Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Let us bow our knees to Him in this day, for every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And those that bow voluntarily now will be accepted of Him. But those who refuse to bow now must, sadly enough, be forced to bow later.

(Choir singing: God's word is for our holy gain to teach, rebuke, correct, and train...)

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, Christ, Lord of All. All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. The words of this famous hymn reflect a prominent theme that is woven throughout the whole tapestry of Scripture. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Do you acknowledge Him as the sovereign Lord of all, as well as Lord over every area of your life?

The Scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is Romans, chapter 14, verses 8 and 9. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled, Christ, Lord of All.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. Speak to each listening heart in this hour. Thou knowest all of the needs of each listener. No matter where we are or in what our condition, Thy love surrounds us, and Thy Holy Spirit desires to lead us. Bless then, we pray Thee, in the study of Thy word. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.

We continue in our study in the 14th chapter of Romans, the eighth and the ninth verses, which present to us the great theme of Christ, our Lord and judge. We read in this verse, "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."

If we stand off at a distance and consider the fact that the Lord God Almighty became a man and went to the cross, died, and was raised from the dead, it seems to be an astonishing story. Why did He do this? The answers are to be found only in the Bible, the word of God. First, we're told in the second epistle to the Corinthians that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.

Sin had entered the world and had separated mankind from God. Sin always separates. If anyone were to be in heaven, God had to do something about it. There was no other way whereby sinful man could be brought into a place where God could save him or bless him. As we sing in one of our great hymns, there was none other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in.

Second, all of the demands of God were satisfied by the death of Christ. This is why God was able to raise Him from the dead. Christ was delivered because of our offenses and raised from the dead because in that death we had been justified. Perhaps the most important thing that can be said about the death of Christ is that God the Father was satisfied with it. For if He is satisfied with it, then we are reconciled to Him, and it is possible for us to have all the benefits that flow from His love and mercy.

Third, a subdivision of this purpose is to be found in Peter's statement that we have been ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our fathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. The same paragraph gives us an additional purpose: that our confidence might be in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope are in God.

It might be possible to find other purposes if we searched closely throughout the divine revelation, but we will consider only that purpose set forth in the text that we are studying in Romans: that Jesus Christ died and rose again in order that He might be the Lord of all believers. I know of no truth that is more calculated to direct our living into holy paths than this statement that Christ came from heaven to redeem us in order that He might be our Lord.

If we are to understand this, we must perhaps revise our concepts of lordship. Christ did not die and rise again in order to purchase a race of slaves. The meaning of lordship is to be found in the expressions of His love for us and the statement that He is the bridegroom who came to redeem us as His bride. We sing, "From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride. With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died."

When this idea is understood, we can enter into the meaning of two verses which speak of Christ's pleasure in dying. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews reminds us of the notable company who have been redeemed by Christ and of which we are a part. He tells us that because we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, we should lay aside every weight and every sin which clings so closely, in order to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.

The joy of the cross? The joy of having nails driven through hands and feet? Joy of being lifted up on a criminal's stake and exhibited naked before the eyes of a jeering populace? How can there be joy in this? Throughout the centuries, this passage has been a great cause of difficulty for the expositors. Many of the ancients decided that it must mean the memory of the joy that He had in heaven before He came to earth. Dean Alford quotes Chrysostom's interpreting it that the preferable alternative of escaping the cross was before Him, and He might have taken it if He would.

Luther and Calvin both adopt this interpretation, which I think is ghastly. Erasmus and others explain it that He despised the joys of this life. Still others think that it means the joy which is yet to come in the day of His triumph. I must reject all of these interpretations and find the answer in an Old Testament prophecy. One of the greatest chapters on the death of Christ is the 53rd chapter of Isaiah.

"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of His people." How can there be joy in this? And then comes the answer.

"It was the will of Jehovah to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief." Here you see the Father putting the Son to death. Here is the essential heart of the meaning of the ransom which Christ was offering by the giving of Himself to die. "When He makes Himself an offering for sin, He shall see His offspring. He shall prolong His days. He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." There is this idea again: satisfaction. Joy. The satisfaction of wounds, the satisfaction of grief, of sorrow and suffering. Yes, a thousand times yes. For it was the satisfaction of travail. It was the joy of childbirth.

One of the wonderful things of life is to watch the sufferings of a good woman as she approaches the time of her delivery. Every breath is a reminder of the life that lies beneath her heart. Every step is an agony. She is tired if she stands, she is awkward if she sits, she is uncomfortable if she lies down. And then the first trace of labor pain begins. She looks at her husband with startled eyes. After an hour, there comes another pain, then after half an hour, then every 10 minutes. And then it seems that death is upon her. Is there joy in this? Is there satisfaction in this?

Yes, this is the beginning of one of the greatest satisfactions that can ever come to the life of a good woman. Christ has given us another clue to the interpretation in the words that He spoke to His disciples a few hours before His crucifixion. "Your sorrow will turn into joy," He told them. "When a woman is in travail, she has sorrow," Christ said, "because her hour is come. But when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world."

Now if we understand that, in a certain sense, we may say that Christ went to the cross pregnant with the church, we can realize all that He is telling us about His joy. We were in His mind. We were in His heart. He knew that we were going to be born. He knew that He was going through the pangs of travail in order that we might be brought to birth and enter into eternal life. This was the joy that was set before Him. This was the satisfaction of His travail.

We can now restate our text and hear the Lord say that the purpose of Christ's death and resurrection is that He might bring forth out of Himself a people for His name, that He might be their Lord. Immediately, there rises the thought: Did He want to be able to lord it over a people? And His character gives the answer. He is not a dictator, but the expression of the love of the Father. He wants to be our Lord because He knows that this is best for us.

When we understand this, we can comprehend a sentence that has been hard for some people and that's found in the midst of the Ten Commandments: "For the Lord thy God is a jealous God." What? Jealousy in God? Yes, if we understand the meaning of the word. Here is a father and a mother who see their son enamored of a girl whom they know to be inferior. They realize that if he marries her, she will wreck his life. They're so concerned lest he take this mistaken plunge.

They seek to show him the true nature of the girl. They grieve over him, they watch over him. They are jealous for him. Never for a moment are they jealous of him, nor are they jealous of the girl. And then the affair breaks up. Shortly afterwards, he meets a girl that has every qualification to be a helper fit for his needs. Now they are joyful. Now they welcome her as a daughter. It is in this way that the Lord is jealous for us. He does not want us to be enamored with the world and thus miss the true love that comes only when we desire Him and all that He brings to us.

Christ died and rose again that He might be our Lord and thus lead us into all that is best for us. This word also brings us understanding of still another text. Peter writes about the problem of wives who have non-Christian husbands. How are they to win them? They are to be submitted to their husbands. A woman is to understand that when she is truly surrendered to God, she will be likewise surrendered to her husband. She will obey him even if he is not a Christian.

In my ministry, I have seen hundreds of women squirm under this teaching, and yet it is the biblical doctrine. Apart from it, there can be no true peace in a household and no true love around which a couple can build. One of our major denominations recently received a report on which they are to vote in the course of the coming year, extending the sanction of divorce when a marriage dies at the heart and the union becomes intolerable.

Such an idea is the negation of everything that is taught in the New Testament about marriage as a symbol of Christ and the church. The word of God flatly tells a Christian wife that she is never under any circumstances to divorce a husband, and that if she is forced to leave him—for example, to leave a brute in order to save her life or the life of a child—that she is to remain unmarried or to be rejoined to her husband. There is no possible exception. She must call him lord even when he is not obeying the word of God. This is God's command.

So at the end of this paragraph in Peter, God reminds them of the inwardness of this relationship, saying, "So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you." Sarah called Abraham lord. When did this happen? Only once did she ever call him lord.

God appeared to Abraham and told him that he would have a child by Sarah in a year's time. Abraham was more than a hundred years old and Sarah was 90. In the neighboring tent, Sarah overheard the conversation, and we read that Sarah laughed. The Revised Standard Version gives her words: "After I have grown old and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" But the Hebrew, which the King James Version follows, reads: "Shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"

Here she was in a moment of high unbelief, and yet God does not look upon her unbelief but on the single point of obedience. It is just as though God had said, "Put that down. Write that down. She called her husband lord. This I will never forget." And in the New Testament, this is remembered of her, even when her doubt and sinful lack of faith are not recorded. How wonderful it is to know that the Lord will remember in our favor even the slightest obedience when we turn our hearts toward Him, and that He will forget our iniquities.

Now we return to our text in Romans and find it glowing with light. Christ died and rose again that He might be our Lord. Let us then recognize Him as Lord and commit ourselves to Him. He wants to rule our lives. And we should not forget the context. The desire of Christ to be Lord in our lives is to be manifested by our recognition of the fact that if He is Lord of the lives of all those who trust in Him, then there can be no judgment of any believer by any other believer. How can I judge any Christian if Christ is his Lord? And what right has anyone to judge me if I am the Lord's? He is to draw us to Himself, and He is to be Lord of all in the life of each believer.

Several years ago, before the Second World War, I spent a month in Korea, during which time I had the opportunity of ministering to groups of missionaries. We were at Sorai Beach, where scores of families were spending the summer, and there were many opportunities for social fellowship. One evening, a group of us were seated on the sands under a magnificent moon. I said to the men, "Now I've been teaching you twice a day for several days, and I want my pay. Tell me your best missionary stories."

There was a moment of silence, and then one of the men said to another, "Tell him your story about Elder Kim." This is the story. A Korean layman of some wealth and prominence was elected to be an elder in one of the Presbyterian churches in Pyongyang, the chief city of Northern Korea. Because of his outstanding character and reputation, he was asked to address the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the church, one of the morning devotional periods being assigned to him.

When he rose to speak, he began modestly reminding his hearers that he was not trained in theology or in one of the Bible institutes, but that he was a simple layman. He was not going to preach to them or attempt to teach them, but he had a great problem that he wished to put before them and to ask their advice as to its solution. "A year or two ago," he began, "I received a letter from a friend of mine in Seoul. He was a young dentist, and he wanted to establish himself in Pyongyang.

He asked me to find a place that would be suitable for his home and office combined. Now we all know that there's a great housing shortage, but I did all that I could to help him. For three days, I searched the town almost without result. Finally, I found a place, and I wrote him about it. I told him that the house I had found was in bad condition. The wall surrounding the place was in disrepair. There was a hole in the house wall. The roof leaked very badly. The house was in a very bad neighborhood. Furthermore, the price that was asked was exorbitant.

In spite of this adverse report, my friend sent me a telegram telling me to buy the house. We went to the proper officials and I signed the papers to purchase the house. The down payment was made and the final payments were to be made in three days, at which time the owner agreed to vacate the house. The payments were made, but the owner asked for a day or two more in order that he might find a place to which he could move. I granted him this period of grace.

But after a week, he was still there. Two weeks, three weeks, a month, three months, six months have passed. The man has bought new clothing for his family. They are eating polished rice instead of the cheaper grains. He knows that I'm a Christian and that in Korea we Christians never go to court against other Christians, and that we try not to go to court against unbelievers. He laughs at me when I come. Now fathers and brethren," Elder Kim continued, "my friend is greatly embarrassed because his capital is tied up in this house, and he's in a very difficult position. What am I to do?"

Several of the members of the General Assembly spoke. One pointed out that Elder Kim was not acting in his own behalf, but as an agent. Another pointed out that he was evidently dealing with a man who was a thief at heart. All agreed that Kim had the right to go to the authorities and ask for an eviction order. Kim asked for a show of hands, and all voted that he had the right to proceed legally.

And then Elder Kim concluded. "Thank you, fathers and brethren," he said, "for the way you have considered my problem. Before I sit down, I have one conclusion that I wish to draw. Nineteen hundred years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven to purchase for Himself a dwelling place." Then, striking his hand upon his breast, he said, "He bought this old shack. It was in a run-down condition. It was in a bad neighborhood. He bought us because He wanted to take possession and dwell in our hearts. He gave Himself for us.

And He gave us the Holy Spirit as a down payment on our inheritance, bringing us innumerable blessings with His redemption. And we cling to our tenement, and we leave Him outside. Now if you say that I have the right to seek the help of the authorities to evict the man who is wrongly occupying my friend's house, what shall we say of ourselves when we deny the Lord Jesus the full possession of that for which He gave His own life?"

Oh, let each believer appraise the state of his own heart relationship to Christ in the light of our text. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Let us bow our knees to Him in this day, for every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And those that bow voluntarily now will be accepted of Him. But those who refuse to bow now must, sadly enough, be forced to bow later.

Oh our God and Father, we pray Thee to take the lesson to each heart, and that there may be no man or woman listening who shall fail of Thy grace, but rather that we may come to Thee and listen to Thy voice and be built in Christ, who died that He might be our Lord. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.

Guest (Male): Jesus Christ died and rose and lives again that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. Do you acknowledge and submit to Him as Lord and Master over your life? We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled, Christ, Lord of All. To hear additional teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's teaching is available by calling us toll-free at 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled, Christ, Lord of All, or simply request message number R14-11.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled, Happy Though Poor. Jesus prayed that His disciples would know the fullness of His joy, but the sad fact is that many believers fail to experience lives of happiness and contentment. This short but powerful booklet calls us to a life of yieldedness to the Lord Jesus Christ, that He may give us fullness of joy and cause that joy to flow through us into the lives of others. Do you struggle with unhappiness? Ask for your free copy of Happy Though Poor 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 Reformation 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. For a complete list of stations carrying our programs, visit our website at alliancenet.org. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of listeners like you. If you have benefited from the broadcast and would like it to continue, please prayerfully consider a donation to help us keep this ministry on the air.

For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling toll-free 1-800-488-1888. Again, that's 1-800-488-1888. Write to us at Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Visit us online at alliancenet.org. 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, Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken. Thanks for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.

(Choir singing: The Bible has a commanding word to do God's saving work...)

Choir: The Bible has a commanding word to do God's saving work. It draws our souls from death to life and rescues us from needless strife. Amazing gift, unlooked-for hour, the life-imparting word of God.

Guest (Male): (Music fades)