John Piper Quotes

This is why it is often called sovereign grace: it raises the dead. The dead do not raise themselves. God does by his grace. And it is this "glorious grace" that will be praised for all eternity. ~ John Piper

Neither Muslims nor anyone else truly worships the true God if they reject Jesus as he really is in the Gospels. ~ John Piper

Now comes the really amazing part. What is offered to the world, to everyone who hears the gospel, is not a love or saving achievement designed for all and therefore especially for no one; but rather, what is offered is the absolute fullness of all that Christ achieved for his elect. ~ John Piper

The fears that the few good things that make you happy are slipping through your fingers, and the frustrations that the bad things you hate about yourself or your situation can't be changed - these fears and these frustrations are what Christmas came to destroy. ~ John Piper

The bloodline of Christ is deeper than the bloodlines of race. ~ John Piper

Redemption, salvation, and restoration are not God's ultimate goal. These He performs for the sake of something greater: namely, the enjoyment He has in glorifying Himself. ~ John Piper

I sometimes fear that we have so redefined conversion in terms of human decisions and have so removed any necessity of the experience of God's Spirit, that many people think they are saved when in fact they only have Christian ideas in their head not spiritual power in their heart. ~ John Piper

This point is often missed by evangelical feminists. They conclude that a difference in function necessarily involves a difference in essence; i.e., if men are in authority over women, then women must be inferior. The relationship between Christ and the Father shows us that this reasoning is flawed. One can possess a different function and still be equal in essence and worth. Women are equal to men in essence and in being; there is no ontological distinction, and yet they have a different function or role in church and home. Such differences do not logically imply inequality or inferiority, just as Christ's subjection to the Father does not imply His inferiority. ~ John Piper

The great barrier to worship among God's people is not that we are always seeking our own satisfaction, but that our seeking is so weak and half-hearted that we settle for little sips at broken cisterns when the fountain of life is just over the next hill. ~ John Piper

I feel a special calling to impart hope to the church I serve. ~ John Piper

The wonder of marriage is woven into the wonder of the gospel of the cross of Christ, and the message of the cross is foolishness to the natural man, and so the meaning of marriage is foolishness to the natural man. ~ John Piper

One of these days lightning is going to fill the sky from the
rising of the sun to its setting, and there is going to appear in the
clouds one like a son of man with his mighty angels in flaming
fire. And we will see him clearly. And whether from terror or
sheer excitement, we will tremble and we will wonder how, how
we ever lived so long with such a domesticated, harmless Christ. ~ John Piper

Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel. ~ John Piper

And, Father, most of all, you taught
Me there's a Pow'r in love that naught
Can thwart, and that it moves where truth
And courage speak, and neither youth
Nor age can hinder its success,
But only fear and quietness. ~ John Piper

The fruit of love is worked in us through the Spirit 'by hearing with faith.' The Spirit will not bear his fruit in us apart from our faith. Why is this?..The answer seems to be that the Holy Spirit loves to glorify the all-satisfying dependability of Christ and his Word. If the Holy Spirt simply caused acts of love in the human heart without any clear, ongoing causal connection with faith in Christ's promises, then it would not be plain that Christ is honored through love. ~ John Piper

Does not the Old Testament promise that God will prosper His people? Indeed! God increases our yield so that by giving we can prove that our yield is not our god. God does not prosper a man's business so he can move from a Ford to a Cadillac. God prospers a business so that thousands of unreached peoples can be reached with the gospel. ~ John Piper

Woe to us if we get our satisfaction from the food in the kitchen and the TV in the den and the sex in the bedroom with an occasional tribute to the cement blocks in the basement! ~ John Piper

Too many Christians are fighting graduate school sins with a grammar school knowledge of God. ~ John Piper

God created us with sexual passion so that there would be language to describe what it means to cleave to him in love and what it means to turn away from him to others. ~ John Piper

Nothing sobers a wandering philosophical imagination like the thought of having a wife and children to support. ~ John Piper

Do you feel loved by God because you believe he makes much of you, or because you believe he frees you and empowers you to enjoy making much of him? ~ John Piper

The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. It is impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ's sake and count it gain. John Piper ~ Ryan J. Murphy

Let us labor to memorize the Word of God
for worship and for warfare. If we do not carry it in our heads, we cannot savor it in our hearts or wield it in the Spirit. ~ John Piper

Out of the freedom from worry that God's generosity provides comes an impulse toward simplicity rather than accumulation. ~ John Piper

Spiritual leadership is knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative to get them there by God's means in reliance on God's power. ~ John Piper

The ultimate purpose of life is to show that Jesus is more precious than life. ~ John Piper

Are you able - theologically, personally, and resource-wise - to be harmoniously, sweetly, and deeply in love with Jesus together in marriage? ~ John Piper

I know God's voice. I've seen God's hand. If the Lord is my helper, why should I be afraid? ~ John Piper

An eye for beauty instead of bleakness might have lightened some of his load. ~ John Piper

The one God has chosen unconditionally he keeps invincibly. Being and staying a believer is decisively of sovereign grace. ~ John Piper

CHRISTIAN LIVING MOVES from what God has freely done for us in Christ to what we should freely do for others. ~ John Piper

You get one pass at life. That's all. Only one. And the lasting measure of that life is Jesus Christ. ~ John Piper

You will leave all your material wealth behind, but a wealth of knowledge goes with you. ~ John Piper

We have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.' There are no U-Hauls behind hearses. ~ John Piper

Pastors and missionaries (need) to know God and to find in him a Treasure more satisfying than any other person or thing or relationship or experience or accomplishment in the world. ~ John Piper

Being persuaded that Christ and his promises are factual is not by itself saving faith. That is why some professing Christians will be shocked at the last day, when they hear him say, "I never knew you,' even though they protest that he is "Lord, Lord." Believing that Christ and his promises are true, based on a testimony, is a necessary part of faith. But it is not sufficient to turn faith into saving faith. ~ John Piper

. . . the only legitimate reason that kingship is not attractive to us is because in this age and this world the only kings available are finite and sinful. Listen to C. S. Lewis describe why he believes in democracy:

A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true. . . I find that they're not true without looking further than myself. I don't deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation. . . . The real reason for democracy is . . . Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.1

If there could be a king who is not limited in his wisdom and power and goodness and love for his subjects, then monarchy would be the best of all governments. If such a ruler could ever rise in the world - with no weakness, no folly, no sin - then no wise and humble person would ever want democracy again.

The question is not whether God broke into the universe as a king. He did. The question is: What kind of king is he? What difference would his kingship make for you? ~ John Piper

Sometimes what we need from the Bible is not the fulfillment of our dream, but the swallowing up of our failed dream in the all-satisfying glory of Christ. We do not always know the path of deepest joy. ~ John Piper

We will never stand in awe of being loved by God until we reckon with the seriousness of our sin and the justice of his wrath against us. But when, by grace, we waken to our unworthiness, then we may look at the suffering and death of Christ and say, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the [wrath-absorbing] propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). ~ John Piper

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

Sanctification in any area of our lives always expresses this double dimension - a putting off and a putting on, as it were. Speech and silence, appropriately expressed, are together the mark of the mature.3 ~ John Piper

The one thing God is doing in all of redemptive history is to show forth his mercy in such a way that the greatest number of people will throughout eternity delight in him with all their heart, strength, and mind. ~ John Piper

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. ~ John Piper

Love is doing what will enthrall the beloved with the greatest and longest joy. What will enthrall the beloved this way is the glory of God. Love means doing all we can, at whatever cost to ourselves, to help people be enthralled with the glory of God. When they are, they are satisfied and God is glorified. Therefore loving people and glorifying God are one. ~ John Piper

This assumes that the glory of Christ is our highest treasure, not health, wealth, family or even life. So preaching must continually show not that Jesus is the means to prosperity but that he is better than prosperity. ~ John Piper

For in the end, it is not Edwards or Piper or any other man who compels true faith, but God himself. ~ John Piper

He came to destroy sin because it is fatal. ~ John Piper

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 ~ John Piper

Abstraction is the way to the heart - it is not the heart itself. ~ John Piper

Therefore everything that you enjoy in Christ - as a Christian, as a person who trusts Christ - is owing to the death of Christ. ~ John Piper

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to have a love for the lost? This is a term we use as part of our Christian jargon. Many believers search their hearts in condemnation, looking for the arrival of some feeling of benevolence that will propel them into bold evangelism. It will never happen. It is impossible to love "the lost". You can't feel deeply for an abstraction or a concept. You would find it impossible to love deeply an unfamiliar individual portrayed in a photograph, let alone a nation or a race or something as vague as "all lost people".
Don't wait for a feeling or love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God. ~ John Piper

The hardened disobedience of men's hearts leads not to the frustration of God's plans, but to their fruition. ~ John Piper

All the evils in the world come not because our desires for happiness are too strong, but because they are so weak that we settle for fleeting pleasures that do not satisfy our deepest souls, but in the end destroy them. The root of all evil is that we are the kind of people who settle for the love of money instead of the love of God (1 Timothy 6:10). ~ John Piper

The magnifying of Christ in the white-hot worship of all nations is the reason the world exists. ~ John Piper

Now we see that every experience in life is designed to magnify the cross of Christ. ~ John Piper

May our light shine in this world
so that people see you in our sacrificial deeds of love
and our compromising words of truth
and give glory to your hallowed name,
Father ~ John Piper

His Son and his Book and his world are the revelation of his glory. He has made the knowledge of himself possible. The function of mystery in the awakening of God-glorifying joy is like the unexplored mountain ranges you can barely see from the magnificent cliffs where you worship. You have seen much
if only a fraction. You have climbed. You know these mountains. God has made himself known in the mountain ranges of the Bible in such a way that all the discoveries of eternity will be the revelation of the God you already know truly in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the joy you have in what you know of God is intensified by the expectation that there is so much more to see. The mystery of what you don't know gets its God-glorifying power from what you do know. God ~ John Piper

In our present fallen, rebellious condition, nothing
I say it again carefully
nothing is more crucial for humanity than escaping the omnipotent wrath of God. That is not the ultimate goal of the cross. It is just infinitely necessary
and valuable beyond words. The ultimate goal of the cross
the ultimate good of the gospel
is the everlasting enjoyment of God. The glorious work of Christ in bearing our sins and removing God's wrath and providing our righteousness is aimed finally at this: "Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18). Jesus died for us so that we might say with the psalmist, "I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy" (Ps. 43:4). ~ John Piper

The most glorious thing about God is that he is so completely, fully self-sufficient that the glory of the fullness of his being overflows in truth and grace for his creatures. He doesn't need us. And therefore in his fullness he overflows for us. Such is the grace we receive at Christmas. ~ John Piper

When a sinful person meets the holy God in Christ, what he hears is Yes. God, do you love me? Yes. Will you forgive me? Yes. Will you accept me? Yes. Will you help me change? Yes. Will you give me power to serve you? Yes. Will you keep me? Yes. Will you show me your glory? Yes. ~ John Piper

When this world totally fails, the ground for joy remains. ~ John Piper

Within the church, it is possible for believers to possess a profound unity based on a shared commitment to Biblical truth, an intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a deep level of spiritual maturity. Paul also adds "sound doctrine" and "growing in Christlikeness" as additional benefits that result from the saints being properly equipped to build up the body of Christ."(Comments on Ephesians 4 vs 11-13) ~ John F. MacArthur Jr.

All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white-hot worship of God and His Son among all the peoples of the earth. Missions is not that goal. It is the means. And for that reason it is the second greatest human activity in the world. ~ John Piper

Worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what delights us. There is no such thing as sad adoration or unhappy praise. ~ John Piper

Don't make peace with the sin in your life. ~ John Piper

We belittle God when we go through the outward motions of worship and take no pleasure in His person. ~ John Piper

God owns and controls all things. And there is nothing that he could give you for Christmas this year that would suit your needs and your longings better than the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem, restoration for past losses and liberation from future enemies, forgiveness and freedom, pardon and power, healing the past and sealing the future. ~ John Piper

God's reality is displayed to us in His Word or His world and we do not then feel in our heart any grief or longing or hope or fear or awe or joy or gratitude or confidence, then we may dutifully sing and pray and recite and gesture as much as we like, but it will not be real worship. ~ John Piper

The critical question for our generation - and for every generation
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there? ~ John Piper

If you must choose between loving someone and acting so that they feel loved, always choose to love them. ~ John Piper

Lord, let me make a difference for You that is utterly disproportionate to who I am. ~ John Piper

The mind was designed not to defend what we want, but to discover what is ultimately true, which should shape our wants and satisfy them more deeply with God. The purpose of the mind is not to rationalize subjective preferences, but to recognize objective reality and to help the heart revel in God. ~ John Piper

The infinite reservoir of future grace is flowing back through the present into the ever-growing pool of past grace. The inexhaustible reservoir is invisible except through the promises. But the ever-enlarging pool of past grace is visible; and God means for the certainty and beauty and depth to strengthen our faith in future grace. ~ John Piper

Spot the first risings of your besetting sin and kill it, till it is no more. ~ John Piper

God and his word are the reality we need -- the Rock under our feet. ~ John Piper

Faithfulness is only half the equation. God expects fruitfulness as well. ~ John Piper

We should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experience and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties. ~ John Piper

Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically; it is mainly about displaying the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Being united to Christ by faith is a greater source of marital success than perfect sex and double-income prosperity. ~ John Piper

We do not smirk at the misery or the merrymaking of immoral culture. We weep. Being pilgrims does not mean being cynical. The salt of the earth does not mock rotting meat. Where it can, it saves and seasons. And where it can't, it weeps. ~ John Piper

Headship is the divine calling of a husband to take primary responsibility for Christlike, servant leadership, protection, and provision in the home. ~ John Piper

Our concern with truth is simply an echo of our concern with God . ~ John Piper

But we also need stories. Great stories. ~ John Piper

It is not a bad thing to desire our own good. In fact, the great problem of human beings is that they are far too easily pleased. They don't seek pleasure with nearly the resolve and passion that they should. And so they settle for mud pies of appetite instead of infinite delight. ~ John Piper

Oh, what a grand design! to make our joy the echo of your excellence. To make our pleasure proof that you now hold the place of Treasure in our lives. To make the gladness of our soul the essence of our worship, and the mirror of your worth. To make yourself most glorified in us, oh God, when we are satisfied in you. How could I, Lord, have ever been to so blind to think think that being loved by you means making much of me and not yourself? ~ John Piper

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

The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. ~ John Piper

Many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they feel that God is man-centered ~ John Piper

Truth is grounded in God's Word, not our works. ~ John Piper

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. ~ John Piper

My Paradise: With Christ. Not sinning. No pain. New earth. Precious in that order. ~ John Piper

Waiting for the Lord in a season of darkness should not be a time of inactivity. We should do what we can do. And doing is often God's appointed remedy for despair. ~ John Piper

If gratitude is not rooted in the beauty of God before the gift, it is probably disguised idolatry. May God grant us a heart to delight in him for who he is so that all our gratitude for his gifts will be the echo of our joy in the excellency of the Giver! ~ John Piper

True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in thrush are the bone and marrow of biblical worship. (Desiring God, 81-82) ~ John Piper

Grace is power, not just pardon. ~ John Piper

He loved us to the uttermost. And let us be so moved by this love that it becomes our own. ~ John Piper

The root cause of abortion is the failure to be satisfied in God as our supreme love. And, for all the great legal work that needs to be done to protect human life, the greatest work that needs to be done is to spread a passion - a satisfaction for the supremacy of God in all things. That's our calling. ~ John Piper

Feeling loved by God means feeling glad not only that He crushed His Son so that I can be forgiven, but that He's crushing everything that takes away from my praising of the glory of His grace. ~ John Piper

The fight for joy is first and always a fight to see. ~ John Piper

Obedience does not consist in paying God back and thus turning grace into a trade. Obedience comes from trusting in God for more grace - future grace - and thus magnifying the infinite resources of God's love and power. ~ John Piper

If you hold a grudge, you doubt the Judge. ~ John Piper