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: Who is the Holy Spirit? I have heard some people talk of him as though he were a machine that could be turned on and operated by men, even as we operate a vacuum cleaner or a power saw. But when we go to the word of God, we discover immediately that he is presented to us as a person.

Now it is necessary to understand the meaning of the word person. It does not mean a human being, but the word has a technical meaning to describe the three distinctions or modes of God Almighty.

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 will be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled The Power of the Holy Spirit. The great 19th-century evangelist D.L. Moody wrote, "If I cannot have the power of the Holy Spirit on me to help me work for him, I would rather die than just live for the sake of living." Moody knew the importance of the Holy Spirit for powerful, effective ministry. Do you rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in your service for the Lord?

The Scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, with a message entitled The Power of the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. How we thank you for the provision that you have made for our life and our growth in you. In this hour, as we study your word, we pray you that you shall open our eyes and give us to see fresh blessings for our need. Whatever the need, oh, meet with us, our God. And we will give you all the praise through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

We come now to the last study in the text in Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, in order that you may abound in the hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Now in our closing study of this great benediction, we center our thinking on the power of the Holy Spirit. The context shows us that this passage is speaking about the power of the Holy Spirit to do an effective work in the life of each believer, to fill him with all joy and peace in believing.

We have seen that the object of his work is that we may believe all that the word of God has to say about our Lord Jesus Christ. And the context further shows us that the whole passage is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, as he is revealed in the Bible, the word of God.

It may help us if we remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God, of God the word, in perfect human form. And then it will help us still more if we realize that the Bible is the incarnation of the Holy Spirit.

When we understand these two incarnations, we shall become aware of the power of the Holy Spirit, and we shall find the way by which that power may be manifested to us and released in us. I think it was Godet, the great Swiss theologian, who first pointed out that there were these two incarnations. Everyone had always known the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

But it was he who spoke of the Bible as the incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Cardinal Newman wrote that the mysteriousness of the doctrine of the Trinity evidently lies in our inability to conceive a sense of the word person. But I think we can approach it through the word personality in order to understand it better.

For personality is the quality, the character, or the fact of being a person, as distinct from a thing. That quality or principle which makes a being personal. And to that definition from the dictionary, I would add that a person is any being that has the individuality of possessing knowledge, feelings, and will.

The Holy Spirit possesses all three of these qualities in a divine degree. He has such knowledge that one of his names is the Spirit of Wisdom. In fact, in the 11th of Isaiah, one of the great chapters of the Bible, the three members of the Godhead are presented to us in an inextricable way.

The Lord Jehovah, Christ the Branch, and the Spirit of God are bound together in the proclamation of truth and in guaranteeing that the promise shall be fulfilled. In this passage of Isaiah, God reveals to us seven names of the Holy Spirit. He is called the Spirit of Jehovah, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, the Spirit of Knowledge.

Correspondingly, in the book of Revelation, we read of the seven spirits of God. The Bible also reveals that the Holy Spirit has feelings in addition to knowledge. In the same chapter from which we take our text, Paul exhorts the believers saying, "I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit."

One of the names for the Holy Spirit is the Comforter. And in several places he is presented as caring for us, loving us, comforting us, building us, speaking to us about Christ. Also, in one of the most touching verses in the New Testament, those who believe in Christ are exhorted not to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Oh, how this must cause us to search our hearts. For we must understand that because he is the Holy Spirit, anything that is contrary to holiness must be a great sorrow to him. So not only does the Holy Spirit have knowledge and feelings, but in the third place, the Holy Spirit has will.

In fact, he has been called the executive power in the Godhead. We find him moving to make us more like Christ. All the verses that speak of his work in sanctifying us are verses that show his will. And he takes such care of us that he warns us against the dangers that might hurt us.

We read in Timothy, for example, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith." And he goes on to describe the characteristics of men of religion who are not men of faith, and who are capable of hurting those who are simple in the faith.

So taken altogether, it is a wonderfully revealing picture of the Holy Spirit with his knowledge, feelings and will. So definitely a personality, so definitely a part of the Godhead. It is wonderful to know that he is here, watching over us, caring for us, yes, living within us. This is the inestimable advantage that believers since the time of Christ have over those who lived before Christ.

For Jesus said to the disciples, "The Holy Spirit dwells with you, and he shall be in you." But in spite of this, the church knows very little of the Holy Spirit, even though he is living within the hearts of those who trust in Christ.

Over 30 years ago, a layman wrote a religious book about Christ's humanity called The Man Nobody Knows. I always thought that this title was untrue. But that it would have been true to point out the ignorance of men about the Holy Spirit. He is the God whom so few people know.

And while the work of the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us in utter grace, totally apart from anything that we have done or could do, and while the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within the hearts of all who have been born again, and this coming too, is apart from anything that we have done or we could do, there is a great sense in which the power of the Holy Spirit can be known by us only in the measure that we know him and the work that he came to do for us.

Think now of the work that he came to the earth to do. The Lord Jesus Christ knew that he was about to leave his disciples and return to heaven. And Christ announced to them that he would not leave them comfortless, but that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to take the place of Christ on earth. The Holy Spirit is the vicar of Christ.

The word vicar is from a Latin word that means "instead of." It was the word used for any substitute. To us, there can be but one vicar of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, third person of the Godhead. He alone is here as the true representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are responsible primarily to him alone.

Now this responsibility to God, as he touches us by his Holy Spirit, is a doctrine of supreme importance. A member of my church, for example, is responsible in certain things to the pastor and the elders of this church. We have charge over the spiritual life of every individual who voluntarily has joined himself to our communion.

Further, if a member of our church disagrees with any decision of the pastor and the session, he has the right to appeal to the Presbytery, and from that body to the Synod, and from the Synod to the General Assembly. But now comes the most important step. If an individual disagrees with some decision of the General Assembly or some doctrine that is approved by that body, he has a loyalty to the Holy Spirit that transcends any earthly loyalty.

A man is bound in his conscience only to God, as he reveals himself to that man by the Holy Spirit. Let me give you an example. A few years ago, my denomination, in its highest judicatory, decided that women could be ordained as elders in the church and even as ministers. Now our General Assembly has the right to make such a decision. But it does not have the right to bind the conscience of any man with regard to such a decision.

I would never remain as pastor of a church that decided that it was going to elect a woman to the eldership of the church. And as is my right, I would never permit a woman in a ministerial capacity to stand in my pulpit to preach or to have any part in administering the communion.

You see, I stand on the right of my conscience as guided by the Holy Spirit, directing me as to what I think the Bible teaches. And the denomination as a whole supports me in this liberty of decision. And the result is that we have a denomination of individuals who think for themselves, and who are responsible to the Holy Spirit in their lives and consciences.

And thus, we develop personality and individuality, instead of being religious robots. And I should add a parenthesis here that my reading of the Scripture on this doctrine is in no wise a teaching of the superiority or inferiority of one sex or the other. The theology of the respective places of the man and the woman is an important one.

And under the great liberty of the Gospel, woman has reached her highest development and freedom, and also her greatest joy and blessing. But now that we have seen who the Holy Spirit is, and his place in the church by reason of his presence in the hearts of all individual believers, let us look further at the way in which he carries on his administration within us.

When we go back to the Gospel story, we discover that the Lord Jesus asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us in order that we might be strengthened and maintained as we go through this world that is capable of killing Christ, and in which we live as those who are to be witnesses against the whole trend of the world system, and also as examples of the love and the grace of God.

We turn to the story of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Upper Room with his disciples, at the time he established the communion, and announced his departure for heaven. The disciples were in a ferment of fear. Their agitation was such that they were not capable of heeding the words that Christ spoke.

After announcing his departure, he went on to teach them about the course of love. After a verse or two, Peter broke into the conversation, showing that really he had not heard a word that the Lord was saying. His question went back to Christ's announcement, "Lord, where are you going?"

And when Jesus answered this with the further statement that they would not then be able to follow him, and that Peter would deny him, there was tumult among them. Christ spoke words of calm that have been among the most blessed of all his words to his people, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me."

And then after further words of comfort, the Lord Jesus told them of the full provision that was being made for the government, the guidance, and the strengthening of his people. He said, "I will pray the Father, and he will give you another counselor, another comforter, to be with you to the end of the age."

Now the commentators have been divided through the years as to whether this office of the Paraclete, which is the Greek word in this verse, should be translated as comforter or as advocate. In their Greek lexicon of the New Testament, the problem has been resolved by Arndt and Gingrich, who show that both meanings are necessary, because one may give help both directly and indirectly.

And the Holy Spirit is here on earth to give us help in both ways, directly and indirectly. The Holy Spirit helps directly by strengthening and teaching us. This truth guarantees the inspiration of the New Testament, since Christ said, "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you."

Throughout the centuries of the church age, the Holy Spirit has done this for all believers by ministering to us directly when we are willing to receive his help. Oh, it must be understood that the direct work of the Holy Spirit cannot be done in us if we refuse his strength and direction.

His indirect work is done in spite of us and because of Christ. His direct work can be done only with our cooperation. If we do not yield to him, his grief simply silences his voice in our hearts, and life becomes tedious and tasteless until we come to the end of self and allow him to do the work that he must do if we are to be shaped like the Lord Jesus Christ, conformed to the image of God's Son.

Oh, how many thousands of times the Holy Spirit has done his direct work in me. Have I been aware of great weakness? The Holy Spirit has brought to my mind the fact that Christ's strength is made perfect in my weakness. Have I been in definite need, financial, spiritual or of whatever sort? He has whispered to me that God has promised to supply all my need, according to his riches in glory, in Christ Jesus.

Have I been overcome by some rising of my fleshly nature, and know the chilling touch of despair because of some sin? He has whispered to me that if I would confess my sin, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive me my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. You name the need, and the Holy Spirit has the word to meet it and the voice to whisper it to your heart.

And in moments of great fatigue, physical and what is more, spiritual. When it seemed that life was not worth the living and what was the use of any sustained effort or any further trying, the Holy Spirit would lift my vision to the golden domes of the great city whose foundations are over the horizon, and would let me hear the voice of the king of that city who said, "I go and prepare a place for you. And I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also."

Now it must be noticed that all his answers, the answers of the Holy Spirit, all are from the word of God, the Bible. And the Scripture is in no small sense the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit made book, dwelling among us, revealing the glory of Christ to eyes that would be clouded if they had to look alone.

But with this glass that magnifies Christ, we can see clearly. At this point, someone may ask why all believers do not have an absolute unanimity of belief and an absolute immutability of doctrine. The answer I believe, lies in the nature of the work that the Lord is doing in his people.

He does not work on a production line, turning out identical motors. He is working in lives that have been given such individuality that no two persons are alike. In making us all into the likeness of Christ, he does not change our personalities. Rather, he enhances them and causes them to show more of Christ.

As each different facet of a diamond reveals more of the fire and the ice that lie deep in the jewel, as though they were the symbols of love and holiness. Now this is why I am to consider nothing beyond my relationship to Christ. I am answerable to God alone.

I can pick up books of history and discover that Tertullian and Origen sharply disagreed with one another. Well, I will follow Tertullian on the Trinity and reject his doctrine of rigorous asceticism. I will follow Origen in his belief on inspiration, but reject him when he teaches the inferiority of Christ and the Spirit to God the Father.

I will follow Saint Augustine when he states that Mary died because of sin. And I will follow Saint Thomas Aquinas when he says that the blessed Virgin contracted original sin. And I will follow Pope Innocent III when he says that Mary was produced in sin. And I will refuse the teachings of those who came later when they say the opposite.

All the history of doctrine reveals to us that men took opposite positions on every possible shade of doctrine. And I know that I am not going to bring perfection to the study at this late date. But from my own experience, I know that the Holy Spirit has taught me, in line with all the main flow of Christian truth.

And that where there are differences of opinion, each differing antagonist will answer to the Lord alone. As far as I know, I am in the center of the Lord's will and yielded to him for teaching by the Holy Spirit. And this is the position that each believer must seek.

But I know that I am answerable to God only for my yieldedness, and for my willingness to square every thought with the word of God as I see it. As to the judgment of others, who have not always reached the same conclusions that I have reached, their judgment likewise is with God alone.

And lastly, let me point out that the Holy Spirit is doing a great work for me indirectly. Whether I am in the will of God or out of the will of God, he is interceding for me with groanings that cannot be uttered. We studied this at length when we were looking at the eighth chapter. But how wonderful it is, what a joy to know that he, the Holy Spirit, is praying for me and for every believer in Christ, for the weak and for the strong, for the rebellious and for the yielded, for the educated and for the ignorant, for the straying and for the repentant, for those who are misguided because of prejudice, and for those who seek to be clear-eyed in the spirit.

He is praying for all believers. He has no thought beyond revealing Christ to us and pleading to God for us. And indirectly also, in my heart, he lives and works for me even when I do not want his work. When I have done something which causes him to be silent in my heart, that very silence is a work on my behalf, since that silence makes life totally impossible till I come back to the place where I listen once again to his voice.

So he does these two works, direct and indirect. And this is why his name is called both by that which is in the King James Version and that which is in the Revised Standard Version, for both are true. He is the advocate, he is the counselor, he is the comforter. These are the works, direct and indirect, that he is performing in us and for us. And because of the release of his power to us, we can abound in hope by being filled with all joy and peace in believing.

And our God and Father, we pray you once more that the Holy Spirit, who dwells within the hearts of all believers, shall cause us to look away to you. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Guest (Male): When we yield ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit, he empowers us for effective Christian service and fills us with joy, peace, and hope. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled The Power of the Holy Spirit. 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. Today's message again is entitled The Power of the Holy Spirit, or simply request message number R15-17.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled Sex, Marriage, and Divorce. God designed the marriage relationship to be a picture of our eternal union with Jesus Christ. And yet, Christian marriages often fall short of this lofty ideal. This free booklet shines biblical truth upon this vital subject. Chapter titles include Lust and Christian Marriage, Marriage and the Home, Divorce and Remarriage, and For Time and Eternity. Ask for your free copy of Sex, Marriage, and Divorce 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. For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling 1-800-488-1888. That is 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, Martyn 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.