Matthew 7:24-27 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, &c. In these words our Lord attests, in the most solemn manner, the certain truth and infinite importance of all he had delivered in the foregoing sermon, and applies it to the consciences of his hearers. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them Whosoever he be that hears, considers, understands, believes, and obeys the doctrine which I have now taught you; I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock Whatever his former conduct may have been, being now brought to repentance and amendment of life, and becoming a new creature, he lays a solid foundation for present comfort and everlasting security and joy. Observe well, reader, although other foundation for confidence toward God, and a hope of eternal life, can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:11; yet we pretend in vain to build on him, if we do not obey his doctrine, and make it the rule of our whole conduct. Therefore there is no inconsistency between the doctrine here advanced by our Lord, and that of the apostle in the passage just quoted; nor between the same apostle's declaring, 1 Corinthians 7:19, Circumcision is nothing, &c., but the keeping of the commandments of God; and his asserting to the Galatians, chap. Matthew 5:6, That nothing availeth but faith which worketh by love. For the faith he speaks of is always followed by obedience to the commandments of God, of which it is the root and principle. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and beat upon that house These words of our Lord imply that every man's religion, with the confidence and hope which he builds thereon, must, sooner or later, be severely tried; and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock Thus the religion of the true, practical Christian, with all his present comforts and future hopes, remains firm and unshaken, how severely and violently soever it may be assaulted. And every one that heareth these sayings, and doeth them not Who is a mere hearer of the word, and not a doer of it, how constantly soever he may attend to hear it, and whatever zeal he may profess for the doctrine he hears; shall be likened unto a foolish man, &c. A man possessed of neither foresight nor consideration; who built his house upon the sand Without taking any care to find or lay a firm foundation for it, as if he were sure that no wintry storm or tempest would ever assail it. And the rain descended, &c. and beat upon that house, and it fell For the foundation being bad, neither the height of the structure, nor its wide dimensions, could be any security to it: and great was the fall of it Even as great as the building had been. “A lively emblem,” says Doddridge, “of the ruin which will another day overwhelm the unhappy man who trusts to an outward profession and form of godliness, when he does not sincerely and practically regard it.”