Luke 12

Luke 12:1-12

Christ here, 1. Worm his disciples to take hold of hypocrisy, and of censorship in professing Christianity and preaching the gospel, vers. 1—12. 2. He gives a caution against censorships, vers. 13—21. 3. He encouraged his disciples to cast all their care upon God, and engage them to make religion their main business, vers. 22—26. 4. He fires them up to wastefulness, vers. 35—48. 5. He finds them respect trouble and persecution, vers. 49—53. 6. He leaves the people to observe and improve the day of their opportunities, and to make their peace with God in time, vers. 54—59.

1. IN the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, individuals that they trode upon one another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharises, which is hypocrisy. 2. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither him, that shall not be known. 3. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness, shall be heard in the light: and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops. 4. And I say unto you, my friends, “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more than they can do. 5. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to call into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. 6. Are not five sparrows sold for two? farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? 7. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. 8. Also I say unto you, “Whoever shall comets me before men,” him shall the Son of man also comets before the angels of God. 9. But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God. 10. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. 11. And when they bring you unto the synagogues and unto magistrates and powers, take ye on thought how or what thing ye shall act, for, or what ye shall say: 12. For the holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

Our Lord inculcated the same truths on different occasions. We need line upon line, and precept upon precept. A vast auditory was now assembled; and, as he was ever ready to speak when they desired to hear, he took occasion.

1. To caution his disciples in public against that hypocrisy of the Pharises which he had just before so sharply rebuked in private. He calls it the leaven of the Pharises. Their hearts, lips, and lives were wholly infected thereby: sworn with pride and self-importance, and floated with envy and malice, all their specious pretences to religion were but an abomination. Christ therefore warns his disciples to blunt this hateful evil themselves, and not to be impelled upon by the fair predictions of these designing men. And he urges, as a powerful argument, the sure detection of hypocrisy, either in this world, or in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. Their most retired communications, even the whispers in a closet, must all shortly be proclaimed before the assembled world. How careful then

6 M need a Met. xvi. b Mark. xvii. c. b Met. xvi. vi. c. Met. x. xii. d. Mark. x. xv.

Luke 12:13-21

need we be over every thought and word, considering that all-facing and heart-searching God with whom we have to do.

2. He charges them to be faithful to their truth, and never to fupprish, through fear or shame, one title of their message; but what they have learnt of him in private, that must they boldly and publicly declare in the face of all opposition. And to encourage them to approve their fidelity unthaken, he addresses them, [1.] As his friends, whom he dearly loved, and would not fail to fupport under every trial. [2.] He lets them know, that the most inveterate malice of their foes can only reach the perishing body; they cannot touch the immortal foul. Better therefore, infinitely better would it be for them, by a steady testimony to the truth, bravely to put their lives in their hands, and meet, if the Lord so permitted, the world death their enemies could inflict; than by a cowardly silence, or fuppression of the adhesive doctrines of the gospel, to provoke a praison God, whose wrath reaches not only to the body, but to the soul, flaking both into the flames of hell, and enduring to eternity. The tear of him should swallow up every other fear. [3.] That guardian Providence, which watches over and orders the most minute events, would take peculiar care of them. Nor a sparrow is forgotten of God, or falls unnoticed; yea, the very hairs of their head are numbered; their most unscrewed foes cannot touch one of them without divine permission; therefore they need not fear what man can do unto them. [4.] According to their fidelity or unfaithfulness, so would they be owned or disowned by him at the last great day. They who, fearless of reproach or suffering, dared make confession of him in the world, shall be with honour acknowledged as his disciples, in the presence of angels at the resurrection of the jull; whilst to decline bearing a testimony for him before men, to avoid loss or infamy, would infallibly provoke Jesus to renounce all relation to them, and expose them to everlasting shame and contempt in the dreadful day of judgment. When we are tempted to be ashamed of or to deny our profession, let us seriously remember this warning, and be wise. [5.] Contempt of their testimony, and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, would expose their perfections to endless wrath. All the reviling now call out against the Son of man in his state of humiliation were pardonable; but after his ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them, to describe the miracles they wrought in confirmation of the resurrection of Jesus, to diabolical agency, would be to refill the only means of conviction, and must exclude such blasphemers from the possibility of repentance or forgiveness. [6.] In all emergencies, where they were called to answer before the tribunals of their perfections, whether Jews or Gentiles, Christ undertakes to furnish them with a tongue, and wisdom which none of their adversaries shall be able to gain say or refill. They need not take thought a moment what to speak in their own defence; the Holy Ghost should effectually furnish them with every thing proper for the occasion; and with such encouragements before them, they may boldly go forth, and fear not.

3. ¶ And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 14. And he said unto him, ‘Man, who made me a judge, or a divider over you? 15. And he said unto them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetoufneis: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth pleasantly: 17. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine eaf, eat, drink, and be merry. 20. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night: thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? 21. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich cowards God.

We have here,

1. The application made to Christ by one of the company, defining him, as a person of authority, to interpose on his behalf with his brother, who either unjustly kept him out of his part of the inheritance, or being the elder, and having by law a double portion, this worldly-minded man would fain come in for an equal share.

2. Christ refuses to interpose. The exercise of temporal power and authority did not belong to that kingdom he came to establish; nay, had he interfered, they would have perhaps made it a ground of accusation, and quarrelled with him for daring to make himself a ruler and a judge. (See Exod. ii. 14.)

3. He takes occasion from this unconscionable application to warn his disciples against the great sin and danger of covetouf-

neis, which being a most insinuating evil, they had need carefully guard their hearts against it. Men are apt to fancy, that this world’s goods are most essential to happiness; but a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth: they conduce nothing to the spiritual satisfaction of the soul; they cannot prolong our lives a day, an hour; nay, instead of being comforts to us, they often prove a plague and snare here below, besides all the hindrances they put in our way, to obstruct our entrance into the kingdom of heaven. To give the greater force to his admonition, he illustrates it by a striking example.

The ground of a certain rich man brought forth pleasantly, (race, a region.) His estate was vast, as the produce of it was abundant. These common gifts of providence the evil and unthankful often enjoy in the largest measure; but we may not judge of God’s love or of real felicity from hence. The rich man is far from being usually the happy man. We are told,

[1.] What anxious cares his wealth occasioned. He thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? He appears as full of propensity as if he knew not where to get another world to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Such is the usual effect of increasing wealth; it brings an increase of care and disquietude.

[2.] The result of his thoughts was this: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods; a re-election, that spoke great folly, as well as unquestioned. He calls these his fruits, which were really but less than all the Lord. To board up all, when so many empty barns of the poor, and hungry bellies might have charitably eased him of some, what of his loss of plenty, was vilely courteous. To call these his goods, which must perish in the using, proved his utter ignorance of a better portion. Greater barns would only bring greater expense and greater care, besides the plague of building; and his presumptions I will, shewed he left God far above out of his sight. So ready are they who trust in uncertain riches to forget the living God.

[3.] He darers himself with the most pleasing prospects, when his schemes were complicated, of sitting down and enjoying at ease the store he had collected. I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine eaf, eat, drink, and be merry. How abused the conclusion? Could his foul re-lish the gratifications of a boalt, or feel any satisfaction from the indulgence of appetite? The wealth of the world, and the pleasures of sense, are not a portion at all suited to its wants: these God alone with a sense of his love and favour can supply. He promised himself many years to enjoy his affluence, when he knew not what a day might bring forth; and reduced the safety of his goods, when in the shortest space fire or tempted might lay his forehead in ruins: so precautions are all our earthly possessions. But if he saw his barns rise, and brooded over his plenty, eafs was what he could no more secure to his body than his soul. All his fruits and his goods could no more alleviate the pains of an aching head, than cure the pangs of an aching heart. One stroke of sickness or disease must embeber all his abundance, and leave him pining in the midst of plenty: one unhappy incident in his family might forbid him to take the least satisfaction in all his affluence. So poor, so precarious a portion is all sublunary good.

[4.] God suddenly confounds his schemes, and blasts his hopes. He said unto him, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Death in a moment darkens all the gay prospects, and dashes the gaudy bubble which flattering hope had blown. The day is near, when every carnal worldling, whom men admired as wise, and praised as doing well for himself, [Pf. xlv. 18.] shall feel with terrible conviction his egregious folly, and hear thou fool pronounced upon him by the lips of eternal wisdom. The affluence of the wicked must quickly change its owner, and nothing remain for them but a dreary grace, and a certain fearful looking-for of judgment. Death, whenever it comes to them, will be a terrible turprize; a dreadful night of horror will surround them; and, dragged reluctant from the body, their soul, their guilty soul, must go where riches profit not to bribe a verdict in their favour, nor can all their wealth procure one drop of water to cool their tongue in those eternal flames which never shall be quenched.

[5.] Our Lord applies the parable in general to every worldly-minded man, that layeth up treasure for himself; sets his heart upon riches; expects his happiness from them; and all whose concerns are engrossed merely about himself, without regard to God’s glory, or care for his neighbour: and it may not be unsealed. and, destitute of the treasures of grace, and without the least title to the eternal inheritance: so is he; so abused are his schemes, so fruitless his cares, and so miserable will be his end. Let us be warned therefore in time, and not foolishly prefer gold to godliness, the body to the soul, and time to eternity.

22. ¶ And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, ‘Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than

1 Joh.

than raiment. 24. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: How much more are ye better than the fowls? 25. And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26. If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the roll? 27. Consider the hile 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. 28. If then God to clothe the grain, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven: how much more will be clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29. And look not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. 32. Fear not, I little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33. ‘Sell that ye have, and give alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that saleth not, where no chief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 35. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning? 36. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to fit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 38. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them to, blessed are those servants. 39. 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 suffered his house to be broken through. 40. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

Luke 12:22-40

The following instructions we have considered before in the other Evangelists; but they are of such importance, as to deserve our hearing once, yea twice, that they may be graven on our hearts; for nothing is a more fatal feare to the soul, than inordinate desire after the wealth of this world.

1. Christ enjoins his disciples to cast their care upon God, and never to disquiet or perplex themselves about a worldly provision, anxious solicitude being as criminal as joyous indulgence. We must take no thought about the necessities of life, disquieting ourselves with the fears of hunger or nakedness; but in the way of duty thusfully trust him with our support, who gave us our being, v. 23. Even the ravens are fed by his providence, and the lily is clothed with beauty, such as Solomon arrayed in all his glory could not vie with: and shall he not much more feed and cloathe us, who in excellence, as creatures, are so much better, and, as his peculiar people, are so much nearer to him? The cause of all our anxious cares and fears is our unbelief: not that our solicitude will mend our circumstances; it is as useless as it is needless. We cannot add to our stature a cubit, or to our age a day; and if in the first things all our thought must be unavailing, why should we dissuade ourselves about the rest? Dependent therefore on the Divine Providence, we need not be dissuaded, perplexed, and fluctuating like memory, about a subsistence; for this would show we had no more confidence in God than heathens, and intimate the most criminal dissuade of the power and care of him we call our Father, who knows all our wants, is able to supply them, and hath engaged that we shall want no manner of thing that is truly good for us. We have indeed greater things in view than food and raiment, even the kingdom of God, the blessings of grace and glory: these must engage our first concern, and then we may safely trust the Lord with all our temporal affairs.

2. He encourages them not to fear want, when they are the assured heirs of the eternal King. Fear not, little flock: Christ’s children are like a flock, united in love under their kind shepherd’s care: a little flock; few, compared with the world which loth in wickedness: yet, though compelled with enemies, they need our fear: their Redeemer is mighty as he is gracious. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom; a kingdom of glory that fades not away; the gift of lovenage grace, be showed not according to our desire, but the good pleasure of his own will; and if he hath provided a throne in the heavens, we may rest assured he will not leave us to want on earth. Instead therefore of desiring to board unnecessary wealth, or being under

anxiety about food or raiment, our hearts and hands should be open, according to our abilities, to relieve the necessities; and, when God’s providence calls for it, ready to part with all we possess, sending it before us, as the furself and most abiding portion, which will enrich us in the eternal world, where it will be incorruptible and inexhaustible. This will raise our affections to high and heavenly things, and then where our treasure is, our heart will be.

3. He bids them prepare for the day when he, their Master, shall come to take them with him to the mansions provided for them, and to partake of the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore. Christ, our Master, is gone up to heaven, to prepare for himself his spouse, the church; we are his servants, appointed to watch till his return, and to be ready to meet him, the oil of grace burning in our lamps, and our souls active in his service. As many as he finds thus expecting him, and welcoming his arrival, he will reward with distinguished blessness, and entertain them with all the unattainable delights of the eternal world, taking them with him to fit down in the kingdom of God. As the time of Christ’s coming is uncertain, like the wise houshoofer, we need be habitually on our guard, and awake with the first alarm, that we may not be unexpectedly surprised, as by a thief in the night; for he has of man cometh at an hour when ye think not, and we to those whom he finds sleeping in sin and carnal security.

4. ¶ Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speaketh thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 42. 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? 43. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 44. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. 45. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the men-servants, and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken: 46. The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will eat him in binder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47. And ’that servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48. But ‘he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. 49. ¶ ‘I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled? 50. But ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I strained till it be accomplished! 51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, May 1: but rather diversion. 52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53. ‘The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father: the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother: the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

Luke 12:41-53

Peter, the warm-hearted disciple, the ready spokesman, desires to know if our Lord’s discourse was directed to the apostles in particular, or to all the disciples in general? Hereupon,

1. Christ replies to his question. What he had spoken had both a general view to all the disciples, and was particularly applicable to them who were advanced to the most honoured posts, as stewards of the Lord’s household. (1.) Their duty was, as put in trust with the care of men’s souls, to be wise and faithful dispensers of the gospel, and the instituted ordinances of grace, considering the several cases and states of those to whom they ministered, and seasonably and rightly dividing to each the word of truth, for their conviction, edification, or comfort. (2.) The blessness of fidelity would be great: whoever shall be found at Christ’s appearing thus zealously, diligently, perplexingly employed, shall be highly advanced by him in glory, and placed, like Joseph in Egypt, at the king’s right hand. (3.) As great will be the major, sin, and danger of those who shall be found unfaithful. It is shocking to think there should be such a character as a minister of Christ in profession, quarrelsome, oppressive, abusive, prophecy, drunken; yet such there have been, there will be; and the cause of these, and the like enormous, is intimated, such a one faith, My Lord delayeth his coming, and therefore in security goes on; negligent and treacherous to his truth, and infirmable to the awful account he must shortly make. But such infirmability retards not the ap-

proach

proach of danger, the dreadful hour of reckoning draws near, the judge will suddenly and unexpectedly appear, and pronounce their tremendous doom: according to the light and advantages they have enjoyed, shall be the measure of their punishment. The stripes shall be fewer, where through ignorance men have erred and offended; whilst the heaviest strokes of vengeance shall fall on those who have abused the greatest gifts, and in opposition to knowledge and conscience have been unfaithful to their trust: and this is agreeable to the strictest rules of equity, that where a greater trust hath been committed, a proportionable improvement should be required; whilst unfaithfulness and negligence in such a case, become more aggravatedly criminal.

2. Christ admonishes them of the fiery trials which he and they must go through. His gospel, though breathing the spirit of peace and love, yet being so opposite to the pride and prophecies of men, would give occasion to the bitterest animosities and persecutions. This fire was already kindled in the rancour Queen hon by the Scribes and Pharisees, but will be defile from his glorious undertaking, or suppress the offensive truths? No, in no will. Since by no other means, than the fuftrings he foresaw, the salvation of his people could be obtained, he willfully offers himself to the bloody baptism before him, eagerly longing for the time when it should be accomplished in the garden, and on the cross. How admonishing his love towards us? He foresears his disciples, that they must expect their cross also; far from that temporal kingdom of peace and prosperity with which they flattered themselves, war and tumult are before them. The gospel they preached would be opposed with the fiercest rage of men and devils, and the greatest miseries and confusions be the consequence. Even among nearest relations it would occasion the most grievous divisions: in families where past should be converted, and past remain in their sins, the bitterest animosities would arise in the bosoms of those who rejected the counsel of God. And such will be their enmity against death who embrace the truth, that it will break through all sins of blood, duty, and friendship; making the father unnatural, the son undoubted; even in the hearts of those, whose fufters are should breathe greater mildness, the spirit of superstition and bigotry will quench all natural affection, so that even parents shall persecute their children, and children their parents; exasperated by the reproof of their holy lives, and inflamed with rage at the gentlest remonstrances, and the most endearing productions of those who labour for their conversion. And thus it continues to this day, and must to the end of the world: let us not think it strange.

Mat. xii.

Luke 12:54-59

64. ¶ And he said also to the people, ‘When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. 55. And when ye see the south-wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. 56. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, and of the earth: but how is it, that ye do not discern this time? 57. Yes, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? 58. ¶ When thou goeth with thine adversary to the magistrate, ‘as thou art in the way,’ give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hate thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mine.

The former discourse was addressed to the disciples, this to the multitude.

1. Christ upbraids them for their stupidity and perverseness in not attending to, or rejecting the evidences of his mission. They judged what weather there would be by the prognosticks which experience had taught them: how inexcusable then were they not to discern this time, fixed for the Messiah’s appearing; and how hypocritical and false their pretenses to wisdom and knowledge of the prophets, when they disregarded or perverted the plainest declarations of the scriptures, concerning the birth, family, life, doctrine, and kingdom of the Messiah, and thus knew not the day of their visitation? Amazing, that they should not, even of themselves, discern what was right, where the evidence was so cogent; and that whilst they shewed obfervation and judgment in matters of less concern, in this of infinitely greater moment to their souls, they should act so strangely in-turned!

2. He admonishes them of the necessity of a speedy accommodation of their matters with an offended God, before it was too late. As common prudence would dictate the necessity of seeking an amicable agreement with our adversary, rather than push matters to extremities where the cause must infallibly be carried against us, and a prison be the issue of the trial; much more should we, in the matters of our souls, show greater concern to obtain reconciliation with God, who by our sins is become our adversary. To attempt our own justification before him, were folly; as to escape from his sentence, is impossible. Whilst

therefore, we are in the view of life, our wisdom is to cast ourselves at his feet, acknowledging our offences; and through faith in Jesus, our surety, to plead for mercy, lest death should drag us to his broad tribunal in unproduced guilt, and the ministers of vengeance seize us in consequence of the judgment pronounced, and cast us into the prison of hell; where even eternal torments can never satisfy offended justice, or cancel the infinite debt of sin.