Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): Making God's word plain. The Alliance of confessing Evangelicals presents God's eternal truths with Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse and the Bible.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Look how Satan tried to kill Jesus. How he tried to kill him when he was less than two years old by having all the babies killed. How he tried to have the people in Nazareth throw him over a cliff and kill him. How he tried to have the people pick up stones to stone him. Satan was every moment crying to destroy Jesus. We can be absolutely certain that at every moment he is trying to destroy us. I have no doubt whatsoever that he would have succeeded if God had not put around each one of us guardian angels stronger than anything that the devil can bring forth.

Guest (Male): With his friendly manner, vivid analogies, and faithful exposition of the scriptures, Dr. Barnhouse makes the Bible relevant to modern man. His sermons are just as applicable today as when they were first preached decades ago. An old gospel song reminds us this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. This song echoes John's apostolic admonition. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

This week we turn to 1 John chapter 2 and verses 15 through 17. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with his message. Love not the world.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: The epistle of John is the flowering of the truths that were revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the last night of his life before the cross. He was in the upper room. Since I am going to spend specifically my time on verses 15 16 and 17, let me read them and then make one comment on this word world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Now in that brief paragraph, the word cosmos, the world occurs six times. And here in this epistle, it is the key word. You and the world, the world and you, you and the world because God Almighty starkly draws a line, sharply draws a line across humanity and says you are mine. The world passeth away and the lusts thereof. You are those whose heart is in Jesus Christ. Here the word of God is telling us that we belong to the Lord and that we are to be in a different sphere, in a different center.

When a man is born again, he is taken out of the power of Satan into the kingdom of the son of God's love. He is regenerated. He is taken out of darkness and into light from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of the son of God's love. He is transformed. And the scripture teaches that this is our position and our life, the moment that God has come into us through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Because of this fact, we are being looked upon by God as being in Christ and therefore a new creation.

And we have become the object of God's ceaseless care. But we have also become the object of the devil's ceaseless care. The devil is paying more attention to a Christian than he is to somebody that's already wallowing in one of his ponds. It says in this same book, if we turn the page to another chapter, we know that we are of God and that the whole world lieth in the evil one. And the Greek word that's used for lieth is a Greek word that was commonly used by the ancient secular writers to describe a vicious man lying in the embrace of a prostitute, resting supinely in the embrace of the horrible one.

And the scripture says we are of God and the whole world lieth in the evil one. But the devil is very very filled with care about us. He is trying to nullify our Christian life. Through as I say, we've been taken out of his patch. We have been planted in Christ. And in that moment, Satan is as concerned about us as he was about Jesus when Jesus was here. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. But this conflict is here. And the mere recognition of the existence of the conflict can make it possible for you to achieve a greater victory.

If you do not know that there's a fight on, you're not going to be too interested in overcoming. But the moment that you know that the fight is there, then you know that the powers in Christ are available and that there's an enemy to overcome. Now Satan knows very well that it is impossible to detach a soul from Christ. You're in Christ and you're a new creation. And for Satan ultimately to get you and force you to be lost would be the same as taking a knife and amputating a hand or a foot from Jesus Christ and leaving him as a cripple through all eternity.

It's not going to take place. We cannot be separated from the love of God. Nothing can separate us. But though Satan knows that he cannot detach us from Christ, he is going to do everything he can to nullify the life of the believer. Now this he does primarily through placing before the believer the world in which we live and just getting us to look at the world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now this word world is cosmos in the Greek is a very interesting word.

I want to take the liberty of reading about four line definition from the lexicon as to the meaning of this word cosmos. Worldly affairs, the aggregate of things earthly. The whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, etc which although hollow and frail and fleeting stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ. Now that's what the world is. The sum total of all the things that are in this world that make a man want not to have things spiritual but to have things worldly, to want to seem, to want to appear, to want to be.

Come to the position of thinking that every man for himself and even cut corners morally and spiritually. If I'm to get through and get what I want to get. Now is it any wonder that God commands categorically for this is a commandment, do not love the world and the things of the world. Now that's a commandment. There is law in the midst of grace. These are the statements of God. If you transgress, if you go back to the trough and wallow and guzzle your fill of the world, you may not be detached from Christ but you will lose all joy.

You will lose all power. You will always be reaching for something and you'll just scratch the edges of it and come away with an empty hand. You see, we're told that we're saved out of the world. In Colossians chapter 3 in verse 1, it says if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth. For you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God. So we're distinctly told that the thrust of our affections is to be heavenward.

We're here. We're in the midst of the world that crucified Jesus Christ. The world is the aggregate of all the things that seduce from Christ and from God and turn a man back to mere materialism. And God says do not love it. Do not love the things that make it up. If you do, the love of God is not in you. Men make definite choices. This young man says what am I going to do with the rest of my life? He had been working with an oil company. He said I can't spend the rest of my life selling oil.

Now his position with the oil company was open. He'd gone into the army and he could have gone right back without any loss of seniority and he could have gone to a very good position. But he saw the divine reality and said I'm going God's way. Now don't misunderstand. This does not mean that you may not take a high position. The whole question is why do you take it? If a man says well I'm going to go because I want to get rich, I want to have possessions, I want to have this, then it's sin.

If a man says Lord God Almighty, promote me in order that I may have a higher platform from which I may preach Christ, that's something else again. But God must examine your motives. Governors, senators in the United States if they are not Christian. Now it's possible for a man to be governor and senator and really stand for God. But it's possible also for a man who should be a great power for God to fall to nothing more than being a senator. And Woodrow Wilson wanted to appoint John Armat to be ambassador to China. John Armat answered I would not step down from being an ambassador for Jesus Christ to be an ambassador for Washington.

He knew that he had something bigger. Now don't misunderstand. It's it's perfectly all right for a man to become the ambassador for Christ and the ambassador to China or to Russia or to England or to any other place. If he's decided that God's place for him is to be a career diplomat, then he says Lord God, I'm going to be thine. I suppose that my life was influenced as much by one scene in my home as anything else. My father had a lumber mill and it burned in the San Francisco earthquake. No insurance. All insurance off.

It was a big loss and he immediately started to work to rebuild his business. And I can remember so well when Claus Spreckels, the Spreckels sugar refinery, was going to build a great refinery about 14 miles from our town. They put out bids. Father figured on it. I can remember so well night after night he would be at his desk, blueprints, plans, specifications. And I suppose if I heard it once, I heard it a dozen times. Lord, if it's possible, we'd like to have that contract. And if we get the contract, we'll be able to do this.

If we get the the contract, we knew what it was. It was to bill a million dollar sugar refinery. And then one day the telephone rang. It was one of those telephones on a wall that you wound, one of the first, you know. The telephone rang and somebody called my mother and said is Mr. Barnhouse there? And she said no. And they said the bids have been opened and he's number one. Well, we dance jigs. We were so happy all for two or three days. It was simply terrific. And then one day two of the most beautiful horses I've ever seen, pair of blacks in a great rig, came down the street and tied up at the hitching post in front of my house and out got Mr.

Spreckels and another man. And they came in to talk to Father and I was there. Father brought me in. He had his arm around me part of the time. And Mr. Spreckels said we're so pleased. We know the quality of your work and everything that you've done in contracting. But Mr. Barnhouse, there's one thing. We've got to change the date of it's being finished. It's got to be finished by such a date so we can get a new crop of sugar beets. Father looked him open. He said it can't be done by that date. They said well we have figured that there are 38 Sundays between now and then.

And if you work crews on Sundays, that it can be done. My father said I will never work a crew on Sunday. Well, we know your principles and we've understood and we've we want you to have this and build it and we have a man that can come and work for you as foreman and you won't have to go or have anything to do with it. And my father said I will have nothing to do with a contract where the crews work on Sunday. I simply will not have anything to do with it. They said we're prepared to give you a bonus of $50,000 and my father said I'm sorry but I will have nothing to do with a contract that works the men on Sunday.

They said but if you do not accept this, we'll be forced to take it away and give it to the next bidder. I'll never forget as long as I live my father stating, gentleman, what you do with your contract is up to you but I have my principles and I must answer to my Lord. Well, we cried that night in our house but I know that here was a man who loved not the world nor the things of the world. Now working on Sunday may not be intrinsically a sin in itself but in those days the principles of what was done and what was not done on the Lord's day were very very definite.

And I know just as well as anything in my life that at that time I was learning there is right, there is wrong. And when a man believes a thing is right, he takes his stand on it. He stands up and is counted. Money doesn't mean a thing. Honor, right, these are the things by which a Christian determines his path in the world and walks with his face turned toward his God. Now if the things in this life, if you're looking for things merely for the things, merely because of the sensations, merely because of the joys, holding anything merely because of itself, then it's wrong.

But if you say Lord God Almighty, these things, take them or give them, it makes no difference to me whether I have or whether I have not. This is the direction I want to go, to love not the world nor the things of the world. So fundamentally you see this thing must be decided in the heart. Two men living alongside of each other may appear to have exactly the same financial status in life. And this man may be condemned by God and this man may be blessed by God because this man is holding on to the things for the sake of the things and this man is holding on to God has sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things are being added unto him.

This is the way we make our choices. This is the way we decide in life that we are going to live for him. Now two reasons are now advanced in the closing portion of this text why you should not love the things of the world. Love not the world neither the things of the world. Why not? One, all that is in the world is not of the Father but is of the world. It is not of God. This civilization of ours to get, to be, to have, to appear, to luxuriate, to say well after all we must have the simple necessities of life.

Car, television, can't even start life without them. It was the New Yorker sometime ago that published a four or five line word among its humorous anecdotes overheard in an elevator. Well, of course we're only going to have the absolute essentials to start marriage, a bed, a stove, and a television set. I didn't know whether they were going to sit on the bed or on the stove but they were going to be amused. They were going to have these things. These were the These were the things that had to be love not the world. All that is in the world is not of the Father.

Now don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that a television set is sin. You have to use discernment. This is what I'm trying teach you that you must make your choices. You know how to read. Well, does that mean you read filthy books? No, of course not. You make your stand and you say I read and I'm going to read that which edifies, not that which merely is pastime. You know there's a word. I think that's one of the most horrible words in the language, pastime. It's very very interesting to note that in the Spanish Bible, in the Gospels, when it says that a sower went forth to sow and some seed fell on thorny ground and in our King James version it says that then persecution arises because of the word and anon the word is choked out because of the cares and pleasures of this world.

And the Spanish translation is the past times of this world. Time, the one thing which you can never never have again. This is to be channeled and this is to be used for God. It won't mean that you can never amuse yourself but it will mean that you have everything rationed and everything in a system of priorities and that what you do is in relationship to all of the rest of life and above all in relation to God. For all that is in the world is not of the Father but is of the world. That's one reason why you should not love the world because the world is not of the Father.

The second reason you should not love the world is in verse 17, the world passeth away. What's going to pass away? The Academy of Music, Walnut Street and the banks, New York, the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Radio City, Hollywood passes away. So God Almighty says love not the world. Why not? It is not of the Father and it passeth away. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Isn't that terrific? He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. That means that the washerwoman who says Lord God, you've saved me and I'm earning my living as a washerwoman and I'm going to wash all the way in the corners and I'm not going to sweep under the carpets.

I'm going to wash all the way around the edges and I'm going to wash. And as I'm a washerwoman scrubbing the 14th floor of a skyscraper in the middle of the night, I won't chisel on the boss's time. I'll not steal my employer's time. I'll be the best washerwoman. That's what a Christian should be. If you're a ditch digger, you say by the grace of God I'll be the best ditch digger that this world has ever seen. If you're a doctor, you'll say Lord God, hold my arm, my nerves, the scalpel. Give me thy wisdom.

If you're a housewife, you'll say Lord God, I want thee to live in me so that I may bring up these children for Jesus Christ. And I'll give myself to them utterly. I'll not put them out because they interfere with my liberty. I will realize that you put me in this world to be a mother and a wife and I'll be that wife and mother to thine honor and thy glory. The rest passeth away. Love not the world. It is not of the Father. It passeth away but he that doeth the will of God, he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

And believe me in the day when the hearts of men become visible, or they will. In the day when God the Father brings out all that is hidden and makes it manifest, then the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Those that went for the world, those that want to appear, to be, to seem, to have, to get, they will pass away. For the Lord will pluck out of his kingdom all things that offend. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Guest (Male): The apostle John reminds us that this world is not our home and admonishes us do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You are listening to Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible. Today's message, love not the world. For additional teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. Are you struggling with the challenges and difficulties in life? The truth is we all do. Our free gift offer to you is Dr. Barnhouse's booklet Salted with Fire. Dr. Barnhouse explores the significance of trials in the Christian life and how God's consuming fire purifies us, transforming our struggles into opportunities for growth and holiness.

Request Salted with Fire when you call 1-800-488-1888 or when you visit alliancenet.org. The wisdom of this world would tell you to invest in your future and there is certainly a place for that but God's wisdom would also encourage us to invest in his kingdom. And your support of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a great way to do so. You can make a single contribution or become a monthly supporter by visiting our website alliancenet.org. You might choose to call us at 1-800-488-1888 and our postal address is 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17601. You can listen to the teaching of Dr.

Donald Grey Barnhouse anytime, anywhere via the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals app. Learn more and download the app at alliancenet.org/app. And once again, if you would like to receive our free gift offer, Dr. Barnhouse's booklet Salted with Fire, call 1-800-488-1888. Join us again next week as we ponder the question, are the enticements of this world drawling you away from the Lord? That's next week on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.