Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 15:7-9

"Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching [as their] doctrines the precepts of men." — Matthew 15:7-9 (ASV)

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Now, may God save us from these two faults. The first is that of being content with the outward worship of God. Unless our very hearts worship, there is nothing whatever in the outward performance of religious rites or religious worship; indeed, it is hypocrisy to draw near to God with the lip and knee when the heart is not there. The next evil to be dreaded is teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Whatever is not plainly taught in Scripture is of no binding force upon any conscience, and it is evil to invent rites and ceremonies which are not taught in Holy Scripture. We must pay close attention to what we are doing. If we do not have the plain warrant of Christ's command for our teachings and our actions, we will vex the spirit of God rather than honor him. Whatever our intention may be, we do not have any right to worship God otherwise than according to his own mind. If we do so, it will not be worship and will not be acceptable to him.

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Our Lord never flattered anybody; see how honestly, and in what plain terms, he addressed these scribes and Pharisees! Yet these were the great teachers of his day, and thought themselves the bright light of the age, the very leaders of the people in all that was good. But Christ addressed them as, Ye hypocrites, and gave them a text of Scripture which clearly applied to them. They had all manner of outward forms of worship, they talked very much about the Bible, they studied every word of it, and even counted the letters in every chapter, but they had no regard to the real meaning of God's Word, and their heart was not right with the Lord. The Saviour patiently talked with them, but he also sternly rebuked them, and denounced them as hypocrites.

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.

Christ spoke very plainly to them; there is no dealing with hypocrites with kid gloves. These nettles must be boldly grasped, and the Savior did so.

Brethren, stick to the Scriptures in doctrine and in precept; what do you have to do with modern thought, the imaginations of men, the vain thoughts of crazy brains? Hold to God's thoughts, which are as high above men's thoughts as the heavens are above the earth.

One word of God is worth a whole world full of the thoughts of men, and time will yet show us that this is so. We only have to wait, and we will see that the thoughts of man are vanity, but the word of God abideth for ever.

And he called the multitude—one of the finest ways of rebuking the Pharisees and scribes—he seemed to turn his back on those gentlemen who knew so much.