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: Patrick Henry said, "I know of no way of judging the future but by the past." Herein lies the hopelessness of man's life. But the believer must say, "I know of no way of judging the future but by the promises of God," who has bound Himself by His oath that He will bring to pass all that He has promised. Our future is as bright as the promises of God, for the promises of God are as certain as God Himself.

Guest (Male): Over a half 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 "The Greatness of God."

Christians around the world joyfully sing the chorus of this great hymn: "Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art." When we contemplate God's sovereignty over human history and His mighty work of redemption on our behalf, we are compelled to sing of His greatness. Do you marvel every day at the greatness of your God? The scripture text for today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled "The Greatness of God."

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. How great Thou art! There is none like unto Thee, and we rejoice to cry that Thou art our God. Forgive men for being proud when they have discovered a small fraction of a fraction of Thy truth, and thank Thee that Thou hast revealed so much to us in Christ Jesus, Thy Son, our Lord and Savior, in whose name and for whose sake we ask it. Amen.

We read in Romans 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." A news magazine recently described General Liu, the Chinese leader who is second only to General Mao, as taciturn, cold, uncommunicative, gelid, a mechanical man who comes close to realizing his own dictum: "A party member is required to sacrifice his interests to the party unconditionally." They found it difficult to get much personal data on the man because he has revealed so little about himself.

But when he opens his mouth to speak, he reveals the inwardness of his heart. A small child cut its hands tending potato vines in a commune. The leader said, "Don't be scared by a little blood." An educated man expressed the thought to the dictator that it was a living hell to work in a boiler room. Liu replied, "We need more such hells." I cite this example as an illustration that the word of God is true, and that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

And then I use this example by contrast to point out that out of the abundance of the heart of God, He too has spoken, and that in Jesus Christ, He has revealed Himself. By every gesture, by every word, and by the tone of every word, that His inward being is love and holiness, and goodness and kindness, and hatred of sin, and desire for men to be saved, and longing for their highest good. As God revealed Himself in Christ, so He revealed Himself throughout the Bible and has given us names for Himself which show us a little of what He is.

In our present text, we hear Him call Himself the God of hope. We turn back to other parts of the New Testament and collect a sheaf of such self-given titles, which show us a little of the greatness of the heart of God. And we must not forget that these attributes of God are definitely related to our own welfare. For this God loves us, loves me, loves you, and wants us to enter into Himself, that we may find our greatest sphere of living, thus entering into the life of spiritual abundance which He came to provide for us.

First, God reveals Himself as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first chapter of Ephesians and verse 3, we read, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Now, when we learn this fact, we have been able to bring the Creator of the universe down to the place where we can see Him with the eyes of faith and listen to the testimony of those who have touched Him with their hands, seen Him with their eyes, and listened to him with their ears.

If we had no more than God as He is seen in the creation, we would be afraid with a terrible fear. Our lives would be like those savages in the heart of Africa and in the headwaters of the Amazon, whose whole existence is one of great fear and trembling. One Indian told a missionary that there was never a moment in life that there was not constant fear. The Indian said, "We're afraid when we rise in the morning and we're afraid when we go to sleep at night. We're afraid when we sit down to eat and we're afraid when we rise up to work. We are afraid when we walk in the jungle and we are afraid when we are in our dugouts on the river. We're always within arm's length of death, and we see an evil spirit in every tree and plant, in every snake and every animal, yes, in every other man, woman and child."

Now, that is exactly the state in which we would all be if it were not for the Lord Jesus Christ. But when we have seen Him and heard Him say, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," our hearts can enter into His rest. For the Lord Jesus Christ came not only to reveal that the God of heaven is His Father, but that He wants to be our Father also, and that He can become our Father if we come to Him through His son Jesus Christ.

In the second place, God reveals Himself as the God of love. We read in the second epistle to the Corinthians the admonition of Paul to the young church. He says, "Mind your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." It is at once evident that if God loves me, I need never live in fear. He has told us that perfect love casts out fear, for fear has torment. And He reveals to us that it is His perfect love that casts out the fear.

I can never have perfection in anything, let alone perfection in a field that is the opposite to my fundamental nature. For the essential nature of any individual is to move around himself. And it is only when we have found God the Father in Jesus Christ that we can know Him as the God of love. And as we learn that it was not because of anything lovable in us that He set His love upon us, so only because His very nature and name are love.

One of the tenderest passages in the Bible is that in which God tells us that He has recommended His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I once dealt with a man who was addicted to strong drink, and when he was under the influence of liquor, he could be a terrible brute. One night he came home drunk, and when his wife came to see if she could do anything to help him, he began to swear at her.

She prepared coffee for him and an ice pack for his head, and she didn't chide him, not even with a word. And this enraged him and he struck her. As she fell, she cried out, "Oh, John, I love you." It was this that ultimately broke his heart and brought him back to the place in life where he could lay hold upon the Savior who had already transformed the life of his wife. Now, this is a faint picture of what God says to us, even in the moment when humanity lifts its hand to strike the Lord Jesus Christ and to nail Him to the cross.

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the expiation for our sins. In the third place, He has given Himself the name "The God of Peace." The reason why it's possible for Him to be the God of Peace is that He has been the God of Love. We must not forget it, that God has always had at every moment the power to destroy sin and the power to destroy us, the sinners.

But if He has not struck us, it is because His purpose toward us is love that issues in peace. Wesley sang, "Depth of mercy! Can there be mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear, me the chief of sinners spare? I have long withstood His grace, long provoked Him to His face, would not harken to His calls, grieved Him by a thousand falls. Kindled His relentings are; me He now delights to spare, cries, 'How shall I give thee up?' Lets the lifted thunder drop. There for me the Savior stands, shows His wounds and spreads His hands. God is love! I know, I feel; Jesus weeps, but loves me still."

And in that knowledge of His character, we enter into His rest and we begin to know His peace. It is this knowledge of our God as the God of Peace that works the great transforming change in our lives. How wonderful it is to read in the closing verses of the epistle to the Hebrews that our daily growth in power comes from God in His quality of God of Peace. There we read, "Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever."

It was not until I prepared this message that I came to the full realization that the Lord works all this wonder in me as the God of Peace. If I had discovered that such a work came from the God of power, or the God of might, or even from the God of holiness, or the God of righteousness, I could understand it better. How can it be that all this transforming work comes to me from the God of Peace?

The answer lies in the fact that when we were enemies, God declared peace when He could have declared war. And the peace which He decreed between Himself and our wayward hearts He now makes practicable in our lives, so that His peace, which passes all understanding, becomes the guardian of our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

In the fourth place, He calls Himself the God of patience and consolation, or as it stands in the revision, the God of steadfastness and encouragement. How wonderful this is, because as we grow older, we realize how hard we have always been to get along with. One of the real forward steps in Christian growth is when we realize that the most difficult problem of our loved ones is to get along with us.

Out of a long pastoral experience dealing with the problems of many people, I believe I can say that when a man looks at himself and says, "My wife's real problem is that she has to get along with me," and when the wife takes the same look and says, "My husband's real problem is that he has to get along with me," the solution of the family problems are about ended and the marriage is well on its way to smooth sailing in quiet waters.

Now, when we turn this same problem to a vertical position, we discover that the situation is quite different. I have no trouble in getting along with God. But if He were not the God of patience, the God of steadfastness, He would never be able to get along with me. In Nehemiah, we read, "But Thou art a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and didst not forsake them, even when they had made for themselves a molten calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies. Thou in Thy great mercies didst not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud which led them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, which lighted for them the way by which they should go."

That's the kind of God I need. And in Joel we read, "Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil." That is the kind of God I need. And in the Psalms I am able to sing, in Psalm 103, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."

That is the kind of God I need. And all praise to Him, that is the kind of God I have. He's the God of patience and consolation, the God of steadfastness and encouragement. In the fifth place, He calls Himself, more than once in the scripture, the God of comfort. In fact, He says He is the God of all comfort. It's the same Greek word that's translated "consolation" in the verse in which He calls Himself the God of patience and consolation.

In order for us to understand this, it's necessary for us to get out of our minds the later meaning that has become attached to the English word "comfort." If we refer to the Oxford English Dictionary, which has been created on historical principles, we discover that the word has slowly degenerated through the centuries, so that in modern times, as the OED says, "In later use, sometimes expressing little more than the production of mental satisfaction and restfulness." And in the United States, we have even come to call a downy quilt a "comforter."

But the word "comfort" in the Bible sense never could be interpreted to mean little more than mental satisfaction and restfulness. Among the obsolete meanings for "comfort" which are recorded in the dictionary, several approach the true meaning of the Greek word. We find that from the 13th century, "comfort" meant strengthening, encouragement, incitement, aid, succor, support. While the verb meant to lend support, to support, to assist, to aid, to abet, to back up, to invigorate, to refresh.

All of these meanings are present in the Greek word. And when we take the word apart, we can see this in simplest fashion. The Greek verb is *parakaléo*, and consists of a preposition *pará* and a verb *kaléo*. We know the preposition in such words as "parallel," as of lines that run alongside each other. And the verb means "to call." So the comforter, then, is one who is called alongside someone who is in need, in order to strengthen him. The Latin word rendered it literally *advocate*. And the lawyer or counselor is someone who is called alongside a man who is in need of strengthening in some crisis of life.

When the translators of the King James Version came to the first paragraph of the second epistle to the Corinthians, they deformed the whole thought by introducing two English words to translate the one Greek word. In the older version, we have both "comfort" and "consolation," as though the two were different from each other. In the original, the Greek word is found no less than ten times, and in the revision, the word is found no less than ten times, exactly as in the original Greek.

Listen to it: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering, so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure. As you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort."

Ten times in five verses the noun and the verb are brought together to tell us how God comes alongside to strengthen us when we have difficult steps in our life. In the sixth place, we come back to our text in Romans where we find God calling Himself the God of hope. In the New Testament, hope is not always something in the future, for there are passages in which hope is something that is strong and certain and fixed and unmovable and anchored to the very throne of God. Thus hope is to be seen not as an idle dream, but as absolute reality.

But since we possess this hope as a bud and as the flowering is yet in the future, there is a sense in which hope is used of the life that is yet expectation and prospect. And thus God reveals Himself not only as the one who is the very present help in time of trouble, the one who is our present strength and support, who is our advocate and comforter, but also as the God of all our future, who will bring into full brightness that future day which shall know no sunset. Our future is as bright as the promises of God, for the promises of God are as certain as God Himself.

For our seventh example, we go to the opening lines of Stephen's address, which brought to him the crown of martyrdom. He began by saying, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham." The God of glory! The God of splendor and majesty, the God of radiance and magnificence, the God of fame, renown, and honor. All these things are to be found in His revelation of Himself as the God of glory. And the wonder of all this for us is that He has promised that we shall be associated with Him in this glory, even as the bride is associated with the bridegroom. And our greatest desire is that we shall so shine with that glory that we shall cast yet more splendor on Him.

How shall we sum all this up? By taking the eighth example which God has given us through Peter, in which He calls Himself the God of all grace. The names which we have considered all flow from His heart of grace. And the text in which He reveals Himself by this all-inclusive name ties us in with Himself in such a way that our present sufferings, our present triumphs, and our future glory are all bound together in one.

Peter warns of the dangers of our spiritual life and goes on to show our triumph and glory. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God," He tells us in the fifth chapter of his first epistle, "so that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world."

And then listen to the next phrase: "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, establish, strengthen, and settle you." Oh, how wonderful! The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of love, the God of peace, the God of patience or steadfastness, the God of comfort or encouragement, the God of hope, the God of glory, the God of all grace. These are the names which our God and Father has given of Himself to us. How wonderful! And our hearts will join with Peter's heart, who concluded the paragraph in which God was revealed to him as the God of all grace by crying out, "To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

And our God and Father, we pray Thee to bless this truth to each heart. How wonderful Thou art, dear Father, God of our Lord Jesus Christ, God of love, God of peace, God of patience, God of steadfastness, God of comfort, God of encouragement, God of hope, God of glory, God of all grace. How wonderful! And indeed our hearts do rejoice to worship Thee and to give Thee all praise and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Guest (Male): Christians worship an infinitely great God who is mighty in power and sovereignty and rich in mercy and love to all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled "The Greatness of God." To listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at AllianceNet.org.

An audio copy of today's message is available by calling us toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled "The Greatness of God" or simply request message number R15-12. We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled "Men Whom God Struck Dead." Some states and nations forbid any form of capital punishment, but the Bible records several instances of God executing divine capital punishment. This free booklet examines those accounts and reminds us that our worship, service, and surrender must conform to God's ways and find their source in the Holy Spirit.

Ask for your free copy of "Men Whom God Struck Dead" 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 teaching of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and *Every Last Word*, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a full list of radio 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. For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling 1-800-488-1888. 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 Doctors Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Martin 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.