Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. Listen to a modern philosopher G.E. Moore, who spoke as follows. "If I am asked what is good, my answer is that good is good and that's the end of the matter. Or if I am asked how is good to be defined, my answer is that it cannot be defined and that's all I have to say about it."

Now there isn't some reason in Moore's awareness of the greatness of goodness. But we do not have to stop in the halfway house of philosophy. We can go to the word of God.

Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio ministry which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible. The application of God's word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago.

The message we'll be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled Marks of Goodness. You don't have to be an expert in horticulture to know that a tree with apples on it is an apple tree. You can identify trees by the fruit they produce. And you can identify true believers by the spiritual fruit manifested in their lives. What are the marks of genuine goodness and spiritual transformation in the Christian life? The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 15 and verse 14. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Marks of Goodness.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto thee our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We thank thee that thou hast loved us and that thou dost plan our lives for us so that we may become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. May we know what it is to be filled with him, so that we may be filled with thy goodness. Bless the truth to each listener in this hour, so that there may be thine own voice speaking in each heart. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

We return to our studies in Romans 15 and come now to the 14th verse. "I myself am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are filled with goodness." Paul was interested in every soul in the world. He loved the lost for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and he sought to lead them into the truth. And far more, he loved those who had come to the Savior. And it would seem that his prayers encompassed the whole body of Christ and that he was eager for news of anyone who was a believer.

He began this epistle to the Romans by congratulating them that their faith was known throughout the world. And he has now finished the great doctrinal core of the letter and turns back to their personal relationship. Perhaps some believers in Rome had never heard of Paul and might wonder why he should be writing them a letter. He had begun by telling them that he was their debtor, that he owed them what God had given him through the Holy Spirit.

And now, having completed his teaching with the paragraph of quotations concerning the call of the Gentiles and having given them his benediction, he here presents a courteous and loving explanation of his relationship to them. He begins with a fine compliment for their Christian life. We do not think for a moment that Paul was flattering the Roman Christians. He was telling them God's truth, for he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The world does not believe in the sincerity of most compliments. But here, the Holy Spirit looked through to the hearts of the believers and found goodness in them. This goodness did not come from their natural hearts. We've already seen in the early part of this letter in the great indictment of the human heart that all have turned aside, together they've gone wrong. There is no one who does good, not even one.

But these people had been born of the Spirit and when the Holy Spirit enters a life, he brings divine goodness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness. Now at the outset, it's necessary to show that goodness from the Christian point of view is quite different from goodness as seen by the world.

The Hottentots have a proverb which says, "Good is when I steal other people's wives and cattle. Bad is when they steal mine." And while some might dismiss this definition as being only the expression of savagery, we read the same thought from one of Germany's greatest philosophers. For Nietzsche wrote, "What is good? Whatever augments the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man."

But we do not have to stop in the halfway house of philosophy. We can go to the word of God. There are two men in the New Testament whom God calls good. The first is that rich man who buried the body of Jesus. We read in the gospel in Luke, "There was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their purpose and deed. And he was looking for the kingdom of God."

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid. Now we know from the Old Testament prophecy that Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man. But we know from this New Testament passage that he was a good and righteous man.

And this goodness is illustrated by the fact that he didn't consent to the evil purpose and deed of the council. So we see that goodness has a negative aspect. It consists in some things that you do not do. It opposes itself to the evil that is in the world. It's willing to stand as a minority of one and say a strong no to men who would pursue evil ends.

Secondly, this goodness has a positive basis in faith, for it says that Joseph was looking for the kingdom of God. He knew the scriptures and the promises and he was living his life in their light. And third, his goodness took the positive position of being publicly associated with the Savior who was despised and rejected of men in the very moment when that rejection had led him to his death.

To go boldly to the governor who had allowed Christ to be crucified and to ask for the body was a noble thing. Joseph of Arimathea is well described in that little poem of Linnaeus Banks, "What I Live For." "I live for those who love me, for those who know me true, for the heaven that smiles above me and awaits my spirit too. For the cause that lacks assistance, for the wrong that needs resistance, for the future in the distance and the good that I can do."

Now Paul was persuaded that the Christian church in Rome was filled with members who were like this. Our text says, "I am persuaded that you yourselves are filled with goodness." And this goodness was of course the fruit of the Holy Spirit in them. The other man in the New Testament whom God called good was Barnabas. His name too was Joseph, and Barnabas was his nickname, which means son of encouragement.

Oh, it's wonderful to have such a man in your company. So many people hang back and look at all the difficulties that might arise in any course of action. So many people want to talk all around a subject, hesitate at increasing the budget, decry forthright means, act as counselors of despair. But this son of encouragement was just the opposite. He was the man who'd say, "Sure we can do it, let's go ahead."

Barnabas would have been capable of originating the phrase, "God and one is a majority." He went to Antioch to work and secured Paul to help him and built the church there. When he saw the grace of God at work in the early church there, he was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. For, note the word carefully, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

Now from this illustration of a good man, we conclude that goodness does not push oneself. Goodness encourages others. Goodness tries to help those who are in spiritual need. Goodness exhorts all believers to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. And goodness therefore must itself be faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.

And Paul was persuaded that the Christian church in Rome was filled with members who were like this. Our text says, "I am persuaded that you yourselves are filled with goodness." And this goodness was of course the fruit of the Holy Spirit in them. In the course of my preparation for this message, I ran across a quotation from Thomas Jefferson that led me back to an Old Testament illustration of a good man.

Jefferson wrote in a letter to Isaac Engelbrecht, "I know nothing more moral, more sublime, more worthy of your preservation than David's description of the good man in the 15th Psalm." Well, in that Psalm, David asks a question. "O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?" The question itself is worthy of consideration. We take for granted the nature of God as being all holiness.

He declares it of himself. Many times we read throughout the law that the basis for his demand of holiness from his people was that he himself is holy. We read it in Leviticus 11 and in many other passages in the Bible. "For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am holy." How often this refrain is heard, "You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."

This thought was ingrained in the consciousness of every child of Israel. David had known this thought from his mother's womb. He was conscious of this holiness of God, as was Habakkuk when he cried, "Thou art of eyes too pure to behold iniquity, and thou canst not look upon sin, thou canst not tolerate it." The attitude has been put in one of our great hymns. "Eternal light, eternal light, how pure the soul must be when placed within thy searching sight it shrinks not but with calm delight can live and look on thee."

Oh how shall I, whose native sphere is dark, whose mind is dim, before the ineffable appear and on my naked spirit bare the uncreated beam. And this was David's thought when he asked the question, "Who, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?" And God gave him the answer by describing the good man.

I have before me several translations of the 15th Psalm. And I put together the various phrases which the translators have found most adequate to render the original as they saw it. One: He that walketh uprightly, he who walks blamelessly, he who walks in integrity, he who walks as perfect. Two: He who worketh righteousness, who does what is right, who practices justice.

Three: He that speaketh the truth in, or from, or of, his heart. Four: He who backbiteth not with his tongue, who doesn't slander with his tongue, or speak calumny. One translator includes two of these points in one running phrase which reads, "who speaks the truth of his heart without letting his tongue run." Five: He that does no evil to his neighbor, to his friend, who does not hurt another in any way.

Six: He does not take up a reproach or carry scandal against his neighbor, does not launch any evil attack upon his neighbor. Seven: In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, held in contempt, disdained. Eight: He honors, he esteems, them that fear the Lord. Nine: He swears to his own hurt and does not change. He never retracts even though his oath might be detrimental to himself.

Ten: He does not put his money out at usury, at interest. Eleven: He does not take a reward, a bribe, a gift against the innocent. He receives nothing that would hurt an innocent person. And then the Psalm closes with the observation that he that doeth these things shall never be moved, shall never waver, shall never stumble. Now if we analyze these 11 statements about the good man, we discover that from the inmost heart to the outermost gesture, he stands in his integrity before God.

His walk and his work are before God in integrity. In another Psalm, David in his confession recalls that God desires truth in the inward parts. This good man has truth within his heart and his mouth speaks out of the abundance of integrity. His tongue will not lie, slander, or pass on any reproach. Now think what this means in terms of life today.

Our newspapers have carried accounts of fantastic scandals such as the fixing of television quiz shows, the cheating of the poor by falsifying scales in a thousand butcher shops in New York, each of which paid $60 a month to officials who had been appointed to protect the people. Graft and corruption in courts and police circles, adulteration of food and drugs, and worst of all, the apathy of the masses concerning all this fraud and iniquity.

The reason is that we do not have enough people with the absolutes of the divine revelation. Some time ago, I sat with a group of a dozen theological students, students preparing for the ministry. I made the statement that no lie was ever justifiable under any circumstances. One immediately retorted that a lie told for love was justifiable.

He imagined a case and cited a time when a man might be called to the door and discover a communist policeman who would demand to know if his wife and child were at home. If they were, somehow in this strange example, some harm would come to them. The student thought that it would be all right to lie and to deny their presence in order to save their lives. He even dragged in the Bible story of Rahab who had lied to save the spies, as though a heathen harlot could be proof of divine approval of a lie.

I replied that I would never discuss any problem that was predicated on an if. Don't forget that fact. If anyone wants to argue with you on an if, just refuse. There's no use arguing if Hitler had not been born would there have been a Second World War. He was born and there was a Second World War. In the midst of any circumstance, God will give the light to know his will and the power to do it. And it will not include any departure from the truth.

Now this description of the good man not only shows that he has truth in the inward parts, in the very heart, but it also shows his attitude toward others who are guilty of evil deeds and his attitude toward those who fear the Lord. The good man is always against evil and always on the side of the righteous. There's never any question of where he will stand.

Cicero said the proof of a well-trained mind is that it rejoices in that which is good and grieves at the opposite. Well, this is 10,000 times more true of a Christian who is possessed by the Holy Spirit. For what a well-trained mind can accomplish in a cultured pagan, the well-established heart can do for the highest or the lowest who has come to Christ and who has been dominated by him.

This was true of the Christians in Rome, as Paul had heard of them. And this should be true of every one of us who has named the name of Christ. I'm not content with leaving this as an appraisal of some Christians who lived 2,000 years ago. I want this to be applied to myself. And I want you to ask the Lord to apply it to yourself.

We must not forget that a part of God's purpose in saving us was that we should be like Christ. Not only in the future, but now. We sing, "He died that we might be forgiven, he died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven saved by his precious blood." There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in.

Oh dearly, dearly has he loved and we must love him too and trust in his redeeming blood and try his works to do. For it was in order that we might practice his good works that God saved us. We read in Ephesians 2:10, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

The boasting works of man are refused as a part of his salvation. But the good works which are in Christ must come forth from Christ when Christ comes to dwell within our hearts. How can Christ be in me and not produce his good works? It is to this end that I was created in Christ Jesus in the new birth.

The purpose of the Christian life is not that I learn a set of doctrines, important as doctrines are, but that the life of Christ be formed in me and that men may be able to see him in me. If his goodness is not visible in me, then I fail totally as a Christian. As long as we understand that these good works are the result of our salvation and not the cause of it, we shall be on the right path.

Oh, how important it is for us to understand this because there are Christians or professed Christians that live in such a way that the Bible says the name of God is blasphemed among the pagans because of them. I read a story once that was written back in the 19th century. It was supposed to be of an old grocery store man who had an apprentice whom he paid a couple of dollars a week.

And the story goes that he said to the apprentice, "Well, after you've put sand in the sugar and dust in the pepper, come to prayers." Well, we know that there have been people like that. There have always been hypocrites, lying, cheating, stealing and with hypocrisy making long prayers. Christ accused the Pharisees of this in his day.

But just because there is the counterfeit, we must not think that all are like that. In fact, the reality of the counterfeit, the fact that there are counterfeits proves the real thing. Nobody makes counterfeits of Confederate money. They make counterfeits of real money. And nobody makes a counterfeit of a man who is not a Christian, they make counterfeits of Christians.

And so it's necessary for us to see that there's a great difference sometime. We must distinguish carefully between two acts of seeming goodness, one of which is absolutely rejected by God and the other accepted. The moral and ethical works of a man who does not trust in the redemption provided by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, these works are completely refused by God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This completely separates from God that soul who puts his trust in self and works that proceed from self. But the exact same act, as outward eyes would compare the acts, when coming from the life of one who has Christ as the root of all growth, this is acceptable to God. And it's necessary as a proof to the world that we really belong to Christ.

So here's a complete resolution of the so-called difference between Paul and James. James looks for works and Paul talks about faith. James is looking upon the outward appearance, but Paul is looking upon the heart. And in this text in Ephesians, the two meet and are seen to be the two sides of the same coin. And that this is a coin with heads and tails is shown by the great verse in Timothy. "The solid foundation of God stands sure, having this for a seal. Heads: The Lord knows them that are his. Tails: Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

Oh bear with me a moment, my radio audience. I know that there are many tens of thousands of you who listen to me regularly. Can I quote my text about you? Can I be fully persuaded that you are full of goodness? Now I understand Paul when he said that he travailed over them as a woman with child until Christ be formed in you. The Lord said that he has saved us in order that we might be filled with goodness.

Well then, let us be filled with goodness, his goodness. Nothing else will matter when the moment comes for us to look him straight in the eye, as we see him face to face. And our God and Father, we pray thee that thou mayest look in our hearts and be fully persuaded that we're filled with thy goodness, that we eagerly desire to do thy will and walk in thy way. Speak to every trembling heart, to those that have tried and failed, to those that have no discipline, to those that need thee in so many different ways. Speak to each heart, to my heart. Bring us closer to Christ. Make us more like him. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Guest (Male): As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must seek to manifest the spiritual fruit of genuine goodness in our lives and our service for the Lord. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled Marks of Goodness. To listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, tune in anytime, anywhere around the globe via the internet by visiting us at alliancenet.org.

An audio copy of today's teaching is also available by calling us toll-free: 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled Marks of Goodness, or simply request message number R-15-18. We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled Sex, Marriage, and Divorce. God designed the marriage relationship to be a picture of our eternal union with Jesus Christ. And yet, Christian marriages often fall short of this lofty ideal.

This free booklet shines biblical truth upon this vital subject. Chapter titles include Lust and Christian Marriage, Marriage and the Home, Divorce and Remarriage, and For Time and Eternity. Ask for your free copy of Sex, Marriage, and Divorce when you call or write. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of reformed theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place. We also produce the radio broadcast The Bible Study Hour, featuring the teachings of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and Every Last Word, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken.

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Be sure to ask for a free resource catalog featuring books, audio teachings, commentaries, booklets, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding reformed teachers and theologians, including Drs. Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken. Thank you for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.