Best Piper Books for Beginners

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - We love books at Desiring God, obviously.

00:00:07.400 | We love to read them and write them

00:00:09.360 | and publish them and promote them.

00:00:11.560 | And Pastor John, you've authored over 60 titles by yourself.

00:00:15.800 | In light of all those books, though,

00:00:17.720 | Steve writes in to ask this,

00:00:19.160 | Pastor John, as I view the wonderful books

00:00:22.160 | at DesiringGod.org, which books would you recommend

00:00:25.360 | reading first as a new believer?

00:00:28.160 | - Well, when I read that question,

00:00:32.320 | I went to the website just to see,

00:00:34.880 | 'cause I haven't done this for a long time,

00:00:37.320 | just to click on the Books tab.

00:00:39.600 | And I thought, oh my goodness, I counted almost 80 titles.

00:00:44.600 | And I thought, oh, that is overwhelming.

00:00:47.240 | What would you do if somebody said,

00:00:49.480 | yeah, go check out Desiring God

00:00:51.000 | and read one of those books?

00:00:52.220 | You'd stare at those 80 titles and say,

00:00:53.480 | what in the world?

00:00:54.580 | How am I supposed to make any headway in this at all?

00:00:58.300 | So that's a good question.

00:01:00.320 | And I hadn't been thinking about it at all.

00:01:03.060 | What an overwhelming thing that would be

00:01:05.280 | to look at all those.

00:01:06.620 | So let me give two answers.

00:01:09.180 | One for the ordinary person,

00:01:11.560 | and I mean a really good, happy, normal, ordinary person

00:01:15.580 | who wants to grow in his faith,

00:01:18.860 | new faith, not knowing much about the Bible.

00:01:21.460 | And the other answer I'm gonna give,

00:01:23.020 | just real briefly, is for a non-ordinary person,

00:01:26.200 | like a really deep, critical, thinker type

00:01:29.940 | who asks a lot of questions

00:01:31.380 | and likes a lot of systematization and all that stuff.

00:01:34.060 | So the first answer,

00:01:36.180 | which I think is probably the more important one,

00:01:38.340 | is what about the ordinary, new believer?

00:01:42.400 | Doesn't have a lot of Bible knowledge,

00:01:44.860 | has recently been converted

00:01:47.720 | and brought to trust Jesus as his Savior and Lord,

00:01:52.020 | wants to start reading and going deeper

00:01:54.940 | in relation to Christ and through the Scriptures.

00:01:58.200 | What is my recommendation with regard to these books?

00:02:02.580 | And it would be really wrong and a dishonor to the Lord

00:02:06.500 | and to the Bible not to say,

00:02:07.740 | "Look, we don't sell Bibles,

00:02:10.140 | but that's the most important book.

00:02:14.180 | So read it every day.

00:02:15.420 | Read the Bible every day.

00:02:17.620 | Don't ever let any pipe book replace the Bible.

00:02:20.300 | My books are only valuable if they reflect the Bible.

00:02:23.940 | Therefore, why not go to the source

00:02:26.060 | and get it straight from the horse's mouth, as it were?"

00:02:29.820 | So yes, Bible every day.

00:02:32.620 | And all we're trying to do at Desiring God

00:02:34.580 | is explain parts of the Bible

00:02:36.820 | and apply parts of the Bible to our real life.

00:02:40.060 | So here's my answer.

00:02:41.420 | I'm gonna give you a package of six

00:02:43.460 | in the order that I would take them, okay?

00:02:45.760 | Number one, seeing and savoring Jesus Christ.

00:02:49.640 | This is the one book I aimed intentionally to write

00:02:54.260 | for unbelievers to introduce them to who Jesus is

00:02:59.260 | and how faith happens.

00:03:01.100 | And even though we're talking right now about a new believer,

00:03:03.620 | I think it would be a great starting place

00:03:07.780 | for a new believer because everything hangs on Jesus.

00:03:10.620 | Who is He?

00:03:11.660 | What did He do?

00:03:12.720 | What's He like?

00:03:13.900 | Who have I hooked my life up to?

00:03:17.260 | And of all of my own books,

00:03:19.680 | that's the one I would go back to most often

00:03:22.260 | just to get a fresh glimpse of who I love.

00:03:25.180 | Number two, 50 reasons why Jesus came to die.

00:03:28.600 | Short, two-page chapters

00:03:31.400 | on what Christ accomplished for us when He died.

00:03:35.420 | The new believer has seen maybe one or two or three things

00:03:40.420 | about the death of Christ that has persuaded them

00:03:44.400 | they need Him and they're gonna trust Him

00:03:47.140 | as their Savior to forgive their sins

00:03:49.520 | and to get them to heaven and to get them out of hell

00:03:53.320 | and to change their lives.

00:03:55.620 | And there are at least 50 things Jesus accomplished

00:04:00.480 | for the new believer

00:04:01.600 | and oh, how they need to know these things.

00:04:04.280 | So just read two pages a day

00:04:08.400 | like we did as a family one time with that book

00:04:11.360 | and you'll know the glories

00:04:14.060 | of what Christ accomplished for you.

00:04:17.080 | Better.

00:04:17.920 | Number three, Finally Alive.

00:04:20.420 | This is a book about what it means to be born again.

00:04:24.060 | In other words, 50 reasons why Jesus came to die

00:04:27.600 | describes the objective historical accomplishment

00:04:32.600 | that Christ performed for you as a new believer

00:04:37.040 | outside of you.

00:04:38.800 | Finally Alive focuses on what He did in you.

00:04:43.540 | And new believers need to know both these things.

00:04:46.540 | They need to know what God did in history to save them

00:04:49.600 | and they need to know what God did in their souls

00:04:52.780 | to save them.

00:04:53.620 | There's a lot of misunderstanding

00:04:55.600 | about how God saves people both externally,

00:04:59.240 | what happened in the cross

00:05:00.520 | and internally what happens in regeneration.

00:05:03.460 | So that's the reason those two books come

00:05:06.360 | after seeing and savoring.

00:05:07.720 | One, we need to know the cross and what He did there

00:05:10.640 | and we need to know by the Spirit,

00:05:12.240 | what did He do inside of me?

00:05:13.880 | Why did I come to believe?

00:05:15.660 | Why do I love Him now when I didn't used to love Him?

00:05:19.000 | Number four, Battling Unbelief.

00:05:21.920 | This is a very practical set of chapters

00:05:26.400 | that were pulled out of another book,

00:05:28.440 | A Future Grace, and it's intended really practically

00:05:33.440 | from the get-go to teach you how to fight sin.

00:05:37.560 | Every new believer has remaining sin

00:05:41.200 | and you will until the day you die

00:05:43.080 | and the Christian life is a fight.

00:05:45.720 | Paul said, "I've fought the good fight.

00:05:47.760 | I've been faithful to the end of my life."

00:05:51.280 | And this book is intended to help you know how to do that

00:05:54.680 | so that you don't become a legalist in the fight

00:05:56.900 | or lackadaisical in the fight.

00:06:00.100 | Everybody needs to know how to do Romans 8:13,

00:06:02.760 | "Put to death the deeds of the body,"

00:06:04.600 | and that's what this book is intended to do.

00:06:07.800 | Number five, The Dangerous Duty of Delight.

00:06:10.940 | Now, this takes the turn and gets at the heart

00:06:14.680 | of what makes Desiring God, Desiring God.

00:06:18.160 | What is this website about?

00:06:20.400 | Well, we are about helping brand new believers

00:06:22.800 | simply be Christian.

00:06:25.080 | And we're also about pushing on a few special Bible truths

00:06:29.200 | that help them be happy in God

00:06:31.700 | because God gets so much glory

00:06:33.100 | when His people are happy in Him.

00:06:34.880 | And The Dangerous Duty of Delight

00:06:36.760 | is the lightweight version of the main book, Desiring God.

00:06:41.760 | So I'm putting it here instead of Desiring God

00:06:44.620 | because we're talking about people who are normal.

00:06:48.180 | Because a lot of people tell me even Desiring God,

00:06:50.560 | which I thought was pretty easy to read,

00:06:52.540 | is heavy sledding for some.

00:06:54.380 | And one more, number six, When I Don't Desire God.

00:06:58.580 | The reason I add When I Don't Desire God

00:07:01.420 | to the package of six is because every believer

00:07:05.140 | struggles with discouragement of having read Desiring God

00:07:09.140 | or The Dangerous Duty of Delight

00:07:10.500 | and knowing that being happy in God gives him glory

00:07:13.300 | and then not being happy in God.

00:07:15.900 | What do I do if I'm not happy in God?

00:07:17.740 | I get up in the morning, every morning I'm not happy in God.

00:07:19.980 | I have to work so hard to be happy in God.

00:07:21.980 | And this book, When I Don't Desire God,

00:07:24.060 | is all about that battle.

00:07:26.220 | So that's my answer to the normal person.

00:07:28.800 | Just a brief answer to the non-normal person,

00:07:31.220 | and a lot of people probably like to put themselves

00:07:33.220 | in a non-normal category of,

00:07:36.180 | no, I am a questioning person.

00:07:38.100 | I am a systematic lover.

00:07:39.420 | I like to go a little deeper,

00:07:41.760 | and here's my answer for them.

00:07:46.760 | I'm still assuming very little Bible knowledge

00:07:49.980 | in the Christian faith at this point,

00:07:53.100 | and I would make just a few changes in that list.

00:07:58.100 | I would keep seeing and savoring, number one,

00:08:00.620 | and I would keep 50 reasons, number two,

00:08:04.620 | and I would keep finally alive, number three,

00:08:06.980 | and then I would make shifts.

00:08:09.700 | There's a quadrivium, a four-package book

00:08:14.380 | that in my mind all are one big package

00:08:18.580 | for the reader ready to take a challenge.

00:08:20.660 | Desiring God, pleasures of God, future grace,

00:08:24.300 | and When I Don't Desire God.

00:08:26.340 | And Desiring God replaces dangerous duty in the simple list.

00:08:30.200 | Future grace replaces battling unbelief

00:08:32.300 | because that book is in that book,

00:08:34.680 | and then I keep When I Don't Desire God.

00:08:37.500 | So really, the change I'm making is

00:08:40.620 | desiring God for dangerous duty and pleasures of God.

00:08:44.140 | Oh, I left that out, pleasures of God as the foundation,

00:08:46.860 | deeper foundation for desiring God,

00:08:48.540 | and then future grace replaces battling unbelief.

00:08:52.380 | So both lists end with When I Don't Desire God

00:08:57.380 | because we all struggle and we need help,

00:08:59.920 | but everyone is different, Tony,

00:09:02.020 | and I would say read what works for you.

00:09:06.340 | Excellent starter list, Pastor John, thank you.

00:09:08.980 | Did I hear you right that Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

00:09:11.460 | is the book of yours that you most often return to?

00:09:14.500 | I did.

00:09:15.340 | When I'm looking for a fresh sight of the glory of Christ,

00:09:20.140 | I just need to see him.

00:09:21.920 | Sometimes I just read the chapter titles

00:09:24.980 | to remind me what I saw and what I wrote

00:09:29.200 | because I just think the way Christian life works

00:09:32.420 | is that we're changed from one degree of glory to the next,

00:09:36.400 | beholding the glory of the Lord,

00:09:37.980 | and where do you turn if you're just feeling

00:09:41.380 | like my vision is dim?

00:09:44.040 | And so that helps me.

00:09:46.940 | Wonderful, yes and amen.

00:09:49.780 | It's a gem, maybe a great book

00:09:51.540 | to launch your new year of reading.

00:09:53.780 | Download Seeing and Savoring at desiringgod.org

00:09:56.900 | free of charge and begin reading it immediately

00:09:59.880 | for that title and for all the other books we have.

00:10:02.120 | Go to desiringgod.org and click on the Books tab.

00:10:04.680 | You'll see this book and every other title we have too,

00:10:06.980 | a lot of niche books for all sorts of needs.

00:10:09.820 | And some people ask,

00:10:11.260 | how can you make all these books available online for free?

00:10:13.620 | You can't do that, nobody does that.

00:10:15.700 | Well, we do and we can

00:10:17.480 | because we work with some great publishers

00:10:19.520 | and because we're supported by generous financial donors

00:10:22.040 | behind the scenes like you, so thank you.

00:10:24.340 | You make it possible for us to put all those books

00:10:26.740 | out there, so feel free to take some time

00:10:29.220 | and to go and sift through all the books we have

00:10:31.260 | and maybe, just maybe begin your 2015 reading

00:10:34.920 | with Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ.

00:10:38.100 | Speaking of Jesus, tomorrow we will talk about

00:10:40.060 | his compassionate, aggressive, surgical,

00:10:43.020 | and relentless love.

00:10:44.900 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke, we'll see you tomorrow.

00:10:47.220 | (silence)

00:10:49.380 | (silence)

00:10:51.540 | (silence)

00:10:53.700 | (Session concluded at 4pm)

Best Piper Books for Beginners

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