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: I love to teach the word of God. I've seen so many people come alive spiritually when they learn that there are answers to the great themes of life. Where did evil originate? How did Lucifer become Satan? Did sin come to Adam from the devil, or did Adam sin apart from Satan's temptation?

How could a holy God lay sin upon the Lord Jesus and crush Him beneath its load? If God gives a man eternal life, can He take it away? If so, would it be eternal life? If not, what is the position of the believer? What does Jesus Christ have to say about the course of the age in which we live?

The answers to these and a thousand other questions are in the word of God. When they become a part of the believer, he must desire to communicate them to others so that they also may be blessed by the truth. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to teach the word of God. And our hearts, the minute we have known the joy of seeing the light come to others, our hearts can never be satisfied with anything else.

Guest (Male): God's Word is for our heart-felt gain, to teach, rebuke, correct, and train; equipped by Him we can pursue the work God has for us to do. God's word's the Christian means to grow in grace and to good deeds.

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 Prophets, Deacons, and Teachers. Members of a football team have different responsibilities according to the positions they play. The quarterback calls plays, passes the ball, and hands off while the offensive line blocks the defenders. The tailback runs the ball, while the receivers run patterns and catch passes.

The members of Christ's church have different roles and spiritual responsibilities which must be fulfilled if the church is to succeed in its global mission. Stay tuned as we examine the role of prophets, deacons, and teachers in the church. The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 12, we're looking at verses 6 through 8. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Prophets, Deacons, and Teachers.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ we come unto thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. If there is to be blessing in this hour, it must come from thee, for it is not within the power of man to bless another man by himself. But we are trusting thee and expecting thee to fulfill thy promise to bless thy word as it is proclaimed.

So we send it forth in the confident assurance that it shall bless and accomplish thy purpose in this hour. Speak to each listening heart. we ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the 12th chapter of Romans, we continue with verses 6 to 8. Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; or ministry, let us occupy ourselves with ministering; or he that teaches, on teaching; or he that exhorts, on exhortation; he that gives, with singleness of heart; he that governs, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

The Holy Spirit has told us that we are saved by the mercies of God and that we are to surrender our wills to Him, proving that the path of His will is good, agreeable, and perfect. We are to be humble because we know that all gifts and graces come from God. The Lord has put all who are saved into a body, the mystic body, Christ the head and we the members. Each member of the body has its own function, and no one is to despise any of the others because we all need each other.

The Lord now lists some of the gifts given to individuals and tells how these gifts are to be exercised. If we recognize that we have nothing of ourselves, we shall not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We shall use the gifts which God has given us as He wants them to be used. The Holy Spirit has been given to every believer and in addition to this gift of Himself, He distributes other gifts among all members of the true church.

Now first of the gifts mentioned here is the gift of prophecy. One who has this gift is to exercise it according to the proportion of faith. The word prophecy originally had a much wider meaning than it does today, but in our time it is confined to only one phase of its former meaning. The word now indicates only the power to tell the future. Originally it meant to speak for God.

For example, in the fourth chapter of Exodus, we read of the story of the burning bush where God revealed Himself to Moses and commissioned him to deliver Israel out of Egypt. Moses protested that he was not gifted with eloquence, that he could not speak well at all. Then we read the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and He said, "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people. And he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God."

This is a perfect picture of the relationship of the Father and the one who speaks for Him. And this is further clarified when we read in Exodus 7: "The Lord said to Moses, 'See, I have made thee God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.'" Our English word prophet comes from the Greek where it meant one who stood in front and spoke or acted for another. The prophet was the spokesman. In course of time, men who acted and spoke for God also announced events of the future.

More and more the word prophet was applied to this work so that its meaning today is limited to foretelling future events. In the New Testament, however, and specifically in our text, the word carries the earlier meaning. The gift of prophecy is the gift of proclaiming the truth of God. This gift is to be exercised, the Bible tells us, according to the proportion of our faith.

Thousands of Christians proclaim the truth of God, but why do some prophesy in weakness while others do so in great power? The answer is that not all have laid hold upon the truth with the faith that it deserves. All proclamation is in the proportion of the faith of the speaker. A man for whom these truths are more precious than life itself will state them with the powerful conviction of "Thus saith the Lord".

Another man, though truly saved but not gripped by the word of God, will be weak in his presentation of the truth. But still, he sets forth the truth as he knows it. How wonderful that God blesses the proclamation of His truth in the lives of others, whether preached in strength or in weakness. In the light of this, it is evident that we must all work in humility since the power is in God and not in the speaker.

Every believer is responsible to exercise whatever gift God has given to him, and he may not say that the gift is too small or that he is too weak. It is our business to speak the words of truth. It is God's business to energize those words with His own power and lodge them in the heart that is to be reached. The effectiveness of the preaching is not in the prophet but in the Holy Spirit who gave the gift, who gave the life, and who tells the believer to exercise the gift.

I do not agree with commentators who apply this text only to the giants of church history. God does not mean primarily Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and so on. He is talking here about the little preacher up the North Fork of Pea Creek. He's talking about those whom we call laymen, although they form the vast majority of the body of Christ. This text really speaks to you and to me.

Furthermore, this gift of prophecy includes in its scope some of the other gifts that are now mentioned. While our text here speaks of ministering, teaching, and so on, a similar text in Corinthians says, "He that prophesies speaks to men to edification and exhortation and comfort." Now the second gift in this series is that of ministering. The original Greek word is the root of our word deacon.

It will be better understood if we translate it personally ministering, or ministering to the personal needs of other believers. In the sixth chapter of Acts, when the needs of the growing church could no longer be met by the 12 disciples, a new order of men was chosen to attend to these needs. Some of the widows had been neglected in the daily deaconing, so seven men were chosen to distribute food so that the 12 disciples could give themselves to prayer and the deaconing of the word, for it's the same Greek word.

And later on, the men who had to do with the ministering of material need were called deacons. In our present text, we may apply the term to material ministration. We must watch for opportunities to meet the needs of the poor. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 12:8, "The poor you have with you always." The word of God tells us that he who gives to the poor lends to the Lord, and that which is thus given will be repaid by the Lord. This is found in Proverbs 19:17.

God tells us in Proverbs 21:13 that he will not hear the prayers of one who will not listen to the cry of the poor. Now here in America, which has the highest standard of living ever known, it is sometimes difficult to find poor people. Recently I read an article which told how the Salvation Army could hardly find enough poor people to receive Christmas baskets. However, there are many people who are poor in other respects and need our ministrations.

As illustrated by a paragraph which I wrote as an editorial in Eternity Magazine, I wrote there is a great deal of religion in our country but there is a sad lack of pure religion. This was brought to mind recently by a letter from one of our subscribers who asked us to write about the plight of Christian old people. Our correspondent thinks that young Christians might call on some elderly lady and offer to dust the furniture and straighten up the room.

She says, "An old lady of means, but alone and arthritic like me, called on the phone and said, 'Mrs. X, I'm going to starve to death in my own home because I'm unable to stand at the stove and prepare a decent meal.' I told her I'm in the same fix. I rebel at pity. I'd like Christian understanding. I can read the best of books but my eyes are getting bad cataracts. I know programs are more attractive in the organized church than a visit to an old person.

When folks can walk, I wonder if they're thankful. A preacher's wife wrote me a note some time ago and said she would send some of their young folks to sing to me. I wrote her 'I have a radio for singing. What I need is people who can talk of things in general, of good books, and so on. I need company who will not talk to me as though I were senile.'" That's the end of the letter I received from this lady.

Now I commented that in James chapter 1 and verse 27, we read pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Statistics indicate a tremendous increase in the elderly population of the country. Since the lifespan is being prolonged, there will be millions of people over 70 during the next few years and this figure may even represent the greater segment of the population of our country.

Christian churches should organize activities for those over 60, and above all, the individual Christian should seek out old folks and talk with them. A woman past 70 in my own congregation broke down and wept as she told me of her loneliness. She lived in a single room in Central Philadelphia. She actually buys her groceries one item at a time and in different stores so that she can hear the voice of the clerk in a moment of conversation.

Now those of us who have normal family lives and are constantly in contact with people cannot imagine the loneliness of the elderly. If at all possible, give an hour each month to visit some elderly person who is alone. Don't plan to go there merely to read the Bible. Such a person has no doubt read it and reread it. Follow his or her lead and discuss the weather, your church, the latest football game, the newest book, some striking magazine article, clothes, fishing, whatever the old person's interests are, and give him plenty of chance to talk.

You may be bored, but it will be a psychological release that will do more good than a week in Florida for the old person. Now don't forget that God Almighty calls this pure religion. And so our text commands that one who has this gift of personal ministering shall be occupied with that gift in all the thousand ways that love will indicate as we show the love of Jesus Christ toward those who are in such need.

Do you remember the old hymn? I heard it when I was just a young man: "Do you know the world is dying for a little bit of love? Everywhere we hear them sighing for a little bit of love. For the love that rights a wrong, for the love that brings a song, they have waited, oh so long, for a little bit of love." Now what is true of the world is also true of the church.

The need within the body of Christ is very great. We are to open our hearts to that need and then move in with the ministration of love. Someone has said perhaps there is no gift so liable to lapse into haphazard exercise as this Christ-like gift. No matter who you may be, I am sure you can find someone to minister to in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and exercise this gift of the Holy Spirit to the honor and glory of your Savior.

Now the third gift is that of teaching, which interests me especially since it is the principal gift given to me. Scores of times I have told audiences that I'm not a preacher but a teacher. Such a gift exacts much study and consumes much time over the course of years. And yet I believe that many could teach if they were willing to pay the price. Teaching is somewhat like swimming.

Just as you must commit yourself to the water to learn to swim, just so you must learn to teach by teaching. Try as soon as possible to communicate to someone else a truth that you have learned. When you receive a blessing from the word of God, pass it on at once. When you learn something from a sermon, tell two or three other people at the earliest possible opportunity. Above all, apply the teaching to your own heart first, and thus it comes to the listener with the impact of heaven and the warmth of your own experience.

Most important is the content of truth that is to be taught. I would certainly fail in a Bible examination of the usual type. Those who win fortunes on quiz programs by answering questions about the Bible have a colossal amount of knowledge of the mechanics of the Bible, but I have never heard them answer authentic spiritual questions. Probably I would not be able to name all of the 12 disciples if I were asked immediately.

Perhaps I could name half of them, and I certainly know where to find the passages concerning them. Nor could I trace Paul's missionary journeys or list the judges or outline the chronology of Genesis or the genealogies of the kings of Judah and Israel. Was Jeroboam or Rehoboam king of the northern division of the tribes? I don't know, I don't remember. Who was the father of Asa or the brother of Josiah, if he had a brother? I don't know.

Such questions and answers have never interested me and never will. By teaching the Bible I mean the great truths of scripture which children should be taught instead of the inconsequential lessons presented in most Sunday school literature. I would ask such questions as what is justification? Can it ever be undone? What is sanctification? How is it brought about? How does God deal with sin when it occurs in the life of an unsaved man, and how does God deal with sin, the same sin, when it's committed by a believer?

Which comes first, faith or life? And don't be too quick or smug in answering that one. And certainly everyone should be interested in the 64 billion dollar question: What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? I love to teach the word of God. I've seen so many people come alive spiritually when they learn that there are answers to the great themes of life. Where did evil originate? How did Lucifer become Satan?

Did sin come to Adam from the devil or did Adam sin apart from Satan's temptation? How could a holy God lay sin upon the Lord Jesus and crush Him beneath its load? If God gives a man eternal life, can He take it away? If so, would it be eternal life? If not, what is the position of the believer? What does Jesus Christ have to say about the course of the age in which we live?

If conditions at the second coming of Christ will be like those of the days of Sodom and the days of Noah, how can we say that the world is getting better? The answers to these and a thousand other questions are in the word of God. When they become a part of the believer, he must desire to communicate them to others so that they also may be blessed by the truth. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to teach the word of God.

And our hearts, the minute we have known the joy of seeing the light come to others, our hearts can never be satisfied with anything else. So if you have this gift or that gift, the Lord says wait upon it, be diligent in doing it. This is the center of the Christian life and the Christian experience in teaching. And our God and Father, we pray thee that thou shalt bless this truth to each heart.

Oh, we know that there are so many people who have named the name of Jesus Christ who have not grown spiritually because they have not been willing to exercise the gift that thou hast given them. We pray thee that in this hour there may be those who shall determine as never before to exercise the gift that thou hast given them, that every true Christian may know certainly that they have been given some gift and that they are to take it out to others for the benefit of the whole body of Christ. Hear us we pray thee. we ask these things in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Guest (Male): Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

God has given every believer unique responsibilities in the church and unique opportunities to serve Him. We must grow in our capacity to glorify God in the specific role He has given us. We hope you've benefited from today's message on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible entitled Prophets, Deacons, and Teachers. To listen to additional teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit our website 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 Prophets, Deacons, and Teachers, or simply request message number R12-15.

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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. The Alliance also produces 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, prayerfully consider a donation to help us stay on the air. For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling toll-free 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 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.