John Piper

Senior Teacher, Desiring God. Chancellor, Bethlehem College and Seminary. Advocate for serious joy in God through Jesus Christ at any cost.

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How to come to God after failure.

“Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.” Daniel 9:18

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“It shows the great and inconceivable power of God to unite natures so infinitely different, as the divine and human nature, in one person. If God can make one who is truly God, and one that is truly man, the self-same person, what is it that he cannot do? This is a greater and more marvellous work than creation.” Jonathan Edwards

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It will look like defeat. Can your view of sovereignty handle this?

“As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.” Daniel 7:21–22

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One hundred million. Whom atomic weapons cannot phase.

“Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before the Ancient of Days.” Daniel 7:10

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Holy boldness.

Daniel to the most powerful man in the empire:

“You have not humbled your heart, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. . . . You have praised the gods of silver and gold . . . but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.” Daniel 5:22–23

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In Job 20 Zophar goes on for 29 verses of completely true statements about how the wicked have no future.

True theology totally misdirected and misused.

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“Whoever does evil has not seen God.” 3 John 11

Though no one has seen God in one sense, there is a miracle of spiritual sight that transforms us.

Seeing the beauty of his holiness makes us love holiness.

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“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 4

Greater joy than in God, John?

No! Rather, my joy in God enlarged by their lived out enjoyment of him.

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“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.” John 13:3–4

He knew that through humility, servanthood, and death, he was going to God.

So do we. It is our strength. As it was his.

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“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever.” Daniel 4:34

Reason returned. Worship restored.

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The meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: “That the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.” Daniel 4:17

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“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:17–18

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“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:25

Love your eternal life with God more than your earthly life with friends.

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“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. . . . Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:1, 4

Praise God for the victorious, faith-creating power of the new birth. The miraculous beginnings of eternal life.

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“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” 1 John 5:1

“Love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God.” 1 John 4:7

Beware of reading one conditional text and thinking it is the only condition.

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“Judas said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” John 12:6

Be shocked. Be utterly amazed at the power of the love of money — that Judas would steal under the very nose of God.

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“If you believe you will see the glory of God.” John 11:40

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“If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” 1 John 3:17

To become a Christian is to have God’s love take up effective residence in the heart.

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“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” 1 John 5:1

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” 1 John 3:14

So faith is a sign of new life, and love is a sign of new life.

Hence: “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6

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Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” John 11:25–26

There will be a kind of dying that is not dying.