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: The whole Christian concept may be expressed in the three phrases, I deserved hell. The Lord Jesus Christ took my hell. There is nothing left for me but his heaven. There is absolutely no middle ground. God is no respecter of persons. He did not even stop before the appalling necessity of pouring out his wrath on his only son when the Lord Jesus, by being nailed to the cross, became a technical violator of the clause in the law in which it was written, cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree.

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 outreach 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 No Respect of Persons. You will never get on an airplane and take a seat next to the president of the United States.

Because of his honored position, he has Air Force One to take him from place to place. The world pays great respect to people of high standing, great achievement, and good reputation. But in God's eyes, a king is no better than the lowest servant. How can anyone, whether peasant or nobleman, find favor with God? The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is Romans chapter two and verse 11. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled No Respect of Persons.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto the our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We thank thee for thy grace which stooped to save us in spite of what we were in Adam and what we had become in ourselves. Use thy word today to speak to the hearts of men that its entrance may be light to conduct or to comfort as the need may be. We ask it through the Lord Jesus Christ and for his sake. Amen. As I drive in and out of Philadelphia, the main road passes the old Quaker meeting house at Horsham.

Across the road from the old colonial edifice, there is the large and well-kept graveyard in which each of the hundreds of gravestones is exactly alike. Every stone rises as a marker above the grave. A simple rounded headstone about a foot above the ground. If you read the names that are there, you will find that masters and servants, parents and children, rich and poor have stones that are precisely similar. With the old Quakers, a great truth had taken hold of them that whatever the inequalities of life, all were equal in death. This is the truth that is set forth in our study of the second chapter of Romans and the famous text for there is no respect of persons with God.

It is the fourth of the divine principles of judgment. God will judge men first according to truth, second according to the accumulation of wrath which they have treasured by trampling the mercy of God. Third according to the manifestation of their life choice, whether for righteousness in faith or of unrighteousness in opposition to God. And now fourth without respect of persons. Verse 11 is somewhat a repetition for emphasis of the truth set forth in verse six. There we read that God will render to every man according to his deeds. Here we find that God is no respecter of persons.

It is a truth that goes across the field of men's thinking in a straight furrow, plowing under every objection that man might raise. And to change the figure, it is a truth that drives through the harvest field, cutting down the grain and the weeds alike, winnowing the wheat from the chaff and preparing the one for the father's house and the other for burning. Our text presents us with a picture of God as being absolutely impartial. But we must not consider this attribute as being a cold impartiality working in an automatic way, but rather as a rich, warm love that is working out eternal principles which were planned from eternity and for whose fulfillment every provision has been made.

The Bible does not present to us the picture of a God who started the universe and then went off and left it running in its own way. H. G. Wells once looked out over the miseries of Europe at war and said, either God has the power and does not care or God cares and does not have the power. But there is the third alternative which is the true one. God has a plan which is for the good of man and which must submit man to a test with rigorous impartiality. As the human race increased on this earth, there were human standards of judgment which were erected by men to replace the divine standards which they had already rejected.

Cain judged his brother Abel and killed him. And the sons of Cain became oppressors, arbitrary, high-handed, dealing with the merchandise of the souls of men as if their fellow beings were cattle instead of beings created in the image of God, possessing souls and spirits as well as bodies. Men took the position of judges over their fellow creatures, deeming some inferior because of wealth or possessions, others because of supposed intelligence or lack of it, still others on the grounds of birth. The family of Adam was divided into strains. And as time passed, almost everyone looked down on someone else for one reason or another.

The inferior members of one group who are despised by their supposed superiors in turn looked down at other groups because they differed in race or religion or language. A thousand prides have drawn their pattern across the human race and a thousand resentments have risen to destroy the patterns. Mankind is hopelessly involved today and will never be able to solve the problems that have grown out of the differences within humanity. I use the word hopeless with care. For if there were hope in man, there would be no use for God. History is the story of the growing intricacies of man's relationships which will eventually reach such a tangle that only the sword of God can cut through to bring the righteous reward of eternal life to those who have accepted the divine righteousness and to bring righteous judgment of condemnation and separation to those who have rejected eternal life in Christ.

At the outset, let us recognize that God created the pattern of life which men have entered upon. He left the choice to them, but the fruit of their choice was of his arranging. Certain patterns of life are like a spider's web. And if the fly chooses to enter the web, he is entrapped by the very nature of the web. And mankind, refusing the grace of God, was enmeshed in a life from which man could never free himself. This is why God can say to the Christian, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God.

The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. As we read in Romans 13, men must have respect of persons in the intricate web of human affairs. The general must have more consideration than the private. A bomber who could drop his load on a country house and kill 10 members of the enemy's general staff or sink a ship with 10,000 soldiers, the bomber would always choose the 10 generals over the 10,000 soldiers.

It is right to have the table of honor at which the more distinguished guests shall be seated. It is proper that the working man should draw back and allow the manager to go through a door first. And so on through all the proper pattern of life, though not in its artificialities. The truly great man will never worry if he has been put at a second table instead of the first. He knows that he carries his greatness within himself. Moses was deferent before Pharaoh, but spoke with the voice of the thunder of God. John Knox bowed before the office of the Queen of Scotland, but defied her in matters of right and wrong.

The humblest artisan who is a good craftsman can stand on the dignity of his human personality and perhaps be a better man than the one who is above him. Though he will recognize the rights of the employer and render him the respect that is due to his position. Men have always sought to cover any inferiority within themselves by creating another class beneath them upon which they can vent the expression of their indignation and their indignities. Now with the clear recognition of the dignity of human personality, it is quite right for there to be a division among men and clear recognition of the right of some men to possess more than others.

We recognize the fact that some men are physically superior to others, some men are mentally superior to others, some men are morally superior to others, some men are in wealth superior to others. And these various superiorities give to some the right to live on various economic levels. But we must be just as clear in our recognition that God has said that spiritually all men are equal and that he, God, will never recognize any difference between one man and another so far as the prevalence of his standards of righteousness and judgment are concerned. That's why in the Quaker graveyard, all the stones were of the same height.

The goddess of justice in the Greek system had a bandage over her eyes so that she could not see the person who came before her for judgment. She carried a set of scales so that justice could be given with absolute balance and equity. And she carried a sword that had no scabbard and which struck all of the guilty alike. Man cannot have an unqualified justice because man never can know all of the facts. The true motives are for the most part hidden and all of the chain of factors which make up the psychological pattern. So man invented the idea of justice tempered with mercy.

The concept is a purely human one. With God, there can never be a mixture. The divine justice was manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ and without any mercy whatsoever, the wrath of God was poured out upon Jesus Christ to the full. Henceforth, mercy and justice are in two different categories and they can never be mixed. It is all mercy for the one that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, mercy that flows from the fact that the divine justice was fully satisfied in the substitute. If the individual will not receive the Lord Jesus Christ as savior, then it is justice to the full and forever.

No, there is no respect of persons with God. God offers heaven equally to the thief on the cross and to the Pharisee. God offers salvation to the rich and to the poor. God offers salvation to the high and the low. God offers salvation to the intellectual and to the ignoramus. God offers salvation equally to the full spread of any categories into which you may wish to apportion the mass of humanity or a single sector of humanity. And if we stop to analyze it, we can see that this is the only path that is open to pure justice.

Suppose that God made salvation contingent on understanding theology. Then the intelligent would be saved and the ignorant would be lost and that would not be just. Suppose that God made salvation contingent on material position. Then the wealthy or those who inherited it could be saved and the ones that are born to poverty would be lost and that would not be just. Suppose that God had made salvation contingent on the development of moral character, then those who were born with a good heritage and who were educated under spiritual discipline would have an immense advantage over those who were born from a family of weak moral fiber and who were allowed by the vicissitudes of life to shift for themselves.

There is a naturally good element in the lost human heart. But it is an element that cannot be recognized by God for salvation and it is cursed if it becomes the object of man's confidence. There can be but one just method of salvation and that is the method which God has devised in the infinite bounty of his being and has brought to us by the goodness of his heart and the sacrifice that flows from his loving kindness. God says to the human race in sum, it makes no difference how you may have been sunken in sin.

I will not take account of the arrogance of your pride or of the filth of your wallowing. I will not look at what you call iniquity, nor will I look at what you call goodness. I will bring you all to the gate and count you all as equal. I will ask you to admit that your gradations of human efforts and human attainments be discarded and that you come one and all as bankrupts. Just admit that though you may have everything that satisfies your neighbors, you have nothing that satisfies God. Then says God, I will do everything for you and put righteousness to your account as a free gift without respect of persons.

The sage and the simpleton will be on the same ground. The governor and the gunman will have an equal chance. The holy and the harlot can both enter in. The sinner and the saintling, the powerful and the powerless, the judge and the judged, the lawyer and the lawless, the noble and the nobody, the proprietor and the pauper, the doctor and the dunce, the strong and the stripling, the glamorous and the gawky, the sophisticate and the savage, the worthy and the worthless. All may be saved from whatever their supposed class and background. God sees them as equal, lost sons of Adam.

God loves them all and sent the Lord Jesus as the lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. There was no respect of persons with the Lord when he prepared salvation on the cross. Whosoever will may come. Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out. And if it be true that there was no respect of persons with God when he sent his son to pay the ransom for all, it surely must follow that there will be no respect of persons with God when men appear before his judgment throne. If you have accepted his terms and settled out of court on the basis of the death of the savior, then his love and his justice are alike satisfied and there is no further question.

Salvation is a sure and certain matter because the dignity of the law has been upheld. The penalty of perfect justice has been exacted. The judge cannot hold anything against the one whom he has justified. But it must surely be seen that if an individual has denied the grace of God and has flouted the love that has been so freely proffered, there can be no respect of persons when the time for judgment comes. And there will be no place for man to hide. There is no excuse that can be valid, no argument that can constitute a real reason.

Stop and think. Is there any reason that you could give to the Lord God Almighty for not admitting in this instant that you are less perfect than he is and therefore necessarily under the condemnation of perfect justice? Is there any reason that you could think of for refusing to accept the love that has been provided for you? And is there any reason that you can give for refusing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ who came presenting the credentials of life and who was raised from the dead as final proof the judgment will come on the basis of his righteous provision?

There is a story in the Old Testament that casts light on our text. King Saul had demonstrated his character and had been rejected by God. The time had come to choose his successor. The Lord told the prophet Samuel to fill his horn with oil and to go down to the family of Jesse since a king had been chosen by God from among the sons of this man of Bethlehem. When Samuel arrived, the family of Jesse was brought before him. The elder son was a magnificent specimen and Samuel followed the natural trend of human thinking, judging on the basis of the visible human personality.

But the Lord God spoke to Samuel saying, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Now when we apply this principle to the judgment of God, we can see how it must pierce all the defenses of those who would shelter themselves in some false delusion or plead some special privilege because of a twisted idea of their own worthiness in the sight of God. With God, there can be no respect of persons.

There are three passages in the scripture which form a terrible commentary on this text. The first is a passage which turns man's standards upside down. The second is a passage which shows that not many of the earth's great will reach heaven and the last is a picture of eternal doom that shows the leaders of earth in the midst of their torment. The Lord Jesus was asked by his disciples for a place of honor in his kingdom. He replied in terms that showed how different his standard of selection was from that which prevails among men and concluded by saying that many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Now we're living in a topsy-turvy world. We have come through the looking glass into the land of the fall and all our views are distorted. Small things seem great and great things seem small. Our whole world is an illusion created by Satan to deceive us. And the only spiritual truth in life is to be found in the word of God. Those who refuse the word are unable to see because they have rejected light, have adopted other standards which they think are light and are therefore in greater darkness. The Lord said, if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?

Today is the day of darkness. But when the light of God's judgment breaks forth, all standards will be the divine ones. And many of the first shall be last and the last shall be first. In the first epistle to the Corinthians, this truth is brought into even sharper relief by the statement of the Holy Spirit concerning the constitution of the true church. I mean the organism and not any organization. The Holy Spirit says, quote, for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things that are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. Now there could be no stronger proof that God is no respecter of persons. Men who have trusted in human wisdom instead of in divine revelation simply will not be in heaven. Men who have trusted in the exercise of power or in the nobility of their ancestry simply will not be in heaven.

It was the countess of Huntingdon who said that she thanked God for the letter M. For the scripture does not say that not any noble are called, but that not many noble are called. The reason is evident. The noble are not willing to abandon confidence in that which makes their position in the world in order to take their rightful place before God as spiritual paupers. It is of course impossible for a man to abandon his ancestry and if he is born noble, he is born noble and that is all there is to it. You cannot change your grandfather.

But man must say to God that the standard is a human one and that he repudiates it so far as any access to God's presence is concerned. There is no respect of persons with God. Christ was despised and rejected of men and heaven will be filled with people who while they were here on earth were despised and rejected by earth's mighty who will people the outer darkness where the things that offend and the persons that offend are cast. Finally, there is a passage in Isaiah that illuminates the word of the Lord who announced that judgment would be on different levels, that some would be beaten with few stripes and some with many stripes.

This passage describes the moment in the future when Lucifer, Satan finally arrives in eternal torment. We read in Isaiah, hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It might be translated their furor, the Caesars. It contain the passage continues. It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations and they shall speak and say unto thee. And we must hear the irony as we read it. Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?

They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying, is this the one that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness? I've been reading from the 14th of Isaiah and the answer is no. God is no respecter of persons. Therefore, whoever you are, accept today the peace that he has made for you and that he still offers you. If you refuse him, there is no chance of getting around his justice. You cannot bring a letter of introduction or bring pressure to bear on the throne of God.

The eternal court cannot be fixed. God is no respecter of persons. If you will settle with the Lord Jesus Christ, you will pass from death unto life and never even appear before the court which sentences men to the full force of the wrath of God. Oh behold, for now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. And we pray thee our God and our Father that thou shalt speak to the hearts of men. If there be those who hear these words who have yet reject the son of God, give them no rest nor peace until they rest in the savior.

And may thy grace, thy mercy, and thy peace be upon all thy redeemed own. For we ask it through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Guest (Male): God offers salvation to the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the master and the slave, the reputable and the disreputable. All who humble themselves and trust in Christ will be saved. We hope you've benefited from today's message by Dr. Barnhouse entitled No Respect of Persons. You can listen to additional Bible teaching by the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse anytime, anywhere around the globe via the internet by visiting the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals website 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 No Respect of Persons or simply ask for message number R2-6.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of Dr. Barnhouse's booklet entitled Promises to Live By. We have all been disappointed by people who have let us down or have not kept their word to us. But God is always faithful to his word and to his promises. In this free booklet, Dr. Barnhouse shares glorious and unshakable promises from the word of God that will give you strength in any situation in life. Living by the shaky principles of the world will lead to confusion and despair. 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. The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals exists 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 materials which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of our listeners. If you have benefited from this 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 support and further our work, contact us by writing Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Call toll-free 1-800-488-1888 or visit us online at www.alliancenet.org. Be sure and ask for a free updated resource catalog featuring books, audio teachings, commentaries, booklets, daily devotionals, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding Reform teachers and theologians including Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Michael Horton, and Martin Lloyd-Jones. Then be sure and join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.