Bibliography; Specific Recommendations (“P.S.”)

Introduction to Specific Book Recommendations

0:04 Now, if I may put a couple of postscripts to the matter of recommended reading, I attempted, those of you who were here, I trust will remember, to take you through that little attempt to start on a bibliography of books that will be helpful to the average Christian, categorized as beginning, intermediate, and advanced, and to highlight those that were of particular significance and to indicate why they were included in that list of books in the light of the many hundreds of titles that are available.

0:44 And along the way, it was impossible to underscore all of the books that I would like to have underscored, and during this time when I've been cut off from more public ministry, though a lot of ministry has gone on over the phone during the week, but I've not been able to be personal, face-to-face involved with people during the past week, I was able to read more extensively in this little book entitled Not by Bread Alone, God's Word on Present Issues by David Broughton or Broughton Knox. And I don't know another book that could arm the average Christian more fully to fulfill the directive of 1 Peter 3.15 in crucial areas than this little book. Now, there may be a book that does it better, but I've not seen it, and I have not read it. In 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, speaking to all believers in general, in the context of people who were suffering for the cause of Christ, people who were ordinary men and women, some of them obviously slaves, masters, wives, husbands, all of these various categories, that Christians are addressed specifically, as well as generically in this epistle,

The Mandate to Give a Reason for Your Hope (1 Peter 3:15)

2:09 Peter writes, saying to all Christians in all walks of life, in verse 15 of chapter 3, sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience. We are not only to live as those who are constantly regarding Christ as our Lord, so that wherever we are, our hearts are, and wherever our hearts are, there Christ is Lord. That's the imagery. Set apart Christ as Lord always in your heart. Never be in any place, in any circumstance, in any conversation, in any relationship where the Lordship of Christ over you is an embarrassment to you. That's the emphasis. So live that Christ's Lordship is not an embarrassment to your own conscience, not to speak of an embarrassment to his name, but coupled with that which is primarily an internal, personal, experiential, religious directive,

3:35 sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, there is a sanctified intellectual demand made upon us, notice, in that disposition, being always ready to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you. You as a Christian profess to have confidence that when you die, when you die, you'll go to heaven. You as a Christian profess to have confidence that your sins are all pardoned, that you know the difference between right and wrong, that you can make judgments based upon absolute moral standards. And now Peter says you must be ready to give a reason for that hope. You must not only have it, be convinced of it, but be able to accept, express it in a rational manner to others. Now I am quite safe, I believe, in saying that the vast majority of you sitting here this morning, if I were to say these words, they would immediately stir you at the moral and ethical level. Humanism, authority, race, money, sex, women's lib, Sunday, homosexuality, abortion.

5:05 Now you see, for you as a Christian, those are sanctified, knee-jerk words. They get a reaction out of you. If you're a Christian, you can't hear the words race, women's lib, homosexuality, and just sit there and say, no, something is stirred within you. And in these areas, as a Christian, you ought to be able, by the grace of God, to give a reason of the hope, the hope that is in you.

David Broughton Knox's "Not by Bread Alone" and its Value

5:36 Why do you reject humanism, often called secular humanism? What is it? How would you define it? Well, in this book, there is an excellent, simple, clear, but not simplistic or inaccurate definition of humanism and why we as Christians reject humanism.

5:59 In the chapter on authority and honor, I've never found in one place, the most beautiful, simple, little statement of the six areas, five for us men, six for women, where God calls us to a relationship of recognizing constituted authority and thereby giving honor as well as submitting to that authority. And at the end of Mr. Knox's chapter, he says we're to honor and submit to God. The verses are given.

6:32 We're to honor and submit. To the government, the verses are given. Wives are to honor and submit to their husbands. And the texts are given.

6:40 Children are to honor and submit to their parents. The texts are given. Slaves are to honor and to submit to their masters. And the texts are given.

6:50 And finally, members of the congregation are to honor and submit to those that are over them in the Lord. Now, one of the reasons this material is so simple and clear is that these, these messages were originally given as popular radio broadcasts in Australia. So they were not written for professional theologians or technicians. They were written to capture the ears of contemporary Australians on burning social issues.

7:25 His treatment of abortion is the finest I've ever read in short compass. Even the exception clause that some of us would subscribe to without reservation, that if there is indeed a bona fide proven threat to the life of the mother, the life of the child in the womb or in the fallopian tube in the case of an ectopic pregnancy should be terminated because it has forfeited the right to exist if it threatens the viability of another life. He sets out the issue very clearly and convincingly and I would be delighted, I believe all of the elders would be delighted if this book became a household companion for all the members of this church master the contents, compare it with the scriptures that you and I might not only say abortion, I'm a guinnet but when someone says why are you a guinnet you can give a reason for that hope, that confidence you have. That abortion is the destruction of human life. If they ask the loaded question well suppose the life of the mother is truly threatened you'll be able to give a solid biblical answer using parallel scriptural reasoning to demonstrate

Condemnation of Self-Esteem, Self-Love, and Self-Image

8:51 your convictions on the matter. So I highly recommend this book I urge upon you we cannot mandate that you read it we have no scriptural grounds to do that but everything short to that I would urge you please to consider that book. And then another couple of postscripts to the healthy Christian and his reading material I sort of ended with a blast on the whole self-esteem, self-love, self-image cult of our day and I figured well I better know what I'm talking about so having just spot read and speed read in this book I have read the book so convinced am I that this nonsense has permeated not only society but has invaded much of so-called Christian psychology and even the Christian church in general and since I know in spite of the many warnings we've given you a lot of you still are Dobson addicts and you listen to other so-called Christian psychologists and you listen to other so-called You need to be aware of how much this unbiblical notion of self-esteem, self-love and self-image has infected otherwise good and godly men.

10:20 Now I am not making a blanket condemnation of the efforts of Dr. Dobson in the many areas in which the man has done much good but Dr. Adams documents from many adoptions of Dr. Dobson's own written materials that he has imbibed this cult of self-esteem, self-love and self-image and as I indicated to some of you I have heard altogether too many members of Trinity Church talking about well my child has a problem with his self-image a problem with his self-esteem now I've never done it but after underscoring the work of this book mentioning its availability and our willingness to subsidize the cost of it personally if you can't afford it and that's the only reason you can't get it if I hear that language from people in this assembly I feel before God I will have to challenge it as much as if I heard language that reflected a wrong view of the person of Christ of the work of Christ of the person and work of the Holy Spirit because there's not a person here who ever found in reading his Bible the terms self-esteem, self-love and self-image except in a way that condemns our native self-love

11:48 and our native inflated pride and self-esteem and our totally inaccurate self-image you will not find in biblical meditation that we're which produces the language, well, my child has a poor self-image. I must strengthen my child's self-esteem. You're getting that language from someplace other than this book. And this book says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly and stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

12:29 And though you may be getting it from so-called Christian teachers, they have not gotten it out of their Bibles. They have gotten it from pagan, secular, anti-biblical sources, and they have found a way to overlay it with a cavalier, shallow use of the Scriptures. And Dr. Adams goes to the heart of it.

The Unbiblical Nature of Self-Esteem and its Harm to Children

12:55 I'm so convinced that this is vital. My wife and I have now taken this as we've just finished up the Holy War. We're going to go to the Holy Spirit. We're going to go to the Holy Spirit.

13:04 The Bunyan's Holy War, we're using this in our personal devotions and working through a chapter a day that God might help us to see wherever we've imbibed any of this nonsense, that we'll see it, recognize it, repudiate it, and by the grace of God be able to take a clear-cut stand against that which strikes at the very heart of many fundamental biblical truths. I urge every parent who's concerned about imparting imparting a biblical self-awareness to your children. What should they think about themselves? Well, if you're teaching them the children's catechism and the shorter catechism, and at the same time using the terms self-esteem, self-love, and self-image, it isn't going to be long before they're going to realize these things are coming into a head-on collision. Because the Bible tells them that they are lost, condemned sinners with deceit, deceitful hearts that are desperately wicked. The Bible uses such terms as we are as a filthy thing and unclean. Well, that'll batter a child's self-image.

14:17 You bet your boots it will. And until it's battered by the Word of God in Holy Ghost conviction, that child will never flee to Christ to find acceptance in the Beloved One. Not a so-called unconditional acceptance by God, Not a so-called unconditional acceptance by God, in spite of its filthy heart and its clenched fist, and its ties to Adam as part of a lost and condemned race, there's no quicker way to harden your children against Holy Ghost conviction than to stroke them with secular self-esteem, self-love, self-image. You say, Pastor, you're really serious about this business.

Refuting the 'Love Yourself' Commandment

14:56 Yes, I am. It's part of my task, according to Titus 1.9, not only to exhort in the healthy doctrine, but to convict gainsayers and those who propagate self-esteem, self-love, and self-image. Even a man like Walter Trovish, who has written some helpful things, would take the great commandment, Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength.

15:24 The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And say there's a third commandment, and that is you must learn to love yourself. Where does the text say that? Dr. Adams, Dr. Adams exposes this as butchering that text. There's not a text in the Bible that tells you to love yourself. There are many texts that assume you love yourself altogether too much, and that Christ has come to destroy your self-love, and to make Him the proper focus of your supreme life.

15:56 I hope I've said enough to stir up some of you who may want to defend these concepts to study. Don't get angry. I've tried to stir you up, to provoke you. Get the book.

16:09 Read it carefully. We've checked every single footnote to make sure, as best we can, that someone is not misquoted. Any quotes he gives from Robert Shiller's book called The New Revolution. That's what Robert Shiller's calling for.

16:25 A new, not a new revolution, I'm sorry, a new reformation. That we need an entire new reformation. And the reformation is in this whole area, of giving to our generation a proper, quote, self-esteem, self-love, and self-image. So I did want to follow through on that, and let you know that that was not an impulsive statement of a moment, and this week I've tried responsibly to look into the matter further, and I am convinced that this is a book that, in a very real sense, is prophetic to this hour and the things that we are facing.

Additional Recommendations: Banner of Truth Pamphlets and Specific Books

17:02 Then, I did not mention the benefit of the many little pamphlets available by the Banner of Truth. But if you're not in the habit of obtaining these and using them, I would like to highlight their benefit by mentioning Geoffrey Thomas' book, Reading the Bible. For some of you who are new to the faith, you wonder just, how do I begin, what should be my attitude, how do I begin to have a plan? Those very practical suggestions are opened up in this book, and the definition of the book is, and the daily Bible reading plan is actually contained at the back.

17:36 But I would urge you to consider all of these little Banner booklets, Biblical Church Discipline by Daniel Ray, The Carnal Christian by Ernest Reisinger, Excellent Little Book of Comfort for Christians, Christians Grieve Too by Donald Howard, we mentioned Pastor Seton's book, The Invitation System by Ian Murray, several that I've been privileged to do, the most recent, being A Life of Principled Obedience, which I believe sounds notes that are very much needed by God's people here and in every place. And then I mention these not as a matter of internal ecclesiastical nepotism, but because I do believe that they contain a message that is vital. On the contemporary issue of the death penalty, man's God's will or man's following, if you've not obtained and read Dr. Bob's book on this matter, we would highly recommend it. This material originally was given in its embryonic form in an adult class some years ago, but this is a very highly agitated issue.

18:48 The Bible is neither silent nor indifferent regarding the matter, and then as you wrestle with this whole question of why don't we just go with the flow and adopt the use of the NIV like so many have done, Dr. Bob's work, the accuracy of translation and the NIV, it's not written in a nasty spirit, it's written in a helpful way that I trust will convince you of the necessity of having as your basic book, your basic Bible for a serious Bible study, a translation that operates on a different basis of translation than does the NIV. And then my final P.S. has to do with encouraging some of you to break what I would call the mystery of thinking I simply can't read John Owen. He's above me, beyond me, outside of me, inaccessible to me.

Encouragement to Read John Owen's "Communion with God"

19:51 Well, I would urge you to accept the challenge of trying to break that barrier by getting this excellent, what shall I call it, it's an edited version of Volume 2 of Owen entitled Communion with God, I'll just tell you what the publishers have written, abridged and made easy to read by R.J.K. Law.

20:17 I don't know another book that tries to set up the distinct aspects of communion that we are to hold with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, something clearly taught in 2 Corinthians in that well-known benediction, as it is often called, 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And Owen attempts to take the biblical materials and demonstrate that though all communion with any person of the Godhead is communion with the entire Godhead, that there are distinct facets of our Godhead, our communion with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit that are to be known and enjoyed by ordinary believers, and I would urge you to obtain this as an introduction to Owen if you've not yet cut your teeth on anything that Owen has written and you've not had the courage to see Mr. Davies or Mr. Leon and sign up for the commitment to read through the 80-page treatise on mortification found in Owen, Volume 6. May I urge you to consider that.

21:39 All right, I've done my P.S.