PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels — St. Matthew
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles), 1816–1900 · 139,856 words · 405 reading sections
MATTHEW XXIII. 13—33.
13 But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves, nei- tlier sutfer ye them that are entering to go in.…
36 wordsSECTION 302MATTHEW, CHAP. XXIII.
301 14 "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer : therefore ye shall receive the crreater damnation. 15 Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and laud to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twof…
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that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson. It shows how utterly ahominable the spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees is in God's sight, in whatever form it may be found. Let us glance shortly at the eight charges which our Lord brings forward, and then seek to draw from the whole passage some general instruction. …
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The six til and seventh " woes" in the list possess too much in common to be divided. They are directed against a general characteristic of the religion of the Scribes. They set outward purity and decency above in- ward sanctification and purity of heart. They made it a religious duty to cleanse the " outside'' of thei…
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worse to be a blind guide. Of all men none is so culpably wicked as an unconverted minis ter, and none will be judged so severely. It is a solemn saying about sucb an one, " He resembles an unskilful pilot : he does not perish alone." Finally, let us beware of supposing from this passage, that the safest course in rel…
161 wordsSECTION 306MATTHEW XXIII. 34^39.
34 Wherefore, beliold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and Scribes : and some of them ye shall kill and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city : 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel …
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Jews, as a nation, had often given the servants of God most shameful usage. They had often dealt with them as enemies, because they told them the truth. Some they had persecuted, and some they had scourged, and some they had even killed. They thought perhaps that no account would be required of their conduct. But our L…
329 wordsSECTION 308MATTHEW, CHAP. XXIII.
309 our Lord say, " Verily all these things shall come upon this generation." It is good for us all to mark this lesson well. We are too apt to think that " bygones are bygones," and that things which to us are past, and done, and old, will never be raked up again. But we forget that wdth God "one day is as a thousan…
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We learn, in the last place, from these verses, that tJiose ivJio are lost for ever, are lost through their oion fault. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ are very remark- able. He says, " I would have gathered thy children together, — and ye would not." There is something peculiarly deserving of notice in this expre…
320 wordsSECTION 310MATTHEW, CHAP. XXIV.
311 to save them — nor yet because they wanted to be saved, but could not — butbecause they would not come to Christ. Let the ground we take up be always that of the passage we are now considermg — Christ would gather men, but they will not to be gathered ; Christ would save men, but they ivill not to be saved. Let it…
137 wordsSECTION 311MATTHEW XXIV. 1—14.
1 And Jesus "went out, and departed from the temple : and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things ? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shaU not be thrown down. 3 And as he sat upon the …
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of which a largo portion is unfulfilled — prophecy which ought to be deeply interesting to all true Christians. It is a subject to which the Holy Ghost says, we "do well to take heed.'' (2 Peter i.) All portions of Scripture like this, ought to be ap- proached with deep humility, and earnest prayer for the teaching of…
305 wordsSECTION 313MATTHEW, CHAP. XXIV. 313
doubtedly ia some parts of the cliapter so entwined together, that it is difficult to separate and disentangle them. But all these points appear distinctly in the chapter, and without them it cannot be fairly explained. The first fourteen verses of the proj^hecy are taken up with general lessons of wide range and appl…
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unfulfilled propliecies will be accomplished, either by- fixing dates on the one hand, or bidding us wait for the conversion of the world on the other. — On all these points let the j^lain meaning of Scripture be our only guide, and not the traditional interpretations of men. Let us not be ashamed to say that we expect…
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Our eyes may yet see tlie sun of Christianity go down like the sun of Judaism, in clouds and storms. Above all, let us Ions: for our Lord's return. Oh ! for a heart to pray daily, " Come, Lord Jesus V…
40 wordsSECTION 316MATTHEW XXIV. 15—28.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation^ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand :) 16 Then let them which be in Judtea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the house- top not come down to take any thing out of his house. 18 Neither…
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probable that they apply to a second siege of Jerusalem, which is yet to take jjlace, when Israel has returned to their own land — and to a second tribulation on the inha- bitants thereof, which shall only be stopped by the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such a view of this passage may sound startling to some.'*' But…
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We see for another thing, that God's elect are ahoays special objects of God's care. Twice in this passage our Lord mentions them. " For the elect's sake the days of tribulation are to be shortened." It will not be possible to deceive the " elect." Those whom God has chosen to salvation by Christ, are those whom God s…
305 wordsSECTION 319CHAP. XXIV. 321
But the precise period, the year, the month, the day, the hour, are all hidden things. We only know that it will he a very sudden event. Our plain duty then is to live always prepared for His return. Let us walk by faith, and not by sight. Let us believe in Christ, serve Christ, follow Christ, and love Christ. So livin…
74 wordsSECTION 320MATTHEW XXIV. 29—35.
29 Immediately after the tribula- tion of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall tall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken : 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth from t…
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These verses teach us, in the first place, that ivhen the Lord Jesus returns to this loorld, He shall come ivith pe- culiar glory and majesty. He shall come "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Before His pre- sence the very sun, moon, and stars shall he darkened, and " the powers of heaven shall be sh…
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fectly safe. Not a liair of their heads shall fall to the ground. Not one bone of Christ's mystical body shall be broken. There was an ark for Noah, in the day of the flood. There was a Zoar for Lot, when Sodom was destroyed. There shall be a hiding-place for all believers in Jesus, when the wrath of God at last bursts…
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325 nature. He knew that scoffers would arise in the last days, saying, where is the promise of His coming ? (2 Pet. iii. 4.) He knew that when He came, faith would be rare on the earth. He foresaw how many would contempt- uously reject the solemn predictions He had just been delivering as improbable, unlikely, and ab…
165 wordsSECTION 324MATTHEW XXIV. 36—51.
36 But of that day and hour know- eth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, bat my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe tvere, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marryhig and giving in marriage, until the day that Xoe entere…
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47 Verily I say unto you, That ho shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayethhis comiiifr ; 49 And shall begin to smite Ms fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken ; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not…
340 wordsSECTION 326MATTHEW, CHAP. XXV. 327
meet God. And our Lord says, " so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.'' Let us mark this text, and store it up in our minds There are many strange opinions current on this subject, even among good men. Let us not flatter ourselves that the heathen will all bo converted, and the earth filled with the knowledge …
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time for parting words, or a change of mind, wlien the Lord appears. All shall be taken as they are, and reap according as they have sown. Believers shall be caught up to glory, honor, and eternal life. Unbelievers shall be left behind to shame and everlasting contempt. Blessed and happy are they who are of one heart i…
297 wordsSECTION 328MATTHEW, CHAP. XXIV. 329
They should resolve by God's 'grace not to sleep at their post. That text of St. Paul deserves many a thought : " let us not sleep as do others ; but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thess. v. 6.) True Christians ought to live like good servants, whose master is not at home. They should strive to be always ready for the…
285 wordsSECTION 329MATTHEW XXV. 1—13.
1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five ivere foolish. 3 They that were foolisb took their lamps, and took no oil with them : 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 Whi…
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ivill find His Clturcli a mixed body, containing evil as ivell as good. The professing Cliurcli is compared to "ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom." All of them had lamps, but only five had oil in their vessels to feed the flame. All of them professed to have one object in view, bu…
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picture. After all our preachings and prayings — after all our visiting and teaching— after all our missionary- exertions abroad, and means of grace at home, many will be found at last " dead in trespasses and sins !" The wickedness and unbelief of human nature, is a subject about which we have all much to learn. We s…
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We see, in the next place, that ichen the Lord comes again, many will find out the value of saving religion too late. The parable tells us that when the bridegroom came, the foolish virgins said unto the wise, '^give us of your oil ; for our lamps are gone out." It tells us further, that as the wise had no oil to spar…
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and pray for those who persecute us. They know not what they are doing. They will certainly alter their minds one day. We may yet hear them confessing, that we were wise and they were foolish. The whole world shall one day acknowledge, that the saints of God made a wise choice. We see, lastly, in this parable, that iv…
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335 consolations. Heaviness may endure for a niglit, but joy Cometh in the morning. The day of Christ's return shall surely make amends for all. Let us leave this parable with a settled determination, never to be content with anything short of indw^elling grace in our hearts. The lamp and the name of Christian — the …
94 wordsSECTION 335MATTHEW XXV. 14-30.
14 For the Ymgdom qf^ Jieaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and de- livered unto them his goods. 15 And unto one he gave five tal- ents, to another two, and to another one ; to every man according to his several ability ; and straightway took his journey. 16 Then he that had …
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29 For unto every one that hath I 30 And cast ye the unprofitable shall be given, and he shall have servant hito outer darkness :_ there abundance: but from him that hath shall be weeping and gnashing of not shall be taken away even that | teeth, which he hath. The parable of the talents which we have now read is near…
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Hans must one day have a reckoning with God. The para- ble tells us that " after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them/' There is a judgment before us all. Words have no meaning in the Bible, if there is none. It is mere trilling with Scripture to deny it. There is a judgment before us ac…
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his Master's eye saw more "beauty in his cifforts to please HiiHj than he ever saw himself. He will iind that every hour sjjent in Christ's service, and every word spoken on Christ's behalf, has been written in a book of remem- brance. Let believers remember these things and take courage. — The cross may be heavy now, …
403 wordsSECTION 339MATTHEW XXV. 31—46.
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right …
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the laM day. We read that before Christ "shall be gathered all nations/' All that have ever lived shall one day give account of themselves at the bar of Christ. All must obey the summons of the great King, and come forward to receive their sentence. Those who would not come to worship Christ on earth, will find they m…
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neglect of Christ. " Lord/' they say, " when saw we thee, — and did not minister unto thee T' Let this thought sink down into our hearts. Characters on earth will prove an everlasting possession in the world to come. "With the same heart that men die, with that heart they will rise again. Let us mark, in the last plac…
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345 ing conscience — the eternal society of none but the wicked, the de^dl and his angels — the eternal remembrance of opportunities neglected and Christ desj)ised — the eternal prospect of a weary, hopeless future — all this is misery indeed. It is enough to make our ears tingle, and our blood run cold. And yet this …
120 wordsSECTION 343MATTHEW XXVI. 1—13.
1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 3 Then assembled together the Chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the H…
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sufferings and death. Hitherto we have seen him as the great Prophet : we are now about to see Him as the great High Priest. It is a portion of Scripture which ought to be read with pecuhar reverence and attention. The place where- on we stand is holy ground. Here we see how the Seed of the woman bruised the Serpent's…
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meat, and poured a box of precious ointraent on His head. She did it, no doubt, out of reverence and affec- tion. She had received soul-benefit from Him, and she thought no mark of honour too costly to be bestowed on Him in return. But this deed of hers called forth dis- approbation from some who saw it. They called it…
560 wordsSECTION 346MATTHEW XXVI. 14-25.
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the Chief Priests, 15 And said unto them. What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you ? And they covenanted with, him for thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. 17 Now the first day of the feast 350…
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of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Wliere wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover ? 18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him. The Master saith, My time is at hand ; I •will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. 19 And the disciples did …
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Jiidas Iscariot liad the highest possible religious privi- leges. He was a chosen apostle, and companion of Christ. He was an eye-witness of our Lord's miracles, and a hearer of His sermons. He saw what Abraham and Moses never saw, and heard what David and Isaiah never heard. He lived in the society of the eleven apost…
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ruin. He had given up much for Christ's sake, hut he had not given up his covetousness. The words of the apostle Paul should often ring in our ears, "the love of money is the root of all evil.'' (2 Tim. vi. 10.) The history of the Church ahounds in illustrations of this truth. For money Joseph was sold hy his brethren…
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■worm that never dies^ and a fire that is not quenched. (Mark ix. 44.) "Except a man be born again/' he will wish one day he had never been born at all. " Better/' says Burkitt, ''have no being, than not have a being in Christ." Let us grasp this truth firmly, and not let it go. There are always persons who dislike the…
200 wordsSECTION 351MATTHEW XXVI. 26—35.
26 And as they were eating, Jesus ye shall be oflFended because of me this took bread, and blessed it, and brake night ; for it is written, I will smite it, and gave it to the disciples, and the shepherd, and the sheep of the said. Take, eat ; this is my body. i flock shall be scattered abroad. 27 And he took the cup,…
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of the Lord's Supper. Our Lord knew well the things that were before Him, and graciously chose the last quiet evening that he could have before his crucifixion, as an occasion for bestowing a parting gift on his church. How precious must this ordinance have afterwards ap- peared to His disciples, when they remembered t…
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The conduct of tlie disciples at the Lord's Supper forbids us to believe that the bread they received was Christ's body, and the wine they received was Christ's blood. They were all Jews, taught from their infancy to believe that it was sinful to cat flesh with the blood. (Dent. xii. 23 — 25.) Yet there is nothing in t…
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oblation in it, — no offering U23 of anything but oui jjrayerSj ]3raises, and thanksgivings. From the day that Jesus died there needed no more offering for sin. By one offering He perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb. X. 14.) PriestSj altars, and sacrifices, all ceased to be necessarj^, when the Lamb of Gr…
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qualification for communicants. A man may know but little, and be no better than a child in spiritual strength, but he is not on that account to be excluded from the Lord's table. — Does he reallyfeelhis sins ? Does hereally love Christ ? Does he really desire to serve Him ? If this be so, we ought to encourage and rec…
408 wordsSECTION 356MATTHEW XXVI. 36-46.
36 Then cometh Jesus with them ] not into temptation : the spirit indeed ' /s willing, but the flesh i* weak. 42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Fa- ther, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 43 And he came and found them asleep again : for their eye…
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without a groan, and so, no doubt, might our Lord. But the real weight that bowed down the heart of Jesus, was the weight of the sin of the world, which seems to have now pressed down upon Him with peculiar force. It was the burden of our guilt imputed to Him, which was now laid on Him, as on the head of the scape goat…
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t But however mysterious tliis part of our Lord's history may seem to us, we must not fail to observe the precious I lessons of practical instruction, which it contains. Let us now see what those lessons are. I Let us learn, in the first place, that i^rayer is the best ]^radkal remedy tliat lue can use in time of tr…
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have an answer. "If it be possible/' and the thing we ask is for God's glory, it shall be done. The thorn in the flesh shall either be removed, or grace to endure it will be given to us, as it was to St. Paul. (2 Cor. xii. 9.) May we all store up this lesson against the day of need. It is a true saying, that " prayers …
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encompassed with infirmity, should stir us up contin- ually to " watch and pray." If we know anything of true religion, let us never forget this lesson. If we desire to walk with God com- fortably, and not fall, like David or Peter, let us never forget to watch and pray. Let us live like men on enemy's ground, and be …
121 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1857). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.