable comfort without religion, it will not be always so: he feels that, when misfortunes, troubles, sickness, and death shall come, he will be miserable without a well-founded hope of immortality. Hence he will not be satisfied with any religion that will not stand the test of scriptural examination; for he knows that no other will prove sufficient in the hour of trial.
When the storms blow, and the tempests beat upon him, then he finds the benefit of having “digged deep,” and laid his foundation well. Then he stands immoveable secure: the promise and oath of Jehovah are his firm support: Omnipotence itself upholds him. In vain do troubles from without, or temptations from within, assault him: even in the immediate prospect of death itself he retains his confidence, “knowing in whom he has believed [Note: 2Ti_1:12; 2Ti_4:6-8.],” and assured that Jesus will save him to the uttermost.]
In a perfect contrast to this, our Lord exhibits,
II. The character and condition of the ungodly—
Their character is the very reverse of that already drawn—
[It is worthy of observation, that nothing is said of their coming unto Christ. Here is their radical defect: had they ever come as perishing sinners to him, they should have wanted nothing for the perfecting of their salvation: but they are too proud to stoop to such an humiliating method of obtaining mercy: they do not feel their desert of God’s wrath, or their need of a mediator: and therefore, though they will compliment Jesus with the name of Saviour, they will not flee to him for refuge as those who know that without him they must for ever perish.
They will indeed “hear his sayings; but they will not do them.” They may take a pleasure in hearing the Gospel preached; and, like Ezekiel’s hearers, attend the ministration of the word with as much delight, as others listen to a musical performance [Note: Eze_33:31-32.]. They may even shew an extraordinary zeal about the ordinances of religion [Note: Isa_58:2.], and may alter their conduct, like Herod, in many things [Note: Mar_6:20.]: but there is some darling lust with which they will not part. When their besetting sin comes to be exposed, they draw back, unwilling to have their wounds probed, and their lusts mortified. When they are required to “pluck out their right eye, and to cut off their right hand,” they turn away, exclaiming, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it [Note: Joh_6:60.]?”
This stamps their character as ungodly. It is not the commission of any gross sin that constitutes men ungodly; but it is the retaining of some bosom lust, the rendering of only a partial obedience to the law, the “not having the heart right with God.”]
The similitude also reversed exactly describes their condition—
[A person who, because the weather is fair, builds his house without any proper foundation, will, as soon as storms and tempests arise, find reason for regret. The house, for want of a foundation, will be undermined, and fall. He will then lose all the labour and money that he has bestowed upon it, and perhaps, with all his family, be overwhelmed in its ruins.
The ungodly man “is like to him” in folly, and in danger. His religion must come to the test at last: if it bear him through his trials in life, and uphold him with some degree of comfort in death, still it can never bear the scrutiny of the judgment day: then every man’s work will be tried as by fire; and that which does not endure the fire, will be burnt up [Note: 1Co_3:13.]. How will the folly of trusting to vain delusions appear in that day! What regret and sorrow will arise in the mind of him who has laboured so much for nought! And how “great will be his ruin,” when he shall have no shelter from the wrath of God, and when the goodly fabric that he built shall crush him to atoms!
O that we well considered this; and that all of us would build as for eternity!]
Let us learn from hence,
1. The necessity of practical religion—
[Religion does not consist in mere notions, however just or scriptural; but in a conformity of heart and life to the will of God. We must not, however, mistake, as though our works were the foundation whereon we are to build (that would indeed be a foundation of sand): Christ is the only foundation of a sinner’s hope [Note: 1Co_3:11.]; the only rock on which we must build: but then we must shew that we do build on him, by the super-structure which we raise upon him: and if the superstructure be not such as to prove that we are founded on him, our hopes of standing in the day of judgment are vain and delusive.]
2. The excellence of practical religion—
[A house, whose foundation is deep, and fixed upon a rock, will stand, whatever storms or tempests may beat upon it. And thus it is with the practical and consistent Christian. His principles will bear him up in the day of adversity: he may defy all the hosts both of men and devils; for none shall ever separate him from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord [Note: Rom_8:38-39.]. And when the most specious structures shall fall, to the confusion and ruin of those who erected them, the wise builder shall dwell secure amidst the desolating judgments and the wreck of worlds.]