Book Recommendations/Reviews, Part 2

Introduction to the Recommended Reading Series and Guiding Principles

0:04 The following message was delivered on March 27th, 1994, in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now we welcome among us any who are visitors here this morning, and for your sake especially, I do want to say a word about the nature of this adult Bible class. Normally we would be sitting under the instruction of Pastor Dr. Bob Martin in the Book of Acts, as for several months now we have been led in that study, which has been profitable to all of our souls.

0:43 But since Dr. Bob had to be away last Lord's Day, I began to work through with you a recommended reading list, believing with the counsel of my fellow elders that it was time to do this. I began to work through with you a recommended reading list, believing with the counsel of my fellow elders that it was time to do this. I began to work through with you a recommended reading list, believing with the counsel of my fellow elders that it was time to do this.

0:58 again, and so we began last week with a printed sheet in our hands, and any who were not here last week or who forgot to bring your sheet this morning, we do have extras. If you'll raise your hand while I give a brief review, the ushers will make sure that you obtain a copy and that you'll be able to make any notations that you desire to on that sheet of paper for your future use. So just raise your hand high if you do not have and desire a copy of that recommended reading list.

1:38 Now, as I mentioned last week, everything that I am doing in commending these books presupposes the material that I gave some time ago in several adult Sunday school classes under the title of The Healthy Christian and His Reading Habits. And among the many principles, we considered in that series of studies was the principle that Bible reading is foundational and must have first place in the reading habits of any healthy Christian, and secondly, that all reading of human authors must be done with the two-fold disposition of appreciation for them as gifts of Christ on the one hand, 1 Corinthians 3, 21 and 2, Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, and with prayerful discernment, realizing that they are fallible men on the other hand, 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 and Acts 17 and verse 11. And then with that reminder of those principles from the word of God, we began to work through these five categories of books, not saying that these are the only books,

Review of Categories and Introduction to Christian Witness

3:00 we would recommend in these categories, or that they are necessarily the best books in these categories, but in terms of books that are being reprinted or are coming off the press for the first time, books that are accessible to us through our own book service or in our own church library. These are some of the books that as Mr. Davis and I sat down and worked on this together, we felt it would be wise to recommend to you. At this time, and if you were not with us last Lord's Day, I would recommend that you get a tape of that hour so that you will understand what I mean by the use of the terms which have defined these categories. I defined the category of devotional, seeking to bring biblical perspectives to bear upon it, and then recommended the various books listed under that heading, and then likewise under biography, and history, and then when we came to Christian witness, I suggested that we should consider our witness as Christians in two categories. There is first of all that witness which Peter addresses in 1 Peter 3.15 when he says to all believers, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, being ready always to give an answer to every man who asks you concerning a hope that is within you.

4:29 And then I suggested that we should consider our witness as Christians in two categories. And therefore certain books will help equip us to fulfill that directive of Peter, that we stand in a posture of readiness to give an intelligent, biblically-based polemic for what we believe and why we believe it, and we do not simply say, well, that's what my church teaches and I trust my church. No, we give a reason of the hope that is within us. And then the second aspect, of our witness is that in which we seek in the language of Philippians 2.15 to hold forth the word of life to others. Those books that will either help us to have a greater grasp on the central truths of the gospel with a view to communicating them, or books that may in themselves be a tool for our witness to others, books that we can put into their hands and ask them to read them, or, in some cases, to suggest that a time be established mutually acceptable between you and the person to whom you are witnessing. Maybe it's a lunch hour in the office, or at the shop, or a Saturday morning, and you work through such a book,

Book Recommendation: 'An Angry God' by Errol Davies (Christian Witness)

5:46 seeking in this way to use the book as your silent but structured, well-outlined preacher of the gospel to this person whom you are seeking to bring to the knowledge of Christ. And we got as far as Pastor MacArthur's book, Ashamed of the Gospel, under the category of Christian Witness. And so, remembering now that we're speaking of witnessing in terms of our being able to give a reason of the hope that is in us, and of our increasing competence to communicate the gospel to others, and the next book that we've recommended is a book that is entitled An Angry God. And this book, by Errol Davies, is a book which, according to its subtitle, addresses what the Bible says about wrath, final judgment, and hell. And we are living in a day when, in so-called evangelical circles, we are seeing a repetition of what happened about a hundred years ago, when men who claimed to believe in the inspiration and the infallibility and authority of the scriptures, who claimed to believe in a supernatural Savior, the Lord Jesus,

7:08 in a supernatural salvation, one secured solely by the perfect life and death of Christ, his bodily resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of God the Father, yet they said that they were not certain that the Bible taught the doctrine of the conscious, endless torment of the lost in a place called hell, that men, subsequent to the judgment, would be sent, body and soul, into hell, where, for the endless ages of eternity, they would experience the wrath of God in a conscious state of existence. And in our day, such notable men as John Stott, an Anglican, well-known in evangelical circles for decades, a man who recently died, Philip Hughes, recognized as one of the finest Reformed and evangelical scholars and exegetes, having written both theological and commentary books, these, among others, have denied what the Church has held as part of her historic faith, that the Scriptures do indeed teach the awesome, the frightening, the terrible doctrine of conscious, everlasting punishment.

8:36 And I have read a number of works on this subject. One of the most helpful works, from a more technical and, we might say, scholarly standpoint, is Shedd's work, which has undergone a number of reprints. A man of another generation, and in our own generation, a much more massive work by John Blanchard, Whatever Happened to Hell? But the size of that book would be intimidating to many of you.

9:06 And this book is much smaller. It is just 150 pages. And yet, I believe it is the finest thing currently in print that will give you not only a grounding in the biblical teachings, but a biblical teaching concerning the non-dying nature of the soul, the indestructibility of the soul, in the past called the immortality of the soul, and that terminology has been the brunt of much of the attacks, so we might better use the term the indestructibility of the soul, even of the lost. And he gives the biblical basis for the doctrine of conscious, eternal punishment.

9:51 But also, he demonstrates how this drift away from the doctrine has occurred in our own generation. His opening chapter, 1974, A Contemporary Watershed. Chapter 2, The Decline of Hell, Historical and Contemporary Perspective. And if you are to be a Christian who gives a reason of the hope that is in you, if you and I are to be motivated, to true, passionate, evangelistic concern, no little factor in that motivation is the conviction of this biblical doctrine.

10:32 Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 11, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. And so I highly recommend this book as one that in a very special way is needful in the doctrinal erosion that is going on in our own generation. And then the next book, under Christian witness, is a book by Tom Wells, a contemporary pastor out in Cincinnati, Ohio, entitled A Price for a People. A rather unique way of giving a title to a book that deals with the biblical doctrine of the atonement.

Book Recommendation: 'A Price for a People' by Tom Wells (Christian Witness)

11:16 Now surely as Christians, none of us would debate the statement, that the death of Christ in the room and stead of sinners is the central doctrine of the gospel of the Bible. And therefore our views with respect to precisely what Christ did upon the cross, for whom did he do it, and what will be the fruition of what he did, our views on those questions must not be blurred and indistinct. They ought to be clear, well chiseled, and thoroughly rooted in the word of God. And I know a few books, past or present, that more helpfully, in simple layman's terminology, but true to the word of God, will ground a man or a woman in the biblical answer to those questions. Listen to the chapter headings. What kind of act was the death of Christ? And then he takes up the theme of redemption in some six, five chapters.

12:26 Then propitiation. Then he takes up the question, did Christ die with the purpose of actually saving every single human being who has ever lived from Adam to the last one who will be alive at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? He takes up the question, was Christ's death an indefinite provision for all, without discrimination, or was it the actual securing of the redemption of some specific sinners? And he answers from the Scripture that it was the latter, and then realizing that there are certain Scriptures which at a first reading, out of their immediate context and out of the larger context of Scripture, might point in a different direction, with respect to the answer to that question, he comes to grips with those difficult texts and seeks to answer them. It's the chapter called A Look at Some Hard Texts. And then, as you well know, when people realize that we as a church believe that Christ died to secure the redemption of a specific number of people known only to him, one of the immediate questions is, well, why then preach the gospel? What gospel do you have to preach if you can't say to every man in the strictest sense, Christ died for you specifically and individually?

13:55 How can you preach the gospel? Well, he takes up that question and answers it very, very helpfully. And then he has some seven appendices. You only have one appendix.

14:06 He has seven appendices in which he takes up related issues, and again, none of them is irrelevant to this question. I highly recommend this book, The Meaning of Christ's Death, A Price for a People, by Pastor Tom Wells. Then there's a lovely little book, booklet really, by our dear friend Pastor Jack Seaton. This is its second or third printing called An Introduction to Christian Baptism.

Book Recommendation: 'An Introduction to Christian Baptism' by Jack Seaton (Christian Witness)

14:39 And I had the privilege of writing the introduction to this new edition. It was first published in 1982, and I believe this is the second or possibly the third edition. And what makes this little booklet so helpful, it's only how many pages? Well, they even forgot to number the pages in this edition.

15:02 I didn't realize that until I looked at it. My edition that I have is the previous edition, and the pages are numbered, but it's only, it's under 20 pages, probably just about 80 pages. It's only 18 pages. Pastor Seaton has labored now for 25 years in an area where almost all professing Christians practice the sprinkling of infants, and they call that baptism.

15:27 And as he has interacted over the years in graciousness, seeking to persuade people that whatever is done when water is placed on the brow of an infant, that that is not what the Bible means when it says, make disciples and baptize them. And so in addressing the issue, he is not addressing it from a theoretical standpoint, but is one who has had continually to wrestle through this matter with others and seek to lay out the teaching of the Word of God, and in so doing, he answers very directly three simple questions about baptism. He addresses the fact or the question of, who were baptized? And he goes through all the references to who was baptized in the New Testament. Second question, how were they baptized? And the third question, why were they baptized?

16:26 Who, how, and why? And then he seeks to underscore the very fundamental premise that whatever we may learn about baptism from Old Testament types or shadows or analogies with any other Old Testament event or institution such as circumstance, such as circumcision, we must not allow Old Testament type or shadow or illusion or analogy to override the explicit teaching of the New Testament concerning this new covenant ordinance. And so for your own grounding in your own view of baptism, this will help you in the light of 1 Peter 3.15 and also it's written graciously and you can give it to a paedobaptist friend with whom God has brought you into contact, assured that they will not be offended by the manner in which the biblical teaching is set forth. And ask them prayerfully and graciously to read it, to look up the scriptures, and if they feel that its conclusions are not compelling, to get back to you and say that you would like to see where you find the arguments not compelling and have an opportunity to be able perhaps to teach them the way of God more perfectly in this area.

Book Recommendation: 'The Almost Christian Discovered' by Matthew Mead (Christian Witness)

17:54 And then the last book that we've listed under The Almost Christian Discovered is one of the many reprints being done by our friends at Sole Deo Gloria Publications and just the title immediately apprises you that this is an old Puritan work. Who but a Puritan would come up with the title The Almost Christian? And then The Almost Christian Discovered. And in the foreword by Dr. John MacArthur he says that The Almost Christian Discovered is a rare treasure. It reveals the force and fervor of Puritan spirituality as vividly as the any work I know. It delivers the kind of potent message one longs to hear but almost never does in this age of cheap grace and of shallow conversion. And if you just listen to a few of the title chapters you'll see why Pastor MacArthur has made such a statement.

19:03 Question one. How far a man may go in the way to heaven, and yet be but almost a Christian shown in twenty specific steps. Remember John Bunyan said and I saw that there was a path to hell or a way to hell even from the gate of heaven. And the Puritans perhaps more than any other group of people at any period in church history dug into the word of God with reference to this question of what people may attain in religious form and ceremony and talk and activity and yet fall short of a true knowledge and experience of the grace of God. And so the chapters go on to unfold the specific areas. A man may have much knowledge and yet be but almost a Christian. He may have eminent gifts.

20:05 He may have profession of religion. He may go far and wide in opposing this or that sin. He may be a member of the church. He may be a great combatant in the cause of truth.

20:17 He may obey the commands of God. Chapter after chapter as always with the Puritans filled with scriptural illustrations, filled with scriptural expressions to demonstrate that these are not a group of men who are a bunch of killjoys trying to shake the assurance of godly people, but they are true shepherds of souls seeking to undo what is perhaps the most difficult of all spiritual states to undo, that of a person who is deceived about his true state before God, who has the content of the gospel firmly embedded in his head, who can speak it with his mouth, who in his outward life would never be suspected of being a pagan or a profligate or ungodly man or woman, and yet is but an almost Christian. And I remind you as I remind myself that almost is to hear the Lord say, depart from me. And so I would urge you to purchase this book again, to have your own assurance well established, and then to use, as many of you have relatives who are the tragic victims of a defective, defective presentation of the gospel, who think that because they raised a hand, walked an aisle, prayed a prayer,

21:45 have joined an evangelical church, and tithe, and live a reasonably decent life, that all is well, yet in their presence we sense nothing of real attachment to the person of Christ, nothing of the fragrance of Christ in their speech, in their demeanor, in the overall ethos of their lives. This book could well be under the blessing of God an instrument to cause them in the mirror of the word to see their true state and by the grace of God in the language of the text of last Sunday night to begin to strive to enter in by the narrow gate of true and thorough conversion. Now that brings us to our fourth category, family and the home. And under that category we have listed books that address the matter of family relationships in their biblical perspective and also books that will be helpful to you in the administration of the Christian home. One of the vexing questions that pastors receive continually is how can we spend Sunday afternoon with our kids so that they don't dread the Lord's day? What can we do to make the Lord's day afternoon so that they can be something that our kids look forward to as a very special time with mom and with dad?

Introduction to Family and the Home Category

23:13 Well, it's in that broad sense of not only addressing the biblical dynamics of the relationships within the home, husband and wife, parent, child, but also helps to administer the details of a godly home. Now at the top of the list is Wayne Mack's workbook entitled Strengthening Your Marriage. Now this particular book is the fruit of Dr. Mack's work in attaining a Doctor of Ministry degree and it reflects a realistic comprehensive approach to the establishment of a godly marriage. And I would recommend it first of all to couples who had very, very poor models in your formative years. And that takes in the vast majority of the members of Trinity Baptist Church. And in the days to come it will take in even more in that category.

24:18 When I was with those dear brethren down in Florida, those 175 men, and as I was interacting with them and getting a feel for where they were coming from, it was clear from a number of their testimonies that very few of them had any Christian background whatsoever. They were saved out of the raw paganism of the 60s and 70s. They do not have a clue by way of example of what a godly, biblically structured home is. They had no instruction by example and precept on what it is for a man to be a strong, aggressive, but godly and sensitive head over his wife.

25:03 Women, their wives, who've had no example and instruction of what it is to be a noble, thinking, praying, godly, but submissive wife to a husband. They don't have a clue of what Ephesians 6, 4 means. Fathers, nurture your children. They never saw a hands-on dad in the nurturing of their own children.

25:29 Well, this particular book by Wayne Mack is so helpful because it enables a couple, and I would urge couples to buy two copies, and one for the husband, one for the wife, to work through, in direct contact with the Scriptures, the major biblical perspectives on the subject of marriage, touching such vital issues as understanding the very purpose of God for marriage, understanding the wife's role the husband's role. There's an excellent chapter focusing upon communication, on finances, sexual unity, on the rearing of our children, and the maintenance of family religion. And so I would urge any of you couples who are conscious that you're having to pick up a little bit here and a little bit there, it would be an excellent discipline to get two copies of this book and mark out a time in the calendar and jealously guard it like you would guard an appointment with some dignitary that for one hour a week you are going to work through this. If it took you a year, you were committed to do it, that you might, under God, strengthen your marriage within the framework of biblical norms. Then I recommend it secondly, not only for couples who may have a reasonably good marriage but have had poor models,

Book Recommendation: 'Strengthening Your Marriage' by Wayne Mack (Family and Home)

26:59 and therefore, you're picking up bits and pieces and some things you're sort of doing by instinct, but you can't articulate the biblical roots to your children. I urge it for you, but then I know from pastoral experience that there are couples who are having struggles in what I would call chronically puffy areas of your marital relationship. Every time it seems to be healed over, the little sore begins to get red and then it festers and then something will cause pressure upon it and out will come, I'm sorry for the gross imagery, but that's what it is, the pus of bitterness and disappointment and cynicism. I urge you, couples, I urge you, whatever other pressures are upon you, take the time to get two copies of this book and say, Oh God, come with the scalpel and cut out the pus sacs. Cut them out, Lord! And suture us up that these things might be healed. dealt with and put behind us.

28:03 No amount of pastoral counseling is going to do it. I have seen over years of pastoral intimacy with people that until a couple is determined that together before God they're going to address these issues, you can have a hundred sessions with any number of your elders and the issues will not be dealt with. So I would urge you to let Dr. Mack be your in-house counselor and go to work on some of those chronic areas of deficiency and then it can be helpful in a third way, those of you that have a good marriage and other couples who are struggling don't and they come to you and say, Look, it's obvious.

28:43 I know there are probably times when you blow your cork and you say to the woman that you're probably irritable and nasty and your husband would like to stick your head in the kitchen sink, but for the most part it's obvious you two have got your act together. And it's obvious that my wife and I are my husband and I don't. Can you help us? Brethren, the scripture says that pastors and teachers are given to the church to perfect the saints unto service work.

29:11 And there just isn't enough time in the lives of the elders to be doing all the marital counseling and some of you have good solid marriages. You ought to master the contents of this book so that those who see your good healthy marriage will draw near to you and you can say, All right, let's commit ourselves for ten weeks. We're going to meet on a Friday night or every other Friday night we're going to work through this book together. And in that way you as one who would never stand in the pulpit and teach or preach on Christian family, on a good marriage, in the privacy of your living room, over your kitchen table or another couple's kitchen table, you could work through this book and be a means in the hands of God to minister to another needy couple.

29:56 I urge you then, those who have good marriages, work through this, become acquainted with it and where you would never feel competent to sit down and structure a course to help someone, it's already done for you. You just need to be the catalyst who've already gained credibility by your own marriage. All right, I must hasten on now as we move on in the family and the home strengthening your marriage, Thoughts for Young Men by Bishop Ryle. Now this is a reprint of a series of essays by the good bishop and most of you know that anything Bishop Ryle writes, whatever else it is, it will always be thoroughly biblical and will be lucid. It will be clear. You never read Ryle and scratch your head and say, what's the good old bishop talking about? I find, when I read Ryle, it's very evident what the good old bishop is writing about.

Book Recommendation: 'Thoughts for Young Men' by J.C. Ryle (Family and Home)

30:55 Very evident. And I find that he drives me to pray. He drives me to seek God. He drives me to repent and to cry to God.

31:05 And this would be an excellent book for you dads and if you don't have a Christian dad, for you moms to read to your pre-adolescent and adolescent and teenage boys on a Sunday afternoon. Listen to the subject matter. Reasons for Exhorting Young Men. Few young men take religion seriously.

31:24 Death and judgment are coming upon them. What young men will be depends on what they are. The devil uses special diligence to destroy young men. Chapter 2.

31:37 Special dangers facing young men. The sin of pride, love of pleasure, thoughtlessness and lack of consideration. Always pulling your hair out that your son just seems to be so inconsiderate about his sisters, about you. It's addressed.

31:56 The bishop knew that that was a peculiar sin of young men. Fear of other people's opinions. General counsels to young men. Get a clear view of the evil of sin.

32:07 Become acquainted with our Lord Jesus Christ. Never forget, nothing is as important as the soul. Good gospel material to be preaching to your son or your sons. Special rules for young men.

32:23 Break off every known sin. Avoid anything that will be the occasion of sin. Here's where you give the warning dad, about what's wrong going into the 7-Eleven store and letting the eyes glance at the wicked literature that's there on the rack. You dads, you're to be doing this.

32:42 And here's a marvelous tool to help you to do it. Including encouragements full of very sagacious practical instructions written in good, bold print. Easy to read. Get a copy for yourself, for your son.

32:58 Use it as the basis of discussion. You may get two pages and off you go. It's opened up a subject that you would never quite know how to introduce with your son. But the old bishop takes you both by the hand and there you are.

33:10 And the subject is opened up and you're able to communicate as a father. Highly recommend this for parents seeking to have good literature. Not just to put into the hands of your sons but to read through with them as the catalyst to open up discussion about these vital issues. Then I have listed Sprague or Sprague.

Book Recommendation: Sprague's Trilogy (Family and Home)

33:32 His name is pronounced both ways and I've never taken the time to track down how he pronounced it. Sprague or Sprague's trilogy. And trilogy is just a word to speak of the three books that have been reprinted. Letters to young men.

33:46 Letters to a daughter. And lectures to young people. In his letters to young men a dear friend of mine wrote a letter to a young man about his life and his life and his life and his life again. A book that it would be better to read through with your sons than to give them to read though certainly it would not be wrong to do the latter.

34:10 He takes the history of Joseph as the framework for letters to young men. And the peculiar dangers that Joseph faced as a young man and how God undertook for him the danger from excessive parental indulgence danger from injurious treatment danger from living away from home and though some of the specifics are dated because the book was originally published in 1845 by and large it is as relevant as tomorrow morning's newscast. And likewise letters to a daughter on practical subjects and here's a father showing a good example of how a father hands on dad in the formation of the character of his daughters speaks of early friendships education general reading independence of mind forming the manners conversation amusements you want a chapter that will devastate any thought that any good can ever come from indiscriminate or frequent time spent in front of the television set I challenge you as a mother or a father to read the chapter on amusements and if from that moment on you don't exercise a strict control over the television with respect to your children you will be willfully rejecting

35:40 light. I issue that challenge to you penetrating insights on the matter of the legitimate place of amusement marriage the proper mode of treating religious error self knowledge self government humility zeal improvement practical subjects that deal with the formation of character and in a day when everything that is pressing in upon our girls would make them think that all they need is a borderline anorexic skinny body and a pretty face and they're going to make it God have mercy on the rising generation unless we have women who know something of these character traits and I urge upon you parents to use this in seeking to form those traits in your children and then the lectures to young people in general deals with the peculiar dangers that youth face and then really becomes a powerful evangelistic persuasive to young people in imploring them to face honestly the general excuses for the neglect of salvation what it is to embrace the Lord Jesus what are the evidences of truly being saved and uses one of the very texts we used in the recent

Book Recommendation: 'The Christian Father's Present to His Children' by John Angell James (Family and Home)

37:08 signpost series not everyone who says unto me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven how to grow in grace and how to run your course well we're so thankful that this trilogy of Sprague's works has been reprinted and made available to us in our generation and then one of the most recent reprints is one that my wife is presently working through I've only read in spotty parts of it by John Angel James who was a congregational minister of another generation the Christian father's present to his children and in this particular book like some of the other themes dealt with in Sprague's book he first of all addresses Christian parents laying out the formation of the character of their children and then he touches on such subjects as true religion and how parents are to seek to set the principles of true religion before their children he deals with the deceitfulness of the heart on the necessity of decision of character and religion that is the spirit of Daniel who purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself by his early piety then he moves on into such matters on the choice of

38:37 companions on what books to read again a chapter on amusements and recreation these older men recognize that unless young people understand the biblical principles with reference to this subject their character will be greatly deformed and its development greatly detuned by the blown on drugs and their hair wildly bouncing as they screech and howl and throw out their multi-decibel sounds in their rock concerts

39:46 to talk about modesty and courtesy? But the word of God has not changed. Let man become like a veritable beast. He is still to reflect the image of God.

39:59 And no little part of that image is modesty. And courtesy. On the choice of a companion for life. You want to guide your children?

40:08 What do you look for in a life partner? Here are the principles.

40:13 Well, what can I say? But heartily recommend this book as one that again can be used as Lord's Day afternoon material with your family. Now let me glance at the clock. All right, moving on quickly then.

Book Recommendation: 'Letters on Christian Education' (Family and Home)

40:31 Letters on Christian Education. I skipped over one. And I really had wished that our dear brother David Simpson had changed the title. Because when you hear this title, Letters on Christian Education, you think, all right, somebody's writing letters to a friend to persuade them they ought to put their kid in a Christian school or have Christian homeschooling and take them out of the public school.

40:54 But that's not what the book is about. The book is about, again, these matters of how particularly a mother in those early formative years, when she has far more time with the child, is to focus on the cultivation of character traits in that child. The eternal significance of child training. Crucial aspects of parental instruction and discipline.

41:20 Cultivating honesty and justice. Cultivating honorable speech and courtesy. You see the word cultivating? It doesn't just happen.

41:30 It won't happen when you simply say once to a child, now, be courteous. That means when there's a group of people and everyone's talking, you don't rush in and blurt out what's on your mind. You don't just say it once. You've got to cultivate it by a painstaking process of instruction and discipline and discipline and instruction and spankings and a host of other things.

41:54 Observing the Sabbath with wisdom. Cultivating benevolence and self-denial. Every child by nature is totally selfless. Self-preoccupied.

42:06 How do we cultivate in that child the grace of self-denial? How do we prepare them for their life's work? A chapter on parental friendship and vocational preparation. And then listen very interestingly.

42:21 Chapter 9. The place of entertainment and leisure. You see, all of these old writers recognized there would be nothing approaching true biblical, character, unless the issue of entertainment and leisure was something that parents understood and imparted those perspectives to their children. You say, Pastor, you've made your point.

42:49 Well, I wonder if I have. I wonder if I have. How many of you are going to go back and there'll be no fundamental change in the way you use that idiot box and let the world undo all that you're trying to do at family devotions all that's being done in the Sunday school classes right now and all that some of us attempt to do from this pulpit. I really wonder if some of you have the moral fiber and determination to come to grips with this issue.

43:20 If you don't, then please, please, if 10, 15 years from now you come with a broken heart and say, I can't understand why my kid isn't this, this, this, this, and this.

43:33 Understand if some of us find it a little difficult immediately to respond, and empathetically.

43:42 If you do nothing else but check these out from the library and read the chapters on amusements and entertainment, I urge you as parents to do so that you might impart these vital issues to your children. And then, very quickly, Wisdom and the Millers, Proverbs for Children, and it says, Storytime. And though my wife's, my wife's, my mother's name is Mildred, not Mildred A. Martin, but Mildred S. Martin, no relationship, Martin is a very popular name among the Mennonites, and this book, I have not read it, but upon the recommendations of Mr. Davies and others, takes some of the Proverbs and then has stories that illustrate those Proverbs in a very fascinating and interesting way to children in terms of the life and activities of the Miller family. Make Proverbs come alive for the children in your home church or school, here's a character-building collection of lively, inspirational stories by an Amish Mennonite author. Each chapter explains and illustrates a passage from the book of Proverbs along with a story

Book Recommendation: 'Wisdom and the Millers, Proverbs for Children' (Family and Home)

44:53 based on true life experiences. Excellent Lord's Day afternoon reading. To the children, as they get older, let them read. Stop them along the way and say, now, you just read that, what does that mean?

45:07 What was Mrs. Miller trying to convey to that child? And what was, what was Mr. Miller trying to convey?

45:13 Use it as a catalyst for communication and taking the leadership in the instruction of your children. And then, since I don't know when I'll get to do this again, there is a book that hopefully will soon be in our possession called A Token for Children. It also is being reprinted by Don Kistler and we are thankful. And this particular book, which has an introduction, a foreword written by Dr.

Book Recommendation: 'A Token for Children' by James Janeway (Family and Home)

45:41 John Gerstner, has as its subject matter the following. A Token for Children, written by James Janeway in the 17th century, is designed for adults in the 21st century. If we contemporary Christians want to know what Christian experience is, we can do no better than let these little children of centuries ago teach us. Cotton Mather's New England supplement bound with Janeway moves into the 18th century and these little ones, whose conversion is recounted in this book, A Token for Children, ranging from 2 to 14 years of age, show the ordinary steps towards salvation, beginning with correction and fear to struggle, regeneration, victory, and usually supreme assurance of salvation. And as the account of their conversion is given, Dr. Gerstner, who is himself a covenant theologian and a pedophile, a pedobaptist, says, one omission in these narratives is surprising. I cannot remember a single allusion to infant baptism or the covenant pertaining to children of believers.

46:53 Many modern covenantalists tend to assume election or conversion of such children. These children of James Janeway and Cotton Mather knew they deserved to be in hell unless the sovereign God they sought so zealously chose to give them a second birth from above. Every modern Christian parent ought to buy and study this book before making it required reading for all of his or her offspring. So when you see that title, please remember this morning when we highly commended this book, a reprint of an older classic.

Introduction to Pastoral Category and Book Recommendations

47:30 Now, in the three minutes that remain, two minutes that remain, pastoral. And what do I mean under pastoral? Well, basically books that have to do either with the with the work of the pastorate and the pastor preacher or in the case of the second one, a plea to pray for pastors, a work that will be helpful in instructing you as the people of God. When you pray for pastors, what should you pray?

47:57 Lord, bless our pastors, make them more and more holy men, help them as they prepare, help them as they preach, keep them healthy. Well, when you've done that, what else do you pray for? Well, this reprint by gardeners of Gardner Spring will give you a lot more substance from the word of God of specific things for which you ought to pray as he takes various texts of scripture that illustrate prayers for the servants of God. So those of us in leadership would urge you to get this little booklet and as you pray for us to take the specific directives of this booklet and make them a framework of your prayers.

48:37 And then the final work I want to commend is the reprint of a work by the same author of this lovely book on instructions for the Christian fathers present to his children by John Angel James and Ernest Ministry. A dear friend of mine gave me this copy which I believe was the last printing from 1848 and wrote saying to a dear friend and faithful father whose life and ministry have profoundly influenced my own. And as I read through this book, I had to say among the several hundreds of books that I have on preaching and pastoral theology, this supplied something that no other book did in addressing the whole matter of earnestness in the work of the ministry. And just as I was about to start to agitate in a gracious way to see if the banner of truth would reprint it, I saw an announcement that it was already being reprinted and would soon be off the press. And I would urge you to read it. You use this book in two ways.

49:43 If you're not a pastor, I doubt you'd want it as a lifetime companion. So you might want to take it out of the library and read several of the chapters that show why it is not just that some men are earnest in the ministry, but why all men ought to be earnest in the ministry. And then I would urge you if you have anyone who is a friend in the ministry, some relative, and you want to give a book that under God's blessing would stir a man up to become more effective as an earnest and passionate pastor and shepherd of souls and preacher of the word of God, I cannot recommend too highly this book. It is one of six books.

50:25 When people ask me, if you had to limit yourself to four or five, six books dealing with the full range of the work of the ministry, this certainly would take its place among those six. Well, our time is gone. Let us pray and ask God to bless us as we seek to respond in the stewardship of our own time and circumstances to the recommendations that have been set before us.

Closing Prayer and Exhortation

50:53 Our Father, we thank you that so many helps to our faith are available to us as your people in this generation. We pray that you would grant us the discipline over our times, the discipline over our television sets, the discipline over our sleep, the discipline over friendships, the discipline over the telephone, discipline over every faculty of our redeemed humanity, that we may be a reading people, that we may be a growing people, that we may be increasingly furnished unto every good work. Bless, then, the considerations of these past two Lord's Day sessions and may they bear fruit in all of our lives for many days and many days and months and years to come. And, O God, may they bear fruit in the lives of our offspring for generations to come. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.