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: If you're outside of Christ and do not know the first phase of peace, the peace of forgiven sin, you may ask how it can be received. The answer is that peace is trust. Come unto me and I will give you rest, the Lord said. Coming to Him is the sure way of peace. It's just believing Him about His work, the work that He accomplished in taking your place on the cross. You may not understand the method by which God exchanges His peace for your trust, but it is certain that He does it.

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 Greatest Benediction.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Every Lord's Day and countless churches across the globe, pastors and ministers pronounce a benediction to their congregations. But do these words of blessing really apply to everyone who is attending that church service? Many people share the common misconception that everyone is a child of God and thereby entitled to His blessings. Do Paul's apostolic words of blessing and benediction apply to you?

The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 15 verse 33. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled The Greatest Benediction.

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 for Thyself and that Thou dost come into our being to bring calm in the midst of the storms of life. And that Thou dost make it possible for us to know peace in the midst of a world in strife. Bless Thy word to each listening heart in this hour, that Thy people may be blessed. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the 15th chapter of the book of Romans, we come at the close to what I call the greatest benediction. Now the God of peace be with you all. Early in my ministry, I experienced a spiritual revolt in my soul when I heard ministers pronounce the benediction at the close of a church service. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all was one most frequently given. Others were the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And our present text, Now the God of peace be with you all. What gripped me with fierce intensity was that the blessing was pronounced upon all. Are all people to be blessed? Can we ask God to bless all men? Are not many curses pronounced in the Bible?

And are not some of the cursed people occasionally found in our churches? How then can blessing be pronounced upon all? We must not presuppose that only believers attend our churches.

Now when this question confronted me, I spent some effort in praying and thinking about the matter and then I prepared the benediction which I've so often used throughout my ministry. For I close my closing prayer with this: Go with us as we go. If there should be any here who have not been born again, we ask Thee to accompany them with restlessness, that they may know no peace until they rest in Christ.

But upon all Thy redeemed own, may Thy grace, mercy, and peace abide. And then a new sense of whatever particular truth I had been preaching about in that service. And unto Thee, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be all the glory and the majesty, the dominion and the power, now, until Jesus Christ comes again and forever. Amen.

Now many people have been disturbed by that benediction. One Sunday morning, half an hour after I'd finished greeting the people after the service, the phone in my study rang and an agitated voice asked me what on earth I meant by giving such a benediction. The voice was that of a woman who identified herself as a visitor in the city, staying in one of the great hotels a few blocks from the church. I told her to come back to the church, and in a little while she was there, greatly distressed, and filled with the restlessness which I had asked the Lord to put upon those who had not been born again.

She left my study an hour later with the knowledge that God had put her sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And that she was the present possessor of eternal life with the right to full assurance of salvation. Now I could duplicate this story in one form or another a score of times.

The blessing of peace is not for everybody. The fact that my text so directly and simply states, Now the God of peace be with you all, proves that the letter to the Romans was not addressed to the unbelieving Romans, to Nero and his followers, but to those who had become new creatures in Christ. In the first chapter, Paul specifically states that he is writing to all God's beloved in Rome, called saints. Someone may object that God loves all men equally, but the Bible does not allow such a conclusion.

While it is true that God loved the world, it is also true that the gospel describes the last day of Christ before His death as a movement in behalf of a particular group in the midst of the world. We read, as the Lord took His disciples into the upper room for the last supper, "When Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of the world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."

And in His first epistle, John cries out, "Behold what special kind of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God." Phillips has translated this, "Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us." The Greek word however has a distinct meaning of assortment and classification. It is the word that was used when Christ calmed the storm. "What manner of man, what sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"

And it's the word which Simon the Pharisee used to describe the woman who came in off the street to wash Christ's feet. "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him." And it's the word used to describe the perplexity of Mary, when the angel said that she was to become the mother of Christ. She was greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.

God has a great and sorrowful love for all His creation. But within that creation, He has a great and incredible love for those whose sins have been cleansed by the shedding of the blood of His Son, our Redeemer. John Wesley translated the German hymn from the great Tersteegen to differentiate between these shades of love: "Thou hidden love of God, whose height, whose depth unfathomed no man knows, I see from far Thy beauteous light."

Inly, I sigh for Thy repose. My heart is pained, nor can it be at rest till it finds rest in Thee. Now we who are believers are in a position to take all of the advantages that flow to us from this divine love which has purchased redemption and all blessing for us. And therefore to the believers, the blessing of the benediction given in our text is available.

The world does not know peace. The famed German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, "Restlessness is the hallmark of existence." Now this is true of the existence of the unbeliever, or of the Christian who is out of the will of God. Isaiah wrote, "The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot rest and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked."

But the believer in Christ knows peace. Even in the midst of the turmoil of the world, the Christian may know a threefold peace. The peace of sins forgiven, the peace of the abiding Christ, and the peace of a living hope. Oh the joy of knowing that our sins have been dealt with forever. Oh the peace that passeth all understanding because we know that we shall never face our sin again in time or in eternity.

Oh yes, a deed will be faced in its quality as a work, but never in its sin aspect. There are three men spaced through history who were brought up in religious systems which told men to look at their own works. All three fell into despair. All three were magnificently transformed by the grace of God in Christ. And all three almost destroyed the systems out of which they had come.

The first was Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle. He had been born and brought up in a ritual religion, and he was ready to use force against anyone who did not agree with his legalism. But on the road to Damascus, the Lord revealed himself to Paul, and from that moment, Paul never again thought of salvation by works. His family tree, his social position, his religion, his human character, were seen to be, as he puts it, parts of a dunghill. He turned away from them and trusted in Christ alone, and he knew the peace of sins forgiven.

From that moment, he was aflame throughout the Roman world, a flame that still illuminates the pages of subsequent history. The second man of this trio was Augustine. He lived in the fourth century and was theologically what is known as a Manichean and morally a profligate until God met him. He too passed through an experience like that of Paul on the Damascus Road. His life was transformed. The faith in which he had been raised was destroyed by the firmness of his newfound faith.

And while Alaric, King of the Visigoths, was destroying the capital of the Roman Empire, Augustine, on the North African shore of the Mediterranean, was proclaiming the old truth which had become new and transforming truth for him, that salvation is by grace through faith, apart from the works of human character. A thousand years later, the same experience transformed the life of Martin Luther, the monk of Wittenberg.

The truth of salvation by grace alone had become a corpse, lying in a theological coffin, and covered with priestly flowers that had been brought in to adorn the departed. Luther strode to the casket, cried out with a loud voice, "The just shall live by faith." And the truth came out of the coffin and lives today. And thus the gospel is heard throughout the world. And the truth of grace alone, once so obscured, is preached from a million pulpits.

God is love. All men are sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. God says He has put our sins upon the Savior. When I believe this, I too am a transformed creature, or rather an absolutely new creation. My sins are removed from me as far as the East is removed from the West. They're cast behind God's back and are remembered against me no more forever.

The truth that Luther rediscovered was the truth that Augustine had preached. And the truth that these men had preached was the truth that God gave to the world through Paul. It is this truth which gives peace to the heart. Paul wrote to the Colossians, "It pleased the Father that in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of the cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself."

Peace has been made by the blood of the cross. And it is on this ground that God can invite men to come and to be at rest with Him. And they will not come to Him because they want their own way. They're like the moving crowds in Constantinople who daily throng the greatest of all the mosques. That mosque was once a Christian church, dedicated to the Holy Wisdom, or as it would be named from the Greek, Santa Sophia.

Above the western door of that great mosque, there is the Greek inscription engraved on brass, and untouched through the centuries of Muslim occupation, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The milling masses of the Turks who pass through those gates never lift their eyes to read the inscription. To them, it is a dim writing in an unknown language. No heart is lifted by that great invitation. No soul surges into glad new life because of the call of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now it is such a picture of the multitudes of Earth's peoples who still bring the tear to the eye of the Savior as He says, "You will not come unto me that you might have life." But what to those who find, "Ah, this nor tongue nor pen can show, the love of Jesus, what it is, none but His loved ones know." But we His loved ones do know, and His benediction rests on our hearts with a calm, a rest, a peace that is beyond anything that earth can comprehend. May this peace of sins forgiven be upon all who know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now in the second place, the believer knows the peace of the abiding Christ. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." It was because of what the Lord Jesus Christ is that He was able to say, "There shall be wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled." Now these words are the words of a man who is insane, or they are the words of the Lord God Almighty.

Today, the world hears more rumors of war than any other generation. What other generation ever measured its fear by a Geiger counter? What other generation ever knew the danger of taking in death from radioactive food, or of breathing death in radioactive oxygen? And yet the Lord Jesus Christ says, "See that ye be not troubled."

The truth that He is God is proved by the fact that multitudes who follow Him are at peace and rest in Him, knowing that He does all things well. If our sins have been dealt with, death is only an open door to glory because we are in Christ. And if we go to heaven by a death that comes in high gear, it makes no difference to us. Death in high gear or in low gear is all the same to the one who knows that the hand of Jesus Christ is on the throttle.

And in some fashion that is very real, our disturbed and anxious hearts partake of that divine peace. And with a calmness that is from God, we enter into the depths of the rest that He has promised. There are Christians who possess peace with God on the ground of forgiven sin, but have not entered into the possession of the peace of God that comes from complete surrender to His Lordship. It is possible for a true Christian to be pulled apart in his consciousness.

Passion drags one way, conscience draws in another. Our lust cries out, "Possess this!" And the Holy Spirit, before being grieved into silence, cries out with English, "You have been warned! The hill is steep! You do not have any brakes! No one has ever made it without My controlling hand!" And the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and the two are contrary. But when a Christian surrenders to the mastery of the Lord Jesus Christ, his life is filled with the peace of that abiding presence. A peace that goes beyond understanding.

Now this is the phase of peace which He has promised will keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. It has often been noted that the Greek word translated 'keep' is a military term used to describe the watch of the garrison in the protection of a city. It is a word used by Paul to describe the fact that the King of Damascus guarded the city in order to seize the apostle who escaped by being let down in a basket through a window in the wall.

But perhaps it will be a fresh thought to note that this Greek word is never used of a military force stationed outside the city to protect its walls, but only for that force which guarded the city gates from within, controlling all who went in and out. So it is that God's peace stands within our lives as a sentinel, maintaining order, calming the forces that would riot, and protecting us from all danger from without.

Now in the third place, the Lord gives us peace through our living hope. As we grow in the Lord, our whole life is lived in a joyous expectancy. This characterizes the true Christian as he grows old. He does not live in the past. He is not occupied with a constant stream of repetitive reminiscence. He faces the future. He has forgotten the things that are behind. He is stretching out to the things that are before. He lives in the attitude of the bride the day before the wedding. His thoughts are the thoughts of the successful candidate the day before inauguration.

If he does enter into a second childhood, it contains the childlike anticipations that we see in a boy during the days before Christmas. We live in the certainty of the athlete who knows that his nearest competitor is many yards behind, and that he is about to breast the tape to be acclaimed the victor and to receive the prize. Now it should be noted that this peace frees us from the worries about contemporary drifts. It doesn't make any difference which way the currents of human history may flow.

Our navigation chart compensates for every possible drift, and the power that God furnishes us can overcome any headwind that life might blow against us. We are sure. Sure beyond the possibility of a doubt that we shall reach our desired port. And that we shall be brought home to the heart of Him who said, "I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."

Now in conclusion, I would like to answer the question that may have come to many a mind. If you're outside of Christ and do not know the first phase of peace, the peace of forgiven sin, you may ask how it can be received. The answer is that peace is trust. Come unto me and I will give you rest, the Lord said. Coming to Him is the sure way of peace. It's just believing Him about His work, the work that He accomplished in taking your place on the cross. You may not understand the method by which God exchanges His peace for your trust, but it is certain that He does it.

A man may know nothing of jet propulsion or of aerodynamics, but if he'll step on board a jet liner and sit down in a comfortable seat, he'd be lifted from one continent and landed in another. I've done this and I know that it's true. And I have in the same way put myself into the hands of Christ, and He has fulfilled everything that He has promised. He promised that He would not cast me out if I came. I came and He did not cast me out. The moment that you realize that trust in Christ is the exact equivalent of peace with God, that peace will enter your being.

And then there is a second question which may rise in the heart of one who is a convinced believer, who knows that he has peace with God concerning forgiveness of sin, but who does not have the peace of God in his heart. To this soul I answer that just as trust is the equivalent of peace in the realm of forgiveness, so surrender is the equivalent of peace in the realm of triumph. Take my yoke and learn of me, and you shall find rest unto your soul. Faith and submission. These are the keys to peace.

Believe what God has to say to you about His satisfaction with the death of Christ, and the realization will sweep your soul that God has indeed provided eternal life for all who put their faith in Him. Submit yourself to the will of God, and He will show you day by day that His ways are ways of pleasantness and all His paths are peace. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

I wish that it were possible for me to convey to you the depth of my desire that all of you enter into this great peace, and that this peace might possess you. If you are not a believer in Christ, come to Him today. And if you will not come, I pray that you may be seized by such restlessness, that there will be no living until the pressure has been removed by faith in Christ. To those of you who are believers, I repeat with all my heart the benediction which Paul left with the Romans. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

And our God and Father, we ask for this double benediction, that the unsaved may have the blessing of restlessness so that it may bring them to come to Christ. And that the believers may have the blessing of calm joy in the presence of the knowledge of Thy indwelling life within us. Speak to each heart in this hour. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): The Gospel of God's grace has transformed millions of lives throughout history. Have you found peace with God through Christ? We hope you've benefited from today's message, The Greatest Benediction. To listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org.

An audio copy of today's teaching is also available by calling us toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled The Greatest Benediction, or simply request message number R15-33. We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled Walking by God's Word. If you try to walk in the dark, you may hurt yourself or become lost. The same will happen if we try to make it through life without the light of God's word.

The Bible declares, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." And this free booklet will help you apply the wisdom and light of the scriptures to every area of daily living. Ask for your free copy of Walking by God's Word 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. 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.

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 reform teachers and theologians, including Doctors 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.