Reading Well II: Final Principle and Our Book Lists (Originally published 12.2.21)

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Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast. I'm Jon Snyder, and this is our second podcast with Jeremy Walker.

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And we're looking again at the issue of reading good Christian books and what principles might guide our reading.

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Now, if you follow our podcast, last time we gave five principles. Today we're going to give a sixth, how to balance our reading.

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And then we're going to give our book recommendations for 2022. We hope that's helpful.

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Let's move on to a sixth principle, the principle of a balanced diet when we read.

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And this is kind of where all of this has been leading to this issue. How to balance our diet spiritually.

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Now, with the Scripture, we have to do very little to have a balanced diet with Scripture, because Scripture is perfectly balanced.

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As long as we read all of it. Yes, yes, yes. That's where I'm headed. If we have favorite spots.

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So oftentimes, you know, I think kind of the classic example that comes to my mind is maybe a sweet older lady in the church who only reads the

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Psalms. Or maybe kind of a bit of a hardline Calvinist who only reads

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Ephesians. And you want to kind of get into the

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Bible with them and kick them out of their favorite spots and make them explore with Christ, you know, every area.

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McShane talks about this. And, you know, of course, he came up with a reading Bible plan to go through the

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Scripture in a year for his people. He said you would be a very poor geographer if you only walked in certain parts of the world, if you didn't see every aspect.

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So we want to balance Scriptural diet by making sure that we are reading the whole of Scripture at whatever pace, but we're covering everything.

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And we're not just staying in our favorite spots. Can I ask you a question there, John? If you had someone then in your congregation who, even if they wouldn't express it like this, in practice is scared of certain parts of the

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Bible. You know, the minor prophets are off limits. Anything that involves, say, apocalyptic imagery, you know, those bits of Ezekiel or Daniel or Revelation, they're just not going to touch them.

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Or sometimes even for some people, it's as if the Old Testament is a closed book. How would you equip and encourage

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God's people to read the whole of Scripture? Well, I probably would try to start with the motivation to remind them that this is a book written by a father and a savior, a redeemer, their defender, and the best of friends.

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And one of the great realities of Scripture is that it is understandable by the believer that the

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Spirit of God will teach us. When I preached through the book of Revelation years ago, because we were looking at Johannine literature, and I would really, if you would have asked me honestly, do you wish that Revelation had been written by Peter so you wouldn't have to cover it in that series, you know,

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I would have said yes. I was terrified of preaching Revelation. But the thing that moved me to choose to do it, and really it became such a delight, was this reality.

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My God has given this to me for my good, for the good of His people. So He, then, is duty -bound, so to speak, to teach us if we will come humbly and do the hard work.

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So, I would try to entice them to think, you know, think of these areas of Scripture that they find difficult as kind of unexplored territory where the

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King will meet them and teach them. I also do try to provide them with helpful commentaries, so simple commentaries, you know, maybe the

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Well -When Commentary Series comes to mind. Just simple, short commentaries that help them walk through some of the more difficult passages, you know, at least in their mind.

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And then I suppose it would be good, and this is where I think I fail, following up to make sure, you know, so how have you found yourself progressing?

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I tend to, I'm afraid, I tend to think, okay, I set you on a good course,

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I gave you some material, you got a good start, and if you have any problems, come tell me, you know.

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So, I probably need to chase them down in the middle, you know, and say, so how are you doing?

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Yeah. Now, when you mention Revelation as well, I think reading the book of the

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Revelation and seeing how John is drawing on the entirety of previous

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Revelation in order to populate his vision, there's real continuity there.

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And I think, again, that in our preaching, if we can show, not just by preaching through some of those perhaps more neglected portions, but also demonstrating how the

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Lord speaks with one voice in this book, and hopefully then enabling people to, again, join those dots and to see how what

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Paul says, for example, in Romans, is by no means contrary to what Isaiah or Jeremiah says, but when they're quoting one another and engaging with one another, there's this sort of building, progressive, developing declaration of the saving intent of God.

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And I love what you say, too, about, remember, who is giving this and for what purpose? God your

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Father speaks, that he may be known and delighted in, and that you may bask in his glory.

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Yes, and I have found in my own experience as an individual, but also as a pastor, that passages that might, at first glance, seem most difficult sometimes hold the sweetest honey of the whole

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Bible or the most precious gems. So, for example, the book of Hebrews. Years ago, someone asked, would

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I teach through the book of Hebrews? I remember Richard Owen Roberts saying that he felt that the most significant biblical book for the

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American evangelical scene would be the book of Hebrews to kind of shake us, alert us, spur us on.

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So, with that recommendation, I thought, well, I've never taught through that, but then I knew there are a number of warnings that just terrify me.

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How am I going to explain that warning? And so, but again, if we trust the character of our

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God, I feel like a little child, really. I feel like a toddler. I put my hand in his hand, and I say, okay, if you will lead me,

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I'll go anywhere in this book, and I trust that the result will be honoring to you and beneficial to your people.

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And it was really just one of the most helpful seasons we ever had in the church, walking through passages that seemed so terrifying, but once you saw them in context, held the sweetest treasure.

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Well, let's talk about balance. When it comes to good

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Christian books, so maybe, I usually give lists of don'ts.

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I find those easier to focus on, but I'm going to try to be positive this morning, and I'm going to give a list of do's, all right?

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Do, some good things to do to balance your diet as you read. Okay, let me just run through these real quickly.

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Number one, do read from different periods of Christian history. And then, so Jeremy, let me just,

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I think probably if I can run through this, and then if you could pick out a few that you found most helpful for you, then we can hit them that way.

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So do read from different periods of Christian history. Number two, do read some of the more,

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I'm going to call them brainy books, more intellectual, as well as the simple, warm books of Christianity.

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Number three, do balance those categories that we mentioned before, objective truths, warm devotional books, and very practical how to live out the

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Christian life books. So do try to hold a balance of all three categories. Number four, do try to have a way that you maintain or retain things that you're learning as you're reading.

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So I have my own little system. It's not very high tech, but if each person will kind of try to develop a system for retaining what they're learning.

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And finally, do read before the face of the Lord, asking

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Him, engaging with God while you're reading a book that a man wrote. And one of my favorite illustrations, well, a couple of them, one is

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Tozer. Tozer said that he used to read Shakespeare on his knees.

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Tozer did not have a good education, so he was trying to educate himself on how to communicate. And he said he felt the best way to do that would be to read the great communicators throughout the centuries.

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So obviously, Shakespeare was a wordsmith. So Tozer read him, but Tozer said,

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I would read him on my knees and plead with the Lord to teach me how to express truth, even through a man that isn't really speaking about the gospel at all.

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Another example is McShane. McShane, at university, was struggling with math, and he said he would do his mathematic problems, praying to God and talking to God all through his math lessons, asking the

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Lord to help him. So it doesn't have to be a particularly spiritual task, but we do it before the face of the

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Lord, and certainly that ought to come into our Christian reading. So Jeremy, of those things, any of those kind of jump out at you as things that you found helpful?

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Absolutely, yeah. Two or three for me in particular. You mentioned reading from different periods of Christian history.

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I think that's vital. I would particularly encourage people to get back also to the church fathers.

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Now, I know there are some dangers there, and some of that's cropping up today, but read across the span of Christian history, not just, as you say, a particular century, or a particular person, or a particular author, or a particular school, or a particular area of theology.

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You'll get guys, what have you been reading? I've been reading covenant theology. For how long?

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For a couple of years now. Anything else? No. So how are you going to connect that to,

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I'm more of a systematics than a biblical? Well, actually, you don't want to become an imbalanced reader.

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So I think across the range of history, and then across the range of theology, not in the sense of good and bad, but in the sense of different disciplines, different aspects, and sometimes certainly different schools.

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I'm not saying you want to drink poison alongside of the tonic, but you don't always have to read people that you always entirely agree with.

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And that's where I come on to the second thing that I think is particularly helpful. Read the books, sometimes think of it in three levels.

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Read the books that just offer everything up on a plate. All you've got to do is put it in your mouth, and the good stuff's right there.

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Read some things that exercise you. You feel yourself developing a bit of a sweat, but it's doing you good.

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And then read some of the stretching books. Read some of the ones that you feel are beyond you, because that will develop your capacity.

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And then the third one that I find particularly helpful is really almost have a conversation with that book.

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Now, sometimes you don't want to do that. Sometimes you just, I just want to be taught. I just want to be,

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I just want to sit here and take. And that's not wrong. But what

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I would call a kind of a critical reading. So develop a system whereby you can almost have a conversation with the book.

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And you're asking questions, and you're saying, I agree with this, or I'm struggling with this, or how does this tie in with this, or where does this fit into the argument?

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So that as you're working through the text, it's not a passive process, but one in which you are actively engaged.

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And that's where I think, again, to go back to your last point, pleading with God for illumination, asking for light, especially when you're reading something that is more difficult, more demanding, that is perhaps more humbling, more instructive.

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Lord, press these things into my soul. Give me understanding that I may keep your law. I think one principle behind what you just mentioned is, you know, we could ask ourselves this question.

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Am I reading just for self, for pleasure? You know, so am I using good Christian books for like, you know, a quick pick me up, an emotional bump, or am

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I reading for the glory of God? And that will mean that sometimes I do have to read people that are hard work.

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I mean, I just find myself drifting into lazy reading, where I read the same era.

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So 18th century or Puritans, because they, like you said, it's like they give you so much so quickly, and you're used to the way they speak.

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I've often encouraged folks in the church who are picking up reading for the first time, don't give up in the first three chapters.

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I have to say that to myself, when I pick up an author, I've never read before. Now, I don't mean that I can't understand his

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English, but I may not like the way he expresses truth. It's not the way that, you know, it's not the way that the

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Puritans did. It's, and I have this, I find this emotional reaction. I think, why do you say it that way?

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Why didn't you just get to the point? Why do we have to have all these stories about your family before you even say anything spiritual?

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And I get frustrated. And I find that you can become kind of an old codger, an old grumpy, old reader, you know, where you're very self -indulgent.

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Yeah. And it's not just, there's a style thing lower down as well. There's the sort of the rhythms of speech.

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And again, that can reflect the period in which you're reading that, you know, you read these sentences that are as long as paragraphs and paragraphs that last for three or four pages and pages that, but you say, okay, but if I get the hang of it, it's like listening to a new preacher, perhaps, or you're finding the rhythm.

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Okay. This is how he writes. These are, this is his kind of vocabulary. This is how he constructs his sentences.

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And even if you're not formally analyzing that, there's a familiarity that develops and your speed and your comprehension both pick up.

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Yeah. And we've talked before in podcasts, I've talked about, you know, like you mentioned, there are some books that we read that we will not fully agree with, and we're not reading them to bring everything they say into our home of our soul.

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We're meeting a lot of them on the front porch, you know, and, and we're discussing there, but you know what you mentioned about really entering into a book, really having a conversation with the author that is hard work, but it is, some books require that.

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And some books will pay great dividends. If you'll do that, I remember a very popular book about 20 years ago from a good guy, but not a book that I could agree completely with.

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And I, everyone was reading it. And so I thought, okay, so I'll read it. I read it through and there were, there were a lot of ways that he expressed himself that bothered me.

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So I was tempted to just close it and say, I'm going to go read someone I trust completely, but I stuck with it.

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I read through it. And there were, there were things that bothered me. I went back and then I read through it.

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Like you say, having a discussion with the author, I'm not, this was a good, this is a good man, you know?

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And so it's not like I'm antagonistic to him, but I'm questioning a lot of his phrases.

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Why, why, why would you say it this way? What do you mean when you say it this way? And I found that it took months to work through the book that way.

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But when I got to the end, I had answers for every question that I had for the author.

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And I had real benefit from the book. So yeah, lazy reading doesn't always help.

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One of the things that from my little list that I gave, one of the things that I have found most beneficial to the point that I find it difficult to read without is

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I do generally keep a reading journal. And I'm fairly unsystematic about that.

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You know, if I were systematic about it, I don't know, I wouldn't even know what to do with it. You know how I'm not organized.

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So I've got a journal and maybe it's, you know, dated. So, you know, in 2021 things

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I was reading other times I use, you know, a journal and I'll just say, well, I'll put on the front of the journal, which authors are recorded.

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I always write down things that I'm learning. If you give me a book and I'm not allowed to have a pen in my hand,

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I feel like I have, I have no way to benefit. So it's just become a habit.

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And if I don't have a notebook, I just write in the book. Now, some people feel that this is a horrible crime, but I can tell everywhere

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I've read in a book, because there is writing all up and down and around and, you know, symbols everywhere.

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And so I can, I can quickly go back, but that's how I try to retain it. Others probably have a more systematic and, you know, updated version.

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Well, with that in mind, why don't you run us through six books plus a bonus book? Cause I knew that, you know, we would need to have that, uh, allowance, six books and an order that you would suggest a person might read these books to illustrate some of the things that we've been saying over our podcasts regarding, uh, principles of Christian reading.

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Okay. So my, my first book is going to be this. This is redemption accomplished and applied by professor

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John Murray. He was a Scottish Presbyterian author, a preacher, pastor, a professor, author, and this book redemption accomplished and applied,

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I think is, is masterful. Now I'm going to recommend reading it a slightly odd way.

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It's divided into two elements, red redemption accomplished and redemption applied.

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Read the second half first, because the second half will introduce you to Murray's style and we'll get you accustomed to his modes of thought and expression.

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Murray is a precisionist. When it comes to vocabulary, he can get more into one word than most of us get into a sentence, more into a sentence than most men get into a paragraph, more into a paragraph than many get into a page that can make him quite a dense author to read.

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But the second part of this book, he works through the, the order of salvation and it's absolutely delightful.

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And in the first part of the book, he talks about how God has accomplished that salvation in Christ Jesus.

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And it's simply some of the most God exalting Christ honoring spirit, delighting doctrine that you can imagine.

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There are portions of this book pages or paragraphs where you can just stop and chew and taste and consider paragraphs that I go back to just to almost recalibrate my soul with regard to the marvel of a sovereign salvation.

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So redemption accomplished and applied more on the doctrinal side, but not lacking in that experimental and devotional aspect.

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Now this would be more devotional. This is called

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Christ Precious, and it's written by an 18th century Baptist called John Fawcett. Now I have it in this edition.

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It's recently been republished, which is why I'm recommending it on this occasion. And Fawcett's really asking the question, why is

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Christ precious to those who believe? And this wonderful survey of the person and the work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And he's not simply instructing you. He's drawing out your heart toward the savior.

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The first time I read this book, I can, I can tell you now I made a note in it. I was,

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I was on an airplane at the time, and I thought if I go down and this book survives,

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I'm going to write a note in the front so that my wife and children know that I want them to read this book, that they can learn more about the

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Lord Jesus Christ. I, I find this a tonic to my soul. There are lots of books that speak about Christ.

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This book is full of Christ, and I think it's delightful. Then here's one that's going to tie up some of the roots and the fruits.

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This is the gospel mystery of sanctification by Walter Marshall. And his concern in this book is to make us to understand and to embrace and to pursue what it means for us to be

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God's people made new creatures. And therefore, because of the realities of the gospel at work in us, seeking after true holiness, pursuing holiness in the fear of the

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Lord and in an environment where language like duty can often be a dirty word where we're encouraged, if not so much these days in the language to let go and let

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God, then effectively just, just to look and everything will get better. Walter Marshall helps us to understand what we're looking at or who we're looking at, why we're looking there and encouraging us then to see how it is as true gospel, men and women, we can work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

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It's a wonderful corrective to so many of the wrong ideas on both ends of the spectrum with regard to what true holiness is and the basis on which it ought to be pursued.

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So that'll do, that'll plug your doctrine into your practice on a grand level. Then again, this will be available in a number of different editions.

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This is called the saint and his savior. And it's one of the early collections of sermons that was published by Charles Spurgeon.

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And again, this is as a book of sermons. It's going to be very different for you as a reader.

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It's a book that sometimes you might even want to read out loud because there is a sense in which you're still getting echoes of speech rather than, than writing.

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But it is, again, it is so wonderfully full of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will show us his beauty and his glory, and it will teach us more about our relationship with him.

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It's got 12 sermons, titles like the despised friend, faithful wounds,

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Jesus desired Jesus, pardoning joy at conversion, complete in Christ.

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So without being a sort of a deliberately systematic approach to union and communion with Jesus Christ, it will nevertheless fill those things out.

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And because it's somatic, you'll get lots of helpful instruction and application to help you on the way.

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Now I'm going to recommend a biography next. This is the life of Adoniram Judson.

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It's called to the golden shore and it's written by somebody called Courtney Anderson. Judson was a missionary to Burma, to Myanmar.

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And he, he actually set off as a Presbyterian when he arrived through his studies of the scriptures, he'd become a

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Baptist. That's not why I'm recommending it merely as a point scoring exercise. But Anderson does a wonderful job of tracing the spiritual development of Adoniram Judson from before his conversion, when he was an arrogant man through his salvation, when

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God humbled him, then the process by which he came to understand that even as a missionary, he had been more interested in his own reputation than he had in the glory of Jesus Christ.

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And there are portions of this book that will just leave you utterly humbled before God.

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And then you see how through his sufferings, the loss of wives, he married more than once, his grief, when a woman that he loved and committed himself to was called home, the sufferings that he went through as a pastor and a preacher.

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It is a delightful treatment of a Christian life. And there will be again, easy gains at some point and other points where you think

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I've got to go away and have dealings with God on the basis of what I'm learning. Then speaking of dealings with God, and we've talked a little bit about John Owen and how he can be a little bit hard to get to grips with and how some of his works are more accessible and more profitable, more immediately available than others.

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This has been put into a Puritan paperback by the banner of truth. It's called communion with God.

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It's richly Trinitarian. And one of the marks I think of the Puritans is they had a wonderful notion of the whole

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Godhead. And Owen is one of those who's genuinely a, a theologian of the

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Holy spirit. Now Owen's contention here is that because our God is triune, we have communion with God as father, as son and as Holy spirit.

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And that there is without separating them from one another, there is distinction and that we relate to each in particular ways and along particular channels.

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And so Owen wants us to know God as father, as son and as Holy spirit.

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And he guides us through a real relationship with the triune God in ways that will, oh, you'll, you'll, you'll feel

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Thomas times. You're gazing into the abyss and you're just dizzy with what

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Owen teaches you. But at the same time, your heart will be warmed and you will learn to walk with God.

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I think it's, it's an excellent treatment. And then my, my, my bonus, most of those books are quite substantial.

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They're a little longer. They could be quite heavy going. My last book, my bonus book is much more immediately accessible.

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And if you're not a great reader, if you've not had much experience of reading or you want something just to get into, into your reading, this is life in Christ, walking in newness of life by a friend of mine named

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Edward Donnelly. It's again, based on some sermons that were preached in 2001.

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So a much more recent publication, but it is, again,

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I remember I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm recommending things that have done my soul good. I remember reading this and honestly it lifted my heart closer to God.

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I, I felt as if I were,

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I had a better understanding of my identity as a Christian. It helped me with regard to my pursuit of holiness.

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I didn't want to offend God after I'd read this. I was more conscious of my privileges as a child of God.

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So it's really a study of union with Jesus Christ and the blessed consequences of it.

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It's very brief. It's it's four addresses compiled between the pages, between the covers of this, this slim volume.

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And I find it consistently delightful. So you've got six more substantial books.

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And then one little bonus life in Christ by Edward Donnelly. Some of those that you mentioned,

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I would have put on my list, but you already put them on yours. So I mean, I gave you first choice.

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John Murray, really, you know, like you said, it's a theological book. It's doctrinal, but it is so biblical.

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It's almost like reading from scripture itself and, and the clarity. Yeah. I, he really is the gold standard for that topic, you know, just really beneficial.

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Walter Marshall. I remember reading that as a, as a believer struggling with the questions of holiness.

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And you know how you balance that with grace. And, and, and of course there's, there's no need to balance it's, you know, they're, they're, it's a wonderful fountain belong to.

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Yeah. I mean, you know, grace flowing through and controlling and, but, you know, interestingly,

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Walter Marshall preached that, that book is made up of sermons he preached and things that he wrote toward the end of his life.

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He died fairly young, but he had struggled with that and he had gone to one of the

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Puritans and it really brought him into the light to see that grace was the most powerful engine for holiness.

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And the result was, he preached these sermons to his church died. And I believe if I'm correct, that they were published after his death.

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Now, if I've just made all that up, Teddy's going to have to just edit this entire clip. All right. Okay. Yeah. So wonderful.

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And then, oh, in communion with God, we've done that as a church, the entire church read through it. And we did it as with a group of ministers.

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Uh, when I first started pastoring here, uh, Jordan Thomas, Anthony Mathenia, and a couple of other guys, we all started meeting.

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They weren't pastoring yet. Uh, we all started meeting at a Starbucks in a, in a kind of a central location once a week, and we would read good books.

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So every Monday night, I would drive an hour and a half to them. And we, I remember reading through McShane's memoirs and it was, it was so encouraging, but it was also quite, um, you know, uh, a bit humbling because none of us were

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McShane and some of us were already past the age of McShane. You know, when I was 22, I thought

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I might be McShane by 29. You know, by the time he dies, I might be super holy. And then when

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I'm 30, I'm just, yeah, I failed, totally failed. And, uh, so after McShane's memoirs,

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I decided we would read communion with God because it was such, um, like you said, you know, it was such a warm treatment of the fullness of God in his triune person.

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Everything we need is there. And we are called to enter into friendship with God in all these ways and, um, treat, you know, responding to each of these persons in the

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Trinity. And, uh, I remember reading that after McShane and we all felt like it was the most beneficial book on the planet, you know, um, well,

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I think if, if you look at the, the, the run of the great 17th century sister confessions, the

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Westminster, the Savoy in the 1689, there's a sentence that is added at the end of the chapter on the

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Trinity in the Savoy declaration. And Owen was a congregation list. And I think this is pure Owen and it's retained then in the

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Baptist confession. And it's simply this, and I'm not suggesting that the Westminster divines didn't know this, but it's a sentence to the effect that this doctrine of the

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Trinity is the foundation of all our comfortable communion with God. And I just really think that's

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Owen, that that's Owen saying, you know, we know God as triune.

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And I think that's a wonderful fleshing out of his understanding of that.

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Well, let me get to my six. Um, what I tried to do was I, um, I tried to pick one topic.

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So Christology, um, and so most of my books are going to be dealing with that, but I did try to choose from a variety of the periods and maybe of types.

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I don't know that I did so well. All right, here's, here's my first book. Knowing Christ by Mark Jones.

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Now I haven't read that much that Mark Jones has written. He's a, he's a modern author and, uh, but Jones, this book is a, is a good starting place in the sense that it gives you all the basics.

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Uh, so good, clear, um, truths about Christ laid out in a, in a, in a systematic way that, um, will form a foundation for everything that follows.

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So in a sense, it's, it's like, you know, before you walk out the door on the journey that I want you to go on, um, and before you, you know, you, you explore these beautiful places with Christ.

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Uh, I want to kind of put into your hands things you'll need for the journey. So the right kind of shoes, the right kind of jacket, you know, the right, the right maps.

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And so Jones does that. He gives us really just basic truths. Um, so his chapters read like this

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Christ's declaration, Christ's dignity, Christ covenant, Christ's incarnation, Christ divinity,

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Christ, humanity, Christ's companion, the Holy spirit, Christ's faith, Christ's emotions, Christ's growth all the way through.

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So covering really all of the aspects of the person and work of Jesus Christ in, in very short readable chapters, but it is written as a, as a theology.

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Uh, the next book that I would read is a book on the life of Christ by a man in the 19th century named

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William Blakey. And I first came across this book when I was doing research in Wales, uh, and with, um, uh,

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Mr. Hi, I'm the pastor of the church where we attended, had a Mance meeting. Now, if you're an

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American, you may not know what a Mance meeting is. A Mance is just the pastor's home. So every Saturday night he would pack into his small, uh, living room there.

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Um, all these college kids, you know, university age, and in a way that only British people can do, like Americans could not do this.

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All right. Cause we kind of sit spread out and we tend to be a bit larger. Uh, but these were like the chairs, even the stools we sat on no back, it was about a one foot by one foot square pad.

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And so you just sit on your one foot square pad and you just sardines. All right. So like 60 college students there.

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Um, so I attended and after about a year of attending, he asked me, would I teach it?

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And so he kind of, you know, uh, opened the meeting and closed the meeting, but he had me teach the meeting.

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And this is one of the books that I taught, glimpses of the inner life of our Lord. Now this is by tent maker publications, which has now, um, closed its doors because the older gentleman that was running it, a pastor and his wife are no longer able to do that because of health.

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Uh, we are republishing, uh, the first of these two books. This actually has two, but we're republishing

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Blakey's book in a small set of Christological books through media gratia, but you can still find it print on demand through Amazon.

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And it's not as nice a copy, but it'll do glimpses of the inner life of our Lord covering the humanity of our

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Lord. It's a bit of a strange title, the humanity of Christ. Uh, and it's done in a way that's very warm and, um, you know, very challenging.

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Another book, Jesus power without measure, the work of the spirit in the life of our

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Lord by Douglas McMillan. So again, a 20th century writer and, um, dealing with the topic that perhaps you haven't thought about how

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Christ as true man, um, does the will of the father as his son by depending upon the spirit.

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And so a lot of questions that might come to your mind as you're reading the gospels and the relationship between the son and the spirit, as the son lives out his humanity before the face of the father.

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So a good book there. Uh, one of my all time favorite books, the church actually has read both of those books, glimpses of the inner life of our

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Lord, Jesus power without measure. Every year we try to do about one or two books where we read through them as in small groups and discuss them.

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This was one we did early on the true Christian's love to the unseen Christ. And this is a

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Puritan. So it's an older book, um, by Thomas Vincent, but it is a fairly short book for a

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Puritan, uh, 121 pages in this, in this edition. And it really is, um, very, um, penetrating.

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Uh, so showing the loveliness of Christ and then calling the Christian to love him and warning those that have no response that they are not

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Christians. Uh, well, a book from the 19th century, a little later than the

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Puritans, a contemporary of Spurgeon, a man named JC Ryle, and this is his book holiness.

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So after looking at all those books on the life and, uh, the, the doctrine of Christ moving to holiness to try to bring that down into a practical way, how does living separated unto this

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Jesus, how does it look? And this is my favorite book on the topic of sanctification.

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It really does deal more with the root issues, you know, the big picture issues.

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So if you come to this book looking for, um, a series of do's and don'ts, uh, which, which are good, um, it won't be in this book.

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This book is more dealing with in many ways like Marshall's dealing with the big pictures of understanding what holiness is and how it works its way out into our life, but staying with the big pictures.

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I find this book very helpful. There are a couple of chapters that I just can never forget. The one where he talks about Moses, you know, leaving all, and then the chapter on looking under Jesus, uh, as a means of holiness, just really thrilling.

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All right. And the kind of the odd lady out in my, in my reading suggestions is a little book of, um, just short statements.

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The book is called if it was written by the missionary to India, Amy Carmichael, late 19th, early 20th century, well, first half of the 20th century.

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Um, and as a missionary, as a leader of missionary ladies who were working with children who were being pulled out of, um, uh, out of really, out of a sex trafficking trade, uh, through Hinduism in her day.

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Um, she wrote these statements about the nature of true Christian love. And one time

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I asked a man, uh, did he, did he like this book? He was a, he was the head of a seminary.

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And he mentioned if, and how he didn't really like it. And, you know, and a friend of mine and I ask him what you don't like if, and he said,

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Oh, I, I, I love it, but it destroys me every time I read it. Um, it is a book that makes these simple statements.

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Each page you can see is just a simple statement up top. And it's a statement about real love.

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And so for me, this is the book that kind of, uh, of my suggestions, you'd have to read through it very slowly.

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You could read the book in half an hour, read through it very slowly. One, one page a day. Do I really follow

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Christ? Do I really love people and love God? Like I say, I do. Um, you know, so it just gives a lot of statements that I, I don't want to give a bunch of examples, but you know, let me just give one, if, and each one starts with, if, if I deal with wrong for any other reason, then that implied in the words from his right hand went to fiery law for them.

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Yeah, he loved his people. If I can rebuke without a paying, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

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Um, maybe that wasn't the clearest example. It was one that my wife underlined. I don't wonder if that was for me.

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She might've, uh, like John, you need to do this. So those books, um, now my bonus book is actually not a simple book for a person just starting to read, but I'm going to give a children's book.

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All right. And this is a book that I really like to give out to the families in the church, uh, by RC Sproul, the priest with dirty clothes, dealing with, um, uh, just a fable that he gives here that tries to illustrate the issue of the righteousness of Christ, the imputed righteousness of Christ and the transfer of our guilt to him, his righteousness to us.

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And so we try to give all the families with little ones, uh, this book. Sometimes I have kids from the church will come over and hang out.

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Um, even Teddy's kids have come and spent the night a few times. Um, and, uh, we, we always read that book as a bedtime story.

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Any closing words, Jeremy? Uh, I, I think there's plenty of overlap there,

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John. If, if you'd said, if you'd give me those first, I'd have been thinking, oh, well, I wish I could have got those in myself.

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Um, the book you mentioned glimpses into the inner life of our Lord. We've talked about lazy reading.

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There is no lazy meditating in Blakey's book. His thoughtful consideration of what it means for, for the

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Lord Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth to have that self awareness of being God's Messiah.

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Absolutely stunning. Douglas McMillan on Jesus power without measure, a wonderful insight into the, uh, the one person of Jesus Christ, the

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God man, you will, you will never think of him or yourself in relation to him in the same way afterwards.

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And then just, just to pick up on Vincent again, that book is so full of Christ. I remember once I was casting about,

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I felt my soul was very dry and I wanted something that would, would lift my heart heavenward.

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And I found Vincent's book. I wasn't sure from the title, whether or not it would be what

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I needed. Uh, but I just fed my soul and refreshed me with a, with a new sense of the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ.

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So yeah, I, I would gladly, uh, endorse, uh, that list.

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And, and I trust that if, if people are able to read all of those or even some of those that, uh, perhaps it would really reinvigorate our, our walk with God over the course of the coming months.

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I think, especially of the cultural context that we find ourselves in, uh, with COVID and with, you know, a lot of, um, words being wasted online, uh, about politics and masks and vaccinations.

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And you have these people, uh, sadly, many times true believers getting kind of caught up in a way that I think doesn't help the situation.

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Um, so, so beneficial to back up from the temporal ups and downs of our nations and to see him the eternal one.

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Um, you know, these are the books that will lift our hearts above the, the muck of this life.

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Not, not, not that we will then forget it, ignore it or despise it, but they're the books that will,

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I think make us truly heavenly minded and therefore of most earthly use. So remember what

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Spurgeon said, as you read in this coming year, whether it's the scriptures or good, good

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Christian books, Spurgeon said, I cannot know Christ with another man's mind.

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I cannot see him with another man's eyes. I fear a secondhand knowledge. So as you're entering into whatever reading you're doing, uh, and scripture is always primary, um, labor to, to avoid that secondhand knowledge.

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These authors and other good authors can become lifelong friends, but they cannot substitute for you.

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Um, really bearing your soul before your King and grabbing hold of all that he is moment by moment.

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Thank you, Jeremy, for being with us. And we hope that, uh, in 2022, whatever books the

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Lord, uh, brings you across or maybe these books that it will be a sweet season for your soul.