The Pastor's Intellectual Development

The Axiom: Maturing Spiritual Perception of God's Truth

0:02 Now you, brethren, are aware by now that we are concerned with seeking to ascertain what things constitute the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching as they apply, first of all, to the man of God himself. The overarching principle within which all of the particulars of our study will be couched is that as a general rule, effective pastoral preaching will be realized in direct proportion to the health and vigor of the entire redeemed humanity of the preacher. Now, in opening up this principle, we are concentrating our attention, first of all, upon the man himself before God. And last week we considered, or for two weeks, the man before God spiritually, and we sought to work with this basic axiom that if we are to be effective pastoral preachers over the long haul, we must seek a real, expanding, varied, and original acquaintance with God and his ways. And having opened up the meaning of that axiom, I then sought to demonstrate...

1:18 how we can attain such a real, expanding, varied, and original acquaintance with God. Now we come today to consider the man before God intellectually. We're moving from the man before God spiritually to a consideration of the man before God intellectually. And I would suggest this following axiom as we attempt to think biblically and prudently.

1:48 Practically, concerning this dimension of the demands that will be made upon us as the servants of Christ. Here's the axiom. We must seek a maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God. We must seek a maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God.

2:13 Both in its objective essence and in its practical application. Now as we work through this axiom today, let me first of all give a word of caution and then a word of qualification. The word of caution and qualification is this. We must never think that the division of the spiritual and the intellectual is an airtight or ironclad separation of these departments of our redeemed humanity. It is quite evident that the intellectual faculty is necessarily and constantly active in any real, expanding, varied and original acquaintance with God and his waves.

3:34 If, as we saw last week, it is true that this growing spiritual vitality can only be realized in the assimilation of the word, in the exercise of biblical prayer, in the maintenance of a good conscience, then obviously we are galaxies away from any mindless mysticism as the framework of true spiritual growth. So, in all true spiritual development and growth, there is a vigorous involvement of the intellectual faculties. Since it is by the truth that we are sanctified, the mind's perception of that truth is essential, and therefore the mind's constant activity is secured. Further, it is by the process of the renewing of our minds that we grow in our experimental, conformity to the will of God. Romans 12.2 Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.

4:45 And though there is the activity of the Holy Spirit in the work of renewal, it is the renewal of the mind, and therefore it will not bypass the cognitive, the intellectual faculties. However, it is possible that a man of God may experience no little measure of humble, vital communion with God, with the necessary intellectual exercises involved in such an experience, and yet fall short of his maximum potential for usefulness because of intellectual sterility, intellectual laziness, or a lack of intelligence. So you see my word of qualification and caution. By considering the man of God spiritually, and now moving to consider him intellectually, I am not inferring that we can separate those two absolutely. However, it is possible, while the mind is involved in true spiritual development and growth, it is indeed possible, for lack of intellectual stimulation, for a man to, while the mind is involved in true spiritual development and growth, not for want of vital spirituality, but for a lack of intellectual vitality and development.

6:13 In other words, there is a sense in which a man may indeed be seeking to love God with all of his heart, but with something less than all of his mind. And so, brethren, it is for this reason, that we are going to concentrate on this matter, and I am encouraged when I read some of the old masters, and realize that they understood this distinction. Murphy says on page 93 of his excellent work on pastoral theology, the pastor must study, study, study, or he will not grow or even live as a true workman for Christ. The lack of this is the reason, the cause of innumerable failures which are seen in the ministry. Here is a young man who enters upon the office with fine talents, a fair amount of preparation, an encouraging field of labor, and every prospect of success. But the promise is not fulfilled.

7:21 He does not come up to the expectations which were excited, and which he himself entertained. On the contrary, his preaching decreases in interest, his congregation falls away, and his whole work declines. The reason is that he has not kept his mind polished up by constant study, or continued to replenish it with the rich stores of thought which he might have gathered from other sources. You see, he begins his treatise on the pastor in the closet, but the next division of his book is, The Pastor in the Study.

8:04 And he indicates an understanding of the fact that a man may, in a very real sense, be much of what he ought to be in the closet, but for want of being what he ought to be in the study, fail of his optimum measure of usefulness. Now, having stated the axiom, given this word of caution and qualification, all that I have to say to you this morning will be arranged under two major divisions, and the first is that the study of the gospel, First of all, an exposition of the axiom. I want to open up the various strands of thought embodied in the axiom, and then secondly, we'll consider how is this maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God to be attained. First of all, then, an exposition of the axiom. I've asserted that the man of God, if he's to be an effective pastoral preacher, must seek a maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God, both in its objective essence and in its application to the world of men and things. And I'll break down the axiom into four major categories.

Exposition of the Axiom: The Truth of God

9:17 Number one, the fundamental area of concern in our intellectual development has reference to the truth of God. In the axiom, I've stated it this way, that the man of God must seek a maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God. The truth of God is central to the axiom. And by the truth of God, I mean the unchanging verities revealed to us by God in the books of general revelation and special revelation.

9:55 Now, it is the perception of these verities that ought to be at the heart of our intellectual pursuits, and activities.

10:06 Few of us should, with good conscience, ever be able to dabble in mere theories, let alone in patent error. We are to keep our minds in constant touch with the verities, the realities, the unchangeable certainties of God's own revealed truth. Now, in an essay that I hope you will read, though it's not written, a required reading on your reading list, the essay in Alexander's book, Thoughts on Preaching, is entitled, Remarks on the Studies and Discipline of the Preacher. It begins on page 170.

10:51 And Alexander says some very perceptive things on this very point of the truth of God being the focal point of our intellectual development. The mind must be allowed some periods of calm, uninterrupted reflection in order to librate freely. I looked up the word librate. It's what happens on an old balance scale as it moves from side to side and then comes to its center point.

11:19 Oscillate would perhaps be the term we would use. The mind must find periods to do this and find the resting point between conflicting views. That time is sometimes expended in learning, examining, and collating articles and arguments of all kinds on different sides of a given question which might, by a more compendious method, have served to discern and embrace positive truth or make deductions from acknowledged truth. In other words, putting this in simple Americanese, he says there may be times when it is good for someone to back off and to survey a full spectrum of opinion on a given subject and to consider and reflect upon heterodox or erroneous views and then to wrestle and struggle until one comes to a certain fixed commitment to the revealed truth of God. He says, however, generally time spent in that way could be much better used in engaging the mind in that which is clearly truth and in working out its implications. No wise counselor would proscribe the perusal of controversies. Yet he who reads on different sides must necessarily read much that is erroneous

12:43 and all tampering with falsehood, however necessary, is like dealing with poisons. It is full of danger. Now, for want of understanding that, many a man has put himself on the high road of apostasy or on a ministry that lacks certainty. He who reads on different sides must necessarily read much that is erroneous and all tampering with falsehood, however necessary, is like dealing with poisons.

13:20 It is full of danger. If we might have our choice, it is better to converse with truth than with error, with the rudest, homeliest truth than with the most ingenious, decorated error. With the humblest truth, than with the most soaring, original, and striking error. The sedulous, that is, the diligent perusal of great controversies, is often a duty, and it may tend to accumulate the dialectical faculty.

13:52 In other words, it may develop your ability to reason and to argue and to think through issues, but none can deny that it keeps the thoughts long in contact with dialectical faculty. Your ideas may deliver errors and their specious reasons. Now these same hours could be employed far more healthfully in contemplating truths which in their own nature are nourishing and fruitful. To be to confirm this, let it be remembered that truth is one while error is manifold, if not infinite.

14:29 Hence the true economy of the faculties is, wherever it is possible, to commune with truth. Again, While error leads to error, truth leads to truth. Each truth is germinal and pregnant, containing other truths. Only upon this principle can we vindicate the productiveness of solitary meditation.

14:53 Link follows link in the chain, which we draw from unknown mysterious recesses. A few elementary truths are the bases of the whole universal system of truth. You see, brethren, the sooner we come to grips with this simple principle, the safer we'll be. Just as there is, because of remaining sin, an affinity in your own spirit for that which is immoral, so there is, in your mind, tainted with remaining sin, an affinity for error, because error always condones immorality.

15:37 And by immorality, I mean something against the law of God. Error is productive of sin, truth of righteousness. And because remaining sin has a constant pull to evil, I find then a law in my members that to me who would do good, evil is present with me. You and I can...

16:00 We cannot come into contact with error as though we were neutral. There is a positive affinity for error in your remaining sin as it touches your intellectual faculties.

16:17 Because the intellectual faculties will serve them all in the ethical desires.

16:25 A man who worked for many years with students said he had a pat answer to the man who would come in, and the young man would come in and wrinkle up his brow and look very serious, and say, so-and-so, I'm having tremendous intellectual difficulties with the Christian faith. He would answer and say, what's her name?

16:46 What's her name? Who are you shacking up with? Who are you getting the hots for? He had learned this great lesson, that the so-called intellectual struggles were almost invariably simply an outcropping of an ethical and a moral controversy.

17:04 A moral controversy. If any man wills to do the truth, he shall know of the doctrine. If he wills to do, that's ethical, he shall know. That's intellectual integrity.

17:19 So, brethren, you better have compelling reasons to dabble in any kind of error. Otherwise, you flirt with the health of your own soul. So, the axiom is that the man of God must seek a maturing spiritual pursuit, a perception of the truth of God, with verities, with those things that are revealed in God's book of general revelation, but more particularly, with his book of special revelation. Now, what do I mean by a maturing perception of the truth of God?

Exposition of the Axiom: Maturing Perception

17:58 That's the second aspect of the axiom that I want to open up. A maturing perception of the truth of God. Well, when something is mature, it has, reached its full development for its ideal. If you go out to a local nursery and you purchase a tree, usually there'll be a tag on it that will say something like this.

18:19 This is such and such a tree. Thrives best in such and such soil. When mature, in 15 or 20 years, its mature height will be between 35 and 40 feet. Now, what are we to learn from that little ticket?

18:36 Well, it's telling us that when it reaches its inherent potential in so many years, it will be such and such a height. Well, it's in that sense that I'm using the word mature. A maturing perception of the truth of God is a perception in which we are more and more coming to our God-given full capacity to understand, understand the truth of God. Now, that capacity will be determined by many variables and it will differ from one man to another.

19:16 But no man should be content with anything less than the fullest maturity in his understanding of the truth given all of those variables.

19:30 Now, it's obvious from such passages as 2 Timothy 1.13, holding fast the form of, sound words, Titus 1.9, speaking of the requirement for an elder that he hold fast to the truth of God, that no man should be placed in the ministry who does not hold the whole of truth in its embryonic form, who does not have in his understanding a rudimentary grasp upon the whole counsel of God. But you see, the baby in arms, though a whole human being, is far from the adult male or female.

20:10 If it is a normal baby, it has all of the appendages and organs and faculties that it will have at maturity. And we can use that analogy with regard to the man of God. Upon entering the ministry, we should be babes in the sense that there are no missing appendages.

20:33 We have a head, we have two arms, two legs, two feet, two eyes, that there is no missing appendages. There is an element of symmetry and wholeness in our grasp upon God's truth. But in terms of our full potential, we are relatively babes. There must be, in the process of maturation and expansion of our understanding of what constitutes revealed truth, there must be an increasing accuracy of perception with regard to that truth.

21:09 An increasing appreciation of the integration one truth with another. And that process of maturation ought to go on until death or the hardening of our arteries.

21:25 There is no indication in Scripture that any man reaches at any point a coasting place. A mere maintenance level. No. As long as God is God and His truth is what it is, then we must give ourselves to a lifetime of pursuing this maturing perception of the truth of God.

21:53 The little handout that I gave you is most helpful and, of course, Spurgeonic in its tone, since it is by Spurgeon taking the text, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come bring with you and the books, but especially the parchments. Here's a man who knows that very soon his head's going to roll. 2 Timothy 4.13 And yet he's asking his friend to bring the books and the parchment.

Exposition of the Axiom: Spiritual Perception

22:22 He's not content with his present level of intellectual development and though he knows in a short time his earthly pilgrimage is over, he is pressing on for an increasing maturation of understanding in that truth and thereby sets a wonderful pattern and example for all of us in our lesser capacities and in our lesser office. But then in the third place, I use the words a spiritual perception of the truth of God. In the axiom, I spoke of a maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God. And what do I mean by the word spiritual? Well, I don't mean mystical. I don't mean spiritual. I don't mean the hidden meaning behind the words.

23:17 But I mean spiritual in the sense in which the term is used most frequently in the New Testament. That which is given by the ministry of the third person of the Godhead, namely the Holy Spirit.

23:30 That person given to illuminate our minds in the truth of God. The one referred to as the anointing who enables us to know. The one who alone can enable us so to grasp spiritually and spiritually. So to grasp spiritually and spiritually.

23:45 So to grasp spiritually as to behold them in their inherent beauty and to feel their warmth as well as to perceive their light. And never forget it. When the Holy Spirit is attending truth in contact with a regenerate mind, there is both light and heat. Never forget it.

24:12 No such thing is the pure white light of truth that has no heat with it. And beware of any heat that comes out of darkness.

24:23 The Spirit's ministry is so to reveal truth that it comes to us in light and in heat.

24:33 What was said of John the Baptist, he was a burning and a shining light. There was heat and there was light. And he was a man full of the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. So when I say a spiritual perception, I mean a perception of truth that comes to us under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit who will enable us accurately to perceive, not exhaustively, but accurately to perceive, who will enable us to feel the impact of that truth upon us religiously, morally, who will enable us to see the implications of that truth for life and for ministry. Now, brethren, it is this that we must seek, this maturing, spiritual perception of the truth of God, then the fourth part of the axiom I want to concentrate upon is this segment, both in its objective essence and in its application to the world of men and things. And what do I mean by that mouthful?

Exposition of the Axiom: Objective Essence and Application

25:45 Well, by objective essence, I simply mean in the statement of the truth in the abstract. In other words, coming to understand what the scriptures mean when they speak of sin,

26:04 having a perception that is accurate to the point that it can be articulated clearly to others.

26:13 When someone says that I'm having problem expressing, I really understand it, but I can't express it. I always challenge that and say, no, if you understood it, you would be able to explain it. Now, you may say, having done my best to explain it, and I believe I've made it plain, I feel that I've not done justice to the magnitude of the thing itself. That's quite another thing.

26:41 But the real test of how clear our understanding is comes when we attempt to explain it to others. So when I speak of this spiritual perception of the truth of God in its objective essence, I'm speaking of an understanding of the thing itself. Of the things as they are revealed. A perception that is clear enough that we can impart the knowledge of that truth to others.

27:10 A perception in which we see that truth in its proper relationship to other truths. For example, many times when people are first discovering the revealed truth of God's absolute sovereignty, they so focus upon that truth that they lose sight of parallel or balancing truths, and it's not until they see the truth of God's absolute sovereignty in relationship to other truths that they perceive it as they ought. If they perceive it in such a way that it negates the validity and the significance of human endeavor, they do not see the truth of divine sovereignty as it is revealed in Scripture. They are seeing a caricature, not the truth as it is in itself. When we see the truth as it is in itself, then we feel perfectly at home when we come across texts like these. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You, by the hands of lawless men, did slay.

28:12 And we don't feel any discomfort when we find those two fellows lying in bed together with the covers over them. They don't feel at all uncomfortable. Delivered by determinate counsel, foreknowledge of God. You, by the hands of lawless men, slew by the hands of wicked men, slew it.

28:31 So when I speak of seeing the truth in its objective essence, that's what I'm talking about, but I've also said, and in its application to the world of men and things.

28:44 And its application to the world of men and things. And by that I mean how these truths are to be used in our public and private ministries.

28:59 It's like a man that goes to mechanics school, he gets lectures from 9 in the morning till 12 noon, and then he's out in the shop doing tune-ups from 1 to 4.

29:11 And the instructor soon learns how much of his perception of what was given in the lectures from 9 to 12 is grasped in terms of its application to the world of men and things, namely engines and wheels and transmissions and drivetrains, et cetera. Now, brethren, each of us by temperament tends to be stronger either in our ability to grasp truth in its objective essence or in the practical outworking of truth. None of us by nature comes from our mother's wombs, and here again is the influence of sin along with the differing temperaments, with a perfectly balanced mindset in these two areas. Some of us tend to be more cerebral and quite impractical. Others of us tend to be intensely practical, but we have an antipathy to thinking things through with intellectual precision. We feel that a general knowledge, so long as it works, is sufficient, and we are more practical in our bent.

30:27 And you must know yourself, Romans 12, make a sober self-assessment of how God has put you together, and how the influences that have molded you and shaped you have left you, and put a constant check upon yourself. And if you're one who just delights in gazing upon truth in its objective essence, and you find a kind of wonderful relish and fulfillment in that, but you don't naturally sit and work out the application of these things to the world of men and things, you'll have to subject yourself to certain intellectual disciplines, that will cultivate more and more in you the practical mind.

31:10 Some of you are just the opposite. You're more practically minded, and it's difficult for you to think hard and long on distinctions. Your dictionary is seldom open. Precision with words is not your bag.

31:25 You will need to labor in this area, and force yourself to be more precise in your thinking, that you might be more accurate in your thinking, and your conveyance of the truth to others. So, in summary, I'm asserting that if you would effectively preach as a pastor, year in, year out, hopefully decade in and decade out, without a dullness, a sameness, a rut in the preaching, then you must give yourself with great discipline to pursuing this maturing, spiritual, and spiritual path. And it's not just about the spiritual path. It's about the perception of the truth of God, both in its objective essence, and in its application to the world of men and of things. Though there is much in John Wesley's theology that we would have problems with, in many ways, Wesley was a wise man, and he knew how to give good advice to his preachers. He wrote a letter to one man who had neglected the duty of private reading in regular study, and this is how he arrived at the conclusion that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man, and that he was a wise man,

32:38 and they rebuked him. Hence, your a talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is just the same as it was seven years ago.

32:47 It is lively! There was lots of heat— but not very deep— not too much light. There's little variety. There is no compass of thought.

32:56 Reading only can supply this There's little variety. There is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this with daily meditation You wrong yourself greatly You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher a deep preacher it any more than a thorough Christian. Oh, begin, my brother. Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you do not have. What is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for you your very life.

33:31 There is no other way. Else you will be a trifler all your days and a pretty superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul. Give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer.

Directive 1: Make Time for General Reading

33:48 And I would add, and in turn then, starve your people. You see, lengthy pastorates make tremendous demands upon a man of God, not the least of which is the demand of a man of God. The demand of continuous intellectual expansion and vigor. All right? So, having stated the axiom, having sought to exegete it, now we come to our second major division. How are we to pursue this maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God? How are we to pursue it? Now, assuming that the directives for an expanding and vigorous piety are being heeded, including regular reading of the scriptures in a prayerful and meditative frame, let me answer the question by setting before you two concrete directives,

34:47 and then close with a series of warnings. If you and I are to pursue this maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God, number one, you must make time. I encircled the word make, underline it, scar it in red, sprinkle it with glitter. You must make time in your weekly schedule for general reading. I didn't say you must find time. I said you must make time in your weekly schedule for general reading. Real, deep, thorough sermon preparation will force you to read, and therefore will contribute to your reading. So, if you are to pursue this maturing spiritual perception of the truth of God, number one, you must make time. However, I'm making a plea for regular reading beyond that which is necessary for specific sermon preparation. I'm speaking of the kind of reading which the old masters placed in the

35:59 category of general rather than specific preparation. They made a distinction between specific preparation and general reading. I'm speaking of the kind of reading which the old masters placed in the category of general preparation. General preparation is the kind of intellectual stimulation that goes on without any conscious reference to any specific ministerial duty as far as a sermon, a Bible class, a lesson, etc. Again, listen to Alexander as he makes this distinction. On page 127, he first of all gives an indirect quote, and then he says, quote from Luther, who said that sound and varied learning must be sustained if we would preserve the church. But now I quote directly, there is such a thing as maintaining a transient popularity and having little usefulness without any deep study. But this fire of straw soon burns out. This cistern

37:02 soon fails. The preacher who's constantly pouring out and seldom pouring in can pour but a little while. I need hardly caution you against the maxim prevalent among freshmen concerning those great geniuses who read little but think much. He's using sarcasm. They even cite as one of their party, one of the greatest readers who ever wrote, as every work of his goes to prove to wit Shakespeare. The greatest thinkers have been the greatest readers, though the converse is by no means true. Men can be great, but they can't be great. They can't be great, but they can't be great.

37:42 They can be great readers and not great thinkers. But men cannot be great thinkers who aren't great readers. In reading the writings of those most remarkable for originality and invention, and mark, it is in reference to these qualities only the reference is now made, we know not whether most to admire the adventurous flights of their own daring or their extensive acquaintance with all that had been written before on their chosen topics. The men who've broken new ground in a given area were the men most familiar with the ground previously covered in that area. And while we admire them for the new ground that they broke, we forget it was the discipline of mastering the ground already covered that prepared their minds to break new ground. That's the point that Alexander is making. You will see this remark strikingly verified in the productions of Descartes and Hegel. Well, however I say thus much for reading, I own that reading is but a part of study, and that he cannot be admitted to the title of learned who has not the habit of concocting, pulling together, methodizing, and expressing his own thoughts. The great point is,

39:02 there must be perpetual acquisition. This is the secret of preaching. What theologians say of preparation for death may be said to be the secret of preaching. But theologians say that of preparation for preaching there is habitual and there is actual preparation the current of daily study and the gathering of material for a given task and then he shows how this is true in the legal profession and it's very convincing then he comes back to the whole matter of preaching and he says there are certain men whose scheme of preaching may never take them through the entire curve of theology and scripture or the providential leadings of his ministry may bring him again and again over the same portions these are evils which can be prevented only by the resolute pursuit of general studies irrespective of special pulpit performance such habits will tend to keep a man always prepared and instead of getting to the bottom of his barrel as he grows older he will be more and more prepared as long as his faculties last up until he gets hardening of the

40:20 arteries you see he grasped that perspective and therefore brethren if this advice of a wise and useful preacher and observer of other preachers is worthy to be considered then we must make time in our weekly schedule for general reading you are not going to find you are not going to find that that time anymore than you can find it for prayer but you must as you do with the disciplines of the inner life you must make it a matter of conscience before god furthermore as your skills in using your expository and homiletical tools increase you should not have to spend as much time in actual sermon preparation as a general rule with the passing of the years you ought to be able to prepare for the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord and prepare a better sermon in a shorter amount of time the same way a surgeon ought to be able better to perform an appendectomy after he's been doing them for 20 years than he did the first year of his residency he can do them better and quicker therefore he's got more time to be reading his journals to make sure he's up on the latest insights with respect to techniques and methods

41:42 of performing the best appendectomy and the various related problems with appendectomies so that his general knowledge of his field increases all the while his actual the time spent in the actual performance of his specialty may decrease and though you may find it difficult to believe at this juncture I believe I can say an amen to these perspectives as are found in Alexander's comments so I would urge you please read his section on letters to young ministers page 165 and following he gives some very very helpful materials on this whole subject not only of the necessity of making time in the weekly schedule for general reading but then also some very helpful suggestions as precisely what to do with that time all right that's my first concrete directive make time for general reading the second thing is that you must establish a balanced reading program and there I think we'll break we've been going for almost 50 minutes so we'll take a break and then we'll come back and I hope I don't bury you when I lay out eight categories that constitute a balanced reading program and when I'm done I

Directive 2: Establish a Balanced Reading Program (Categories 1-4)

43:08 want you to tell me which one you can omit and have optimum usefulness over the long haul as a pastor preacher all right so I'll I'll give it my best shot and then we'll see you next time. give you an opportunity to shoot me down and tell me which ones you would omit and then I would enjoy debating with you all right good let's take a break now 33 to 50 now having sought to read these men and many others who give this advice on establishing a balanced reading program let me seek to distill the counsel of these men mingled with my own observation and experience and suggest that a balanced reading program as part of your ongoing intellectual maturity should include the following categories of reading and they're going to be eight of them number one devotional now by this I mean reading that is aimed primarily at the cultivation of your own heart and conscience and personal godliness here I recommend particularly Lloyd-Jones page 174 to 176 in which he gives an excellent tribute to the Puritans as standing at the head of the list of

44:34 such authors and here I would to be more specific urge you to work through over the course of the first few years of your ministry the following volumes in John Owen volume one on the glory of Christ volume three his masterful treatise on the Holy Spirit volume six and read the whole volume don't stop with the first three treatises on temptation mortification and indwelling sin but go on and read his treatise on psalm 130 it's some of the richest freest warmest gospel teaching I have found anywhere in any kind of literature of any age of the church and then volume seven spiritual mindedness and the treatise on apostasy those four volumes I have found to be a very important part of my life and I would like to particularly helpful in this category of devotional reading and then of course into this category and here you men are blessed I think back to when I first made these recommendations some years ago and had to urge people to seek these things out of the used book lists but now you've got sieves and fable available to you and almost all that these men have written is in this category of devotional sieves fable

46:03 Brooks bunion now these are the things available I'm not mentioning those that are not available except in exotic libraries or if you've got a rich uncle who supplies you with old puritan works that now are very expensive people know their worth and so the price on these things has gone up but listen to what Alexander says about fable he's giving specific recommendations about reading he says how could I have postponed to the this place, dear John Flavel. That's how Alexander refers to him, dear John Flavel. No one needs to be told how pious, how faithful, how tender, how rich, how full of unction are his works. In no writer have the highest truths of religion been more remarkably brought down to the lowest capacity. So you've got to be humble to read him according to Alexander, because he says you're putting yourself in the category of men of lowest capacity. Yet with no sinking of the doctrine, and with a perpetual sparkle and zest, belonging to the most generous liqueur. So the man apparently

47:19 was a connoisseur of after-dinner liqueurs. All right. I'm only reading. I don't write it. I'm only reading. All right. It's always been a wonder to me how Flavel could maintain such simplicity in his work. and naivete, and such childlike and almost frolicsome grace amidst the multiform studies which he pursued. I can only account for it by his having been constantly among the people in actual duty as a pastor. Opening up one of his volumes at random, I find quotations often in Greek and Latin, and in the order here annexed from Cicero, Pope, Adrian, Plato, Chrysostom, Horace, Ovid, Luther. Bernard, Claudian, Menander, and Petronius. So what he's saying is here was a man who had a tremendous, rich, classical learning, and was obviously always reading himself, and yet the distillation of it came down to men of the lowest capacity. So I do recommend the volumes of Flavel.

48:25 I have found it helpful to just work through some of them, four or five pages a day. Listen to what he has to say about Owen, his tribute to Owen. Owen is nonetheless large. Here's one of those miscellaneous paragraphs.

48:41 I hope you will let no kind of reading keep you from looking daily, if only for five minutes, into a class of writers who are not attractive in regard to letters, but who unite great talents, great Bible knowledge, and great unction. At the head of these stands Owen. My father used to say that one should read Owen's spiritual-mindedness, Volume 7, once a year. I add his forgiveness of sin, the latter part of Volume 6, his indwelling sin, and his mortification of sin. And then he goes on to give a recommendation of Flavel's keeping the heart in Baxter, etc. So brethren, I urge you not to be intimidated by those 16 volumes of Owen on your shelf, by your six volumes of Flavel, by the what, five or seven of Sibbes, I think five of Sibbes, and the...

49:34 four or five of Brooks, etc. Don't be intimidated by them. Realize that just as they were written a word at a time, over a period of many years, they can be absorbed the same way. And establish the habit of having this aspect of devotional reading incorporated into your reading schedule. You may wish to use these men, as I periodically do, and over the years have found it profitable, as pump primers for my... devotional exercises. So that from my English muffin and two cups of coffee and up into my study, I have a volume of Owen or Flavel or Brooks or Sibbes that I'm working through, so that to get my mind and spirit attuned to read the scriptures and to pray and to engage in intercession, just four or five pages a day. And it's amazing, over the months, how you're able to work through large blocks of things that seem so intimidating sitting on the shelf. become wonderful companions in this peck away method. All right, the second category, and by no means is the list exhaustive. I could put in there, of course, Ryle's work, Octavius Winslow,

50:48 John Newton, and a host of others. But then a second category of reading that ought to be part of a balanced reading program is, in addition to devotional, theological, especially systematic theology. Now, by theological, I mean those works aimed at stating, demonstrating, relating, and defending the great categories of biblical truth in a systematic and orderly fashion. Works aimed at stating, demonstrating, relating, and defending the great categories of biblical truth in a systematic and orderly fashion. Let's let Alexander step into our classroom again and speak to us on this point. Page 168. Besides all your sermon-making, theology as a system must be your regular study.

51:53 Neglect this, and your pulpit theology will be one-sided. Many topics will never have due consideration. It shall augur badly for your career if you are found uneducated. I am uninterested in the great theological questions. Some established works, not some Johnny-come-lately, but some established works, some proven guides, should be daily in your hands, and of such works a few should often be re-perused. Find a minister who knows nothing of such pursuits, and you'll observe his preaching to be unmethodical and little fitted to a few different decisions. The only way you should be able to get your ideas up and in order to expand the philosophy has to be to believe and in order to not be the denigrate. He will soon attain his acme and will continue to dispense milk where he should give strong meat. The analogy of other professions will occur to you, the lawyer or physician who

52:50 reads law or physics only for this or that case can never take high rank. So brethren, I urge upon you some systematic plan to read in the area of systematic theology. And here make the proven masters your companions. Calvin's Institutes, particularly in that most recent Battles translation, here you will want to read Owen and Edwards, Cunningham, Buchanan, Smeaton, Fairbairn, those great Scottish divines, Hugh Martin, some of our own great American divines, Shedd, Hodge, Dabney, Thornwell, Warfield,

53:55 Murray, and I would urge you to read Dagg. We've got to put a Baptist in there, but I put him in there not because he's a Baptist, but because of the way he approaches theology. If you've had his volume in your hands, you know what he does. He brings a sermon at the head of each major division of his church. He brings a sermon at the head of each major division of his church. He brings a sermon at the head of each major division of his church. He brings a sermon at the head of each major division of his church. He brings a sermon at the head of each major division of his church. He brings a sermon at the head of each major division of his church. He brings a sermon at the head of each treatment of systematic, showing the religious implications of this division of theological thought. It's a marvelous way to approach systematic theology. So I would urge you, brethren, to have at hand one of these authors continually. Now, I'm not talking about reading three hours Monday to Friday, but having them at hand in some kind of regular exposure. I find a

54:47 to be tremendously helpful because, as you know, as an exegetical theologian, he's in the same category as a John Murray or John Murray's in that same field in his treatise on the emotional life of our Lord. It's the most moving thing. I read it periodically just to try to search my own heart afresh to make sure that in my own emotional development I am taking Christ as my ultimate and only perfect pattern. So some of these organizations in our church have been very successful in their spiritual development. I know very well of them. I've been in the things you want to read and reread. Some of the volumes of Murray. I find I've read some of those essays three and four times. His Redemption Accomplished and Applied. Some of them I've read a dozen times. Get the proven guides and master them. Don't dabble. Don't dabble in the novelties. But stick with the proven guides in your theological reading. Then third category

55:39 is biographical. Scripture commands us to mark those who walk so as we have the apostle himself as an example to imitate the proven guides of our faith who have gone before us. Hebrews 13 7.

55:58 And one of the great benefits of biographical reading is that you'll discover the common denominators in the usefulness of men otherwise greatly diverse in gifts, temperament, and spheres of ministry. That's what's fascinating with biography. And yet you see there are common denominators. Different men, different in temperament, background, training, circumstances, and yet common denominators. And it helps you to lay hold of the principles that you must embody. The most dangerous thing in the world is to read just one biography of one man of God. And you read in there he got up at four in the morning and prayed. So next thing you know you're trying to get up at four in the morning. What the biographer didn't tell you is that he went to bed at nine o'clock at night. I made that. And I made that discovery.

56:50 A nineteen-year-old kid almost killing myself while I was in college. And I had just finished reading. I forgot what the biography was. And I said, well, if he got up at four o'clock in the morning, then I got to do the same. But as I said, I'd just like to kill myself. And there was a while when I was getting up in the middle of the night for two hours because I felt it was the only way I could beat the system. And dead in earnest. But I'd be dead for sure had I carried on that story. That schedule. So don't read but one biography. Read in Christian biography looking for the principles that lie behind the usefulness of the men. Don't look at their lives in order to imitate the particular expression of the principles. I found some tremendously helpful principles in reading through a couple of years ago the biography of John of Payton, the missionary to the New Hebrides. Marvelous.

57:53 Principles. I'm rereading now the biography and memoirs of McShane. And biographies, again, are things you'll want to go back to. The two works of Ian Murray in which he's distilled the four volumes of Spurgeon and Dalamore's work on Whitfield. You'll want to be acquainted. Read at least a couple of biographies of Calvin, of Knox, of Luther, Whitfield, Spurgeon, McShane, Brainerd, Carey, Payson, Nettleton, Henrys. And more recently, of course, Professor Murray, the doctor. Men whose lives made a mark. Not that you hope to be what they were and someday someone will write a biography about you. No, that's not the concern. The concern is that you might see doctrine fleshed out in a real light and there see how the principles work themselves out into the distinctives of each man's life and you will find yourself searched as well as guided. The fourth category is historical. There is nothing new under the sun. And as we read the history of the

Directive 2: Establish a Balanced Reading Program (Categories 5-8)

59:01 church and the specific epochs, much perspective is given upon the present. Don't leave off the study of church history when your historical theology courses are completed. The study of history, church history, will have a quality control effect upon your own ministry, as well as give you a much illustrative material for your preaching. I would urge you to consider taking a given epoch of church history and seeking to become over the years an unofficial master and expert in that area.

59:46 If there's a particular area of church history that fascinates you, well, you start accumulating all the books you can on that and hopefully in another 20 years and an intercession will be able to ask you to come on and give us three or four lectures on that period. It's your specialty. You never go down in who's who in theological colleges and all the rest, but that's all right. You will make a distinctive contribution and that discipline will have made a very significant contribution in your own life. Then the fifth area is pastoral and homiletical. Believe it or not, no matter what some of your more enthusiastic people may say to you 10 years into the ministry, you can preach better, you know. There's never a time when you couldn't be a better preacher. There's never a time when you couldn't be a better shepherd of souls. So take in hand works that are calculated to make men better preachers and

60:41 better shepherds. You ought to have in the structure of your regular reading schedule a place for reading in areas that concentrate on the pastoral and the homiletical. And then the sixth area is polemical. One of your tasks is that of refuting gainsayers.

61:05 Titus 1.9. The scripture says the mouths of gainsayers must be stopped. Now this is not, for most of us, the most pleasant aspect of ministerial duty, but it is necessary. If it's your most pleasant, then there's nothing kinky about you. The guy that's never happier than when he's thundering out against some error generally does not make a good pastor. He's too abrasive. His jaw's too square. It needs to be filed off a bit.

61:35 And usually the problem with his jaw's got its roots in his heart. But this is an aspect of biblical duty. And therefore, you ought to be reading in areas of general apologetics, a critique of the latest cults, examining current movements that are unsettling historic Christianity. I say it's irresponsible for you to minister in this age and to be ignorant of the theology of Robert Schiller.

62:08 He's influencing millions. You better know what he's saying. And you better be able to refute it. Because some of your dear old saints will turn it on and think it's marvelous.

62:18 Sweet man with gooey smile. Isn't it marvelous? Isn't it wonderful? Well, you've got to tell him why it ain't marvelous. And why it ain't wonderful.

62:28 It's irresponsible to be ignorant of the church growth movement. That thing has inundated the whole Christian public around the world. In the New Covenant Calvinism. That deviates from our common understanding of the mental framework.

63:07 Yeah. That deviates from the natural framework of囉 Career. You've got to be ignorant of the theology. And therefore, you ought to like me, because that he might even have where to be in our own confessional standards, and classic Reformed theology as it has been understood and preached and practiced by Reformed Baptists.

63:22 Well, this is what I mean by polemical reading. You must read in these areas if you're to fulfill one of your tasks, namely to refute the gainsayers. And then the seventh category is what I'm calling miscellaneous technical reading. You ought not to be ignorant of what's happening in the whole area of thinking and writing and investigation with regard to how do we ascertain the proper text of the New Testament.

63:57 That has great practical implications. You're sitting at your desk preaching through a given book and you've got to make a judgment on the text. Well, it's very interesting that whereas 30 years ago any responsible scholar who said anything...

64:12 anything other than that which fit the general Westcott and Hort perspective was considered, you know, just out of it. But the developments in that area in recent years have been very, very significant. And no longer are responsible men speaking with the same degree of certainty. They're questioning the principles by which the families of manuscripts have been established and by which certain families have supposedly been given preference over others.

64:40 Now, I'm not saying that I am personally... convinced of the Textus Receptus supremacy, et cetera.

64:48 But all I'm saying, brethren, is you ought not to be ignorant of these things. They have to do with what you are preaching as the word of the living God. So in the area of text, occasionally you ought to read something in the area of archaeology. The spade continues to confirm the validity of the biblical testimony and its historicity.

65:09 Now, we don't look to the spade to vindicate Christianity. We are not evidentialists in that sense. Listen to my message because the spade validates it. No, no.

65:21 We say listen to our message because it's from God. And it's a self-authenticating message. But it sure makes me say that with a little more pizzazz and grip when I know that nothing the spade has uncovered has given me any reason to doubt that message but simply confirms it. And in that sense, we are evidentialists in that we believe that the God who...

65:42 who speaks in Scripture is the God who's acted in history and any real facts that come out of history insofar as they can be validated by the spade are simply going to confirm our Bible. We don't sit around nervously biting our teeth hoping they can get up to the top of what they think is Mount Ararat and find the old framework of the ark. You know, we don't sit there and say, boy, if we get that, now we've got the other...

66:05 No, we're not sitting around... We know that if they ever do find anything that was the ark it's going to validate it because we believe this book is true.

66:12 And we do not suspend that conviction in any area waiting for the spade to do its work. But it is a wonderful confirmation and validation and strengthening of our faith when the spade does its work and when God in His providence brings it to light. So, you can get blessed at pieces sometimes reading just a few pages in archaeology. Educational trends.

66:37 This is an area, again, where you ought to have some technical understanding. What are the trends? What are the trends in education? Right now, I'm reading and listening to some materials as to what has happened in one public school system after another in the introduction of, really, Eastern religious meditation under the guise of educational contributions.

67:02 There's a woman in Florida that has cleaned a whole bunch of materials and sent them to me. I'm hoping one of you...

67:07 I've got permission to keep all the stuff and put it in the library. I'm just perusing it to get at least a cursory acquaintance listening to three or four tapes. I'm hoping one of you will have a course somewhere where you can take this on as a project to wade through this material and come up with a paper that distills it and it can be a benefit to the rest of us. But it's unbelievable what's going on in what used to be rest times in schools are no longer rest times.

67:30 It's mind control. And some of the stuff is frightening. But we ought to be aware of that if we're going to be good shepherds to our people. Miscellaneous technical reading.

67:40 And then the eighth category, contemporary, dash, secular.

67:47 This is God's world.

67:50 What is He doing in the light of such passages as Romans 1? Is it true that there is this cycle of divine judgments giving men up to their sins in the light of their apostasy from Him and their refusal to retain God in their knowledge? What is God doing? It's that world in which our people live and in which sinners live to whom we are ministering.

68:19 What trends are impinging upon them? Framing their thinking, influencing their perspectives. I do not advocate movie watching. I do advocate reading movie reviews.

68:32 You see, there's a difference between the two. I can't trust myself to go watch a movie and see filth pass before me. I'm too foul to view it with objectivity. But I don't find myself stained if I read a review of a movie.

68:47 I don't find myself stained if I read a review of a movie. I don't find myself stained if I read a review of a movie. I don't find myself stained if I read a review of a movie. I don't find myself stained if I read a review that says this thing is nothing but junk.

68:51 And it will keep you in touch with what is influencing the masses. Murphy, again, speaks very, very powerfully on this point. And his balance on these things is what has impressed me as I've re-read these sections. He's talking here again about he had 11 categories.

69:13 See, so I've been easy on you. And under this one, newspapers and other periodicals he said the active pastor cannot afford to dispense with the current periodical literature of the day. He'll find it necessary to devote considerable time and attention to its perusal. This kind of literature is one of the peculiarities, one of the great wonders of the age.

69:36 And then he goes on to speak of these various things. There are grave questions of the times which it will not do for him to be ignorant of or to understand only in a vague manner. What are the chief phases of religious thought in the world? Its errors, its dangers, its hopes, its prospects.

69:55 What are the most present and urgent needs of mankind? What are the great movements going on in the church, etc.? This kind of literature must be perused by the pastor as an aid to him in his preaching.

70:10 And then he goes on to say not that we quote from the newspaper all the time like a Billy Graham sermon that always begins with a headline. And has a sameness about it but that when we come to making application it's evident that we are precise in our application because we are sensitive to the currents that are impinging upon those to whom we minister. Now I am not saying you ought to have a daily newspaper. I'm too weak to have one.

70:38 And I don't make that confession in pride. There's something in me that says it's irresponsible not to have a daily newspaper but the few times we've tried it I find that something like that coming to the house my mind is too inquisitive I don't have the discipline to leave it alone and just read it in the evening. So I just get a newspaper on my day off. And that keeps me pretty much in touch with the current of general things that are going on.

71:03 And you have to know yourself. You may be one who can get a daily newspaper and it will not be a stumbling block to you. Have some kind of a news magazine. Make sure again that it's not a stumbling block to you but try to have something that keeps you abreast of what's going on in the world in which God has called you to minister.

71:24 Now again, balance is needed. I realize that. Discipline is needed. I realize that.

71:29 The demands made upon you will differ in one situation as opposed to another. Some of you may not have to do what I do. I have to read religious periodicals from about four or five different denominations only because God has thrust upon me responsibilities in which I must give counsel to people in those denominations and if I don't show that I care enough about them to keep abreast of what's going on in their circles I forfeit much of my credibility. So I get and read the Presbyterian Journal.

72:02 That keeps me in touch with the OPC. The PCA keeps me in touch with General Trends. I get the Banner of Truth magazine from the Netherlands Reformed Church. I get the Free Reformed publication.

72:17 Some other things. But that's peculiar to me. But in this area of the religious I was saying contemporary, secular and slipped over into the contemporary religious. So perhaps I ought to add that.

72:30 Contemporary, secular and religious. History as it unfolds before our own eyes.

Qualification and Concluding Warnings

72:38 Now in saying all of this brethren let me give you a word of qualification before I give you three warnings in conclusion. I am not saying that in any given week you must have a religion. You must have read in all eight of these areas. I would lack biblical warrant to say that.

72:55 But what I am saying is that over the course of three months if you've not done some reading in these areas there will begin to form in your ministry some areas of shallowness, thinness, defect, omission that if perpetuated over the years will keep you from being a man who realizes his optimum use of the Bible. That's what I'm saying. And I am not prepared to go beyond scripture and bind your conscience and say you must boom, boom, boom, boom, boom so often in pastor's conferences the how-to mentality and the give me a pre-digested response mentality. People say tell me what your reading program is. I said why? What do you want to know what mine is for?

73:50 And I challenged them. Do you want to know because you want to ape it? If so, I'm not going to tell you. It's none of your business.

73:58 It's determined by all the variables in my life. Here are the principles. You go work them out and come up to me. Oh, maybe someday we'll sit down and compare notes.

74:05 But so often this is what happens. Someone who has a given set of circumstances and finds his usefulness in that set of circumstances and these are the streams that flow into his usefulness absolutizes things that ought not to be absolutized. And so I'm very, very aware of that, brethren. And so I'm very, very aware of that, brethren.

74:23 And in what I've said, I'm only stating that over the long haul you ought to be reading in these eight areas. All right, now my three concluding warnings. Here they are. Very simple.

74:37 Don't make reading a substitute for thinking.

74:41 Don't make reading a substitute for thinking.

74:50 I shall never, never forget when I sat at an Urbana conference years ago and a classmate of mine by the name of Peter, P.T. Chandrapila, a native of India, who was a dear man of God then and to my knowledge has kept his freshness to this day. I'll never forget this little wisp of a man weighs about 110 pounds, about 5 foot 4,

75:15 sitting there at that conference platform at Urbana at the University of Illinois. At that time they had just 7,000. Now they have, what, 16,000 at that time? 17,000.

75:26 And all the biggies were there. I mean, Dr. So-and-so and Dr. This and Dr. That.

75:31 and Dr. The Other. And everybody was getting up and quoting this, quoting that. And then my dear friend Chandrapila it came time for him to stand and preach.

75:41 And I knew there was fire in his soul because the day before, having heard he was going to be there, I hadn't seen him. How are you going to find him among 7,000? I prayed, Lord, help me to find my brother. I want to go and see him and pray with him because I can remember praying with that man and seeing him have to wipe up the tears off the floor.

75:59 Look, his old dog had pittled on the floor. And the man prayed with brokenness before God. And I longed to see him and pray with him. And God helped me to find him amidst those 7,000 people.

76:09 And when I came to his door, he said, Oh, my brother, you're an answer to prayer. He said, I've been so lonely amidst 7,000. And I said, Well, I feel lonely too. And I prayed, God would help us to find each other.

76:19 And we got on our knees and we prayed. And I sensed something of his burden. And so I sat there with great expectancy and he stood up, just had on his simple white cotton what do you call it? The simple, like a gown.

76:35 The simple Indian, what's the term they use for it, Dharav?

76:40 Yeah. All right, like a toga. And in his stocking feet and he stood up and he looked over that mass of people and all the doctors sitting behind him. And his opening words were this, Everyone is counting and no one is saying anything.

77:00 Boom, electricity. God right knew that. Everyone is saying he's quoting and no one is saying anything. And then he said something.

77:09 I tell you, he said something.

77:12 And whenever I think of this principle, don't make reading a substitute for thinking. I think of Chandrapala's words. Brethren, we need the product of intense thought coming out in our pulpits, not the semblance of superficial learning. So don't make reading a substitute for thinking.

77:31 If you get hold of that principle and that caution, what it means is this, you may have purpose, to read five pages in Sibbes or Owen. And you came to page one, paragraph two, and there was a sentence that struck you and you stopped and it became a catalyst that got your mind going. And as you traced out that truth, the link linked up with another one. And as you traced that out, linked with another one, and a half an hour is gone, you haven't read another line, but you've come to real spiritual perception of a facet of God's truth.

78:06 That's what the process is. That's what the process is. That's what the purpose of your reading was. So just mark that you only got through that paragraph that day, know where to pick up the next day, and don't feel guilty that you only read a paragraph.

78:17 You see, that's a liberating thing. You're not going to say, well, Pastor Martin comes by and visits me, going to ask how many pages I've read in Owen, and no, no, no, no. It'll be quite evident whether or not you're making reading a substitute for thinking. All right?

78:33 That's the first warning. Second warning. Don't make a status symbol of the amount of reading you do. Don't make a status symbol of the amount of reading you do.

78:47 Put in your notes page 46 and 7 of Bridges on the Christian Ministries. It's got an excellent warning there. Now, this is a particular temptation among people who embrace what is commonly called Reformed Theology, because there is such a wealth of material. I don't say this in a demeaning way, but there is a wealth and there just is not enough substance to Sicilianism, to Arianism, to Pelagianism, to write too much of any substance about those errors.

79:26 But the truth, like God himself, is so broad and expansive. The closer an author is to the truth of God, the more the richness of truth is there to be found in the pages. So, when people come to embrace what is called Reformed Theology, a theology that sees God as the starting point and the ending point of all of his works and of all of his revelation, something happens in the head. There is something that pops in the head, and rightly so.

80:00 But with that pop in the head can also be a letting loose of a dimension of pride in the heart. So, brethren, don't make a status symbol of the amount of reading you do. Who cares when you get with a group of ministers that you can say you've read so many books over the past month? What I want to know is this.

80:20 Are you a better man, a better shepherd, a better preacher? If so, don't tell me how you got that way. I'll know.

80:28 And if you aren't a better man and you aren't a better preacher, I don't care if you've read 150 books. Thy books perish with thee.

80:38 Thou hast thought that the gift of God can be purchased with pages.

80:42 Thy books perish with thee. They can't be. The gift of unction, in usefulness, is not purchased by reading so many pages. So don't make a status symbol or status symbol of the amount of reading you do.

80:53 Then thirdly,

80:55 don't make reading a substitute for the other duties of the ministry.

81:03 Don't make reading a substitute for the other duties of the ministry. To obey is better than to sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.

81:14 And when you have a wayward sheep that you're to track down, don't suddenly get an obsession to read Volume 6 in Owen. God will curse your reading of Owen when you ought to be tracking down a needy sheep.

81:29 Hmm? There won't be any blessing come from it. And it won't be because you didn't get enough sleep the night before. It's because you're trying to read Owen to your prophet with a bad conscience while avoiding present duty.

81:42 It's amazing how subtle the human heart is. I never cease to be amazed at how subtle it is. At the point where duty calls in a given direction, you can substitute it with another apparent ministerial responsibility. So don't make reading a substitute for the other duties of the ministry.

82:06 Now let me close by reading an exhortation from my friend Murphy. Oh boy, our time's gone. We will take a few minutes for questions for any of you that can stay.

82:19 Murphy says in his introduction to the chapter on the pastor in his study, there are two places where unseemly by the world the pastor receives strength and equipment for that momentous work to which he's been ordained. They are the closet, that's what we dealt with last week, and the study, that's what we're dealing with today. We place them in the order of their relative importance. First the closet, then the study.

82:52 First the cultivation of the heart, then the cultivation of the head is the rule of life from which the minister of the gospel ought never to depart. The two classes of preparation for his work which are involved in many points intermingle. I said that at the beginning. And are dependent on each other.

83:15 Still, for the sake of making each as impressive as possible, they may be considered apart. Now you see why I love this book when I came on it. He follows my outline for the course. And it was wonderful to be confirmed that I wasn't the first man that thought in these categories.

83:30 We, we have dealt on the preparation of the closet. Our business is now with that which is to be made in the study. In his study, away from the eye of man, the pastor is to furnish his mind and train its powers so that he may go forth and do efficient service in the great work of the master. Here the beaten oil is to be prepared that will send forth a sweet savor in the courts of the Lord.

83:59 The importance of the study as long as it is lying at the foundation of ministerial success and its proper management are questions which must be well pondered. How to become enamored of the study so as to be much in it. How to select the employments that are most important for it. How to systematize its work.

84:22 How to economize its hours so that they may tell most effectively our considerations which are a vital vital importance to every pastor young or old. And then he was on to deal with the indispensability of the study and then ends up with practical counsel such as I've tried to give you. So brethren, I trust though of necessity the things we've considered today have not been of the same devotional tone as last week that you will in no way think that these are matters of lesser importance. I don't want a man who's all heart and no head any more than I want a man who's all head and no heart.

85:09 May God deliver us from that. That's what we dealt with last week. But God deliver us from this kind of ministry where the man's heart is warm and tender and sensitive but for lack of intellectual discipline and vigor he doesn't produce the kind of sermons that are clear that have freshness that have grip to them and that make the man listen to year after year with delight with expectation and with profit. It's a tremendous intellectual demand brethren but we're to love the Lord our God with all our minds as well as with all our hearts.

85:46 Alright, that's what I had to say to you today. Got some questions.