Quotes from John Piper

There is only one explanation for God's sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is "the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). It is all free. It is not a response to our worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, a great cost with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, his infinite beauty.

Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God" (Rom. 3:9–10, 19).

But not only does the pursuit of joy in God give strength to endure; it is the key to breaking the power of sin on our way to heaven.

By nature, we get more pleasure from God's gifts then from Himself.

Sometimes people ask: should we pursue obedience to God or joy in God? Edwards would answer: The question involves a category confusion. It's like asking: should I pursue fruit or apples? Obedience is doing what we are told. And we are told to delight ourselves in the Lord. Therefore pursuing joy in God is obedience. In

God gives you Christ as the foundation of your marriage. "Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7). . . . Don't insist on your rights, don't blame each other, don't judge or condemn each other, don't find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, Letters and Papers from Prison, 31–32

It doesn't take a new heart to want the psychological relief of forgiveness, or the removal of God's wrath, or the inheritance of God's world. All these things are understandable without any spiritual change. You don't need to be born again to want these things. The devils want them.

Loved Then he calls us loved. "God's chosen ones, holy and beloved." If you are a believer in Christ, God, the maker of the universe, chose you, set you apart for himself, and loves you. He is for you and not against you. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).

When rival worldviews are in play, it is not adaptation that is called for but confrontation: confrontation

God is gracious to whom he will be gracious. He is not limited by anyone's wickedness. He is never trapped by his own wrath. His grace may break out anywhere he pleases. Which is a great encouragement to the worst of sinners to turn from futile hopes and put their trust in future grace.

me in these things is incalculable. I love his words, "The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which also God is magnified and exalted."56 But I also love to say it my way: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

The only freedom that lasts comes from pursuing what we want when we want what we ought.

When the heart is far from God, worship is vain, empty, and nonexistent, no matter how proper the forms are. The experience of the heart is the defining, vital, indispensable essence of worship.

When God is so often spoken of as the last as well as the first, the end as well as the beginning, it is implied that as he is the first, efficient58 cause and fountain from whence all things originate; so, he is the last, final cause for which they are made; the final term to which they all tend in their ultimate issue. This

We do not know ourselves aright, Until we have the Father's light. We think we know ourselves and groan, Until we know as we are known

The best news in the world is that there is no conflict between your greatest possible happiness and God's perfect holiness. Being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus magnifies him as the greatest treasure and brings you more joy---eternal, infinite joy---than any other delight ever could.

Salvation is the creation of new desires, not just new goodies.

Once, while visiting the continent, Spurgeon was asked about the secret of his ministry. After a moment s pause Mr. Spurgeon said, "My people pray for me.

There are two ways of recommending true religion and virtue in the world, which God hath made use of: the one is by doctrine and precept; the other by instance and example.

The reason we need a ransom to be paid for us is that we have sold ourselves into sin and have been alienated from a holy God. When Jesus gave his life as a ransom, our slave masters, sin and death and the Devil, had to give up their claim on us. And the result was that we could be adopted into the family of God.

Our believing does not cause new birth. The new birth causes our belief.

God designed human fatherhood to be a portrait of himself.

You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace till they rest in you.

It was a very costly love. A very powerful love. A very rugged, painful love. The meaning of Christmas is the celebration of this love. "God so loved . . ." And wonder of wonders, God gives this costly love to an undeserving world of sinners, like us.