The Unforgivable Sin

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin“– Mark 3:28-29

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.  Matt 12:31-32

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life–to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.  All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 1John 5:16-17

Disobedient Christians vs World Missions

“There are only three kinds of Christians when it comes to world missions: zealous goers, zealous senders, and disobedient. May God deliver us from disobedience!”  

John Piper – A Passion for the Supremacy of Christ—Where He Is Not Named – 3 Nov 96

The Holy Spirit Will Glorify Jesus Christ

The Holy Spirit Will Glorify Jesus Christ

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.  John  15:26

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-14

The Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit

The Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. ….For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. …, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  Romans 8:11, 14-16

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 12:3

How Do You Live the Christian Life? Focus on What ? or Focus on Who ?

Are Christians under the 10 Commandments?

Pastor John Piper answered this question posed to him in relation to “How Do You Live the Christian Life?” Is a Christian supposed to focus on something ? Or rather is a Christian suppose to focus on a person: the Lord Jesus Christ who have fulfilled the Law which is the Ten Commandment ?

Love Is a Fulfilling of the Law, Part 3
Romans 13:8-10

What Does Life Look Like Now?

And so the great question that Paul is dealing with now in Romans 12–16 is what does life look like for people who know that by faith alone all their sins are forgiven, and all their condemnation is removed, and all of God’s righteousness in Christ has become their righteousness—what does life look like? How do you live the Christian life? What do you pursue? What do you focus on?

Two Different Answers
Do you say, “Now I am forgiven by faith alone, and now I have the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith alone, and now I have the Holy Spirit within me by faith alone, so now I will go back to the law—the ten commandments, and whatever other commandments there are (Romans 13:9)—and I will focus my new God-given ability on the these commandments and fulfill them”?

No. I don’t think that is the way Paul guides us. I think he wants to speak rather like this: “Now I am forgiven by faith alone, and now I have the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith alone, and now I have the Holy Spirit within me by faith alone, so now I will continue to make my focus Jesus Christ every day, and I will look to him for everything my soul craves. And from my union with Christ, nurtured hour by hour by focusing on Christ as my great Savior and mighty Lord and infinite Treasure, I will love people. Christ will be my focus, love will be my fruit.”
Why Does Paul Want Us to Speak One Way and Not the Other?

Why do I think Paul wants us to speak that way and not the other? Lots of reasons,1 but I close with only one—the one that has been most precious and powerful in my life in the last four and a half years (since I first preached on it): Romans 7:4, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ.” That is, when Christ died to bear the law’s curse you died in him, and when he obeyed in death to fulfill the law’s demands, you obeyed in him. The law is not your focus anymore. What is? Wrong question. The question is, “Who is?” and the next part of the verse gives the stunning answer: You have died to the law through the body of Christ “so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead.”

Paul puts the risen, living Christ where the law was. Once you were alive to the law, but now you belong to Christ. In the place of law is a Person—a great Savior, a mighty Lord, an infinite Treasure. Our daily, hourly focus is now on him—his deliverance, his help, his guidance, the beauty of his love and justice and power and wisdom and truth, and all the joy of knowing him. And what comes of this union with Christ at the end of Romans 7:4?

Fruit.  “. . . so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” And what fruit is that? The fruit is love (Galatians 5:22; 5:6; 1 Timothy 1:5). And, yes, that love does fulfill the law—not perfectly2 (Christ alone has done that for me), but truly, because my life now in Christ has a new spirit, a new passion, new direction.

The Short Answer
That’s a long answer to the question: Why does Paul call for love as a way to fulfill the law instead of directing our focus directly to the law? The short answer would be: because he wants Christ to be glorified as our sin-bearer and our righteousness-provider and our love-enabler through faith alone. Therefore, owe no one anything except to love them. And to that end make Christ your everything.”

Letting God Be God

“We are in no position as creatures to dictate to our Creator what he may or should be like. God is absolute reality. He was there before anything else was, and he did not come into being, but always was. Therefore nobody made him the way he is, and there is no reason he is the way he is. He simply is. That is his name: “I Am Who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). Our role is not to say what can and can’t be in God, but to learn who he is and who we are, and to shape our lives according to his reality – his will. We submit to the way he is. He doesn’t submit to the way we are or the way we think he should be.”

Quote by John Piper from:

The Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness, Part 1
May 26, 2002  by John Piper  Scripture: Romans 8:25-27 | Topic: The Trinity
Series: Romans: The Greatest Letter Ever Written

Similar Posts:

God is beyond comprehension ?

Reflections on the Doctrine of the Trinity

Being Right With God Must Precede Doing Right For God.

“Forgiveness for our sins through faith in Christ must precede and then empower our battle against sin in our lives. Or to put it another way, God’s declaration that we are forgiven and righteous in Christ must precede and enable our transformation into loving, sacrificial, Christ-exalting people. The divine declaration must precede the human transformation. Or to put it one more way: Justification must precede and uphold sanctification. Being right with God must precede doing right for God.“

“The Difference This Makes

It’s the difference between fighting fearfully to get justified and fighting confidently because we are justified.

It’s the difference between your heavenly court-trial being behind you with an irrevocable verdict of not guilty, and your trial being in front of you with the verdict up in the air depending on your performance.

It’s the difference between the freedom of confidence and the bondage of fear.

It’s the difference between giving Christ the double glory of both being our righteousness as well as working righteousness in us, and giving him only the single glory of helping us become our own righteousness.”

Set Free by the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
October 07, 2001 by John Piper
Scripture: Romans 8:1-4
Topic: Sanctification & Growth

The Gospel Song

Holy God in love became
Perfect man to bear my blame
On the cross he took my sin
By his death I live again.

Read here for a blog entry on  “The Gospel Song – An Animation” by Bob Kauflin.

Why Homosexuality is a sin ?

’1. The deepest problem of our lives, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is the terrible exchange of the glory of God for images (verse 23). The exchange of the truth of God for a lie (verse 25). The disapproval of having God in our knowledge (verse 28). Failed worship is our worst disorder. This is beneath all the maladies of the world. Repairing this, not first our disordered sexuality, is our main business in life.

2. The sexual disordering of our lives, most vividly seen in homosexuality (though not only there), is the judgment of God upon the human race because we have exchanged the glory of God for other things. Sometimes people ask, “Is AIDS the judgment of God on homosexuality?” The answer from this text is: homosexuality itself is a judgment on the human race, because we have exchanged the glory of God for the creature – and so is AIDS and cancer and arthritis and Alzheimer’s and every other disease and every other futility and misery in the world, including death. That’s the point of Romans 5:15-18 and Romans 8:20-23, which we looked at when talking about Romans 1:18.

And what we saw there was that those who believe in Jesus Christ and are justified by faith and become the children of God are not taken out of this world of woe, but are given the grace to experience the very judgments of God on the human race as the merciful pathway to holiness and heaven rather than sin and hell.

3. The reason Paul focuses on homosexuality in these verses is because it is the most vivid dramatization in life of the profoundest connection between the disordering of heart-worship and the disordering of our sexual lives. I’ll try to say it simply, though it is weighty beyond words.

We learn from Paul in Ephesians 5:31-32 that, from the beginning, manhood and womanhood existed to represent or dramatize God’s relation to his people and then Christ’s relation to his bride, the church. In this drama, the man represents God or Christ and is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. The woman represents God’s people or the church. And sexual union in the covenant of marriage represents pure, undefiled, intense heart-worship. That is, God means for the beauty of worship to be dramatized in the right ordering of our sexual lives.

But instead, we have exchanged the glory of God for images, especially of ourselves. The beauty of heart-worship has been destroyed. Therefore, in judgment, God decrees that this disordering of our relation to him be dramatized in the disordering of our sexual relations with each other. And since the right ordering of our relationship to God in heart-worship was dramatized by heterosexual union in the covenant of marriage, the disordering of our relationship to God is dramatized by the breakdown of that heterosexual union.

Homosexuality is the most vivid form of that breakdown. God and man in covenant worship are represented by male and female in covenant sexual union. Therefore, when man turns from God to images of himself, God hands us over to what we have chosen and dramatizes it by male and female turning to images of themselves for sexual union, namely their own sex. Homosexuality is the judgment of God dramatizing the exchange of the glory of God for images of ourselves. (See the parallel uses of “exchange” in verses 25 and 26.)

4. Which leads us to one last word: The healing of the homosexual soul, as with every other soul, will be the return of the glory God to its rightful place in our affections.’

extracted from ‘The Other Dark Exchange: Homosexuality, Part 1′ by John Piper preaching on Romans 1:24-28 on 11 Oct 1998

Related Posts:

Thinking Biblically About Homosexuality by John Macarthur

From Homosexuality to Holiness — Living with HIV and Hope

Justification by Faith Alone in Christ Jesus – The centre of Christianity

Pastor John Piper : “This is the centre of Christianity……a Son of God ……..Justification by Faith Alone in Christ Jesus………. put Romans 5:1 beside Rom 8:1 together…..”

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Roman 8:1

‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.‘  Rom 3:22-26

What do you believe about justification by faith alone?
January 23, 2006 by John Piper

John Piper holds to the historic, Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone, which can be summarized in the following four points:

1) The sole ground of our justification is the righteousness of God, expressed in the alien, imputed, active obedience of Christ, climaxing in his sin-bearing, substitutionary death.

2) Faith alone is the sole means of justification. In other words, it is faith only, and not our deeds in any way (whether the external manifestation or the internal God-glorifying motive behind them), that connect us savingly to Jesus Christ.

3) Faith is distinct from its fruit, the obedience of faith, yet faith is of such a nature that it must and will produce love for people and a life of genuine, though imperfect, holiness in this world. Therefore, as the Westminster Confession of Faith (11.2) says, the faith that alone justifies (as the instrument which unites us to Christ, not as the ground or content of our justifying righteousness) is never alone;

4) Therefore, this reality of forensic righteousness, which is imputed to us on the first act of saving faith (as the seed of subsequent persevering faith), is different from transformative sanctification, which is imparted by the work of the Holy Spirit through faith in future grace.

Related Posts:

The Importance of Justification (by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, in Christ Alone)

Purpose of Prayer: Kingdom Oriented Prayer versus Misuse of Prayer

“I have often said that one of the reasons we feel so weak in our prayer lives is that we have tried to make a domestic intercom out of a wartime walkie talkie. Prayer is not designed as an intercom between us and God to serve the domestic comforts of the saints. It’s designed as a walkie talkie for spiritual battlefields. It’s the link between active soldiers and their command headquarters, with its unlimited fire-power and air cover and strategic wisdom.” (John Piper)

“Years ago, when I wrote Let the Nations Be Glad, I argued that prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom. God is more like a general in Command Central than a butler waiting to bring you another pillow in the den. Of course, he is also Father, Lover, Friend, Physician, Shepherd, Helper, King, Savior, Lord, Counselor. But in this fallen world with devils filled, prayer will function best when we keep the frequency tuned to Command Central in the fight of faith.” (John Piper)

‘In wartime prayer takes on a different significance. It becomes a wartime walkie-talkie and no longer a domestic intercom. Jesus said to his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you” (John 15:16). Notice the amazing logic of this verse. He gave them a mission “in order that” the Father would have prayers to answer. This means that prayer is for mission. It is designed to advance the kingdom. That’s why the Lord’s Prayer begins by asking God to see to it that his name be hallowed and that his kingdom come. James warned about the misuse of prayer as a domestic intercom to call the butler for another pillow. He said, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3). Prayer is always kingdom oriented. Even when we pray for healing and for help, it is that that the kingdom purposes of God in the world may advance. Otherwise we have turned a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom. Let us pray with the apostle Paul, “that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified” (2 Thessalonians 3:1).’ (John Piper, “Driving Convictions Behind Foreign Missions”- Conviction #12—Prayer Is a Wartime Walkie-Talkie Not a Domestic Intercom.)

True Worship Must Engage Emotions and Thought.

John Piper describes true worship as:

Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought. Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or half-full) of artificial admirers (like people who write generic anniversary cards for a living). On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.

(DESIRING GOD, Multnomah Press, 1986.)

The Heart of Worship from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

A Good Time to Thank God for John Calvin.

John Calvin born 10 July 1509 - 500th Anniversary

“Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival. John Calvin propounded truth more clearly than any other man who ever breathed, knew more of Scripture, and explained it more clearly.” – C H Spurgeon on the John Calvin

“There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer—I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it.” C H Spurgeon on the doctrines of John Calvin


“The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox’s gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again.”— C H Spurgeon on the doctrines of John Calvin

Two clips on John Calvin from Steve Lawson and John Piper:

1. Pastor Dr Steve J. Lawson speaking on John Calvin he found and wrote in his book “The Expository Genius of John Calvin” available from Reformation Press.

2. Pastor Dr John Piper speaking on John Calvin and why a Desiring God Conference in 2009 with a theme focusing on John Calvin right on the 500th year of his birth.

Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 2 by John Piper

In life, all Christians will go through suffering and pain in varying degrees. As Christians we are urged to be steadfast under trials, tribulations and sufferings and to consider those examples in scriptures like Job, who remained steadfast in faith and triumphed.

In this second sermon from the Book of Job, John Piper urged us to study the Word of God carefully, discover and acknowledge God’s Sovereignty over our lives. Our lives are totally in His hands: “man proposes and God disposes”. The God of the Bible is good, He is not capricious. God can be trusted, we must put our faith in Him.

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Jas 1:12

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19:25-27

Then Job answered the LORD and said:”I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;  therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6

For a transcript of this message by John Piper, follow this link  Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 2

For the first sermon (1 of 2), visit this earlier post : Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 1 by John Piper

Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 1 by John Piper

Watch Pastor John Piper in this excellent sermon from the Book of Job on the Sovereignty of God in the sufferings and pains of God’s children. In the lives and affairs of God’s children, while Satan intends to do evil  through sufferings and destroy faith, God intends for the same sufferings to do good and build faith in His Children and for God’s glory to come through.

For a transcript of this message by Pastor John Piper, follow this link
Job: When the_Righteous Suffer Part 1 by John Piper

Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels

Distortions and Denials of the Gospel’s Promises

Here anything can be a denial of the gospel if you put anything as the treasure that Christ died to bring you above God himself. Christ died to give you Christ, ultimately.

Not ultimately prosperity, health, wealth, self-esteem, family, successful church, reunion with deceased loved ones, lawful behavior, forgiveness of sins, removal of wrath, removal of guilt, escape from hell or anything else.

He died so that you might see and be everlastingly and increasingly satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ.

This is where we must take people. Anything short of this goal is falling short of the gospel, and the reason Christ died and rose again
“How I Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels” by John Piper @ 2008 Resurgence Conference

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Joh 17:3

God is to be magnified by the offensive and “foolishness” nature of true Gospel of Jesus Christ.  God is to be desired above ALL, Christ is to be desired above ALL.  God chose the “foolish” Gospel of a despised and suffering Christ, His only begotten Son.  God by sovereign  grace draw and call  sinners, men and women, to come to Christ by lifting the blindness and allowing  sinners to see the glorious beauty of the Cross of Christ. God’s agape love, shown through His marvelous and amazing grace, brings ALL glory to HIM alone.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1Cor 1:18, 20.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to be preached for the conversion of sinful souls of men and women to repent and turn to Jesus Christ for their only hope for eternity to be with their Creator, we must be careful not to be found perverting it or to be found approving of anyone who does pervert it !