“Seven Broad Biblical Principles” (nos. 5-7)

Introduction and Review of First Four Principles

0:00 The following message was delivered on October 11th, 1992, in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, while others are finding their seats for the benefit particularly of our visitors, let me give a brief word of explanation of what we are doing in our class today. Today's class is really the continuation of a study which we began last Lord's Day during a transition period in the more normal extended series of studies which we conduct in this adult Bible class.

0:40 And we began the first of two or possibly three classes on the very practical subject of the healthy Christian and his reading habits. Using the term, the healthy. Healthy Christian to try to capture the teaching of the Bible that there are various stages of growth and spiritual vigor among God's true people. But assuming that many of you are by God's grace in a spiritually healthy state and that as true Christians, all of you desire to be in a healthy state.

1:18 That it was proper then to describe not the reading habits of an. Unhealthy Christian, but the healthy Christian and his reading habits and in addressing the subject, I have sought to capture the heart of the issues in seven principles and in stating those principles, I have also sought to show their tap roots in the word of God itself that the scriptures as the sufficient rule of faith and practice for the people of God. Do indeed.

1:53 Furnish us with adequate materials to give us guidance in this very practical concern of the healthy Christian and his reading habits. Now, last week we covered the first four of the seven principles. I will only state them. I will not go back over the biblical tap roots of each of the principles.

2:17 If you're visiting and you are interested in having the full treatment of the subject. The. Tapes are available from the Trinity. Tape library.

2:28 Here are the four that we covered last week. The healthy Christian will prize his reading of the Bible above all his other reading matter. Secondly, the healthy Christian will exercise discernment with respect to what constitutes his reading matter beyond his Bible. Whether it be.

2:53 Secular or religious literature. And then thirdly, the healthy Christian will judge the writings of all human authors by the infallible word of God itself. And then fourthly, the healthy Christian will make it a matter of conscience to use Christ's gifts contained in the printed page when they are providentially available. Now, over the years.

3:23 I have always sought to make conscience of giving due. Acknowledgement whenever I have quoted another author or am conscious of deriving the leading lines of my thought from another author or someone who has said something on a tape. And lest any of you think me guilty of plagiarism. I did not see this book until this past Tuesday.

3:47 I had heard about it and knew the general subject matter of it. But when it was put out. It was put in my hands this past Tuesday. And that's the newest pamphlet by Sinclair Ferguson entitled read any good books question mark.

4:03 Some of you hopefully upon purchasing this book when it is available and reading it will think for sure that I plagiarized from Mr. Ferguson or Dr. Ferguson. But I assure you I did not.

4:17 But under this fourth heading of recognizing that in Christian. Literature we have an embodiment of the exercise of the gifts of Christ. Dr. Ferguson said things very very similar to the sentiments that I expressed last week.

4:36 And it should not be surprising if the book is dealing with the same basic subject. And we are both approaching the subject convinced that scripture is the sufficient rule of faith in practice then there should be some overlapping in the use. Of scripture and Dr. Ferguson writes on page five by reading we expose ourselves to the ministry that Jesus Christ is given to the whole church.

5:06 Paul's principle expounded in Ephesians chapter four is that the ascended Christ gives a variety of gifts to his church. He thus displays his own glory in his people in both their character and their lifestyle. All the gifts Christ is given to the church are necessary if we are to reflect the full glory of our incomparable Savior. When Paul expounds that principle in Ephesians four he stresses that Christ is given to the church the permanent ministry of pastors and teachers.

5:43 We are accustomed to associating those ministries with the ministry of a local congregation. But Paul has a larger vision than that. He is speaking about God's gift in Christ to the whole church. All pastors all teachers are gifts of the ascended Christ to the whole church.

6:05 And then opening up the very concept that I sought to establish last week in that fourth principle that we are to make it a matter of conscience to use Christ's gifts. When they are available to us in the providence of God. In the printed page. He goes on to amplify that concept in a very striking way.

6:27 Think of this when you next take a book into your hands. You can sit under the ministry of Augustine or Calvin or John Owen or Baxter or Bunyan or Edwards or Boston or Spurgeon. Even those who are dead may yet speak to you and by their exposition of God's truth help forge you into the kind of man or woman. That was produced in earlier days by their living testimony and their living ministry.

7:00 And so Dr. Ferguson has very clearly and movingly set forth this fourth principle as one of the reasons why Christians ought to be readers of good books. Now in this hour I want to complete the final three principles having just stated by way of review. The first four.

Principle 5: Establish a Regular, Well-Balanced Reading Diet

7:23 Here's principle number five under the general subject of the healthy Christian and his reading habits. Principle number five is this. The healthy Christian will seek to establish a regular well balanced diet of reading. The healthy Christian will seek to establish a regular well balanced diet of reading.

7:50 Now first of all. Let me. Explain the analogy in the terms I have used and then answer the question what constitutes such a regular well balanced diet. I'm using the analogy that would apply in the rules the principles of good nutrition.

8:12 If we are conscious of our body's needs nutritionally we know that we must have a regularity. Of wholesome food since many nutrients are not stored up in the body. They are being continually burned up in our manifold bodily processes. And if we do not regularly replenish them eventually there will be some manifestation of mal nutrition.

8:47 So there must be a regular imbibing. Of wholesome food but there must not only be a regularity in the intake of wholesome food but there must be a balanced intake of wholesome foods since no amount of food high in one nutrient can substitute for the lack of other critical nutrients contained in the neglected food stuffs in other words you cannot say January will be my protein.

9:21 Month and February my carbohydrate month and March will be my trace mineral month when I'll take in all my needed zinc and magnesium and all of the other trace minerals essential to a healthy body no there must not only be a regularity of intake but a balanced intake of wholesome food stuffs and like little.

9:51 Children who can and must be trained to eat as they ought and I say to some of you parents who obviously did not hear some of the things in the lessons last year on how not to follow up the training of your children I still see as I move among not a few of you a pitiful indifference to the training of your children in habits of nutrition that are.

10:21 Proper habits left to themselves nine out of ten children will have a predilection and affinity for junk food or for certain kinds of food which contain necessary nutrients but not a natural inclination to the broad spectrum of food stuffs which are essential to a healthy body and therefore as parents.

10:51 It is your responsibility with or without their yum yums or smiles to train them to cultivate a taste and an appreciation for those foods which will constitute for them a regular well balanced diet essential for their physical well-being now that's the analogy I am using with reference to the healthy.

11:21 Christian and his reading habits the healthy Christian will seek to establish a regular well balanced diet of reading and rarely as with children in their natural diet does the child of God in his spiritual infancy grow up into manhood just locking in automatically to a regular well balanced.

11:51 Diet of reading he must be guided and encouraged and helped in that direction so that's the explanation of the analogy and the use of the terminology now then the question what constitutes such a diet well I want to use second Timothy three sixteen as a pattern both with reference to literary form and literary.

Biblical Pattern for a Balanced Reading Diet (2 Timothy 3:16)

12:21 Tent and as constituting a framework within which we can answer the question what constitutes a diet of regular well balanced reading in second Timothy three and verse sixteen that text to which frequent reference is made in this place we are told that all scripture is inspired of God. And is also.

12:52 Profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for instruction literally for training the same word used for the training of children for training which is in righteousness. Now all God breathed scripture comes to us in various literary forms the scriptures contain historical narrative.

13:22 They can turn contain large segments of biography the scriptures contain poetry the scriptures contain statements of intense and concentrated doctrinal perspectives the scriptures contain sections where our duty is clearly set before us so there is a broad form. In the God. breathe scriptures themselves. God has not conveyed his mind to us within one limited

14:01 literary form. He has given to us in the God breathed scripture the broad spectrum of almost every conceivable literary form. History, biography, poetry, doctrine, duty, promise, and even apocalyptic vision and prophecy. But what is its intent? Well, as surely as its form

14:29 is multi-form, so its intent is multi-intentional. Notice our text. The scripture which is inspired of God coming to us in this broad spectrum of literary forms is profitable for teaching, what we are to know and to believe, for reproof, pointing out where we are wrong and bringing us to conviction, for correction, having shown us where we are wrong, showing us the right way and guiding us into it. And in a more general sense, it is profitable for everything pertaining

15:12 to instruction in the life of righteousness, the life that pleases God. The life that is the response of gratitude for salvation in Jesus Christ. Now then, taking this text as a framework in seeking to answer the question, what constitutes a regular healthy diet of reading, just as the man who prizes his Bible above all that he reads is being exposed

15:49 periodically to all of the forms of literature. In his Bible, he is exposed to history, biography, poetry, doctrine, apocalyptic vision, duty, promise, etc. And he's exposed to literature which has different focal points of intent. Some parts of the Bible are intended primarily to teach him, to instruct his mind. Others are intended to teach him, to instruct his mind. Some parts of the Bible

16:19 are intended primarily to teach him, to instruct his mind. Others are intended primarily to teach him, to instruct his mind. Others are meant to attack his conscience and to reprove him. Others to be a lamp unto his feet, to teach him the way of righteousness. I would say, therefore, taking God's dealings in his inspired

16:35 book as it has been given to us as the framework, a healthy Christian will not read only biography or only doctrinal books. or only devotional books or only historical books. But rather, as God has conveyed his mind to us in all of these various literary forms, he will seek to expose his mind to the full spectrum of the literary forms in which human thought reflecting upon God's words and God's world can be conveyed to us.

17:19 to us. You see the point I'm making? If God did not reveal his own inspired word to us in one limited literary form, we should not therefore limit ourselves to one literary form in seeking to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading.

17:49 Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading.

17:57 Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading. Rather, we will seek over a given period of time to establish a wholesome, balanced, regular diet of reading.

18:05 is available to us and then the balance reading will, after the pattern of God's word, include some idea of God's working, or I'm sorry, of God's revealing his mind with these different intentions. We will not only be concerned that we are reading something of church history to see the mighty works of God in the nations and in countries through the scope of history, but we will also be concerned about biography where we see the work of God within the compass of an individual life, but we will also be concerned to read books that will instruct

18:48 us in doctrine, that will instruct us in our duty, books on prayer, books on witnessing, books on the Christian family, etcetera. But we will also seek to read. read books, some of which are heavy in teaching us, others which are more concentrated in rebuking us, others which are more dense in setting out how to establish godly patterns. We will seek, I say, to have a balance in our reading, but not only in Christian literature, but in secular literature as well.

Incorporating Secular Literature into a Balanced Diet

19:31 God in common grace is at work in his world, and he's placed us in this world both to appreciate his gifts, the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork, day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth forth knowledge. And we are to appreciate God's world, but we are also to be able to be in touch with that world with a view to being light and salt in that world. And there is clear evidence that our Lord Jesus Christ was in touch with the current events of his own age.

20:13 For example, in Luke 13, he could speak of two relatively recent current events and use them since they were the buzzwords of that part of Palestine. at that time as a springboard for a sermon on the necessity of repentance it says in chapter 13 and verse 1 of luke now there were some present at that very season who told him of the galileans whose blood pilot had mingled with their sacrifices people came to the lord jesus and

20:55 began to discuss with him this recent event that we would say was part of the current event section in the weekly readers in the local synagogue schools and he answered and said do you think that these galileans were sinners above all galileans because they suffered these things i tell you nay but except he repent ye shall in all and you shall all in like manner pass then he goes on without them bringing up the subject and refers to another incident of

21:34 current events or those eighteen upon whom the tower of siloam fell and killed them do you think that they were offenders above all the men that dwell in jerusalem i tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish well what's the point the point is is that our lord was in touch with current events that were capturing the minds of the rank and file of the people to whom he was called to minister and when they brought up the subject of this matter of the galileans who apparently in the midst of offering up sacrifices the soldiers

22:17 came into the temple and slew them in the very act of sacrificing jesus did not say don't talk to me about secular subjects i am from another world i'm going to another world i'm taking a people to another world i have no interest in the dirty filthy stuff of this world and there are not a few christians who have that attitude they are utterly and willfully and they think piously ignorant of current events if we believe this is god's world ordered by god for the manifestation of his glory

22:55 and the outworking of the principles of his righteous rule we must have some modicum of concern and interest with respect to what god is doing in his world and if we believe that this world reflects in spite of the presence of sin the glory of god and particularly his creation then surely there will be something that we periodically pick up that is calculated to penetrate the mysteries the wonders and the glory of the beauty of god's world so that the national geographic it's evolutionary philosophy notwithstanding which we can readily

23:38 recognize often in the text of dealing with certain matters will nonetheless be the kind of book that a christian can read at times and look at the photographs with breathless wonder as he beholds god's world and this was true of the apostle paul as well and i'll not take the time in the interest of completing the three principles to just remind you in act seventeen when he is preaching to these he even philosophers he can quote one of their own puts he lets them know that he is in touch with their mindset

24:19 he's demonstrating that i don't have a tree is nonsense it is irrational as well as in pious And how does he do it? One of the ways he does is he says, One of your own poets has said, We are his offspring. And he lets them know that he's aware of what their poets are saying. Not that he has imbibed their heathen philosophical thought, but where in spite of themselves, believing men in the image of God will occasionally say things that reflect that image-bearing capacity and they are true to their true identity.

24:55 He picks up on that and uses that as a springboard to affirm. Therefore, we ought not to think of the Most High in terms of objects that can be made with our own hands. He does the same thing in writing to Titus. You remember in Titus 1, Concerned that elders should shut the mouths of gainsayers and why the mouths of gainsayers must be shut, particularly there in the island of Crete.

25:24 And he says in verse, Twelve, one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. This testimony is true. He is saying, I'm aware of what some of the secular heathen writers there in Crete are saying about their own society. And Titus, I'm using one of their own, quote, prophets, one who sees into and beneath the surface of the externals of that society, has laid bare some of its open wounds, and he does not scruple under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit to quote a heathen observer

26:08 of the pagan society there in the isle of Crete, which shows that he was in touch with those matters. And then turning to a text like Philippians 4, 8, Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and virtuous, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. And God in common grace has given virtuous, beautiful, lovely things to his world through those who may not know him in a saving way. There are those who have written in their poetry breathtaking literature that enables us

26:51 to appreciate God's world. There are some like Shakespeare who have been given penetrating insights to human nature. I say it reverently. There is, apart from perhaps the incident of Saul and David and the horrible fruits, the self-consuming fruits of jealousy, nothing that I've ever read that can compare with Shakespeare's account of the self-consuming jealousy of Othello.

27:24 Othello, with respect to a well-placed handkerchief by his arch-enemy in league with the devil until it utterly consumes himself in suicide and his innocent Desdemona in murder. And it makes you appreciate the biblical doctrine of the horrible green-eyed monster, and of unfounded suspicions in the lives of those who have done nothing demonstrable to be worthy of that suspicion.

28:07 Those are God's gifts to us. And if we recognize that, we will seek to appreciate and to imbibe the benefit of what I am describing as a healthy, regular diet of rich, selfless and living children.

The Effort Required for a Balanced Reading Diet

28:39 We are now taking this time to understand and share with you a video that I haveictually been thinking about circulating here, and I suggest that we have a chance to watch it that way that way, we shall have a chance to read it. But for now, a free copy of the Sermon on the Lamp. comprehensive than this and will list things all the way from little primers in the form of pamphlets to booklets to smaller paperbacks to the larger works that some of you are working through we know understand there's a group of a half a dozen or so of you men who are committed to a reading program that involves working through volume six of john owen or at least the first half

29:19 of it with its treatises on mortification indwelling sin and temptation but the point that i want to make and this is my summary statement under this fifth principle is no one simply floats into a regular balanced diet of healthy reading it must be a matter of effort and of conscience and guidance and help from those competent to get the understanding of the message that is being given to you in the form of a breast it to us left to ourselves we become intellectual chocoholics now you know what a chocoholic is

29:58 put in front of him or her a box of chocolates a chocolate bar anything chocolate and there is powerless before that piece of chocolate as the poor wino is before his bottle of ripple touch it with his lips and he's not content until he's drained it and squeezed the bottle to get the last drop well the chocoholic is that way with chocolate can't have a box of chocolates eat one and then a week later eat another and they just scourge until it's all gone well some of you are intellectual chocoholics there are certain things that put that in your hand and you'll just devour it and consume it but left to yourself that's all you would ever do and you must

30:42 recognize that there's a spiritual anemia you need the iron of good doctrinal books in you your spiritual diet some of you are lethargic and you need the vitamins of rousing devotional books such as ryle's holiness and you need to read the chapter on the fight to get you off your duff and moving and active stop waiting for god to give in your heavenly zapping before you get on with being the christian you ought to be well that's what i mean then by the fifth principle which

Principle 6: Establish a Realistic, Moderate, and Consistent Reading Program

31:20 among all of them is probably the most crucial the healthy christian will seek to establish a regular well-balanced diet of reading but then principle number six a healthy christian will seek to establish a realistic moderate and consistent reading program a healthy christian will seek to establish a realistic moderate and consistent reading program everything let me explain the words what do i mean by realistic well i mean a reading program that takes into account

32:04 the full spectrum buddy raw curve republican columbus it at least of every christian did in the particular circumstances in which bob replaced him willek so his in a pile. It is far better to regard our duties this way than to regard them as various sizes of building blocks. Though there is an element of truth that certain duties have a priority over others, the Bible speaks of our knowing and proving the good, the acceptable, and the perfect

32:45 will of God. Romans 12, 2. Ephesians 5, 17. Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And if you are a husband and a father and a workman, the will of the Lord is that among

33:04 the slices of the pie of the will of God for you is that Proverbs 4, 23 is true of you. Keep your heart above all that you go. For out of it are the issues of life. You have a responsibility then to have disciplines that will enable you to keep your heart. You have the responsibility of 1 Peter 3, 7. Husbands dwell

33:30 with your wives according to knowledge. Dwelling with your wife according to knowledge is part of the pie of the will of God for you. Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might as unto the Lord, your place of work. If any man provide not for his own, he's worse than an infidel. Each one of us has the full pie of

33:53 what constitutes the good and acceptable and perfect will of God for us. And when I use the term a realistic reading program, I mean a slice of the pie that takes into account realistically, not idealistically, and not in such a way that it's not a piece of pie. It's a way as to jangle with or to replace other pieces in the pie of the will of God, an established time for regular, consistent reading that is realistic. With most Christian disciplines, we're either

34:37 defeated by saying there's no way I can incorporate that discipline into my life, or convinced we can and must. We bite off far more than is realistic, we get discouraged, and then we quit. It's an interesting thing, when I was having all these series of heart tests a couple of years ago, when I had a funny little arrhythmia, which thankfully has gone and never returned, I had to take the stress test. And some of you have had a stress test. And when you get on

35:05 that treadmill, and you're all hooked up with the various monitors, and you start walking and then running, and then they keep increasing the angle and increasing it and increasing it.

35:16 And I was just walking, one of the cardiologists, there were two there, he said, I understand you do some running. I said, well, it all depends, sir, whether you are a jogger or a runner. For someone who does an eight minute mile, anyone who does eight and a half minutes is a jogger. Eight minutes and under is called a runner. And since I know that you do some

35:37 running, I'll not say whether I run or jog until I find out what your target rate is per mile. And so we start to talk about that. We had a little bit of bantering about that. And I said, yes, for the past, at that time, it was 16 years, I've been jogging or running regularly. And so we were talking then about five, seven minutes later, when the treadmill was really going fast, and the

36:00 angle was like this. He said, Well, I know you weren't bluffing. I said, What do you mean? He said, bluff time comes to light when it's at this angle. And at this speed, he said, we get all kinds of men in here who say they jog. And he said, after five

36:15 minutes, we know what really happens. In fact, this died from sit Tail fist and shit. And said, I didn't know what really happened is two years ago, they read something about cardiovascular exercise. They went out and bought $100 pair of running shoes and $75 running suit, went out and tried to run three miles came in almost dead ready to go to the glue factory, they quit and they've never tried again. And they say they're runners. And he

36:36 said, this shows who's bluffing. No

The Importance of Realistic and Consistent Discipline

36:39 lying on this treadmill. This shows who's really been keeping in shape. Well, you see, the climbing style is so much for joggers.

36:46 the principle is that so often we'll hear something like this and we say boy i'm going to get all those books down that i've bought over the years and i'm going to get through this one this was it and you start in and the whole thing fizzes and you say it's no use trying what's been the problem you didn't seek to establish a realistic reading program a realistic reading program one that is realistic in terms of the full pie of your god-given responsibilities which for many of you may be no more in the beginning than a five minute period every day when you're committed if it takes you six months to read through a good solid paperback that will give

37:29 you some of the spiritual vitamins and nutrients in an area where you know you desperately need them and lo and behold as you find the benefit of that you'll say well if i did it for five minutes i can stretch it to seven and after a while you'll say i can stretch it to ten but you started reading realistically just like when i was age 40 and was convinced i needed to do something regular for my cardiovascular system and caloric consumption so i didn't look like an archbishop by the time i was 50 i started out by running around the perimeter of my backyard now you'd say that looks silly little kids run around in the backyard but i knew i had seen enough people

38:11 start and fizzle and so after i got tired of increasing the laps from six a day to 10 to 15 then i started out half a mile on the street on the sidewalk and then stretched it to three quarters and then to a mile and then to two etc but you see the key was the matter of realistic and i can't emphasize that enough because i know i'm talking to people many of whom have young children many of whom work from the time you leave home till the time you get home your hour is a 12 to a 14 hour day i am not talking as someone who's sitting in a room with a

38:47 tower thinking you are all living of the gospel as i am realistic but then moderate not fanatical or disruptive of other duties so i'm using moderate as a word to color realistic and then consistent and this is crucial one that reflects self-control and proper time management and it is right to expect this of a christian because galatians 5 23 says as the crowning fruit of the spirit god is working in

39:26 you this grace the fruit of the spirit is starting with love it concludes with what self-control now there's a mystery the men in the academy know every time i get on that in conjunction with preaching i go off into orbit the fruit of the spirit the personal divine spirit is self control well if he's in control and doing it then won't myself be out of the way no he is never more active than when i am most in control he does not minister to the obliteration

40:08 of self-control but he ministers so to enable me that i can manage time and structure time in such a way that i can manage time in such a way that i can manage time in such a way that i can manage out of the way as to do the world acceptable and perfect will of god and therefore consistency in a and therefore consistency in a reading program is to be a part of the fruit of the spirit for example someone recently said to me that one of the best piece of advice i had given him because he wanted to start mastering some of the old proven guides in israel and at the time i had said that the books

40:49 I don't know whether he mentioned he wanted to start working through Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity, an exposition of the shorter catechism that is a wonderful time proven means to establish anyone doctrinally and yet written in such a warm and vivid and quaint way that it's fascinating reading as well as edifying. And I said, two pages a day. That's all I ask you. Two pages a day. You think you can handle that? Now, it may have seemed ridiculous, but this man, months after the fact, said to me a week ago, he said, that's the best bit of practical advice you ever gave me.

41:27 And as a result, he's been able to work through Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity. But it was the consistency. In Alexander's thoughts on preaching, he gives these paragraphs of little thoughts to be shared with preachers. And ministers and men preparing for the ministry. And he passes on the advice given to him by his father, who said, son, at least five minutes a day, have in your hand and be working through one of those authors who is in a class all by himself for penetrating biblical insight, for knowledge of the human heart, for sound biblical psychology, not secular humanistic psychology, for true unction.

42:12 Though. Though they may lack literary polish. And he said, I speak, of course, of the Puritans. And at the head of them all, I speak of Owen. And within the writings of Owen, I speak of such works as his treatise on spiritual mindedness, his treatise on indwelling sin.

42:30 And he said, son, for just five minutes a day, keep yourself in touch with such minds as they flowed through the pens of those men. And I have personally found when I've been intimidated by a whole set of Puritans on my shelf and said, there's no way amidst pastoral responsibilities, a dozen, 15 phone calls a day from the sheep and from pastors and their needs, preparing to preach, preparing to lecture, preparing for this conference. And no way I'll ever get through that. That suggestion was a great help. And to my surprise, I found whole sets.

43:10 Flavel, Brooks. And many of the volumes of Owen worked through more than once by just 10, 15 minutes a day. That's all. 10, 15 minutes a day, putting down the date. And lo and behold, you find you've worked your way through them.

43:30 So I urge upon you this sixth principle, dear people, a healthy Christian will seek to establish a realistic, moderate and consistent religion. And I urge upon you this sixth principle, dear people, a healthy Christian will seek to establish a realistic, moderate and consistent religion. And I urge upon you this sixth principle, dear people, a healthy Christian will seek to establish a realistic, moderate and consistent religion. And here I commend the comments of Sinclair Ferguson on pages nine and 10 of his book.

43:51 The heading is reading according to a plan. And though it's but two paragraphs, it is very, very helpful. And he even recommends a book that we're going to be highlighting in the next flyer in the area of biography. The life of Henry Martin, spelled M-A-R-T-Y-N.

44:10 A missionary to India. Who breathes much of the spirit of a David Brainerd. Those are two of the biographies that I read as a young Christian. The life of Brainerd and also of Henry Martin.

Principle 7: Modify Reading Program According to Providential Crises

44:22 And was greatly impacted by those books. But then, in the remaining seven minutes, I want to come to our seventh principle.

44:34 A healthy Christian will modify his reading program. A healthy Christian will modify his reading program. According to the providential crises in his life, according to the providential crises in his life, put it all together. Now, some of you taking notes, a healthy Christian will modify his reading program, according to the providential crises in his life.

45:10 And here I want to draw a parallel. What do you do with your regular Bible reading schedule? Well, I hope you all have a regular Bible reading schedule. Whether it's the McShane calendar.

45:25 Whether it's the one prepared by our brethren down in Owensboro. I know there are quite a few of you who use that. You've mentioned that in pastoral visits or in membership interviews. When we've inquired about your regular habits of reading the Bible.

45:39 You are committed to a certain pattern of Bible reading. That keeps you from what some have perhaps rather cheekily called luckiness. Lucky dipping. You know what lucky dipping is?

45:50 You just dip in anywhere and you hope you have the quote good luck to get something that will zap you for the day. Some people read their Bibles, lucky dipping. Well, I hope no one does that here. But that you are committed to a program, a schedule that will take you in the course of a year, two, three years.

46:10 All the way from Genesis to Revelation in some form. I heard just this past week of someone who to take a fresh. Approach to their regular Bible reading is reading his Bible according to its chronological unfolding in history. Not reading the books as they are found in our English Bible, but as the spirit of God actually gave them in history and they have found tremendous refreshment, but it's a regular schedule and hopefully that will be part of the materials.

46:43 We prepare and to distribute to you various schedules. However, if in the providence of God, God breaks into your life with a crisis or multiple crises, surely your conscience is not so bound to your regular Bible reading schedule that you would not in the case of an accumulation of unusually dark providences. The kinds of things that Pastor Sarver talked about in those marvelous three messages that he brought to you some weeks ago when I was in.

47:17 Australia, but that you would break off your regular scheduled Bible reading and you would turn say to the book of Job or you would turn to the latter part of Romans eight or you would turn to second Corinthians chapter one or you would turn to some of the Psalms in which the psalmist is in the midst of a concentrated season of affliction. I'm sure many of our dear brethren in Florida in the midst of the recent crisis brought on by the hurricane. That devastated overnight turn their world upside down.

47:52 I would be willing to bet if such were proper that many of them broke off their regular Bible reading and found themselves turning to the book of Job until they too could fall on their face amidst the rubble and say the Lord gives the Lord takes blessed be the name of the Lord. Well, what we do in our regular Bible reading.

48:17 When Providence brings various crises upon us, the crises of crisis of falling into grievous sin, you might find yourself living in Psalm 51 or Psalm 32 for days or even weeks until you sense God had brought you out of the heaviness and the oppression that came with that fall. Well, with your reading program, you need to have the same kind of flexibility. A healthy Christian will modify. He is reading program according to the providential crises in his life.

Examples of Modifying Reading During Crises

48:53 So at this particular time in your balanced reading program, you've been whacking away at a big Idaho potato of the biography of George Whitfield. And you've been getting blessed with that. But in the midst of that, you're halfway through. You get news from the doctor after a series of tests that you may well have some kind of a very serious illness.

49:13 You get news from the doctor after a series of tests that you may well have some kind of a very serious illness. And the thought of following Whitfield across the Atlantic and back again and through the colonies and throughout Wales and England suddenly doesn't have the same interest. And the thought of following Whitfield across the Atlantic and back again and through the colonies and throughout Wales and England suddenly doesn't have the same interest. And the thought of following Whitfield across the Atlantic and back again and through the colonies and throughout Wales and England suddenly doesn't have the same interest.

49:21 And the thought of following Whitfield across the Atlantic and back again and through the colonies and throughout Wales and England suddenly doesn't have the same interest. And the thought of following Whitfield across the Atlantic and back again and through the colonies and throughout Wales and England suddenly doesn't have the same interest. And the thought of following Whitfield across the Atlantic and back again and through the colonies and throughout Wales and England suddenly doesn't have the same interest. colonies and throughout wales and england suddenly doesn't have the same interest it would be natural for you then to turn to jerry bridge's book trusting god even when it hurts or margaret clarkson's book grace grows best in wintertime or the letters of samuel rutherford written in the crucible of suffering in which he learned so much of christ i am saying a healthy christian will modify his reading program according to the providential crises that come into his life or

50:00 perhaps you have in the midst of whacking away at that big idaho potato of dalimore's book on whitfield you are suddenly confronted with a crisis of guidance you've been offered a wonderful advancement in career opportunity but with it is a relocation into an area where there is no established work with a solid foundation where there is no established work but a solid foundation with a solid foundation where there is no established work with a solid foundation where there is no ministry and you you're wrestling with principles of guidance it would be most natural then that you would slot into your realistic into your moderate into your regular reading program a book such as Sinclair Ferguson's discovering God's will perhaps the finest book that I've ever seen on the subject

Conclusion and Practical Resources

50:44 of guidance so biblical so balanced so helpful and so in saying to you that we ought to have a regular well-balanced diet we are not taking the fanatical position that we so bind ourselves that we cannot be sensitive to these matters now in conclusion let me state again in seeking to help you in these areas that I've been speaking on for these two weeks Mr. Davies and I are working and hopefully we can have the input of some of the others Dr. Bob and some of the other elders and some others of you who are have been for years more

51:25 diligent in your reading we'd welcome input and how we'll actually do this I'm not sure with the pastor's conference looming before us this will have to await after the pastor's conference but we do want to give you a working bibliography that will you you the broad diet of the various nutrients that are available to us and then also we want to urge you to make use of our library there will hardly be a book recommended or a pamphlet recommended in that reading list that will not be in our church libraries you're not going to have to plunk out shekels all you'll have to do is pay your two dollars for the use of the library for

52:08 the year and if that's too much for you just see one of us on the slide and we'll gradually slip your two dollars so that you have no excuse not to establish a healthy reading program as a child of God well our time is gone and I trust that these seven principles have convinced you if you've not been convinced that in this matter of your reading habits no little measure of your spiritual health and stability and well-being is bound up may God and the Holy Spirit will enable us to lay these things to heart and then to be doers of the word let us pray

52:52 together our father we are thankful that in your providence you have brought us into the English speaking world with its tremendous legacy of Christian literature its legacy of literature that reflects your common grace enabling men to speak of the beauty the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ almsgiving and the glory of your handiwork and our father we pray that you will indeed help us to be increasingly healthy Christians as we through your grace and by the fruit of the spirit that is self

53:30 control establish realistic and moderate and regular reading habits that will give us a balanced diet that we may become more mature in Christ and useful and inward and will be able to sustain a in being a witness to the lost and an encourager of our brethren. Hear then our prayer and seal these things to our hearts, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.