Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Announcer: The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Let us learn that we are to submit to the Lord in all things. Let us remember that a good deed is no clearance for direct disobedience.

When the Lord has revealed His direct will for us, let us not be turned aside by high pride, or by desire to exhibit the gifts which we think we have from God for our own privilege. Any gift we have, whatever it may be, of personality or intelligence or spiritual power, is to be held in trust for Him and to be administered moment by moment as He directs us.

Choir: Oh, the Bible has come and equipped us. It came to give us accurate and straight. He by him we can us to the Lord God has for us to do. The word is all the Christian needs to grow in grace and to good deeds.

Announcer: 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 Stupidity of Stubbornness. You may have heard someone described to be as stubborn as a mule.

Indeed, people often resemble stubborn, mindless animals when they refuse to submit to God. Unbelievers persistently reject Jesus Christ, while Christians often disobey God's word and fail to walk in His ways. How can we learn to continually yield to the Lord and obey His voice?

The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 15 and verse 28. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled The Stupidity of Stubbornness.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto the our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We know that we are prone to wander, and we ask thee that thou will keep us from going astray.

When we face a choice between our own will and thy will, may we have a clear picture of the difference so that we shall not be moved by our selfish desires, and so that we shall understand the eternal consequences of our choices.

As best we know, we want to serve thee, we want to do thy will. Deal with us as dear children so that we may walk thy way and do that which is well pleasing in thy sight. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we study in the 15th chapter of Romans and the 25th verse, under the text, "At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints." And the title I am giving this is The Stupidity of Stubbornness.

Now, my treatment of this present text may well be considered controversial, but I believe that I have the mind of the Spirit in this interpretation and that God has put this teaching in the scriptures in order to warn us of the peril of following our own desires.

Paul tells the Romans that he's going to Jerusalem with an offering for the poor of that city, and when he has concluded this task, he will set out for Spain, stopping off in Rome in order to visit them.

I do not draw my conclusions from this single text. The web of evidence elsewhere makes it clear to me that Paul was out of the will of God, and that his life and ministry were profoundly affected by his sinful determination.

First, we must realize that there was no other means to transfer money in the ancient world but by some individual who carried hard cash and placed it in the hands of those for whom it was destined.

There were no cable communications, no postal system, nothing that could affect the transfer of money. What banks there were, were not geared for transfer in the sense of modern transfer of money. There was no paper money, but only coins of gold and silver, which had to be carried on one's person.

The believers in Jerusalem were in a state of abject poverty, and they stood in great need of relief. From the very beginning of the church, the poverty in Jerusalem resulted in the equivalent of our present-day soup kitchen or food line. The order of deacons was first created to meet this charitable need.

Because we read in the sixth of Acts, "Now, in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Greek Christians murmured against the Hebrew Christians because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution."

And seven men were appointed to this duty so that the disciples could continue in the more important work of prayer and the ministry of the Word. The passage of years brought no diminishing of this great need.

Even some 20-odd years later, the concern lay heavy upon the minds of the chiefs of the Jerusalem church. For 17 years after Paul's conversion, and before any of his missionary journeys, he went up to Jerusalem by divine revelation and held an important conference with some of the original disciples concerning his call to minister to the Gentiles.

And when the discussion was over, we read in the second chapter of Galatians, "They gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. Only they would have us remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do."

From this passage, we see that the leaders of the Jerusalem church requested Paul to raise money in the Gentile churches for the needy of Jerusalem. And here I think we can discern the motives which later led Paul into great trouble.

He was so very strong in his doctrinal stand, so absolutely adamant in his position on grace as opposed to law, that he seems to have developed a weak spot or to have exposed a weak spot with regard to this matter of offerings for the Jerusalem poor.

He was very proud of his Jewishness, though he did not trust in it. Nevertheless, he must have been pleased at being well thought of by the Jerusalem leaders. As time went on, there's evidence that this matter of the offering for Jerusalem took a large place in Paul's thinking.

He practically ordered the Gentile churches to raise goodly amounts of money for this cause. There is nothing in the epistle to the Galatians to indicate that he put pressure on that church to raise funds for the believers in Jerusalem, but he tells the Corinthians that he did.

We read First Corinthians 26, "Now concerning the contribution for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do." "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come."

Now, the Greek word translated in the King James Version, "I have given order." And in the Revised Standard Version, "I have commanded." The Greek word is a strong term used in several instances for military commands.

And I believe that I find in the context of this command the first indication of the temptation which arose in the mind of Paul and to which he afterwards succumbed. He ordered the Corinthian church to raise this money.

And he then said, "And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem." Now this would indicate that the sum would be sufficiently large to warrant sending at least two men from Corinth to Jerusalem to take the offering to the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

Next, after stating clearly that he would send there accredited messengers to Jerusalem, it would seem that his personal plan intruded at this very point. For in the next verse, we read, "If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me."

I'm aware of the problem that rises if we accept the fact that this was a fleshly desire rather than a direction of the Holy Spirit. But I am not afraid of the implications of this interpretation.

It means that the flesh and its desires rose in the heart of Paul, even while he was engaged in writing one of his epistles. Yes, only four verses after his great admonition, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

Charles Spurgeon was once approached by a hearer who said, "Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, that is one of the greatest sermons that has ever been preached in the history of the church." And Spurgeon replied gruffly, "Keep still. The devil told me that while I was in the midst of preaching it."

Now, let this teach us all that it's possible to sink to ignominious depths from the greatest heights. It was but one step from the Holy of Holies to where Nadab and Abihu were struck dead for offering strange fire before the Lord.

Oh, let me tell others, and especially other ministers, how I have learned to cope with this temptation. There came a time when through a deep experience with the Lord, I learned to accept my own utter nothingness.

And I realized that there was no power except that of the Holy Spirit. The flesh could profit nothing. I learned the difference between the selfish thought that without Christ, we can't do very much.

Yes, in His own declaration, "Without me, ye can do nothing." I have identified this struggle and the Lord's victory by the name of the place in which it occurred. Much as Jacob might have recalled his night of wrestling with the angel by mere mention of the name Jabbok, so I had to remember my wrestling.

Even in the middle of a sermon, when the audience is under the great spell of the spoken word, thoughts of the flesh arise, and self desires some credit for what is being done. Thank God, it is possible, without the audience knowing anything about it, in the utter stillness of the heart, to cry out with a voice that reaches heaven and hurls Satan back from his onslaught.

Jabbok we may cry, "Lord, remember Jabbok." And we proceed with the sermon as Jacob went from Jabbok with self in crucifixion death and with the triumph of the Lord assured.

It seems to me that the evil thought entered Paul's mind as he passed from the sublime height of the great resurrection chapter to the ordinary level of the postscript with which he concluded his epistle. "If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me."

Oh no, Paul. No, no, no. Do not go to Jerusalem. Go to Spain and stop by Rome on the way. Your call is not to the Jews, you are the apostle to the Gentiles. Alas, Jacob must go to Jabbok and wrestle the night through before he comes to the place of power.

Jonah must go all the way to the belly of the whale before he will acknowledge what he really is. Only after that does the word of the Lord come to him the second time with its recommissioning.

And Paul will have to go to Jerusalem and suffer the ignominy of being arrested and thrown into a place of spiritual horror. But now he's only on the way. He does not yet see the end.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, God has recorded the story of Paul's further pressure on that church to raise a large sum for this purpose. He begins by saying, "Now it's superfluous for me to write to you about the offering for the saints."

He then proceeds to write at length about it. Listen to the tone. "For I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them."

"But I'm sending the brethren so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready as I said you would be, lest if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident."

"So, I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me, and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready, not as an exaction, but as a willing gift."

Oh, Paul, don't put so much emphasis on these matters. Will not God provide? Are not all things His? The silver and the gold and the cattle on a thousand hills? Has He not promised to supply all the need of these poor saints in Jerusalem? Does He require you to exert such pressure?

And now we leave the letters to the Corinthian church and go to Corinth. The Book of the Acts records Paul's arrival in that city. It is significant to note that when Paul arrived in Corinth, he began to work among the Jews.

God had called him to serve the Gentiles, but here he was in the synagogue preaching to the Jews. Now we next read that these people to whom he had not been primarily sent, opposed and reviled him. This is in Acts 18:6.

And in response to this opposition, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your heads, I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." But wait a minute, Paul. To the Gentiles you were called by God, and to the Gentiles you were commissioned by the church authorities.

This is Paul out of the will of God, going to the Jews when God had called him to the Gentiles. And so Paul moved into the house of a Gentile next door to the synagogue, we read, and although a few Jews were saved, many, many Gentiles were saved.

And God then appeared to Paul in a vision and said, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, for I am with you and no man shall attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city." You see, Paul was now in the sphere to which God had called him, and there was blessing on his work.

But there is proof that he was still hankering after a ministry to the Jews. He could use the rapier keenness of his great intellect to discuss points of the law. He could impress the Jews with his vast knowledge of the Old Testament and prove that he was among the most learned of the Pharisees.

But, like most of us, Paul learned the hard way. There are many evidences that he slipped back and compromised greatly in order to move in Jewish circles. When he left Corinth after almost two years, he went nine miles to the port of Cenchrea, where he cut his hair for he had a vow, it says in Acts 18:18.

Poor Paul. He certainly knew that no Christian should take a vow at any time for anything. The vow is Old Testament legalism, from Numbers 6:18, and the place for vows ended when Christ died and rose again.

It was absolutely contrary to the command of Christ, who ordained that there should be no more vows, as we read in Matthew 5. And some may say that Paul had never read the gospels, that they were written after he died, but most certainly he knew the truth.

And in Galatians, he had himself declared that there was to be no return to legalism. And now we pass over a period of several months. Paul is finally on his way to Jerusalem. He had purposed this in his own spirit, we read, not in the Holy Spirit, as we shall see.

We must read the word "spirit" with a small initial. His spirit, not the Holy Spirit. He pushed on with haste, seeking to bypass Ephesus because he wanted to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost.

Probably, one scholar says, because he wished to vindicate his loyalty in the eyes of the Jewish Christians who would be attending the feast. Now, the Ephesian elders came down to Miletus to see him, and he told them that there was a great cloud upon his life.

His words are these, "Behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there." Oh, Paul, you should not be going there. That's why the cloud is on your life. That's why you're bound in the spirit.

In the 21st chapter and the third verse, we read that he reaches Tyre. Through the disciples of that town, the Holy Spirit enters the scene again. Evidently, Paul had grieved him to silence.

But now he makes himself heard in these believers. For we read in 21:4, "Through the Holy Spirit, they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem." He brushes this divine counsel aside and passes on.

He reaches Caesarea, where the Holy Spirit intervenes once again. The prophet Agabus took Paul's girdle and bound his own feet and hands and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"

Paul disregarded this appeal of the Holy Spirit. The whole church joined in begging him to obey. He disregarded the voice of the church. Proudly and arrogantly, he declaimed, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

All very heroic. But let us be certain of this spiritual principle: it is sin to endanger your life for Christ when God wants you to live safely for Him. If the Holy Spirit had put it upon Paul's heart to go to Spain, He was certainly not directing Paul to go to Jerusalem.

All the church could do was to sigh and to say, "The will of the Lord be done." Now this does not mean that the directive will of the Lord, but His permissive will was to be done.

In the same way, a Christian might beseech a Christian friend not to marry an unbeliever, since the will of God on this matter is expressly stated. But if the believer persists in disobedience, the other can only say, "The Lord's will be done."

In other words, the Lord will now have to bend and break and chastise his disobedient child. And now we reach the scene of Paul's arrival in Jerusalem. He went to the leaders of the church. We must not forget that these men did not have the New Testament.

They were still like Peter, whom Paul rebuked at Antioch because he opposed the integration of the Gentiles with the Jews. These leaders knew what Paul had been preaching and they tried to get him to abandon it.

They pointed out that there were thousands of Jews in the city for the celebration. The terrible description of them is given, "They are all zealous for the law. And they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs."

Well, this was correct. Paul had been preaching the gospel, and the gospel requires complete repudiation of the liturgical forms and ceremonies of the Old Testament. The leaders went on with their pernicious advice.

"What then is to be done? They'll certainly hear that you've come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in observance of the law."

What they were really saying was, "Paul, let everybody know that the truth of the epistle to the Galatians is nothing. Drag the church from the freedom of pure grace to servile legalism. Re-establish the priesthood, the altar and the blood. Say that the earthquake which tore the veil of the temple in two was Satan's work and not God's."

Sadly, oh, sadly, we record the next. Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself with them and went into the temple to give notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for every one of them.

Now realize what this means. Paul intended to hire a Jewish priest to kill a lamb and shed its blood for his purification, long after God had abandoned the blood sacrifices, had hurled aside all temple worship, and had abolished the priesthood.

By this act, Paul would be saying that the death of Christ was not enough. If he had gone through with this, it would have been utter, absolute blasphemy. But God did not let him go through with it. God saved him in time. God had him arrested.

Thank God for the policeman who arrests you in time to keep you from making a fool of yourself. When Paul had opportunity to speak to his accusers, he told them the story of his life, including the fact that a few days before, while he'd been in the temple awaiting the accomplishment of the seven days of purification, the Lord appeared to him and said, "Make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem because they will not accept your testimony about me."

And here was God's last, final command to Paul. Even though Paul had disobeyed mile after mile, port after port, town after town, and had ultimately reached Jerusalem, God was patient and offered him the chance to escape.

Oh, Paul, will you not remember your call to the Gentiles? Will you not go to Spain? Paul talked back to God, telling Him how faithful he had been through the years, and God cut in with a terse order, "Depart, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles."

There was the final opportunity. There was the clear and definite order. But Paul was as stubborn as Jonah, who went west when God told him to go east. Paul, too, had to learn the hard way, the way of the whale's belly. He was never at liberty again.

He was now on the road to Rome, to Caesar's judgment and to death. Now we do not have the story of his spiritual return. We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the word of the Lord came to Paul a second time, even as to Jonah.

For after this experience and his journey to Rome, he became the author of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. And now we return to our text in Romans, "At present, I am going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints."

Always our prayer must be, "Lord, keep me from myself. Help me to see that the path of self-will is always the wrong way, and keep me cleaving to thyself." And our God, we pray thee that the Holy Spirit may work deeply in each heart, that we may not follow our will, but may walk in thy way, and we give thee the praise through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Announcer: We must ask the Lord to break and humble our stubborn, disobedient hearts so that we might always walk with Him in peace and contentment. We hope you've benefited from today's message, The Stupidity of Stubbornness.

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 The Stupidity of Stubbornness, or simply request message number R15-28.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled The Names of God. Most of us have a first, last, and middle name and perhaps a nickname or two. But scripture records more than 400 names of God that reveal fresh and profound insights about His character and attributes.

This free four-chapter booklet will show you how an in-depth look at the names of God can help you discover a wealth of riches in the knowledge of Him. Ask for your free copy of The Names of God 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. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of listeners.

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Visit us online at AllianceNet.org, or write Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 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, Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken.

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Choir: The Bible has come and equipped us. He draws our souls from death to life and rescues us from the best right. Amazing gift, wonderful so hard, the life in part word of God.