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: Oh what darkness we were in, what light is now ours? What blindness we were in, what sight we now have? What is necessary in order that one may see clearly? Two things: sight and light. A blind man can see nothing even in midday. A sighted man can see nothing in a dark room at midnight. The blind man needs eyes and light. The sighted man needs light. These two things came to us in Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of 10th 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 Let the People Sing.

Many cities and communities sponsor international festivals, featuring music, singing and dancing from different nations throughout the world. But God is organizing an international festival like nothing the world has ever seen. He is gathering to himself a people from every nation, tribe and tongue to glorify him and sing his praises throughout eternity. Do you join other believers across the globe in singing the praises of our glorious God?

The scripture text for today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 15 and verses 9 through 11. Here once again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, with a message entitled, Let the People Sing.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto thee our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We rejoice that thou hast revealed thyself to us. In nature, we can see thy power and thy Godhead. And if we saw no more, we would tremble. But in the cross and the open tomb, we have seen thy love and thy grace. Thou hast not left us in our misery, but thou hast loved us.

And made it possible for us to turn our eyes away from ourselves, and the evils of life, and to fix our gaze upon the eternal realities that are found in thyself, through Jesus Christ. Make this hour very rich to us as we study thy word and see the joy that thou hast made possible for us. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

We come now to the paragraph in the 15th of Romans that begins, "And in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, therefore, I will praise thee among the Gentiles and sing to thy name. And again it is said, rejoice, oh Gentiles with his people, and again, praise the Lord all Gentiles and let all the peoples praise him."

The history of music throughout the centuries has been more closely associated with Christianity than with any other movement. We have the poetry of the Psalms, but none of the music that was used with them. The greatest authorities on the subject admit that we know nothing about the music of ancient Greece or China. In fact, the Encyclopedia Britannica says that we have as much knowledge about it as we do about the inhabitants of Mars.

The same source states, "We may be perfectly sure that if the Greeks had produced a music equivalent to the art of Palestrina, Bach, or Beethoven, no difficulty of deciphering would have long prevented us from recovering as much of it as we have recovered of Greek literature."

And the same source goes on to say that it's contemptible when we show such ignorance of our own music as to suppose that a music of similar caliber should have utterly disappeared from a living nation such as China, whose most ancient plastic art and literature commands our respect and rewards our study. The truth is that although there was much of what was called music in the ancient world, music as we know it today developed within the bounds of Christianity.

Psalms were sung to the music of many instruments, but the new music burst all the old bounds. Christianity was born in song. When the birth of Christ was announced, Mary went to Elizabeth, who understood what had happened. And when Mary realized this, she cried out in the first Christian hymn, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever."

The first line of this hymn in Latin reads, "Magnificat anima mea Dominum," and this has given it its name, the Magnificat. It's a wonderful hymn and very much needed in our day to destroy two extremes in theological thought. For on the one hand, it corrects the great error that Mary was sinless, when she so definitely states that the Lord was her Savior. Also, it corrects the great neglect that has come into much of Protestantism because of the pendulum swing in the other direction against the error.

As much as is possible, we join with the throngs of all generations in acknowledging that Mary bore Jesus without a human father, and that therefore, she is forevermore blessed. After that beginning of the hymn of Mary, hymns burst out in all the church. All of the early hymns were in Greek, so far as we know. And Julian tells us that it was 170 years before there was a hymn in another language, Syriac. Then in another 200 years, there were hymns in Latin.

Then in merely another 50 years, before the year 500, the first notes of hymns were heard in early English. German was added in the 9th century, Italian in the 13th, Bohemian in the 15th century. And then with the coming of the Reformation, the gospel took wings. Song overflowed into languages by the score. The people had found the reality of a living knowledge of the Savior, and they began to sing.

Now there are hymns in hundreds of languages. And Julian puts the total figure at more than 400,000 hymns. Isaac Watts in one of our well-known hymns sings, "Come we that love the Lord and let your joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord and thus surround the throne. Let those refuse to sing, who never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King must speak their joys abroad."

The man who has been touched by Christ must express it in song. It may be in the rhythm of the African drum or the plaintive pentatonic scale, but it is a joyful noise unto the Lord. The reason why the redeemed can sing is because each knows the author of true joy. The true believer will always remember what he was before God touched him, and what he has become because of the love that God has given to him.

In the 40th Psalm, David sang, "He drew me up from the pit of tumult, out of the mirey bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God." And if this is true of David, how much more it is true for us who were once Gentiles, but who have now been joined to God through Christ. For David was in the stream of all of God's promises. We Gentiles were far from the place of blessing. The Epistle to the Ephesians spells it out.

"Therefore, remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." This is what we were before the Lord God became flesh in Jesus Christ to accomplish our redemption. We Gentiles, we had no inheritance. We were Gentiles. We had no God. We were Gentiles. We had no hope. We were Gentiles. We had no Christ. We were Gentiles. But now, in Christ, we have all things.

Our text in Romans reminds us that the Old Testament, the Jewish Old Testament, if you will, is shot through with promises that announce that the Gentile curse will not last forever. The purpose of the coming of Christ, as stated in the previous verse, was not only that the Savior might become the servant of the Jews in order to teach his ancient people the truthfulness of God, and to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, but also as our text shows, that we Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

And thus we have three quotations. "Therefore will I praise thee among the Gentiles and sing to thy name." And again, "Rejoice oh Gentiles with his people." And again, "Praise the Lord all Gentiles, and let all the people praise thee." True, and every Christian must recognize it, God did present himself first to the children of Israel, and gave them very special promises, promises which have never been revoked, since the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. And the Jews may know because of these promises that what is happening in Israel today will one day come to full fruition. The promises of God can never be revoked.

But the reason why God chose Palestine, rather than other lands that are far more beautiful, was that there might be a square foot of ground someplace, where a hole could be dug, and the cross set up so that Jesus Christ might die for the sins of men. And the reason why God chose the Jews was so that the Virgin Mary might be born, from whom, without a human father, that Jewish baby could be born, who would grow up to be the man, Christ Jesus, who would die and rise again for the deliverance of all who would put their trust in him.

Now all of this was plainly foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Salvation was to be on the basis of a substitute provided by God. In the very first pages of the Bible, we discover that God told Adam and his sons that they were to offer a blood sacrifice. And we read in Hebrews 11:4 that Abel did this by faith. There in the outskirts of the Garden of Eden, it was one lamb for one man.

Sometime later in Egypt, God told Moses to have each family kill the Passover lamb and sprinkle its blood upon the lintel and doorposts of the house. There was to be one lamb for one house. And this is a gracious picture of the household promises that are so precious to us. Still later, the Lord told Moses to kill one lamb for the nation of Israel on the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. And this foreshadows that time when God will restore Israel to the land, and rule the world through that nation, according to all the promises of the Word.

But there was yet one wider circle than that of the nation, and John the Baptist announced the ransom that was to be paid for all men, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." And thus we have the progression, one lamb for one man, one lamb for one family, one lamb for the nation, and one lamb for the world.

The three promises from the Old Testament that are quoted in our text are not all of the verses which tell this wonderful news that is so important to us who are Gentiles. Without these promises, there is no hope for us. But in these promises, we find eternal life.

In our text, if you read the verbs only, the verbs in these promises are five: praise, sing, rejoice, praise, and praise. Now it's notable that the selection in our context are all promises which call upon the Gentiles to join in the great triumphant song of joy, which is ours because the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed the truthfulness and integrity of God, and has made it possible for us to join in the swelling praise, which is rightfully his, since he is the all-loving, promise-keeping God.

Let us remind ourselves of similar promises from the Old Testament. In Isaiah, we read that God saved the Jews to be a missionary people, bringing all nations to a knowledge of the true God who was committed to the redemption of his people and of all those who trusted in him. We read in Isaiah 42, "I am the Lord. I have called you, Israel, in righteousness. I have taken you by the hand and kept you. I have given you the Messiah, Christ, as a covenant to the people, the Jews, a light to the nations, the Gentiles, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness."

Yes, before Christ came, all Gentiles were in this terrible predicament, in the dungeon, in the prison, in darkness. And when Jesus Christ was brought to the temple as an infant to undergo the rites of purification under the Mosaic law. There was an old man, Simeon by name, righteous and devout, who was looking for the Messiah, the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit came upon him, and when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple, the old man took the child in his arms and said, "Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."

Oh, what darkness we were in. What light is now ours? What blindness we were in. What sight we now have? Incidentally, we should note the great teaching that is hidden here. What is necessary in order that one may see clearly? Two things: sight and light. A blind man can see nothing even in midday. A sighted man can see nothing in a dark room at midnight. The blind man needs eyes and light. The sighted man needs light. These two things came to us in Jesus Christ.

When his light shines, it accentuates the blindness of those whose eyes have not been opened in redemption. When the scripture states that Christ lights every man by his coming into the world, it does not mean that the man in darkness necessarily receives sight merely by that coming. I can remember as a boy, the first time I turned a board over, and saw crawly things flee the light, slithering away into their darkness.

This is the way that Jesus Christ affects some people by his coming into the world. Yes, praise God. We who were once not a people have become a people. Indeed, we have become very members of the household of God, his children through faith in Christ Jesus. Peter tells us this, and he is speaking of Gentiles as well as of Jewish believers. "You are a chosen people. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

When I was a little more than a boy, I heard the following story which can serve as a conclusion fitting for the subject we've been studying. A Christian once visited a hospital, giving comfort to those who were sick. He paused at each bed in the ward, saying a word of prayer, giving out a gospel or a devotional tract. He'd almost finished a ward when the closing hour for visitors came.

He went to the last bed and spoke to the man very briefly, "Dear man," he said, "if you come to the end of this life, will you go to heaven?" The man replied a little defiantly, perhaps. "Oh, I think I'll get to heaven all right. I think my chances are good." And the visitor asked, "What do you think they do in heaven?" The man was taken aback for a moment, and after hesitating, he replied, "Well, I, I hadn't thought about it, but I, I imagine they." And he paused, and then he continued, "I, I imagine they sing a great deal."

"That's right," the visitor said, "and we have the words of the song in the Bible." He opened a little New Testament to the last book in the Bible, the book of the Revelation, and turning to the fifth chapter, he read, "And they sang a new song, saying, worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth."

The visitor said, "I must go now, but I'm going to leave this New Testament with you, and I want to ask you this solemn question, if you were taken to heaven tonight, could you sing the song that they sing in heaven?" He turned and left the hospital, while the sick man's eyes followed him with a look of astonishment and wonder. The next day the visitor returned to the hospital and went straight to the bed of the man with whom he'd left the Testament and the solemn question. The sick man said, "I read that verse 50 times. And I'm never talk about my good works again. For in heaven, they sing praise to Christ for redeeming them by his blood. I have been trying to get to heaven without a Savior. And I had no song. But now I know what heaven's song is, and I have trusted in his blood, and can join in singing that song now."

Oh how many there are who are in this man's case. They have no song. They're trying to get to heaven without a Savior. They rush through life without a thought of what will certainly follow. They hope against all desperate hope that somehow they'll get to heaven. They think up fancied reasons why they should be received on the basis of their good works, on the basis of comparison with others who are so much worse than they, as they think, on the basis of having fulfilled some religious rites or ceremonies. But none of these things can avail. Heaven's song has as its refrain, "Thou wast slain, and by thy blood thou didst ransom men for God." The man who does not learn to sing that song on earth will never sing it in heaven.

Whether you're Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference. Jesus Christ became a man in order that he might die for your sins and take you into the presence of God. Our text says, "Praise, sing, rejoice, praise, praise." Oh, how well we can understand Charles Wesley, "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace."

Perhaps the greatest hymn of praise in the English language is the well-known, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." In 1787, this hymn was published in seven stanzas, and as it was printed, each verse was preceded by a title. Title number one, Angels. "All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all." Title two, Martyrs. "Crown him, ye martyrs of our God, who from his altar call. Extol the stem of Jesse's rod and crown him Lord of all."

Title three, Believing Jews. "Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, a remnant weak and small. Hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord of all." Title four, Believing Gentiles. "Ye Gentile sinners ne'er forget the wormwood and the gall. Go spread your trophies at his feet and crown him Lord of all." Title number five, Sinners of Every Age. "Babes, men and sires, who know his love, who feel your sins enthrall. Now join with all the hosts above and crown him Lord of all." Title number six, Sinners of Every Nation. "Let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial ball to him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all." And finally, the title seven, Ourselves. "Oh that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all."

Oh, how wonderful. Angels, martyrs, former Jews, former Gentiles, sinners of every age, sinners of every nation, and we ourselves, crown him, Lord of all. And our God and Father, we thank thee that the Lord Jesus, to whom belongs all praise, will one day have all praise. That thou wilt silence every discordant note, and the whole universe will bow before thee, recognizing who thou art and what thou hast done. We thank thee that thou hast brought many of us already to this place. And we pray thee that in this hour, we may know what it is truly to thank thee and praise thee with song in our hearts because of the redemption thou hast given through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Guest (Male): Let all the Gentile nations and all the peoples of the earth rejoice in the Lord and sing praises to him, both now and forevermore. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled, Let the People Sing.

To listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's teaching is available by calling us toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. Request, Let the People Sing, or simply ask for message number R15-10.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled Promises to Live By. We have all been disappointed by people who have let us down or not kept their word to us. But God is always faithful to his word and to his promises. This free booklet will show you the glorious and unshakable promises from the word of God that will give you strength in any situation in life. If you want to build your life on the strong, sure foundation of the promises of God, ask for your free copy of Promises to Live By 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 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. 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 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 reform 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.