John Piper - The Cross Purpose

How Jesus Helped His Disciples Increase Their Faith

John Piper — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 16:59:50 +0000

In Luke 17:5–10 the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith. How does Jesus help them? In two ways, both of which are by telling them truth. So even in the way he responds he shows us that faith comes by hearing. Knowing certain things should increase our faith.

Uprooting Mulberries

First, he strengthens our faith by telling us in Luke 17:6 that the crucial issue in accomplishing great things to advance the kingdom of God is not the quantity of our faith, but the power of God. He says, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” By referring to the tiny mustard seed after being asked about increased faith, he deflects attention away from the quantity of faith to the object of faith.

God moves mulberry trees. And it does not depend decisively on the quantity of our faith, but on his power and wisdom and love. In knowing this we are helped not to worry about our faith and are inspired to trust God’s free initiative and power.

Debtors Now and Forever

Second, he helps their faith grow by telling them in Luke 17:7–10 that when they have done all they are commanded to do, they are still radically dependent on grace. Jesus gives an illustration. You might want to read it again in verses 7–10. The gist of it is that the owner of a slave does not become a debtor to the slave no matter how much work the slave does. The meaning is that God is never our debtor. Luke 17:10 sums it up: “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” We are always his debtor. And we will never be able to pay this debt, nor are we ever meant to. We will always be dependent on grace. We will never work our way up out of debt to a place where God is in our debt. “Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:35).

When it says in Luke 17:9 that the owner does not “thank” the slave, the idiom for “thank” is provocative. I think the idea is that “thanks” is a response to grace. The reason the owner does not thank the slave is that the servant is not giving the owner more than what the owner deserves. He is not treating the owner with grace. Grace is being treated better than you deserve. So it is with us in relation to God. We never treat God with grace. We never give him more than he deserves. Which means that he never owes us thanks. God never says “Thank you” to us. Instead he is always giving us more than what we deserve, and we are always owing him thanks.

So the lesson for us is that when we have done all we should do — when we have solved all our pastoral care problems and fixed the attitudes of all our people and mobilized the most missions and loved the poor and saved marriages and reared godly children and boldly proclaimed Christ — God owes us no thanks. Instead we will at that moment relate to him as debtors to grace just as we do now.

Grace for the Unworthy

This is a great encouragement to faith. Why? Because it means that God is just as free to bless us before we get our act together as he is after. Since we are “unworthy” slaves before we have done what we should, and “unworthy” slaves afterwards as well, it is only grace that would prompt God to help us. Therefore he is free to help us before and after. This is a great incentive to trust him for help when we feel like our act is not together.

So two things increase our faith: (1) that God himself and not the quantity of our faith is the decisive factor in flinging mulberry trees out of the way, and (2) free grace is decisive in how God treats us before and after we have done all we ought to do. We never move beyond the need for grace. Therefore, let us trust God for great things in our little faith, and let us not be paralyzed by what is left to be done in our lives and in our church.

The post How Jesus Helped His Disciples Increase Their Faith first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post How Jesus Helped His Disciples Increase Their Faith appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

How to Go Deeper in Bible Study

John Piper — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 03:37:41 +0000

A Letter to a 13-Year-Old

Dear _____,

I got your note about going deeper with your Bible reading. Thanks for asking.

First, let me say that I am really encouraged that you take the Bible so seriously. Sometimes I hold it in my hand and feel the wonder that it is the very word of the Maker of the universe. Amazing.

You are right to read it every day and seek to let it permeate all your thoughts and feelings. When Paul says it is all inspired by God and that it is profitable so that you will be equipped for every good work, I believe he means that even the parts that are hard to read, or even sometimes confusing, will in the long run have an effect on your mind and your soul that will shape you into the kind of woman who can stand strong all your life for Jesus, and sniff out the errors of the world, and love all that is truly good and beautiful.

Here are a couple ideas for going deeper.

I think it is good to always be reading through the Bible as a whole. It sounds like you are doing that with the four bookmarks. That’s good. I used the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan for about fifteen years and am now using M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan. It takes you through the whole Bible in a year, plus the Psalms twice and the New Testament twice.

In addition, it is good to focus on some unit of Scripture for going deeper, like a book or the Sermon on the Mount or Romans 8. To go deeper, one way is to memorize it. I did that with the book of Philippians a couple years ago and then recited it in my January sermon on the importance of the Bible. Few things take you deeper into God’s word like memorizing large portions of it.

“Sometimes I hold the Bible in my hand and feel the wonder that it is the very word of the Maker of the universe.”

Another thing to do with that special part of Scripture you are focusing on for a while is to write it out longhand slowly in a notebook. I do this with almost every sermon I preach. I don’t fully understand it, but there are “eyes” in my pen. I see things when I slowly write the text. I see things that I see no other way. Another advantage of writing it out is that I can circle words that are repeated. I can underline phrases and draw lines between them. This helps me see connections in the passage. And connections are the key to meaning.

I think you should invest in a very good study Bible, like the ESV Study Bible, or ask your parents to get you one for your birthday. (Or maybe just because you help wash the dishes!) Then read the introduction to the part of Scripture that you are studying. And read the notes. Don’t assume they are always right. Only the Bible itself is always right. But let the notes stir up thoughts that you can trace out for yourself.

With regard to prayer, this is absolutely crucial, and I am glad you are doing it. God hears our prayers and helps us be humble enough and alert enough and in tune enough to grasp what he says.

I use the acrostic I.O.U.S. as I come to the Bible.

I. Incline my heart to your testimonies. Psalm 119:36 (Since my heart is inclined to sleep and work and lots of things other than the Bible.)

O. Open my eyes to see wonders in your word. Psalm 119:18 (Since my heart is so often dull and blind to the wonders of the word.)

U. Unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11 (Since my heart is often divided and distracted in many directions.)

S. Satisfy me with your steadfast love. Psalm 90:14 (Since my heart is so tempted to be satisfied in other things.)

Besides these prayers, practice praying the prayers of the Bible. Besides the Lord’s Prayer, my favorite is Ephesians 3:14–19. These prayers weave into our desires the kinds of desires that God taught us to have.

I hope that helps.

Grace be with you! Stay in God’s word!

Did you ever notice that every letter of Paul has near the beginning the words, “Grace be to you,” and near the end it has the words, “Grace be with you”? I think the reason is that as we start reading the letters, he knows that God’s grace is coming to us through the letter. And as we get ready to leave the letter and go to school or to work, he knows that God’s grace will go with us.

“Grace comes to you every day as you read the Bible.”

So, as I close, I say with Paul, grace be with you. But that’s because grace comes to you every day as you read the Bible. Keep it up. You will never regret it.

Pastor John

The post How to Go Deeper in Bible Study first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post How to Go Deeper in Bible Study appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

Will You Wake Up a Christian Tomorrow?

John Piper — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 04:01:47 +0000

There are two ways that God’s children could conceivably fail in the Christian life. One is for us to turn away from God. And the other is for God to turn away from us. Jeremiah, amazingly, says that in the days to come — the days of the new covenant — neither of these will happen:

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. (Jeremiah 32:40)

God “will not turn away from doing good to [us].” And he will work in us “that [we] may not turn from [him].” That is how God’s providence brings his people to everlasting glory. In other words, God doesn’t just require holiness; he promises it to his people. Therefore, the holiness that God requires of his people on their path to glory is absolutely certain. It will not fail. This certainty is revealed in Scripture with clarity for all to see.

The aim of that clear revelation is the joyful, confident, wholehearted, vigilant pursuit of holiness (Hebrews 12:14) and glory (Romans 2:6–7), because God has made it so sure. As Paul says in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Paul labors to seize Christ as his prize, because Christ has seized him. This is the mystery of sanctification that so many people find incomprehensible — that the certainty of belonging to Christ would make us vigilant to lay hold on Christ! I am praying that you will find this not bewildering but beautiful. If it starts as an enigma of confusion, I pray it ends as energy for Christ.

Greatest Passage on Preservation

The clearest and fullest promise that God will give us all we need and infallibly bring us to glory is Romans 8:28–39. It is manifestly designed to give fearless confidence to God’s children in the face of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword (Romans 8:35).

The context is the global suffering of all people and the groaning of creation under its subjection to futility and corruption (Romans 8:18–25). All the universe is groaning. Believers share the pain and perplexity. We often do not know how to pray. In this context of universal suffering and perplexity even in prayer, Paul says, in effect, “We may not know how to pray (Romans 8:26), but we do know something!” “We [do] know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). That is the beginning of the most exalted of all Scriptures concerning the absolute assurance believers can have in the face of Satan, sin, sickness, and sabotage.

God works everything — everything! — for the good of those who love God and are called by him. This promise contains the entire commitment of God to do everything necessary for the eternal good of his people. We see this in the argument that follows. Paul supports this massive promise with the assertion that, beginning in eternity past (foreknown) and extending to eternity future (glorified), God is committed, at every step of the way, to bringing his people to glory:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. . . . And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29–30)

The point of this golden chain is this: no link breaks. Nobody falls out. Every foreknown one becomes a predestined one. Every predestined one becomes a called one. Every called one becomes a justified one. Every justified one becomes a glorified one. Few things could be clearer or more glorious. Assurance! Confidence! Stability! Courage!

The mention of the “called” in this chain links back to verse 28, which is a promise to “those who are called.” That link helps us see that what Paul is describing in this chain is the “good” he had promised in verse 28. God works all things for our good. And the good is conformity to Christ (Romans 8:29) and unfailing glorification (Romans 8:30).

The Surest Sign That God Is for Us

After Paul gives the massive foundation for our assurance in Romans 8:28–30, he steps back and asks, “What then shall we say to these things?” (Romans 8:31). Here’s what we shall say: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” If the omnipotent, all-planning, all-accomplishing God is committed to our good and not to our harm, then no adversary can succeed in breaking the chain that brings us to glory.

But lest anyone doubt that God is for us, Paul invites us to consider once more what Romans has been about for eight chapters: God’s giving his Son to bear our condemnation (Romans 8:3) and become our righteousness (Romans 5:19). So, Paul says it again and reveals the indissoluble connection between the death of Christ and the promise of Romans 8:28:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

The logic of the verse is clear and strong: not sparing his own Son is the hardest thing God has ever done. Since he did this hardest thing “for us all” — that is, for all who love God and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) — we know that there is nothing he will not do to bring us to himself in glory. Nothing is harder than offering his Son. He did that. For us. It follows that he will not fail to “give us all things” — that is, all that we need in order to be conformed to his Son (Romans 8:29) and then glorified (Romans 8:30).

Everything Hangs on God’s Faithfulness

The rest of Romans 8:31–39 deepens and broadens the claim that nothing can “separate us from the love of Christ” (Romans 8:35) and “from the love of God in Christ” (Romans 8:39). The main point of Romans 8:28–39, for our purposes here, is that “those whom he called . . . he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). He sees to it that all of his converted people make it to glory. Our glorification is so sure that Paul speaks of it as accomplished, though it is yet future.

This is not a promise that bypasses God’s demand for Christlikeness in holiness and love. God’s promise to conform us to Christ is precisely what predestination guarantees. All the foreknown are “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). This happens through our calling, our justification, and finally our glorification (Romans 8:30). The implications for our lives are these: Be strong in faith. Be unshakable in the assurance that God is for you, and will bring you to glory. Be done with fear. Be full of joy. Be overflowing with courageous love for others.

We can think about what Paul has done in Romans 8:28–39 another way: he has established God’s faithfulness. From all that Paul has said, it is clear that there is nothing mechanical or natural or automatic about our conformity to Christ and our glorification. All of it is dependent on God’s action.

Many people have mechanical, or even biological, conceptions of eternal security. They think of once-saved-always-saved similar to the way an inoculation works. They think, “When I was saved, God inoculated me against condemnation. It’s built-in — the way disease-preventing antibodies are in the blood.” That way of thinking about the assurances given by Paul in Romans 8:28–39 is mistaken. Everything hangs on God, not on built-in spiritual antibodies. If God is not faithful to the promises made here, we will perish. Our perseverance in faith, our conformity to Christ, and our final glorification depend on whether God is faithful — day by day and forever.

I often ask people, How do you know you will wake up a Christian tomorrow morning? The bottom-line answer is that God will cause you to wake up a Christian, or you won’t. God will be faithful. God will keep you. Everything hangs on the faithfulness of God to his promise: “Those whom he called . . . he also glorified.”

All of God’s Majesty Serves Your Keeping

None of the requirements for making it to glory have been revoked. That is not how God gives assurance. The obedience required has not been repealed. It has been promised. “I will . . . cause you to . . . be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:27). The conformity to Christ that God commands has not been rescinded. It has been predestined. “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). The fear of failure is not remedied by abolishing obligations. It is remedied by God’s faithfulness. “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

These promises that God will create in us what he commands from us are so magnificent that they elicit from Jude one of the most exalted doxologies in the Bible:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)

If you woke up a Christian this morning, this is how you should feel. Glory, majesty, dominion, and authority have been at work for you while you slept. Your being kept for a joyful meeting with God has been promised. God is faithful. He will do it.

The post Will You Wake Up a Christian Tomorrow? first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Will You Wake Up a Christian Tomorrow? appeared first on The Cross Purpose.