Temptation of Christ

This is not a new book, and certainly not a new author, but I looked at it in the course of preaching sermons on Christ's temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).  One of the joys of having a Christian Bookshop is the resources it provides for personal use!  Christian Focus Publications have this in their Christian Heritage range, and thankfully have maintained it in print for 15 years or so now.  For £5.99 it is a well-selected, well-edited edition of this careful study of a deep subject.  I believe Maurice Roberts (Free Church of Scotland Continuing minister, ex-editor of Banner of Truth magazine) did a commendable job here.  He has taken Thomas Manton and made his work more suited for reading by someone who has never visited the Puritans before.  But he has not done this by dumbing it down.  He first carefully explains in the Introduction the typical Puritan style and structure of sermonizing.  Then within the text he makes frequent use of square brackets to explain words or obsolete phrases.  This may be a bit OTT for anyone who is used to reading Puritan writings, but the point is that it is targeting a certain (growing?) sector of younger evangelicals who are alienated from such as Manton.  Modern Bible versions have also not helped in this trend.  A generational dislocation from godly and profound authors from the past is a sad injury to the church of God.  Men like Thomas Manton still deserve a hearing - they were above all men of the Bible, and who suffered for it.  He was one of the 2000 men ejected from their livings in 1662, but who still were determined to preach and became an Independent.  In earlier times he had been a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and preached before Parliament.  So he experienced the same as the Apostle Paul (Philippians 4:12).
This is not a long book by any means, but amply demonstrates the revitalising truth of Christ's full identification with his people in their temptations (Hebrews 2:18), and has many practical applications re struggling against Satan's attacks.
Jeremy

Great God of Wonders

A recent 'chance' remark by a friend caused me to pick up this book Great God of Wonders by Maurice Roberts. I haven't read Roberts before and have quickly discovered that he doesn't beat about the bush. The first paragraph of the book quoted below should illustrate the point...

"Whatever the pressures are to the contrary, the serious Christian MUST keep a careful watch over the inner state and attitude of his own soul. Just as there are temptations for the careless and the idle Christian, so too are there snares for the Christian who becomes too busy. We are too busy whenever we cannot safeguard our times of private prayer, meditation and devotional Bible reading. What happens when outward duties become excessive and over-demanding is that inner, secret duties are performed in a merely routine way. It is all too possible to conduct our private and family worship with our minds half taken up with other things. We persuade ourselves that we have been worshipping God, but on such occasions we have been no better than those to whom God said, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me' (Matthew 15:8)"

The book consists of articles which originally appeared as editorials in the Banner of Truth magazine (which Maurice Roberts edited between 1988 and 2003). From a quick scan of the book I suspect that it will continue in the same challenging vein, with chapter headings such as 'The Strife of Tongues', 'Dealing with our Differences' and 'Why Christians must be readers' (which I suspect I should be quoting in full !).

Great God of Wonders by Maurice Roberts, published by Banner of Truth, £6

Lorna