ASTONISHED BY GOD

ASTONISHED BY GOD

         - John Piper -

I have finished reading this amazing book, written by the pastor and author John Piper, 'Astonished by God', a few weeks ago.

Some incredible ideas found in this book stuck with me, so I thought it might be worth sharing them with you. Using the term from the book's title, I was also 'astonished' by the greatness of our God, His Glory and His Sovereignity.

The book is divided into ten chapters, representing 'ten (Biblical) truths to turn the world upside down', so I'll just post some quotes from every chapter and hope you'll enjoy reading and meditating on these truths as much as I did. 

1. God is (Exodus 3:13-15)

➸ "The first of these truths is that God is. Or to say it after the way our text (Exodus 3:13-15) puts it, God is who He is. Or to say it more philosophically, God absolutely is. This is the most basic fact and the most ultimate fact. Period. Of the billions of facts that there are, this one is at the bottom and at the top. It is the foundation of all others and the consummation of all others. Nothing is more basic and nothing is more ultimate than the fact that God is.
      Nothing is more foundational than that God is. Nothing is more foundational to your life, or your marriage, or your job, or your health, or your mind, or your future than that God is. Nothing is more foundational to the world, or the solar system, or the Milky Way, or the universe than that God is. And nothing is more foundational to the Bible, and the self-revelation of God, and the glory of the gospel of Jesus than that God is."

➸ "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'" (v.14a). He did not say that was His name. He said, in effect, 'Before you worry about My name, or where I line up among the many gods of Egypt or Babylon or Philistia, and before you wonder about conjuring me with my name, and even before you wonder if I Am the God of Abraham, be stunned by this: I AM WHO I AM. I absolutely am. Before you get My name, get My being.'"

➸ 1. "God's absolute being means He never had a beginning."
     2. "God's absolute being means God will never end."
     3. "God's absolute being means God is absolute reality."
     4. "God's absolute being means that God is utterly independent."
     5. "God's absolute being means that everything that is not God depends totally on God."
     6. "God's absolute being means all the universe is, by comparison to God, as nothing."
     7. "God's absolute being means that God is constant."
     8. "God's absolute being means that He is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty."
     9. "God's absolute being means God does whatever He pleases and it is always right and always beautiful and always in accord with truth."
    10. "God's absolute being means that He is the most important and most valuable reality and the most important and most valuable person in the universe."

➸ "There are no puny or silly creatures in heaven. Only magnificent ones.
      And the point is that not even the seraphim can look upon the Lord, nor do they feel worthy even to leave their feet exposed in His presence. Great and good as they are, untainted by sin or the fall, they revere their Maker in great humility. An angel terrifies a man with his brilliance and power. But angels themselves hide in holy fear and reverence from the splendor of God. He is continually revered."

➸ "He is not holy because He keeps the rules. He wrote the rules! God is not holy because He keeps the law. The law is holy because it reveals God. God is absolute. Everything else is derivative. [...] His holiness is what He is as God, which no one else is or ever will be."

2. The glory of God (Isaiah 43:1-7)

➸ "This is why all things ultimately exist - for the glory of God."

➸ "Someone may ask, 'If earth is the only inhabited planet and man the only rational inhabitant among the stars, why such a large and empty universe?' The answer is, because it's not about us, it's about God. And that's an understatement. God created us to know Him and love Him and show Him. And then He gave us a hint of what He is like. That hint is the universe. The universe is declaring the glory of God, and the reason we exist is to see it and be stunned by it and glorify God because of it."

➸ "Our lives are to be telescopes for the glory of God. We were created to see His glory, to be thrilled by His glory, and to live so as to help others see Him and savor Him for who and what He really is. 
      To know, to love, to show God's glory - this is why the universe exists. If this takes hold of you the way it should, it will affect the way you think and feel about everything. Because now you know why everything exists."

➸ "Grace was not an afterthought in response to the fall of man. It was the plan, because grace is the summit of the mountain of God's glory. And He created the world for His glory. He planned the world for the glory of His grace."

➸ "'Why did God create the world?' And we answer with the Scriptures: God created the world for His glory. God did not create out of need. He did not create the world out of a deficiency that needed to be made up. He was not lonely. He was supremely happy in the fellowship of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He created the world to put His glory on display that His people might know Him and love Him and show Him."

3. Christian Hedonism (Philippians 1:12-26)

➸ "God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. That's the shortest summary of what we mean by Christian Hedonism."

➸ "Paul says that his great passion in life - I hope it's also your great passion in life - is that in this life Christ be seen as great, supremely great. That is why God created us and saved us - to make Christ look like what He really is: supremely great."

➸ "Becoming a Christian not only means believing truth; it means finding a treasure. So evangelism becomes not only persuasion about truth but pointing people to a Treasure - one more valuable than everything they have."

➸ "Since the way to be saved and go to heaven is to embrace Jesus as your source of greatest joy, then hell is a place of suffering, of eternal unhappiness, prepared for people who refuse to be happy in the triune God."

➸ "Deny yourself the wealth of the world so you can have the wealth of being with Christ.
      Deny yourself the fame and approval of the world to have the joy of God's approval.
      Deny yourself the security and safety of the world to have the solid, secure fellowship of Jesus.
      Deny yourself the short, unsatisfying pleasures of the world so that you can have fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at God's right hand."

4. The sovereignty of God (Isaiah 46:8-11)

➸ "The reason God knows the future is because He plans the future and accomplishes it."

➸ "'I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.' (Isaiah 46:11). The reason God's predictions come true is because they are His purposes, and because He Himself performs them.
      God is not a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a mere predictor. He doesn't have a crystal ball. He knows what's coming because He plans what's coming and He performs what He plans."

➸ "If you are a believer in Jesus, if you love Him, you are a walking miracle. God granted you repentance (2 Timothy 2:25). God drew you to Christ (John 6:44). God revealed the Son of God to you (Matthew 11:27). God gave you the gift of faith. 'By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast' (Ephesians 2:8-9). The sovereignty of God in our salvation excludes boasting."

5. The Gospel of God in Christ (Romans 5:1-11)

➸ "We are forgiven so that our guilt does not keep us away from God. We are justified so that our condemnation does not keep us away from God. We are given eternal life now, with new bodies in the resurrection, so that we have the capacities for enjoying God to the fullest."

➸ "The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them."

➸ "The gospel is the good news that God gave us His Son, so as to obtain for us everything that would be good for us. Therefore, the gospel is the power that gives us victory over temptation to despair and to pride and to greed and to lust. The gospel alone can triumph over every obstacle and bring us to eternal joy. Whatever it costs you, stand in it, hold it fast, believe on it, feed on it, savor it, count it more precious than silver or gold. The gospel will save you. And it alone."

6. The call to global missions (Matthew 28:16-20)

➸ "God is passionately committed to the fame of His Name, and that He be worshiped by all the peoples of the world - and this is not egomania, it is Love."

➸ "Missions is a way of saying that the joy of knowing Christ is not a private or tribal or national or ethnic privilege. It is for all. And that's why Christians go. Because we have tested the joy of worshiping Jesus, and we want all the families of the earth included."

➸ "We are to treat prayer like a battlefield walkie-talkie for calling down the power of the Holy Spirit in the struggle for souls."

7. Living the Christian life (2 Thessalonians 1:3-5, 11-12)

➸ "Did you hear both sides of mercy? We were weak and helpless (that's one side), and we were sinners and guilty (that's the other side). Mercy responds to both. Mercy forgives the guilty and mercy pities the helpless."

➸ "Look at the first two phrases of Romans 12:9, 'Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil.'
      Abhor is a really strong word. When you truly love deeply, you will also hate passionately whatever destroys the beloved. But mercy that is from God weeps even as it hates. So mercy hates evil, but in our personal relationships it repays no one evil for evil. Mercy knows what it's like to be hurt and offended, but it does not avenge itself. Mercy knows what is like to have enemies, but it says, 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him.'
       Mercy is not weak. It has an unbreakable backbone, yet is very soft to the touch."

➸ "What can overcome the temptations of the world? What can unmask the lies of the world?
      God can. And He does it by causing us to be born again so that we can see the infinite superiority of the promises of Christ over the promises of the world. The result is that we trust Christ and by trusting Him overcome the temptations of the world.
       Faith says to every temptation of the world, 'No. Begone! I know where true satisfaction is to be found. God has loved me with an infinite love. He promises to work everything together for good for those who love Him. He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly. Nothing you offer can compare to the joy of His fellowship now and the glory to be revealed hereafter. World, you have lost your power. I have become the glad slave of a Good Master. His yoke is easy and the burden of His commandments is light."

8. The perseverance of the Saints (Hebrews 3:12-15)

➸ "Those who are born again are as secure as God is faithful."

➸ "The everlasting covenant - the new covenant - includes the unbreakable promise, 'I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they may not turn from Me.' (Jeremiah 32:40). That they may not: will not, shall not. Christ sealed this covenant with His blood. He purchased your perseverance."

➸ "If you are persevering in faith today, you owe it to the blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who is working in you to preserve your faith, honors the purchase of Jesus. God the Spirit works in us what God the Son obtained for us. The Father planned it. Jesus bought it. The Spirit applies it. And all three persons of the Trinity act infallibly. God is totally committed to the eternal security of His blood-bought children."

➸ "The blood-bought church of Christ is the new, supernatural family. This is another astonishing truth that turns the world upside down. Single people, married people, old and young, rich and poor, every ethnicity - all can find brothers and sisters in the church. Marriage is temporary. Parenting is temporary. But the church - the new family -  is eternal."

➸ "What is God saying to us when He gives us His Holy Spirit and calls Him a guarantee or a down-payment? He is saying, in effect,
      My great desire for those who believe in Me is that you feel secure in My love. I have chosen you before the foundation of the world. I have predestined you to My children forever. I have redeemed you by the blood of My Son. And I have put My Spirit in you as a seal and a guarantee. Therefore, you will receive the inheritance and you will praise the glory of My grace forever and ever. And I tell you this here in Ephesians 1 because I want you to feel secure in My love and My power. I don't promise you an easy life. In fact, through many tribulations you must enter the Kingdom. I don't promise always to speak in soft tones of approval, but to warn you in love whenever you begin to seek security in anything but Me.
       So let Me say it again: I have chosen you; I have predestined you; I have redeemed you; I have sealed you by My Spirit. Your inheritance is sure, because I am passionately committed to magnifying the glory of My grace in your salvation."

9. Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Genesis 1:26-31)

➸ "I think this is wonderfully true. To be a living human being is a grand thing. Maybe you have had one of those rare and wonderful moments such as I have occasionally enjoyed. I'll be standing by a window, or a door, or anywhere, and suddenly, unbidden and powerful, comes the awakening: I am alive. Not like a tree or rabbit, but like a human being. I am thinking, feeling, longing, regretting, grieving. Alive. Made in the very image of God. And this is a grand thing."

➸ "At the heart of mature manhood is the God-given sense (disposition, inclination) that the primary responsability (not sole responsability) lies with him when it comes to leadership-initiative, provision, and protection.
      And at the heart of mature womanhood is the God-given sense (disposition, inclination) that none of this implies her inferiority, but that it will be a beautiful thing to come alongside such a man and gladly affirm and receive this kind of leadership and provision and protection."

10. Sorrowful yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 5:20-6-13)

➸ "What the world needs from the church is our indomitable joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering and sorrow."

➸ "Christ is real to us, and Christ is infintely precious, more to be desired than any wealth or comfort in this world."

➸ "Joy in the midst of sorrow -  this is exactly what Jesus came to give in this fallen, pain-filled, sin-wracked world."

➸ "Degrees of suffering and forms of affliction will differ for each of us. But this one thing we will all have in common until Jesus comes: we will all die. We will come to that awesome moment of reckoning. If you have time to ponder and reflect, you may see your whole life played out before you as you weigh whether it has been well spent. You will tremble at the unspeakable reality that soon you will face God. And the destiny of your soul will be irrevocable.
      Will you rejoice in that hour? You will if you entrust your soul to a faithful Creator. He created your soul for His glory. He is faithful to that glory and to all who love it and live for it. Now is the time to show where your treasure is - in heaven or on earth. Now is the time to shine with the glory of God. Trust Him. And keep on rejoicing."

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