Weird Quote from John Piper

Piper says,

“We will never recognize the truth of Jesus until our will is to do God’s will, namely, to love the glory of God above our own. … you will NEVER KNOW THIS ABOUT HIM (and thus never receive him for who he is) UNLESS YOU HAVE A WILL THAT INCLINES to do the will of God. How shall someone know if Jesus’ teaching is of God? A person shall know (according to a literal rendering) “if one is willing to do his (that is, God’s) will.” THE CONDITION OF KNOWING IS WILLING. … a certain kind of willing (or wanting or desiring or inclining or preferring) must precede our receiving Christ … a certain kind of willing must precede our knowing, our recognizing, that Christ is worthy of being received. … you have to want Jesus in order to receive Jesus … YOU HAVE TO WANT YOUR LIFE TO BE SHAPED BY THE WILL OF GOD IN ORDER TO EVEN RECOGNIZE JESUS. (All quotes in this note taken from http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/
1986/568_Preparing_to_Receive_Christ_Willing_to_Do_the_Will_of_God/)

This is strange. How can someone want to obey God, if they don’t know who the True God is? Or is Piper saying you can know Jehovah, without knowing who Christ is? He does say, “you have to want your life to be shaped by the will of God in order to recongize Jesus”.  I mean, can you want to obey 1/3 of the Trinity — the Father — and not know about the other 1/3 (Christ)? Of course not. I suppose Piper thinks unbelievers already deep down know 1/3 of God already. And then when an unbeliever “gets religion” and starts doing more works, God rewards the unbeliever with the ability to recognise Jesus. So “Christ” is kind of like the bonus that unbelievers get when they start getting self-righteous (establishing a righteousness of their own). The reward for unbelievers when they start to DO SOMETHING (you know, get a little “holier”), is that God will give them the ability to recognize Christ (according to Piper).

Piper says,

1) “You have to want your life to be shaped by the will of God”

2) “IN ORDER to recognize Jesus”

This is just another way of saying

1) You must establish a righteousness of your own

BEFORE

2) God will give you the righteousness of Christ

(Warning — Piper will say that God helps you establish your own righteousness, and then will give you Christ’s righteousness as your reward. He says, “… in order to recognize the divine truth of Jesus’ teaching the rebellion of your will must be overcome so that it wills what God wills”. So he saying, that before you are saved, God will first make you a little holier / more moral (God will improve your affections/desires — your will). And after God has made you a little more righteous, then he will give you Christ’s righteousness. Now, Piper will say that since it is God that makes you a little more righteous, then God is getting all the glory in salvation. But pause and think. Does Christ get all the glory, if he FAILED to fulfill the Law COMPLETELY? If we must FINISH OFF what he failed to do, then is God getting all the glory? Because Piper is saying that we must first be made a little more righteous before God will give us Christ’s righteousness. So that means Christ’s righteousness is NOT ENOUGH, according to Piper. We need to help Christ out, says Piper, by finishing off what he failed to do.)

I’m not making this up! These are the words from John Piper’s mouth

“We will never recognize the truth of Jesus until our will is to do God’s will…  you will NEVER KNOW THIS ABOUT HIM (and thus never receive him for who he is) UNLESS YOU HAVE A WILL THAT INCLINES to do the will of God”

Wow. This is equivalent to saying

1) We will not have Christ’s righteousness imputed to us

UNLESS 2) We first establish a righteousness of our own

OK, now everyone will say I am misrepresenting Piper. So I want to post a few more quotes from him. He says,

“Preparing to Receive Christ: Willing to Do the Will of God … you have to want your whole life to be shaped by the will of God in order to even recognize Jesus. … a certain kind of willing must precede our knowing, our recognizing, that Christ is worthy of being received. …  Prepare Your Hearts to Receive the Lord … Prepare your hearts this advent season to receive the Lord for who he really is. Cultivate a love for the glory of God. If you wanted to develop a love for the glory of classical music, you would study it and spend time talking with people who love it, and you would listen and listen and listen.

Piper is right, than when you want to become good at something in life, you practice it. But I’m not sure why he uses this analogy. Is he saying, that in order to have Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, we need to get righteous first ourselves? That to know about Christ’s righteousness and THE WORK he has done, we must first do some works ourselves?

Let’s keep going. How can you want your “life to be shaped by the will of God in order to even recognize Jesus”? Here Piper seems to be saying 1) You must love God (want to obey Him) BEFORE 2) you know he loves you. Or, to put it another way — he is saying a) You must have appreciation, gratitude and will to obey God out of thanks BEFORE you know b) who Christ is and what He did.

But how can a man love God, if he doesn’t know and understand what Christ has done?

This raises a few questions. Suppose the local doctor’s name is Dr Healer and there is a sick person in town called Mr Dying. Now, must Mr. Dying “want to have his medical life influenced by Dr Healer BEFORE he can recognize who Dr Healer is?”  OK, let’s not stop now. Imagine a little girl, Mary, will be married in 10 years time to a little boy –  John — she has not yet met. Now, can Mary “want to obey John before she can recognize who John is”?  Indeed, the list of analogies are endless. In the last two analogies, the sick person and Mary were ALIVE. And we see how stupid it is to say that Mary MUST want to love/obey her future husband — John — before she can recognize him. How can she love him, when she doesn’t know anything about him?  But remember Mary is ALIVE.

Now, from earthly to spiritual things. Now the sick person is now longer sick. THEY ARE DEAD and are buried! I suppose, Mr Dead must now “want to have his medical life influenced by Dr Healer, before he can recognize who Dr. Healer is”? And remember Mary and John? Well, Mary tragically lost her hearing and sight and all ability to communicate when she contracted a disease. And she still has never met her future husband John. I guess deaf and blind Mary must “love/want to obey John before she can recognize who he is”?. She’s never met John — has NO IDEA what he is like — and she’s blind and dumb and cannot understand anything, but is totally confused. Yet, she MUST love/want to obey a man she knows nothing about, in order to recognize him!

Sadly, most Calvinists like Piper. They teach that regeneration is an “infusion of grace” or a “change in dispositions of the heart”. They say that this moral changes occurs in someone BEFORE they have faith. These Calvinists teach that God gives someone good dispositions before faith. In other words, they think holy unbelievers exist !!

Clearly, this view of regeneration leads to all sorts of heresies. For instance, it’s made some Calvinists divide unbelievers into two groups. They say, “Oh, it looks like the Holy Spirit is working in this unbeliever … look at their conviction or sin”. The Calvinist then says there’s another group of unbelievers who “resist the workings of the Holy Spirit in them.”

John Owen thought that regeneration was an “infusion of grace” and a “change in dispositions” that happens before faith. Well, this lead Owen to assert that believers could doubt the gospel !! After all, said Owen, as long as you have “good dispositions of the heart” you are regenerate. He writes,

” When the saints enter into rest … Faith shall be heightened into vision, as was proved before; which doth not destroy its nature, but cause it to cease as unto its manner of operation towards things invisible. If a man have a weak, small faith in this life, with LITTLE EVIDENCE AND NO ASSURANCE, so that HE DOUBTS OF ALL THINGS, QUESTIONS ALL THINGS, and HATH NO COMFORT from what he doth believe; if afterward, through supplies of grace, he hath a mighty prevailing evidence of the things believed, is filled with comfort and assurance; this is not by a faith or grace of another kind than what he had before…” {http://www.reformed.org/books/owen/vol7/spiritual_006.html}

My response: Owen says that believers can have a faith with “no assurance” (his words) !! The “greatest Puritan” John Owen said believers can have a faith which “doubts all things”!!!

It makes sense that Owen said that someone can doubt the gospel, and still be saved. After all, Owen said that regeneration was a change in dispositions. So, as long as you have a change in dispositions you’re regenerate. Now, that means that someone can doubt the gospel and still be regenerate!!

On the other hand, if you teach that regeneration is a change of mind about the gospel, then anyone who doubts the gospel is not regenerate. If they were regenerate, they would have had the change of mind.

Here are some Scripture that teaches that regeneration is ONLY the Holy Spirit giving someone a change of mind about the gospel.

“the dead SHALL HEAR THE VOICE of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” Jn 5:25

Paul says: “for in Christ Jesus I begot you THROUGH THE GOSPEL” 1 Cor 4:15-17

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, BY THE WORD of God.” 1 Pet 1:23

Now, there is so much confusion out there about what in means to have Christ “in you”. Most Calvinists seem to think that their “christ” or “holy spirit” witnesses to their spirits APART FROM THE BIBLE. The Puritans thought that God “called” them to the ministry OUTSIDE THE BIBLE. But the Holy Spirit does not utter a single syllable outside the Scriptures.

In fact, since the Holy Spirit and Christ are 100% God, they are equally present everywhere. This means that when the Bible says Christ “abides” in a believer, it means that the THOUGHTS of a person have become Christ like. It also means that God the Holy Spirit CONVICTS our consciences that the Bible is true.

The problem with the Pharisees is that did “not have His WORD ABIDING ” in them. Jn 5:38

For believers, is “THROUGH FAITH Christ may dwell in your hearts” Eph 3:17

Let’s move onto sanctification. To sanctify means to set apart. Believers are commanded to think thoughts that are true and not false. They are to set apart their mind for the task of deducing more and more truth. Also, they are to physically labor. They are to set apart time and energy for work to support their family and other believers.

Now, what about love, joy, and peace in believing? Do all believers have these? Yes, these are “the fruits of the Spirit.” But how does the Spirit make a believer joyful? Is it through a warm-fuzzy feeling in their stomach? Is it through speaking nonsense (in “tongues”)?

No. The only reason a believer loves God is because they intellectually know that he has justified them by Christ’s work. “We love Him because He first loved us.”

And how do they know Christ died and obeyed the Law for them? By Scripture. So we see that believers deduce their election from the Scripture (the Scripture says that all who believe are elect, I believe, therefore I am elect.) And the moment someone knows they are justified from all things, they will REJOICE.

Thus, when a believer says “Praise God”, it is solely because that believer knows by the Scripture that all who believe are justified and since they believe, they conclude “I am justified”.

This means that love, peace and joy do NOT come from prayer, or taking communion. Instead believers pray BECAUSE they know in their minds they are justified. And believers take communion BECAUSE they know Christ their propitiation.

ALL sanctification occurs BY THE WORD

“sanctify them BY THE TRUTH”, Jn 17.

“sanctified, BY FAITH that is toward Me.” Acts 26:18

“as newborn babes desire the pure soul-nourishing milk [THE BIBLE], that you may GROW BY IT” 1 Pet 2:2

The reason most Calvinists doubt their salvation is because they do not understand the doctrines of regeneration or sanctification. They are looking for mystical “motions” of their “holy spirit” in themselves. They say that a “mere assent to the gospel” is not saving faith. So they are always wondering if they have saving faith.

I was talking to a man the other day who said “we cannot describe what saving faith is in words.” This man — as long as he holds this to this damnable heresy — cannot have assurance (knowledge) of salvation.

Think about it. In order to know we are saved, we need to know that we have the “equally precious faith” of the apostles. Now, if saving faith is “beyond words” that means that the apostles could not have described their faith in the Scripture. And if the faith of the apostles is “beyond words” we can NEVER know whether or not we have the same faith as they did. If saving faith is “beyond words” we cannot even know any other believers. After all, another believer would never be able to describe their belief (if it’s beyond words)!!

In the Scripture, saving faith is simply believing/assenting to the propositions that

1) the God-man Jesus Christ lay down His life for the sheep (died according to the Scriptures) and

2) Christ obeyed the Law and imputes His righteousness to all who believe.

If that is saving faith, then a believer can NEVER doubt their salvation. They will know BY THE WORD that “the one abiding in the doctrine of Christ HAS THE FATHER AND THE SON” (2 Jn 9) and that “everyone that BELIEVES that Jesus is the Christ is BORN OF GOD.” (1 Jn 5:1)

Full assurance of salvation is the privilege of every believer.

Reference

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1986/
568_Preparing_to_Receive_Christ_Willing_to_Do_the_Will_of_God

John Piper — Pied Piper?

John Piper says,

“Jews [were] schooled in the Old Testament … IT SHOULD MAKE US TREMBLE to think that a people who had such a strong God consciousness and who BELIEVED that God would keep his promises could nevertheless be called a “brood of vipers” and be threatened with hell fire. Are there not religious people today who don’t believe this much but feel secure?” {1}

Piper is certainly consistent. He says that UNREGENERATE Jews believed the promises of God, and had a “God consciousness”. Piper then concludes that believers should therefore “tremble”. Now that’s consistency. If Piper is right when he says a) the LOST Jews believed the promises of God and had a God consciousness, it does logically follow that b) even if you believe the promises of God you can be lost.

Piper makes his teaching even clearer when he writes,

“we can believe the promises of God and still be lost” (Future Grace, p199).

And why is this so? Why can someone who believes God’s promises be under God’s wrath?

The answer is simple – just remember one thing – Piper is consistent. He holds to the view that unbelievers have truth, light, knowledge, understanding in them and a conscience convicted by God’s law.

And it’s just a small step between saying 1) there are lost people who believe and 2) saying there are believers who are lost.

I now want to post a long and important quote from Piper. Here he expounds upon his view that unbelievers a) already know the difference between truth and falsehood, and b) have a “deep sense of Christ’s truth in their hearts”.

While reading this quote, ask yourself.

If BOTH unbelievers and believers “deep down know the difference between truth and falsehood”, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN believers and non-believers? If unregenerate people have a “deep sense of Christ’s truth already in their hearts” – then, what is faith?

Here is Piper’s explanation of what an unbeliever is –


===== “Jesus [says] “One of you will betray me.” In verse 25 Judas says, “Is it I, Master?” And Jesus says, “You have said so.” … “You have said so,” is an indirect way of saying Yes, and at the same time calling attention to what the other person really knows deep down. “YOU have said so.” Your words betray SOMETHING DEEP WITHIN YOU that is being concealed, perhaps even concealed from yourself.” “YOU have said so. SOMETHING IN YOU KNOWS the answer to your question. DEEP INSIDE YOU see that it is so and you fear that it is so, and so you ask defensively and skeptically whether it is so. Your heart betrays you; you have seen that it is so. And you say so.” Are there any illustrations of this in our society today—instances of DEEPLY KNOWING A TRUTH and yet feeling so threatened by that truth that we deny it (even perhaps call it blasphemy) and yet can’t deny it fully? … ***DEEP DOWN EVERYONE*** knows this truth—that THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG, ***TRUE AND FALSE***, murder and justified killing is rooted in something greater and more objective than an individual’s choice. We knew this truth… Deep down we know so much truth that we fear and therefore deny. We sense in the depth of our souls that Jesus is the true Messiah and Lord, and that the unborn are true human beings; but the truth is so threatening to our sovereign self-determination or just to our way of life, that we hold down the truth and even become blind to what we know. … My heart’s desire this morning as I speak to you is that you all would own up to the DEEP SENSE OF CHRIST’S TRUTH THAT IS ALREADY IN YOUR HEART. {2} =====


Wow. Are you scatching your head in wonder? There seems to be NO difference between believers and unbelievers INTELLECTUALLY (according to Piper).

Non-believers have a “deep sense of Christ’s truth already in their hearts” and “know the difference between true and false”.

So as far as their THOUGHTS, UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE go, believers and unbelievers are basically in the same boat (according to Piper).

=====“the basic reason why [unregenerate] people do not own up to the truth of what he teaches is not that they lack sufficient evidence, but that their wills—or we could say their hearts—are against God. The fundamental PROBLEM IS NOT INTELLECTUAL BUT MORAL. The great obstacle to recognizing the truth of Christ is not deficient resources but deep rebellion against God.” {3}=====


And elsewhre he says,


===== “every person we know, and every person we will ever talk to, already knows God, deep down, and knows God’s law. That is an astonishing truth for everyone who wants to communicate the gospel. Think on it specifically for a moment. … everyone knows God, in the sense that everyone knows that God exists and that he is “eternal” and “powerful” and “glorious” and “beneficent.” At least that much … is made known in nature and is buried somewhere in the subconscious of every person – in some deep, and in some just beneath the surface. We may suppress it, but we know it. It is there, and it has effects on our lives. … everyone knows not only that God exists and is eternal and powerful and glorious and beneficent, but also that God has a “righteous ordinance” … What Does this Mean for Evangelism? Not that everyone you talk to will necessarily admit that he or she knows this. But you come to them with the tremendous (Biblical) confidence that you are NOT STARTING FROM SCRATCH IN ESTABLISHING THE TRUTH IN THEIR SOUL. THEY ARE NOT BLANK TABLETS. They may have buried it, distorted it, hidden it, drugged it, run from it by overwork or excessive play and entertainment; but you know it is there.
… You speak with the confidence that what you are saying CAN RING TRUTH WITH SOMETHING DEEP INSIDE OF THEM. {4} =====



Now, can everyone see the foundation of John Piper’s theology? Is the fundamental idea – the presupposition – of Piper’s teaching now clear for all to see?

He is saying that “deep down in everyone’s heart is truth”.

And so Piper MUST say that faith is MORE than believing the truth. He is FORCED to say that saving faith is something more than a simple belief in God’s promise, because unbelievers already have a “deep sense of Christ’s truth” in their hearts and “know the difference between … truth and false”.

Now, if unbelievers already have truth in them, WHAT IS CONVERSION?

Obviously, Piper CANNOT say that conversion is simply the “enlightening of the mind”, “coming to your senses”, being “begotten by the word”, “hearing and believing” Christ’s Gospel, “receiving the testimony of God” (1 Jn 5:1), “hearing a voice coming behind you”, “hearing Christ’s voice” (Jn 10).

For Piper, conversion is NOT the above. It simple CANNOT be, because Piper says that unbelievers already have a “deep sense of Christ’s truth”, and “know the difference between truth and false”, SO conversion must be something ON TOP of knowing the truth.

And for Piper, that’s FEELING or DOING something. That’s conversion – and that’s all conversion ever will be for John Piper, as long as he holds to the view that unbelievers have truth in them.

Thus, Piper says,

===== “What God leads you to is repentance, … [you] turn to Jesus IN HUMILITY {5} =====

===== This is the meaning of repentance: a turning of the direction of our life and the AFFECTIONS of our heart, so that we become oriented on God {6} =====

===== “LOVE to God is the main thing in saving faith … faith is by NO MEANS … SEPARATE FROM THE AFFECTIONS” (The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p79) =====

So for Piper, when God gives an unbeliever faith, he doesn’t simply “give him an understanding” (1 Jn 5) that the Gospel is true. God would be wasting his time. The unbeliever already has understanding, knowledge and truth. Remember, according to Piper, “The fundamental PROBLEM IS NOT INTELLECTUAL BUT MORAL.”

Thus, Piper is forced to say that conversion is God making a man “humble”, “affectionate”, and “loving”.

Wow. This is not exactly black and white.

When God converts unbelievers, does he always make turn them into the same level of humility? Just HOW affectionate does God make these unbelievers?

Piper never tells us.

In fact, he resorts to VAGUE, mystical statements such as:

===== “SOMETHING has to happen deep down in the root of our will to remove the rebellion against God that we all have by nature. SOMETHING has to happen to take away our antagonism against the authority of God. …. our hard, fallen, rebellious will must become soft and docile and compliant” =====

But HOW can God make an unbeliever “docile and compliant”.

According to Piper, the unbeliever already “has a deep sense of Christ’s truth”, and “knows the difference between true and false”. Now if CHRIST’S TRUTH in your mind cannot make you “docile and compliant”, WHAT CAN?

If the knowledge of the True God cannot make you “soft and compliant”, what in the world can?

“SOMETHING”???

Is that actually Piper’s answer? “Something will happen”. Thanks a lot for the clear and logical explanation, John.

Now, anybody should be able to see where this is leading.

Thus far, Piper has told us – a) that unbelievers already believe the truth, so b) an unbeliever is converted when they become a bit more humble.

It’s now easy to see Piper’s grand conclusion. And what is John Piper’s last word?

He says we can never be sure we are saved.

And how could we, if we hold to his teaching? If you agree with Piper that, “we can believe the promises of God and still be lost” (Future Grace, p199), THEN you might well be a “lost believer” (according to Piper). Ha! There goes your assurance.

And if you agree with Piper that conversion is when “Something happens … deep down … where we become docile, soft and compliant”.

If you agree with that – how can you ever be sure you are sufficiently docile? Or how do you know you are soft and compliant enough? Anyways, there are multitudes of sincere, moral people in hell. E.g. the Jews who had a “zeal for God” but “not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:3).

So when Piper tells you, “You can believe and be lost”, and “Conversion = becoming humble”, its no wonder he also says,

=====”DEMAND FOR A KIND OF ABSOLUTE, mathematical CERTAINTY about [your] right standing with God is ASKING FOR TOO MUCH.”(When I Don’t Desire God, p217-218) =====

It’s asking for too much, people. You simply CANNOT have “certainty about your right standing” if you hold to Piper’s teaching. That’s his words, not mine.

Now, by saying that humility = faith, Piper has made humility the ground of a man’s confidence before God. He writes,

===== “The evidence that the Holy Spirit presents to our own spirits and to the community is first of all the evidence of love. The Spirit puts within us a HUMBLE heart of love and so gives EVIDENCE of his presence and power…. Assurance will diminish in the presence of concealed sin…We must often wait patiently for the return of assurance.” {7} =====

So if you follow Piper’s view that humility = faith, you confidence before God will go up and down depending on how humble you are. After all, unbelievers have truth in them already – so having the truth in you can’t give you hope you are elect. No way! The truth is so common (according to Piper), everyone has it is them. So you can’t have “peace and joy IN BELIEVING” (Romans 15:13), if you subscribe to Piper’s view. You might as well base your assurance on the fact you have a belly button. Because just as everyone has belly button’s, so does every single person “deep down have a sense of Christ’s truth”.

This is why Piper HAS to base his assurance on his humility. The truth is common to all men, so it can’t assure him (even reprobates have the truth in them, according to JP). So it’s our humility, affections and “softness” that gives us assurance we are saved. But only God knows how we became humble and affectionate! It certainly wasn’t being “begotten by the truth” that made us humble. Because unbelievers have the truth in them – and they’re not humble – so it can’t be the truth that makes you humble. (CAN ANYONE SEE WHERE PIPER’S THEOLOGY LEADS???)

Now…

What if I said that unbelievers have “no light in them” (Isa 8:20)? What does it mean for us, if unbelievers are “without understanding” (Rom 1:31), “darkened in the intellect” (Eph 4:18) and that their “thoughts” are “blinded” (2 Cor 4:4) ? What logically follows if the unbeliever has “no knowledge of the Just God and Savior” (Isa 45:20) ?

If the unbeliever has no knowledge in his conscience of the True God, it logically follows that if we do believe in the True God and Christ, then we are believers. And because the unbeliever is completely in the dark that would mean that believers would never have to worry about whether or not they are saved. The light of Christ “shining in their hearts” (2 Cor 4:6) would be sufficient to prove to them at all times they are saved.

The Apostle John doesn’t say we need to have a “heart-felt faith” or an “affectionate faith” to know we are born of God. He simply says if we have a belief that Jesus is the Christ — that is, the Sovereign Savior of the Elect — then we are born of God. Of course, we will have affections and love towards God. But we can only love God if we know he has saved us. And how can we know that? John says that the belief is enough to prove to us, that we are born of God.

The view that unbelievers have no knowledge means that the knowledge believers have, proves to them at all times they are saved. The believer can think, “I have a simple belief in the True Gospel, so I must be a believer.” But Piper’s view that the lost believe the truth destroys the believer’s assurance of salvation. Because Piper would try to make us think, “I believe the truth, but so do unbelievers, so maybe I’m an unbeliever.” His view causes doubting and uncertainty. The Biblical one, however, eliminates all uncertainty and liberates from doubting. Believers would indeed “hold fast to the boldness and rejoicing in the hope firm to the end” (Heb 3) because their knowledge of the truth would prove to them at all times they are saved. They would draw near to God with an “full assurance of FAITH”, because they would know that only the elect can believe the truth.

Further Reading

What about Romans 1? http://psalms.pbwiki.com/Rom1

And Romans 2? http://psalms.pbwiki.com/Rom2

See also http://psalms.pbwiki.com


== References ==

{1} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1981/
281_John_the_Baptist_and_the_Brood_of_Vipers/

{2} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1990/718
_You_will_see_the_Son_of_Man_Seated_at_the_Right_Hand_of_Power_and_Coming_on_the_Clouds_of_Heaven/

{3} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1986/568
_Preparing_to_Receive_Christ_Willing_to_Do_the_Will_of_God/

{4} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1998/
1057_Doing_and_Endorsing_Evil/

{5} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1998/
105_Gods_Response_to_Hypocrisy_Kindness_and_Judgment/

{6} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1981/
281_John_the_Baptist_and_the_Brood_of_Vipers/

{7} http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1985/
488_Test_the_Spirits_to_See_Whether_They_Are_of_God/

John Piper Quotes on the left.

Scripture on the right, summarized by the acronym LOGIC.

Take Note — Piper has just said that unbelievers have truth in them.

Now, is it a coincidence that Piper also teaches that faith is MORE than possessing the truth. Since he says unbelievers have truth in them, this FORCES PIPER to say that faith is more than believing the truth. 

Did you notice something? Because Piper says that faith is more than belief — faith is hard to define — he therefore concludes that believers will often be left wondering if they have faith (since no one can say exactly what faith is, we can never know if we have faith (it’s mystical!), according to Piper)

Wow. Can you see how all Piper’s points are intertwined?

Piper says faith is emotional / a commitment. So someone without the knowledge of imputed righteousness, can be a believer because their sincerity proves they are saved, according to Piper. Faith = sincerity, says Piper, so people zealous for the name of “Jesus” are saved, even if the Jesus they are preaching is a false, nonexistent christ (the christ that died for billions who will never be saved)

This gets back to the original point. Piper says that faith is more than possessing the truth, since he thinks that all men already have some truth in them. So faith something more than belief. Piper chooses to make faith = love. Therefore, Arminians — who are often loving and sincere (of a false god who is overpowered by man) — may still go to heaven, even though they are ignorant of imputed righteousness (the Gospel)

Obviously Piper wants every excuse he can get for doubting his salvation. Not to mention providing a false comfort for people who doubt in his congregation. So he uses the Psalms — which are actually describing Christ under the Father’s wrath — to try to prove David and believers can doubt their salvation. He is basically saying believers will experience what Christ experienced on the cross!! So much for there being “no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus”.

“I will NOT give My Glory to another” — that includes America

Paul said in Galatians we are to glory ONLY in the cross of Christ. Indeed, Paul didn’t want to be known by his nationality — he couldn’t care less that he was a Jew. He associated his former patriotism with false religion, dead works, and self-righteousness (Phil 3:6-9).

Do you stand for the offense of the cross, or for pathetic patriotic displays? Notice that Paul never said “God Bless Israel”. He knew that the conditional covenant has now passed away. The system of God blessing/cursing a nation based on national obedience was a temporary set-up with Israel. In fact, the whole point of the conditional covenant (between God and man) perpetually failing was to show that MAN CANNOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE COVENANT. See John 6 — the covenant of Grace is between the Father and the Son. The elect sinner does NOT contribute to the “sure and steadfast” covenant, he merely reaps the benefits of it.

The Father’s covenant with Christ is that “all that the father gives to him shall come to him”. On the topic — you wonder how can we say, “God Bless America”, when the vast majority of Americans are reprobates (non-elect, never in the covenant) anyways? Does God love those Christ never died for? Of course not. God has determined from all eternity to make most Americans a display of his wrath. “FEW are chosen” from America — or any country — and the “rest are hardened”. (By the way, I say this as someone who is a US citizen by birth and desire to see all the Sheep saved who happen to live in the US)

So what’s my point? Songs like “God Bless America”, “The Star-spangled Banner”, and “America The Beautiful” glorify a nation. But Paul says the nations seek after unrighteousness (Rom 9:30). So how can we glorify America — an unrighteous nation?

Let’s be like Paul and glory only in Christ, not in where we live, or where we were born.

“Let the WORD OF CHRIST” — not the words of men — “dwell in you richly, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Col 3:16)

Here are paraphrases of some Psalms.

The Morning Star Banner (to the tune of the US National Anthem)

God Bless Almighty Christ (to the tune of “God Bless America”)

Christ Not Beautiful In Men’s Eyes (to the tune of “America the Beautiful”)