Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Now, it is strange to me that a passage of scripture that is on the whole so simple has caused so much argument, discussion, and dissension among the commentators. There are writers who spend pages on discussing the shades of meaning of the various words here, and who after all that do not get down to telling what the verse really means.

Now, it must be that the devil, who is the father of all deception, has outdone himself to lead men away from the simple truth, namely that God has a rich future for the Jews.

Guest (Male): 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 “Gentile Blessings.” A star baseball player will not be cut from the team if he is injured. The manager can keep him on the bench as a pinch hitter and get a player from the minor leagues to fill his position. If they win the World Series, both players will be champions. God has not cast off Israel, but has set them aside for a time so that the Gentiles might receive the riches of salvation in Jesus Christ.

The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 11, we’re looking at verses 11 through 15. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled, “Gentile Blessings.”

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ we come unto thee our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. We can speak words into the microphone that will come to the ears of men, but thou alone canst take the word the long, long distance from the ear to the heart. Wilt thou bless each listening one in this day and may the truth be taken in and acted upon. Hear us, we pray, and bless in Jesus' name, Amen.

And now let us turn to our study in the epistle to the Romans. We’re in the 11th chapter and we have five verses to consider in this study. We have noticed how Israel was not cast off but set aside temporarily. And Paul sets this forth now in a question and answer which gives us further light on the subject. We read in Romans 11 beginning in verse 11:

“So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means. But through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their fall means riches for the world, and if their diminishing means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean? Now I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my office in order to turn some of my fellow Jews to emulation and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”

Having set forth in the strongest language that the Old Testament uses to describe the sin and the judgment of Israel, Paul asks if the nation has stumbled so as to fall. He answers the question with the same indignation as he answered in the first verse. God has not cast away his people and their fall is not a final fall. They have been set aside, but in order to allow God to pursue his greater and wider purpose. And his promises to them are not conditional and every word that he has spoken to them shall be fulfilled.

God then sets forth the great fact that through their fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles. We must not forget that before the time of Christ, no Gentile could be saved unless he changed his nationality and became an integral part of Israel. It was necessary for a man to be circumcised and to be adopted into one of the tribes of Israel. Only then could he go beyond the wall of partition that kept the Gentiles far away from the sacred courts of the Lord.

Only then could he bring a lamb and have the priests of the sons of Aaron shed the sacrificial blood that could cleanse him from his sin. There are three outstanding examples of this in the Old Testament. In the book of Ruth, when Naomi decided to return home to Palestine from the land of Moab after her sons had died, one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth the Moabitess, determined to accompany her.

When Naomi sought to dissuade her, she replied in one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible: “Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest I will go and whither thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.” Note the order of the thought. She could not say “thy God shall be my God” until she had first said “thy people shall be my people.”

The change of nationality had to precede the change of God. Again, when Naaman the Syrian, the Hitler of his day, came to the place of his salvation, it was first necessary for him to approach God as a Jew. When he first arrived in Palestine to ask healing from Elisha, he spurned the thought of dipping seven times in the Jordan River, considering that river as contemptuous in comparison with the rivers of Damascus.

But after he had been healed, he did a thing that was very strange if it is not understood theologically. He who had despised Palestinian water now ordered that two mules' burden of earth be given to him. Why this sudden desire for Palestinian dirt? It was earth from the land of Israel and the explanation is to be found in the conjunction that joins the two halves of the sentence: “Let there be given to your servant two mules' burden of earth because” — that's the key word — “because henceforth your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but to Jehovah.”

We can see him returning to his house cured. His family was in joy. But his first care was to see that the sacks of dirt were carried into his house and carefully spread in a certain place. Then, ever after, whenever he wanted to pray, he would go and stand on this earth from the land of Israel, approaching God not as a Gentile but on the grounds of the covenant of promise.

Then in a third place, the heart of the book of Esther shows this same great truth. When Haman had been hanged and when Mordecai had been exalted and the Jews had been delivered from the great danger that had been over them, we read: “The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every province and in every kingdom, wherever the king's command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.”

Now these examples suffice to show that Gentiles had to become Jews before the time of Christ in order to be saved. But with the coming of the Savior, everything was changed. God did not nullify his promises to Israel as a nation, but he did change the scope of salvation, removing all of the national and ceremonial barriers so that the Gentiles might have ready access to him.

The long rebellion of the people finally brought a terrible fruitage of judgment. At the very moment Christ died, there was an earthquake. The middle wall of partition, which kept the Gentiles away from the temple area, was broken down. The veil in the temple, which had barred all but the great high priest, and which he himself passed but once a year on the Day of Atonement, was torn in two from top to bottom.

By this, God signified that he was utterly through with the temple and with buildings, through with the sacrifices and with the priesthood. Now, the one way to God was through the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel was not cast away but set aside. And through this fall, salvation came to the Gentiles. We are the ones who can come boldly to God today through the new and living way that has been prepared for us by the grace of God through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the door. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Now, the human road of salvation is reversed. Instead of the Gentile being forced to come to God by changing his nationality, it is now necessary for a member of the ancient race to abandon his position and to accept the sinner’s Savior. One of the purposes that God had in this shift of method was that the people whom he chose in Abraham might be stimulated by a sort of jealousy and thus be led to see the folly of their ways and return to the Lord.

Alas, there is little in predominantly Gentile Christendom today which could provoke Israel to jealousy. Rather we see that Gentiledom has gone back to the weak and beggarly elements of the law, that law which Christ died to free us from. We see today a form of religion which pours out huge sums to build great buildings which men call sanctuaries. It is impossible to find anything like this in the New Testament.

God does not live in a building. He lives in our day only in the hearts of those who have been born again. Our responsibility is very great. We must understand that it is our duty so to live, with our lights shining before men, that they may see the good works which develop in us from the presence of the indwelling Christ and glorify our Father which is in heaven.

There is little in present-day Christendom which could arouse jealousy in Israel or in anyone else. But here and there we find those whose lives are springs flowing for Christ. And wherever such people go, there is refreshment for others of God’s people and there is attraction towards Christ. And all of this is through the grace of God. What riches have now been made available for the whole world.

God has now reconciled to himself that which he once cursed. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. What riches have now been made available for the Gentile. The word that the Jews used to identify the nations that had not been chosen in Abraham had become a terrible one to them, even as it is today to those of Israel who do not know Jesus Christ.

The Goyim were the nations that did not know Jehovah and any contact with them brought uncleanness to Israel. But since Christ, the temporary setting aside of Israel has brought riches to us the Gentiles. Now, every man can come to the true God through the simple way that has been opened through Christ. Now, the self-righteous philosopher can come to God if he will abandon his self-righteousness and can find mercy, pardon, and divine righteousness made available through the Savior.

Now, the barbarous savage can be received by the God of all holiness if he will confess his sin and acknowledge that Jesus is the sin bearer. In the setting aside of Israel, God stepped out of the bounds of a national deity, bounds which he had imposed upon himself, and became the God who is available to the whole of the human race. The Samaritan woman heard the prophecy of this change from the lips of Jesus Christ himself.

She had sought to change the subject when her utter sinfulness was revealed by his penetrating question and analysis of her condition. She had said, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain and you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” The Lord did not sidestep the question and he did not answer it in the way that many modern theologians would like to have had the question answered.

Jesus clearly recognized the national limits of salvation which existed in his day and the geographical isolation of God’s blessing at that time. Some would have liked to have had him say that all religions are good and that God can be approached in any way, anytime, and anyplace that man desires. This simply was not true then, nor is it true now. The Lord Jesus announced a great change that was to come.

God was going to burst the bounds that he had drawn around himself and Israel and was going to bring riches to the world, riches to the Gentiles. Jesus said, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We Jews worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.”

Christ died. The earthquake shook the land of Israel. The veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. God was through with buildings. Jerusalem was no longer a sacred place in the sight of God. God was about to become available in the jungles of the tropics, in the islands of the sea, in the frozen wastes of the north, in the plains of all the continents and in the cities of the world. Wherever there is a human being, there is now the possibility of access to God if there is recognition of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

No longer can we be called Gentile dogs, a title which even Jesus Christ used in speaking to a Gentile woman. On the one occasion on which he left the land of Israel during his ministry, a Gentile woman cried out after him as he passed by surrounded by the disciples and a crowd of followers: “Son of David, have mercy on me! Son of David, have mercy on me! Son of David, Son of David!”

The Lord Jesus made no sign that he heard her. She was a Gentile. She had no right at that time to approach him. Especially she had no right to approach him with a title that was purely Jewish. As the Son of David, he was Israel’s Messiah and at that time there was no provision for her approach except that which we have outlined above for Ruth, Naaman, and the others who were of Gentile flesh.

The Lord intended to bless her, but he had to do it in a way that was consistent with his holiness and his plan of redemption. Finally the disciples revealed what manner of selfish men they were by nature, saying to him, “Lord, send her away. She troubles us.” Immediately Jesus stopped and said, “It is not fit to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs.” Did Jesus call a poor, seeking woman a dog?

Yes, he did. And why? Because she was a Gentile. She was ceremonially unclean. She had no sacrifice, no altar, no access to God, no recognition of her sin, no grounds for the shedding of blood for her sin. She was a part of the festering mass of humanity that had separated itself from God in the original fall and had continued in that separation in a thousand further falls.

But immediately she accepted her position and answered, “Yea, Lord.” Ah, what a different title from that which she had used before. No longer does she imitate that which she did not know. No longer does she cry “Son of David,” but “Yea, Lord.” And this she follows in all humility, relying upon sovereign grace alone: “Even the dogs can eat of the crumbs which fall from the children's table.”

Now our text in Romans 11 announces that such a condition has been set aside. We Gentiles are no longer dogs dependent upon crumbs that fall from the Jewish table. Because of that nation's departure from God, Israel has been taken away from the table as a nation, and the table is no longer a national table but one that has been enlarged to include all who will come through Jesus Christ. Any individual Gentile may come and sit down boldly at that table.

Any individual Jew may come and sit down boldly at that table. The only requirement that God makes is that we recognize that we do not come on the grounds of any national or racial promise, but that we come as sinners to claim Jesus as a sinner’s substitute, as a sinner’s Savior. Why did Paul emphasize the truth in this manner? In our next study we will devote the entire space to point out what is going to happen when God turns the table upside down at the second coming of Jesus Christ and sets another table that is going to have Jewish national character again.

But now we ask, why did Paul emphasize Gentile blessing in this manner? The answer lies in the heart of the apostle and his great love for his people. We saw at the opening of chapter nine that Paul solemnly announced the extremity of his love towards his fellow nationals: “I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have a great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race.”

Once more in the opening verses of chapter ten he cries out, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” Now his intense love for his people breaks out again here in chapter 11. He speaks to the people who were once Gentiles, but who are now Christians. We might paraphrase his remarks as follows: “Do you know why I am talking like this? Do not forget that in spite of my great and burning love for my people, God called me to be the apostle to the Gentiles. And because I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.”

Whenever I get a chance to talk to members of my race, he might be saying, I tell them how God has blessed the Goyim, the nations. I love to tell them how the former dogs have been transformed and cleansed. We can no longer call common and unclean that which God has called clean. And why do I talk like this? he might say. I want some of them to become jealous. I want them to be restless and think of the fact that they no longer have what they once had.

And this is the way that believers of our day should witness also. We must say to the Jew, “You are a problem people. You are a ferment in civilization. The reason for this is that God has chosen you for a destiny that is in accordance with his purposes and you can never get away from that destiny.” As soon as you started running away, disaster began to pursue you and your age-long history has been studded with calamity.

At present you’ve entered into uneasy possession of a little portion of the land that God has promised to you. And you must wait for the rest until it is his time to give it to you. You are going to get that land, but you have a hard road to travel before that day. Look around you and see that there are others who have entered into spiritual rest in Christ and be stirred to jealousy that you might have that same rest.

Finally, and I address myself now to those who are spiritual believers in the Lord Jesus, these truths should bring us to the greatest compassion for the people of Israel who were once chosen of God and who are kept in this world because God has yet a future purpose for them. Today we see this people pushed from Germany after atrocious sufferings in the prison camps of Dachau and Belsen. We see the perils that hang over them in communist countries where their situation is precarious.

We see that they're frequently hated in countries that talk much about a freedom that is not always practiced. The true believer must show the love of Christ toward Israel, both nationally and individually. Once they were the most highly favored people upon earth. The blessings and promises which were given to them would surpass our comprehension if it were not for knowledge of the grace of God. Yet today they have become in their turn despised and rejected of men.

And the scriptures tell us that this was for our sakes. They were, as Simeon puts it, disinherited that we might possess their property. Can we think of this and not be filled with compassion for them? Can we pass them by as the priest and the Levite passed by the injured man on the road to Jericho and show them no mercy? Especially when God has told us that one of the very purposes for which he has had mercy upon us is that we might become the means of extending mercy to them.

Every true Christian must test his own love for God by the measure of his compassion for Israel. We may never think that our souls are right before God till we have learned to pity and pray for and to seek the salvation of those whom our Lord Jesus Christ called the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And our God and Father, we pray thy blessing upon Jerusalem and upon little Israel. Bless and keep and maintain this people till thou shalt bring them to the time of the blessing that lies before them. We pray thee that thou shalt sustain them and cause them to look away to see the sinner’s Savior, as we have seen the sinner’s Savior, and come to the same joy and rest that we who know Jesus Christ possess. Hear us, our God and Father, and bless each listening heart. In Jesus' name we ask it, Amen.

Guest (Male): Salvation has come to the Gentiles through the sovereign grace and mercy of God. He has reconciled to himself all who trust in his Son, Jesus Christ. You have been listening to Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, a ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. We hope you have benefited from today’s message entitled “Gentile Blessings.”

You may listen to additional teaching by Dr. Barnhouse anytime via the internet. Visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today’s teaching is available by calling us toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. Today’s message again is entitled “Gentile Blessings,” or simply request message number R11-5.

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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 teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a full list of radio stations carrying our programs, please visit our website at alliancenet.org. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of our listeners. 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. That’s 1-800-488-1888. You may also write 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 Donald Grey Barnhouse, Dr. James Montgomery Boice, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. Thanks for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.