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: We begin with this study today, a tremendous excursion into Christian ethics based on the divine supplications presented in the last chapters of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. In order that we may fully understand the implications of these chapters, it is necessary that we place them in their proper setting.

Now, if we study the meaning of the word "therefore" in this text, we will be able to understand the implications of the last five chapters of Romans, which speak about daily life and living.

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'll be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled, "The Foundation for Christian Ethics."

When you study the Bible and come across the word "therefore," it is always a good idea to ask, "What is it there for?" When the Apostle Paul uses the word "therefore" at the beginning of Romans chapter 12, we must realize he is building on what he has taught in previous chapters.

How does Paul's prior instruction lay a solid foundation for Christian ethics and godly living? The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible: Romans chapter 12, we're looking at verse 1. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled, "The Foundation for Christian Ethics."

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ we come unto thee our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We thank thee that thou hast given us all truth in Jesus Christ, and we pray thee that in this hour thou shalt take from our minds the things of time and sense and bring us into the fullness of the knowledge that thou dost love us.

How wonderful to know that we are loved by thee. May we learn to live in that love, knowing that all of our needs will be met and all our problems solved when we have put thee in the place of preeminence, which belongs to thee. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

The first verse in Romans 12 reads as follows: "I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service." Someone has remarked that Paul's "therefores" are there for a purpose.

Certainly the word that is used here as a hinge to the previous truths is more important than most, for it would be impossible to understand the meaning of the ethical passages which form the close of this Epistle without building them on the chapters which precede this great call to holy living.

The "therefore" that opens the second chapter goes back to a few verses which describe the terrible sinfulness and depravity of man. The "therefore" which opens the fifth chapter of Romans builds on the 36 verses which go before, in which the inspired writer presents the doctrine of justification by faith apart from the works of the law.

But the "therefore" that constitutes our text in this study builds on all the truth that has been present in the first 11 chapters, the 315 verses of these first 11 chapters. Without this foundation, the ethics of the end chapters floats in the sky like a roof without support, and with this foundation, the life that is demanded from those who have believed in Christ is seen to be the logical development of the work of redemption.

In no small sense, I have spent the major portion of my life in the Epistle to the Romans. When I was a young preacher, I ran across a sentence in the work of a Swiss historian which said that there never had been a great spiritual movement in the history of the Christian church which had not been preceded by a wide proclamation of the truths that are found there. He gave illustrations from the life of Augustine, from Luther, from Calvin, from Wesley, and from others.

When I was 32, I preached from the Epistle to the Romans for the first three and a half years of my ministry and saw the church grow and flourish under that irrigation. When my radio work began to expand, I began to preach on the Epistle to the Romans and have delivered 320 studies on the first 11 chapters of this book.

And now, I continue in the great ethical section of the Epistle. It must be understood, however, that ethics cannot be established without the doctrine which precedes. There can be no true and valid ethics without Christian truth.

The "therefore" of chapter 12 must look back over all the Epistle and divide its revelation under two heads: one, man's complete ruin in sin, and two, God's perfect remedy in Christ. Sin and salvation: this is the burden and the joy of the gospel, and this is the foundation for the practical day-by-day Christian life.

Sin: the first two and a half chapters of the Epistle to the Romans present the darkest picture that is to be found in any literature, ancient or modern. There are no pages which so penetrate the depths of the human heart and show man's sinfulness. It is reported that when a Hindu first read the early chapters of Romans, he nodded his head and said, "The writer of this pamphlet lived in India."

Well, Paul did not live in India, but he knew that the heart of man, universal man, was deceitful above all things and incurably sick, as Jeremiah says. And he knew that the nature of man was a bottomless pit of horror.

During the last generation, there has been a great advance in the study of the human mind and heart. Sigmund Freud and his followers have vastly enlarged the knowledge of what makes men tick. Yet their study is tremendously lacking because they do not go back far enough to the very root of what is wrong with mankind.

If only they had put Bible truths with their theories, the whole of psychology and psychiatry would be infinitely advanced. Time magazine at the centenary of Freud's birth summarized the beliefs of the leading men in the field. Freud held that the nature of man is essentially biological.

Man is born with certain instinctual drives, most notable the drive towards self-gratification. If Freud had known the reality of eternal truth and divine revelation, he could have couched his findings in the language of Isaiah: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way."

Adler followed Freud in giving inferiority complex to the language and saying that infants have inferiority feelings because they're small, helpless. In later life, man tries to compensate for this by open struggle for naked power. Adler should have read the Psalms and seen how the Holy Spirit describes the power drives of men who are seeking to dominate because they are wicked. All these things come from sin in the life.

Jung came much nearer the truth by saying that each individual had a collective unconscious containing man's racial memories. If Jung had been a Christian, he would have noted the solidarity of the human race and tied all wrongs to the original sin of man's departure from God.

Otto Rank went back farther than Freud and said that the real trouble with man was birth trauma, the shock of having to leave the warm security of the womb for the harsh reality of separate life. But Rank just did not go back far enough. In the Psalms we're told that the trauma did not take place at birth, but that "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

This, of course, does not refer to the physical act resulting in conception, but goes back not to the infancy of the individual, but to the infancy of the race, in Adam and his rebellion against God. And so it goes, through Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Erich Fromm.

All of these people testify to the fact that there is something terribly wrong within the heart and life of man, but they cannot arrive at the source. They cannot develop a cure for that which ails man. The Epistle to the Romans is far mightier than all these scholars put together. Indeed, it is as high above man's thinking as the heaven is high above the earth.

God spoke through Isaiah saying, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

If only men would understand that this means, for example, that the Epistle to the Romans is as much higher than psychology and psychiatry as the heavens are higher than the earth. A psychiatrist may be able to give a sedative that will deaden the pain of living while a man goes on his sinful way, but only Christ can bring the cure.

In the first chapter of Romans, the Holy Spirit charts the course of fleeing man, showing that he departed from God in a horrible devolution which brought him down to the level, yes, even below the level of the beasts. Man began high with God.

He was originally created in the image of God, though that image was crushed beyond recognition and lost in the sin of Adam. For Adam did not beget sons and daughters in the image of God, but in his own fallen image and likeness.

But even in his fallen condition, man knew some of the facts about God, enough to become responsible. God declares man's responsibility, and since God is God, the maker of all the rules, man is responsible whether he wishes to be or not. You are responsible to God. I am responsible to God.

In nature, God has given us a revelation which contains sufficient evidence about God to convict man of unbelief if he refuses to accept it. "That which may be known of God is manifest to them, for God has showed it to them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

It was from this high position of knowledge and responsibility that man plunged away from God, hurling himself into the abyss of his own will and bringing the entire human race into wreckage. "When men knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful; but they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."

From this the disintegration of man picked up speed. It was not long before he left the worship of the one true God and began worshiping idols. First, images made in the likeness of corruptible man, then of birds, beasts, and creeping things. It was at this point that God abandoned man to his own devices and permitted him to plunge further into the debauchery of perversity.

And on and on to every kind of evil. Because men did not like to retain God in their knowledge, he abandoned them still further to their own lusts until finally they were brought to the ultimate degradation, losing all shame and willingly flaunting their sin in the presence of other sinners and having pleasure in them and their evil deeds. And thus we find that man is a sinner by nature, and that further he is a sinner by choice.

There is no individual who has not deliberately and willfully turned his back on God and righteousness at some time or another and desired nothing more than his own way. If there should be those who would attempt to deny that they are sinners by nature and sinners by choice, the third chapter of Romans destroys all their defenses by stating in a divine manifesto that God has declared all men to be sinners.

How this does away with the ideas of ethnologists, anthropologists, and others who declare that man makes his own moral codes and that they differ from time to time and from place to place. While accepting without question the evidence that there are various patterns of culture and many varying rules of conduct, we nevertheless maintain that which God declares to be so: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one."

Someone may ask, "Are you teaching the theological doctrine of total depravity?" And I answer with confident boldness that that is exactly what I am teaching. But we must understand what that doctrine really is. The doctrine of total depravity does not mean that there is no good in man, but it teaches that there is no good in man that can satisfy God.

I will not attempt to minimize the courage, the devotion to duty, the spirit of sacrifice, the charitableness of multitudes of men and women who may never have even heard of the name of the Lord Jesus. There is a naturally good element in the human heart. But the truth of God is that he cannot accept that naturally good element as a payment towards entrance into heaven.

Man's character cannot be accepted as a down payment or as a part payment on the debt of sin. What then is the place of human character in the eternal scheme of things? The simplest analogy I can think of is a canoe. A canoe is a nice little craft to be used on a small lake, and a boy may be able to take his girl out in a canoe on a June evening and bring her safely back to shore again.

But if that boy were foolish enough to take that canoe to Atlantic City and attempt to launch it into the surf for a trip to France, he would immediately discover that the canoe is a totally depraved boat for such a crossing. It's good in its place, but it is death if taken out of its place.

Now human character is like that canoe. With a good character, you can paddle around the circle of your acquaintances. You can get elected to public office and be accepted as a son-in-law in a good family, secure a position of trust and honor. But don't think for one moment that you can be carried by your character across the gulf that separates the soul from God.

If you had a character that could fit you for heaven, you would not be stopped at the gate by any angel. If your character were good enough to establish you in heaven, you could go there boldly, walk up to the throne of God without fear and say, "Move over, God, and let me sit down beside you. I've arrived, and there are now two of us."

Once we have realized that there is no good in man that can satisfy God, we're ready to begin where he insists that we must begin. When Jesus Christ began his ministry on this earth, he preached a terrifying sermon that has become known as the Sermon on the Mount.

It is one of the most damning arguments that has ever been presented to mankind to show man's lost condition and his condemnation. How did our Lord begin that famed discourse? The opening paragraphs have become known as the Beatitudes, a word that comes from the Latin for blessed.

The first of the Beatitudes reads in the King James version, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." There have been those who have imagined that poverty of spirit means a frame of mind generally associated with the timid, the weak, and the inept, but this is far from the truth.

The Beatitude might well be translated, "Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Blessed is the man who knows himself to be nothing, so that he can become everything through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed is the man who knows that he has no assets whatsoever which could enrich God, and thus he comes to the fountain of grace to receive all things from the Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. A man who has passed through spiritual bankruptcy, acknowledging that anything that has come from him or that has touched him is thereby both contaminated and contaminating, and thereby a liability, is in a position to be cleansed from sin by the atoning work of Christ and to be the recipient of life in God and the life of God.

It is to the spiritual bankrupts who have come to Christ that our text is addressed. "I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God." This is an appeal to believers only. Our conclusion therefore must be a double one. If you have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal savior from sin, accept his verdict about your lost condition.

Acknowledge what he says about you is true and come to him for salvation and all blessings. Believe his word about your ruin in sin, but believe his word about the redemption that he has offered to you in Jesus Christ.

Our other conclusion is if you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal savior from sin, realize what you were before he lifted you, and pour out your heart to him in a life of thanksgiving. Now in our next study, we go on to catch a faint vision of the many mercies of God, which are the ground and the foundation of all of our hopes and blessings and the cause for our Christian living, the basis of that which honor obligates us to give to God because he has done so much for us.

And our God and Father, we pray thee that the Holy Spirit in this hour will bless the truth to each listening heart. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our savior, the Lord Jesus, amen.

Guest (Male): A solid understanding and personal assurance of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ is the only sure foundation for Christian ethics, holy living, and service for the Lord. You have been listening to Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, a ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled, "The Foundation for Christian Ethics."

Listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse via the internet. 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 Foundation for Christian Ethics," or simply request message number R12-1.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled, "Declaration of Dependence." The Declaration of Independence was one of the most important events in American history, but Adam's declaration of independence from God was the most tragic event in human history.

This free booklet calls believers to turn away from spiritual autonomy, independence, and self-will and to reaffirm our complete dependence on the Lord. Ask for your free copy of "Declaration of Dependence" 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 teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a full list of radio stations carrying our programs, please visit our website at Alliancenet.org.

Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of our listeners. If you have benefited from the 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 help further our work, contact us by calling toll-free 1-800-488-1888. That's 1-800-488-1888. You may also write 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 teaching, commentaries, booklets, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding reformed teachers and theologians, including Donald Grey Barnhouse, Dr. James Montgomery Boice, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. Thanks for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.