Look at the Book: Recent Episodes
Desiring God
Look at the Book is John Piper's ongoing series of 8-12 minute videos to help you learn to read the Bible for yourself.
Salvation tells the glorious story that God set his love on his people before they even existed and then called them for the praise of his glory.
God targeted his chosen ones with grace before the ages began. That is the surest foundation imaginable to build your life upon.
How do you fan into flame a gift God has given to you? You do it by faith, laying hold of the promises of provision God has made to you.
When Paul talks about the gift God gave to Timothy, what is he referring to? Unashamed courage to speak and to suffer for the gospel.
Paul says that he prayed for Timothy “constantly . . . night and day.” How might his practice and his specific petitions shape our own life of prayer?
Why is it so important to serve God from a good conscience? Because a guilty conscience will serve in order to gain favor with God, and that will never work.
The apostle Paul addresses Timothy as “my beloved child.” How did Timothy become not just a ministry partner but a son to Paul?
Why did God make Paul an apostle? So that he could declare the promise of life in Christ Jesus to those who were dead in their trespasses.
When Paul refers to Jesus, the title he loves to use the most is “Christ Jesus.” Why was this name so significant for Paul?
What is an apostle? An apostle is an official representative selected by Christ to mediate his authority on earth and herald his message to men.
What is the setting for Paul’s second letter to Timothy? Paul is imprisoned in Rome, he wants Timothy to come to him, and he is ready for death.
What is Paul’s ultimate concern in 1 Timothy? To encourage faith that awakens godliness that is passionate about the glory of God.
You don’t guard the word of God like you would some other ancient document. You guard it by doing it, protecting it, and passing it on.
Paul’s final exhortation in 1 Timothy is to “guard the deposit entrusted to you.” What is “the deposit” the apostle has in mind?
In the little word “O,” Paul brings us into a whole world of emotional complexity. He models for us healthy, godly affections for others.
Christian generosity grows out of hearts that place their hope in God. When he is the source of our joy now and forever, we are free to radically give.
Those who look to riches to uphold their hopes will be deeply disappointed. Worldly wealth is fleeting and uncertain. Only God can ground our hope.
If you belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords, you are as safe as you could possibly be. No one rivals your God.
Courage does not come from knowing an opponent to be weak. It comes from knowing our God to be strong. God gives us life, and he sustains it.
How do you take hold of eternal life? You have faith in Jesus. You believe in him, hold tight to him, treasure him, and refuse to let him go.
The Christian life is one of fleeing and pursuing: flee anything that does not proceed from faith, and pursue what pleases God.
How can Paul say that the love of money is the root of all evils? Because the kind of heart that loves money abandons faith, and anything not of faith is sin.
Christians can be happy with little — yet we are happy not because we have little but because we have God. He, not minimalism, is our portion.
Those who seek to make godliness a means of monetary gain miss an all-important point: we entered the world with nothing, and we will leave the same way.
Does being a Christian bring benefit in the present life? Absolutely. Peace, contentment, and joy are some of the weighty gains of godliness.
Three primary desires give rise to false teachers: “I want to be well known.” “I want to be preeminent over others.” “I want to amass power by money.”
The New Testament does not abolish the social shell of slavery. But it does transform it so radically that a property-owner relationship becomes unthinkable.
The gospel did not abolish slavery immediately, but it did radically reform the master-slave relationship by making both brothers.
When Paul addresses Christian slaves, he calls them to obey even unbelieving masters. Why?
When discerning whether a man should be an elder, be cautious, testing thoroughly, but don’t be paralyzed by fear of choosing imperfectly.
Sometimes, Christians pit doctors and divine healing against one another, as if relying on natural remedies reveals a lack of faith. Does Scripture support that assumption?
Choosing elders is a serious business. Paul charges us to do so knowing we are in the presence of God, Jesus Christ, and the elect angels.
When accusations arise, Paul would have churches refuse to let elders be destroyed by liars — and refuse to let lying elders destroy sheep.
Paul sees a connection between hardworking pastors and oxen laboring in the field. Both deserve to be rewarded for their work.
Pastors deserve to be paid for their labor. They spend themselves to edify the flock, so the flock should spend to provide for them.
The grace of God is not an excuse for laziness. It gives not only pardon for sin but power for Christ-honoring work.
When Paul instructs Timothy to care for widows in the church, he tells him not to enroll younger widows in the support network. Why?
Older women who are seasoned in service, devoted to good works, chaste, courageous, and humble deserve special honor in the church.
When Paul says that professing believers who do not provide for their relatives deny the faith, what does he mean?
God shows special care for the most destitute among his people, such as widows without living relatives. How might local churches follow his example?
Paul had no notion of godliness without fruit. Real godliness shows itself in the overflow of good works, especially to the neediest.
God gives children as a reward to parents. In both the joy they bring and the long-term provision they give, godly children bless their father and mother.
Men and women, old and young are not the same — nor do they call for the same kind of pastoral care. Mature pastors exhort each one appropriately.
We ought to honor the elderly; the Bible makes that clear. But why? Do we honor the aged because they are often wiser, or does the reason go deeper?
Why is it so important for elders to attend to their own souls? Because as the elders go, so goes the church.
If salvation is a gift, why does Paul place such emphasis on pursuing godliness? Because godliness confirms that faith is real.
Keeping your body fit provides some benefits. But training yourself to be godly is immeasurably better — better now and better in the life to come.
Many of us say that we want to be more godly. But what is godliness in the first place?
Healthy pastors not only communicate the word of God — they love it. They both serve the meal and eat it. They are coworkers in joy.
The alternative to demonic asceticism is to receive God’s good gifts in ways that show his worth and lead us into deeper enjoyment of him.
False teachers forsake godliness as the goal of knowledge. And when that happens, consciences are seared and people swerve from the truth.
The New Testament makes it clear that the end times will become increasingly bleak. But God is not caught off guard; his great plan holds true.
When Paul steps back to assess the truth about all that God is for us in Jesus, truth that the church upholds, his response is to say, “Great indeed!”
Buildings do not make a church — people do. And God has established his people to proclaim his truth to a world that desperately needs it.
How do godly deacons gain great confidence in Christ? By serving in the strength God supplies, they repeatedly prove his willingness to equip where he calls.
What are the qualifications to serve as a deacon in the church, and how do those qualifications match the office?
Paul presents the qualifications for deacons in 1 Timothy 3, but what exactly do deacons do? And does the office include women?
If a man cannot lead his family well and gain the respect of his neighbors, he is not fit for the office of elder.
What is the main virtue displayed by elders in the church? Self-control. They are not ruled by anything other than God and his word.
Any man who would be a leader in Christ’s church must be above reproach. But what does “above reproach” mean?
What kind of desire sends men into ministry and keeps them there? Durable desire, servant-hearted desire, holy desire, informed desire, mature desire.
Do you honor your pastors? If they are doing what God calls them to do, they are doing good work, worthy work, work you should be thankful for.
The God-appointed callings of men and women are not arbitrary. They find their foundation in the very beginning, grounded in how God created us.
When Paul encourages women to be quiet, what does he mean? Not total silence, but the kind of submissive speech that does not contradict the calling of men to lead.
When we dress to get attention, we signal our neediness. But the godly have their deepest needs already met, and they dress accordingly.
Men and women may wrestle with different kinds of temptations, but the end goal for both remains the same: holiness adorned with good works.
Why did God appoint Paul to be a herald, an apostle, and a teacher? So that the offer of Christ’s ransom might be taken to the ends of the earth.
In what sense is Jesus the ransom “for all,” as Paul says, if many are never reconciled to God?
If God desires all to be saved, but many are not saved, does God have a deeper desire that governs his desire for universal salvation?
What does a life of godliness and dignity look like? Such a life is marked by God-directed reverence, serious joy grounded in weighty truth, and settled maturity.
Paul encourages Christians to pray for kings and rulers, but to what end? What should we ask God to do in and through those who hold power?
In this world, Christians live as sojourners and exiles, citizens of heaven under the lordship of Christ. So, how should we relate to earthly rulers?
Our prayers should exclude no one. Kings and laymen, enemies and friends, rich and needy, wicked and righteous, near and far — we should pray for all kinds of people.
In the sovereignty of God, even Satan can serve as a means of sanctification. But when is it right to surrender egregious sinners into his hand?
When someone silences the voice of conscience and repeatedly prefers sin over the glory of the blessed God, faith ends up shipwrecked.
What images does the New Testament use to depict leaders in the church? Paul gives us several in the Pastoral Epistles, and they are all needed.
When Paul talks about waging the good warfare, what does he mean? Where is the battle — and who are the combatants?
Paul handles glories all the time, touching majesty in almost every line. Yet what kind of reality compels Paul into a soaring doxology? Eternal life.
Why did God allow Paul, whom he would later call as an apostle, to become a Christ-persecutor and Christian-killer first?
By his grace, God unites believers with Christ, and from that vital union, the Christian life of faith and love flows forth.
Paul says that he received mercy because he “acted ignorantly in unbelief.” What does that mean? Did Paul’s ignorance merit God’s mercy?
We live the Christian life in the strength of another. When we believe, Christ not only saves us but also empowers us for fruitful labor.
The happiness of the triune God beats at the very heart of reality: the Father has always delighted in the Son by the Spirit. All Christian joy finds its wellspring here.
What is healthy teaching? Teaching that fits with the gospel, agrees with the words of Jesus, and promotes the hearers’ godliness.
God’s old-covenant law is good, but it can be applied in bad ways — such as by demanding that those justified by faith in Christ must keep it.
What does the state of our heart have to do with the content of our speech? Everything.
In his word, God has laid out his household plan, which aims to cultivate love, faith, and purity in his people. Do you know what that plan is?
What separates sound doctrine from speculations? Sound doctrine serves godliness, accords with the gospel, and agrees with the words of Jesus.
Christians experience — not simply know — that God is our Father and Jesus is our Lord by the indwelling witness of the Holy Spirit.
Some relationships run much deeper than blood. The bond between a spiritual father and his children is forged in Christ and lasts forever.
Christians love to refer to Jesus as our Savior. But what exactly does Jesus save us from?
Why does Paul begin his letter to Timothy by identifying himself not only as an apostle, but as an apostle “by command of God”?
When Paul argues that he is an authentic apostle of Jesus, he points to the marks of persecution written on his flesh.
Faith results in two wonderful blessings for the believer: a new standing before God and a new life empowered by the Spirit.
Why should Christians boast only in the cross? Because everything that we have as believers comes through the cross.
Only Christ can take an instrument of death and make it the place where a new creation comes into being. The way of life runs through the cross.
What does Paul mean when he says that the world has been crucified to him and he to the world? He no longer trusts and treasures the world. He trusts and treasures Christ.
Legalism in Paul’s day and legalism in our own day share a similar root: the desire to impress fellow humans.
We may think that what we do with money matters little, but Paul teaches that where we choose to invest has eternal consequences.
The New Testament treats much boasting as sinful, but it also calls us toward a holy kind of boasting. So, how should Christians boast?
Do not determine the value of your work by comparing yourself with others. God calls each person to unique acts of faith, and comparison sours and spoils that calling.
What is “the law of Christ” — and how does our fulfilling of this law relate to justification by faith alone?
Christian love is not passive. When love sees a brother or sister caught in sin, it does not shrink away but confronts in order to renew and restore.
If Christians have the Spirit of God leading and guiding them, why does the New Testament issue over four hundred commands to obey?
Those made alive by the Spirit will keep in step with the Spirit. They will walk by the Spirit, sow to the Spirit, bear the fruit of the Spirit.
If the fruit of the Spirit is a miracle that God produces in his people, what can we do to cultivate that fruit?
How do Christians inherit the kingdom of God? Not by our work or merit, but by our union with the Son of God and offspring of Abraham.
If you live in sin, practice sin, and die in sin, you won’t go to heaven. You won’t be happy with God forever.
How does God give us victory over the desires of the flesh? He reshapes and reorients our desires by his Spirit.
Competing desires war within every Christian — desires of the flesh and of the Spirit. How can we refuse to gratify what our flesh wants?
If Christians are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and if he guides and controls us, are we simply spiritual robots?
All Christians should walk by the Spirit. But how? How do we experience the powerful, omnipotent, merciful, all-wise leading of the Spirit of God?
Paul says that the law is fulfilled in the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” But how does such love fulfill the whole law?
What does it mean to love your neighbors as yourself? It means you seek their good with the same passion with which you seek your own, and you find your joy in theirs.
What prevents us from using our freedom in Christ as an opportunity to indulge the flesh? A life of faith is the opposite of a life in the flesh.
When God sovereignly calls us, he opens our eyes to see and embrace the beauty of Jesus. And that call grants freedom from obeying the law as a means of being justified.
Why does Paul use such shocking language against the false teachers in Galatia — and how should his rebuke inform the way we speak?
Why is the cross so offensive to fallen man? Because the cross declares that no amount of human effort or law-keeping can make us right with God.
More than once, how Paul feels toward certain Christians increases his confidence in their salvation. How does that kind of confidence work?
A little leaven, even just a little, leavens the whole lump. Mix a little law with the gospel, and you surrender the ground of grace.
What kind of faith unites us to Christ so that we are counted righteous before God? The faith that bears the fruit of love.
The church may be mocked, accused, and slandered now. But a day is coming when God will silence any doubt about his people’s righteousness.
When Paul talks about being severed from Christ, does he imply that true Christians can lose their salvation?
Those who seek to be justified by the law sever themselves from Christ, fall away from grace, and commit eternal suicide.
The law cannot be divided — break but the smallest commandment, and you are guilty of all. We cannot be right with God through the law.
If you claim works as part of the basis of being right with God, you trade grace for law, and you cancel every blessing of Christ from your life.
If you try to be justified under the law, you will remain under the curse. But if you stand firm in the grace of the gospel, you will enjoy true freedom.
Through the gospel of grace, Jesus Christ sets Christians free in order that they may remain free. Don’t turn back to slavery.
Christians are not slaves, but free. We are right with God not by works of the law, but by faith. We are born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.
Children of promise are children born as the answer to a promise. Every Christian is a child spoken of beforehand, a fulfillment of God’s promise.
Abraham’s wife, Sarah, spent her childbearing years barren — but God fulfilled his promise to her. What can this experience teach us about Jesus’s work on the cross?
According to Paul, the Christian’s true home is the Jerusalem above — a heavenly city whose citizens are born of God and utterly free.
Hagar represents the effort to be right with God by keeping the law. But human effort can never bring forth the children of God. Hagar only begets slaves.
The children of God are not the product of human effort. Like Isaac, they are brought forth by divine promise based on divine prerogative.
When Paul read his Old Testament, what implicit meaning did he see in the characters of Hagar and Sarah?
What is Paul’s main point in the allegory of Sarah and Hagar? What truth does he want his readers to see from this Old Testament story?
Children of God come into being when Christ is formed in them through faith. Paul compares his whole ministry to a matchmaker and a mother.
If you leave the gospel for the law, you are under an enchantment. To break the spell, remember the blessings that the gospel brings.
If God knows everything and everyone, what does Paul mean when he describes Christians as those who are known by God?
Even though people can know about God through creation, hard hearts suppress that knowledge. Thus, sinners do not know God.
For Paul, pagan idolatry and reliance on the law to get right with God amount to the same thing. Neither can offer any help to save our souls.
When Paul describes the Spirit’s witness in the heart of believers, he says the Spirit cries, “Abba!” Why is that name so significant?
Why did Jesus need to be born of a woman as a human being in order to redeem those under the curse of the law?
God sent his Son into the world, born of a woman and under the law. Few statements hold more import, wonder, and mystery.
Paul says that the law was given by God to act as a guardian until “the fullness of time” had come to pass. When is the fullness of time?
God intended the law to act as a guardian, pointing us to our need for a redeemer. However, when we put our faith in the law, it’s no better than the rules of pagan religions.
How do people become sons of God and heirs to his promises? They must put on Jesus Christ, God’s true Son, by faith and not by law-keeping.
Paul calls the law “a guardian” meant to lead us to Christ. What does that mean? How does the law guard us and guide us to Jesus?
Paul reveals that God gave the law to pave the way to faith in Jesus, who fulfills the law completely.
The New Testament authors insist that the law was given to Moses by angels. Why would they repeat that?
If God made the promise of life to Abraham based on faith, then does the law contradict that grace? Does the law present a different way of life?
Why does Paul insist that the promises made to Abraham were made to his singular seed? That nuance is vital to our salvation.
Does the law given through Moses somehow contradict the covenant of faith made with Abraham? Why does that matter to us?
The only result of attempting to be justified by works will be curse, but Christ took our curse on the cross. How does that exchange work?
Obedience to the law can never make a person right before God, but the faith that saves produces works that conform to the law.
Trying to be right with God through works is an all-or-nothing enterprise. If you do not keep the whole law, you have violated the whole law.
How do Gentiles become sons of Abraham? And what is the blessing promised to all of Abraham’s true heirs?
Galatians says that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. What did that mean for him, and what does it mean for us?
We know that the New Testament teaches justification by faith alone, but what about the Old Testament? Does it teach salvation by faith or by works?
The Spirit is both the gift of faith and the agent of faith. We receive him by faith, and he grants the very faith by which we receive him.
Neither the beginning, nor the middle, nor the end of the Christian life is left untouched by the saving might of the Spirit.
The Christian life consists of more than a right legal standing before God. By the Holy Spirit, we can experience actual fellowship with God.
Christ gave himself for our sins. He was punished for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sins. And, therefore, his death was not in vain.
What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? What does it mean to have him live in us? These are two crucial questions for every soul.
To depend on your works to earn a right standing with God is not only to reject grace but to break the law itself.
Do you know what words like “sinners,” “righteous,” and “grace” actually mean? A key to studying Scripture is to not let key words remain vague.
What is saving faith? Historically, the answer has included three basic elements: knowing, assenting, and trusting.
If we choose to get right with God by our works, we continue under a curse. Only through faith in Jesus can we be justified.
One reason we don’t enjoy salvation as we should is that we don’t feel the weight of what it means for a holy God to forgive sin.
Justification is at the heart of the Christian faith. Yet since the days of Jesus, people have repeatedly gotten it wrong.
Even though Jews had unique blessings from God, when it comes to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles are saved by faith alone.
As Paul’s confrontation of Peter demonstrates, fear of man leads to walking out of step with the gospel and denying the freedom of grace.
The most important handshake in history happened when the apostles extended the right hand of fellowship to Paul in Jerusalem.
The gospel of grace justifies by faith alone. To add any amount of good works or law-keeping to the gospel creates slavery instead of freedom.
In Galatians, Paul unpacks his encounters with the other apostles. Were they really at odds with one another?
Through rational, logical arguments, all Christian apologetics should aim to cultivate heartfelt, affectionate worship.
When you read the letters of Paul, hear him argue, witness how he deals with controversy, and witness his character, he will win your trust.
Even though God chose Paul for salvation, he permitted him to become a persecutor of the church and a zealot for false teaching. Why?
Election, calling, grace — how do these elements of God’s plan come together in Paul’s conversion? How do they come together in ours?
Paul’s conversion from being anti-gospel, anti-church, and anti-Christ can only be explained by a genuine revelation of Jesus Christ.
Where did the apostle Paul learn the gospel? What does he mean when he says that his message is “not man’s gospel”?
In this verse, the apostle Paul utterly rejects man-pleasing, but elsewhere he says he seeks to please everyone in everything. How can he say both?
The Reformation leaned on the power of Galatians because this letter champions the supreme authority of Scripture over all other authorities.
Paul was astonished because the Galatian church had abandoned God and the gospel. How were they leaving the truth, and why?
God expresses his grace to sinners in the giving of his Son, which results in the deliverance of God’s people for the glory of his name.
Why do many people today fail to see the beauty of God in Christ? Because this present age is evil, characterized by darkness and death.
The fact that Christ laid down his life for Paul captivated the apostle. Do you marvel at the cross and the love of Christ for you?
What exactly is the grace of God? Grace is God’s disposition to treat people better than they deserve — to save us despite our sin.
How does Paul’s greeting to the Galatians convey the seriousness of the letter that follows? What makes the greeting unique?
Paul opens his letter to the Galatians with an incredible statement of his authority. Why does he do that?
What is an apostle, and how does the authority of an apostle change the way we should read the letters of Paul?
Who was Paul before God made him an apostle? What can we learn from his life, conversion, and death?
In his glorious letter to the Colossians, what was the most foundational truth Paul wanted to communicate?
What do Paul’s final words in the letter to the Colossians reveal about his priorities and about his deep affection for the saints in that city?
Christians should labor in prayer. They should be like athletes in prayer who struggle for the glory of God and the good of others.
How do the greetings in Paul’s letters serve the connectedness of the church? And how might Christians better greet one another in Christ today?
In the providence of God, even the events that we view as obstacles work to advance the gospel. God turns barriers into blessings.
What does it mean to have your speech seasoned with salt? Salt-seasoned words reveal the gospel of grace to those who have not yet tasted it.
How should Christians pray for preachers of the gospel? Pray that God would open doors for his word to be proclaimed boldly and fruitfully.
What should characterize the Christian prayer life? Steadfastness, watchfulness, and thanksgiving.
Paul leaves the shell of slavery in place, but guts it from the inside. How then should Christians today orient to slavery?
All Christian work is done for the Lord. No matter where you work or what you do for work, “Christ is your Lord, not any man.”
If perfect love casts out fear, what does it mean to fear the Lord, and how does that motivate sincere obedience?
People-pleasing is evil because it’s born of a duplicitous heart. But is there such a thing as good people-pleasing?
Wives, children, citizens, church members, and slaves first submit to God, and then for his sake, submit to human authorities.
Christians should aim to think about everything in light of Scripture. How then should Christians think about slavery?
Fathers, do not discourage your children with excessive demands. Instead, encourage your kids by teaching them to hope in God.
Why should parents diligently teach their children to obey? Because the Lord takes delight in the glad-hearted obedience of children.
What does it mean for a husband to become embittered toward his wife? How can we overcome such bitterness?
Wives who trust the Lord are fearless. How does this confidence in Christ affect how they relate to their earthly husbands?
God saw his created order for marriage as good. What order did he intend, and why do godly women joyfully submit to their husbands?
Why should Christian wives submit to their husbands? What does it mean for a wife to submit to her husband “as is fitting in the Lord”?
We do not belong to this world, nor to the things of this world. How then shall we live out our time in this world?
How we speak and act reflects something about our King. What tangible effect has that had on your Christian life?
Does it really matter if we sing in the Christian life or not? Could we really be spiritually stunted if we refuse to greet one another with songs?
Everyone lives by a rule. How can the “peace of Christ” rule in our hearts, homes, and communities?
Panic often prevents peace. In a world lacking calmness, what does it mean to be called to the peace of Christ?
God calls us to marvel at Christ’s love which forgives and renews us. How does this fascination functionally change how we live?
The bite of others’ sin hurts more when repentance never comes. How do Christians become long-suffering in relationships?
You need biblical bowels. What on earth are those, and how does a Christian embrace this unusual command?
What difference does it make in our actual lives as Christians to know ourselves as chosen, holy, and loved by God?
The alternative to ethnic strife that divides the world is a Christ-centered, Christ-empowered love that unites his people.
If we functionally replace God from the center of our lives with some other god, we cannot be people of the truth.
Anger boils when our cravings are denied. The new man in Christ must put away all unrighteous anger and replace it with grateful joy.
How do we gain victory over a sin that continually tempts us with the promise of pleasure?
How do we know what a biblical author means when he uses words that we almost never use?
Paul seems extremely shy to mention the Spirit in Colossians. He does so explicitly only once. Why might that be?
When sinfulness remains and newness of life delays, how should Christians make sense of it all?
Nothing on earth can compete with the worth of Christ, so we are called to seek him with all our hearts and minds.
Grace upon grace, resurrection from the dead, transformation into unimaginable glory, and the unceasing company of our Lord — can you imagine?
One day we will all shine like the sun. What will our now-hidden lives look like on that day?
Christ is our life now, but how do we experience that life? Scripture illuminates how this life flows to Christians through faith.
Why is it significant that Jesus sits at the right hand of God? Exult in the current physical location of Christ.
Satan entices us to believe that our sin defines us. How does unity with Christ forever change the way we battle that lie?
Death precedes true life. Christ exemplifies this, and we follow in his footsteps. How should this change how we live?
Christ calls his disciples to be doers of the word, not hearers only. How does our union with Christ relate to obeying his commands?
Christians have died to man-made worship and any religious effort that would try to commend them to God apart from Christ.
God has provided one Mediator between God and man, and he is far greater than any heavenly or fallen angel.
If Christianity is rooted in the Old Testament, why are Christians not keeping so much of what God commanded there?
Through his crucifixion, Christ silenced the accuser, nullified the terror of death, and delivered sinners from the dominion of sin.
Does it satisfy the standards of God’s justice for an innocent one to die for the guilty?
God obliterates our record of debt by nailing it to the cross through the substitutionary death of Christ.
The plights of our sinful state — deadness, blindness, hardness, and inability — were all resolved decisively in the moment God made us alive.
Death before life is the testimony of all who really live. Do you know how bleak things were before God brought you to life?
Our union with Christ in his death and resurrection should tangibly, observably define how we live in this world.
What is the body of the flesh, and how do you put it off? What exactly is cut away in this “circumcision of Christ”?
Christians have received a circumcision that is “made without hands.” What is this circumcision, and what does it do?
To be filled in Christ is to possess the riches of his inexhaustible love, unsearchable wisdom, and unrivaled rule.
The incarnation of the Son of God reveals any denigrating of the human body as a man-made, deceitful philosophy.
Christ is the treasure chest of wisdom and knowledge. Any philosophy that would exclude him excludes Wisdom himself.
Faith rooted in Christ, built on him as its firm foundation, will not be blown about by every new gust of doctrine.
Many people are deceived by false teaching and lost while believing that they know the truth. How do we resist such deceptions?
Communities bound together in love will better know the great riches of Christ than communities divided by rivalry.
God gives good gifts to his church when he gives her good men to serve as pastors. The work is challenging, but worth every sacrifice.
When we put our hands to the plow of our Christian lives, we cannot leave prayer behind. God gives the strength we need; he must work within us.
Our growth in Christ can seem so slow and the road so long, but we can take comfort knowing that God himself is maturing us.
The welcoming of the nations into the unspeakable hope of the glory of God is the mystery revealed to the elect in the gospel of Christ.
What is lacking in Christ’s afflictions? The personal, bodily, costly presentation of his love to the elect through missionaries.
Paul understood his sufferings for the gospel as an essential means to bring about the salvation of the elect.
The New Testament provides at least six reasons for why Christians embrace the trials they undergo with joy.
God is no tribal deity. He will see to it that his gospel reaches every tribe, people, language, and nation under heaven.
God uses the warning passages of Scripture to stimulate us to fight for faith. And he uses that fight to keep us safe until the end.
God achieves reconciliation at the cross and applies it to us through faith, and he does it all to bring the elect to himself.
Alienated. Enemies. Evil. We won’t revel as we ought in the reconciling work of Christ unless we know who we were without him.
When God finishes his reconciling work, there will be nothing left unreconciled to him.
The central truths of the gospel of reconciliation are bound up in the mystery of the Trinity.
The one who humbly stoops to save his people is the infinitely supreme Creator and Upholder of all things.
God created all things through the Son so that all might know the beauty and glory and supremacy of the Son.
When Scripture calls Jesus “the firstborn of creation,” he doesn’t mean firstborn as part of creation.
Through faith, Christians are delivered from bondage to Satan and transferred to the kingdom of the Son.
At the cross, Satan’s one weapon of damnation is taken away. Jesus’s sacrifice cancels our record of debt.
To be a Christian means God delivered you from the rule of Satan to live under the rule of God’s beloved Son.
The Father has mercifully and freely adopted us into his family and placed us in the bright kingdom of his Son.
What produces the kind of strength we need to patiently and joyfully endure? The glory of God.
The good works God brings about through our lives are a means he uses to increase our knowledge of him.
How does one walk in a manner worthy of the Lord? Value him in your work, in your play, in your worship.
How can I know God’s will for my life? How can I live a life pleasing to him in everything I do?
Pray for fellow believers that they might grow in Christian maturity, that is, that they would know God’s will and walk in a manner pleasing to him.
Understanding all the Bible says about God’s will requires one to think in two categories: the sovereign will of God and the moral will of God.
Through prayer, we participate in God’s ongoing work of strengthening the saints and bringing them to full maturity.
Prayer and careful thinking about God aren’t separate activities. Prayer should precede theology; theology should inform prayer.
Faith in the promises of God overflows in love toward others by the gracious working of the Spirit in the heart.
The gospel is not static. It increasingly advances throughout the world and grows in the heart of believers.
A gospel presentation that stops at the forgiveness of sins has missed the ultimate aim of the gospel, namely full and forever joy in God himself.
The gospel is not just a truth to know, but a truth to be embraced and loved and taught and proclaimed.
Faith that truly embraces the hope laid up in heaven reveals itself through good works that are done in love.
Moses could renounce the pleasures of Egypt because of his coming reward. In the same way, Christians reject the world and put all our hope in Christ.
Our hope laid up in heaven includes forgiveness of sins, a dwelling in the kingdom of Christ, and an inheritance in light.
Jesus’s sonship is not like ours. All the benefits we enjoy as sons come to us through the only-begotten, eternal Son of the Father.
The people who have God as their Father are the recipients of his inheritance, namely, boundless grace and perfect peace.
Prison, for the apostle, was not a time for pity parties, but for productive labor on behalf of local churches.
Every believer is someone who has already been made holy through his or her union with Christ by faith.
The apostle mentions his fellow ministers, in part, to show how important relational dynamics are in the exercise of Christian authority.
What we read in the apostles is not mere human wisdom, but wisdom taught by the Spirit.
How might you summarize Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians? In this lab, Pastor John makes an attempt.
The aim of holy ostracism is to cause shame in a fellow believer so that they might turn and walk in the light.
There are at least five significant implications from Paul’s command to the Thessalonian church to “eat your own bread.”
God created mankind for good works. When he makes us new in Christ, his purpose remains the same.
When someone sins against us, Christians are not always called to turn the other cheek.
Pastors ought to be paid for their labors, but they should never give the impression that they labor for money.
Christians must have a category for shaming other Christians so that they might repent and be reconciled.
Hearts that remain firm through trials don’t depend on their own strength, but hang on the steadfastness of Christ.
Disobedient churches deal lightly, if at all, with flagrant disobedience. Obedient churches consistently practice church discipline.
The deepest ground of God’s faithfulness, to his word and to his people, is his faithfulness to his own self.
God works through prayer to establish and guard us in the faith. Prayer is the lifeline by which he holds us fast.
The apostle Paul wants Christians to subjectively experience the comfort that is already objectively ours in Christ.
The church ought to preserve traditions that evidence biblical fidelity — and discard those that elevate our ways over Scripture.
Christians stand firm by holding to the truth, depending on God in prayer, and hoping in his promise to keep us.
God’s call to his people is not merely a call to salvation. God’s call is for us to share in his glory.
Are we becoming more like Jesus by the power of the Spirit? If not, we have reason to question whether our faith is real.
True salvation entails both faith in the truth and sanctification by the Spirit. God choosing us doesn’t render either irrelevant.
The particular, electing love of God from before the foundation of the world is the reason why anyone becomes a Christian.
Scripture says that the church will face terrible pain and opposition at the end. Why would God allow his people to suffer?
Satan’s efforts to lead people astray from the truth do not happen apart from God’s plan and design. And yet, many will fall away.
The alternative to belief in the gospel is not merely unbelief, but a deep love for unrighteousness which opposes truth.
Satan wants all of us to yawn at truth and salivate for sin. We must persistently resist him and cling to Christ.
Signs and wonders can serve both truth and deception. We should trust what we see in the Bible above what we witness with our eyes.
The man of lawlessness has an appointed time and an appointed end which Jesus will bring when he returns.
God sets the times and seasons. He has appointed a time for the man of lawlessness to appear. He is in full control.
What is the temple of God in which the man of lawlessness takes his seat? This lab explores two possible answers.
Lawlessness is the rejection of any authority. It exists in every sinful heart, and it will reach full expression in the man of lawlessness.
Rebellion and lawlessness characterize every age in a fallen world, but they will crescendo before the return of Christ.
The blessed hope for which we wait is not a secret rapture, but the terrible, awful, and glorious event of Christ’s return.
To avoid being influenced by false teachings about the second coming, the apostle Paul calls for careful thinking.
What does it mean when the Bible says that Jesus will come “like a thief in the night”?
The glory of Christ shines through every resolve for good and work of faith because he empowers them according to his grace.
Every good work in the Christian life is rooted in the grace of God, empowered by the person of God, and designed for the glory of God.
God ordains that his people are made worthy of his calling through the faithful prayers of his people.
The goal of all creation and redemption is fulfilled when Christ is glorified in his saints and his saints marvel at his glory.
You were made to see the glory of God in Christ and to be with him forever. This is what the damned will lose.
God is glorious and God is just. These realities ought to guide our thinking about hell, not our limited ideas of what seems fair.
Those who do not know God are those who suppress the knowledge of him. So do you know him?
When Jesus returns, he will give relief to those who obey the gospel and wreak vengeance on those who do not.
When Christ returns with his mighty angels, he will exercise full justice, repaying the afflicters with affliction and the afflicted with relief.
God’s work to provide relief for his afflicted people is not only a matter of his mercy, but of his justice.
God uses afflictions to transform his church and thus make her fit for the kingdom of heaven.
Witnessing growing faith and love should result in exultation to God and exultation to one another about God.
Faith and love (and growth in each) are the gifts of God, and therefore it is fitting that we thank him for both.
God’s grace does more than secure our pardon, it empowers us to walk in the good works he has prepared for us to do.
To be in God means to have all the immeasurably great benefits of his electing and keeping love.
The church is not the building Christians worship in. It is the people whom God has called to himself through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have much of our New Testament because of Paul’s relational, spiritual, and theological vigilance on behalf of the churches he planted.
The New Testament does not convey the mere opinions of men but the very words the risen Christ wanted his church to hear.
First Thessalonians is a letter that affirms the election of the saints and calls them to live holy lives as they anticipate the longed-for return of Christ.
The command to greet one another with a holy kiss is a call to grow in expressions of true, holy, familial affection in the church.
The prayers of ordinary Christians are the means God uses to cause his word to run and be exalted in the world.
What is the connection between God’s effectual calling of believers and his constant keeping of believers? His faithfulness.
By faith we are reconciled to God, and by faith we pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Paul sometimes describes humans as body and soul, sometimes as body, soul, and spirit. What does man consist of?
One way to quench the Spirit is to have a cynical attitude towards spiritual gifts that he gives to the church.
While it may seem that sorrow and joy are exclusive, there is a pervasive joy and a pervasive thankfulness that is available in every circumstance.
How can Christians always rejoice, give thanks, pray, and do good towards others? By resting in God’s goodness towards them in Christ.
The strength to do good towards all, even our enemies, comes from an unshakeable hope in the reward God has promised.
Patience with others comes through trusting in the providence of God to turn every detour into a pathway to something better.
The call to serving others in the church — admonishing, encouraging, and helping them — is not a call to misery. It’s a call to joy.
We must never belittle or overlook the fact that God employs human means to strengthen his church.
Christian idleness is unloving to outsiders because it sets a bad example. It is unloving to insiders because it adds to their burdens.
Love looks on those who are doing the work of God with high esteem, and on those who are sinning with a longing to see them honor God.
Because God loves the church, he has provided a leadership made up of elders and deacons.
In a healthy church, the elders labor, exercise authority, and admonish the members, and the members respect and esteem the elders.
First Thessalonians 5:6–11 is a gravestone text. It reminds believers that wrath is not their destiny, but unending life with Christ.
Drunk people make bad soldiers and sleepy people make poor watchmen. That is why we need to remain spiritually awake and sober.
Power for Christian obedience lies in being reminded of our new identity in God. Who we are grounds what we ought to do.
What does it mean that saints are sons of light? It means that spiritual light shines in our loves, our wills, and our works.
What is the day of the Lord? And how does this day relate to the arrival of the kingdom of God?
What does Paul mean when he says that the last day “will come like a thief in the night”? And how do we remain ready?
Whether we will be alive when Christ returns is not for us to know. Rather, we ought to focus on living faithfully in the present age.
Does the Bible teach that believers still on earth will experience a rapture when Jesus returns?
The dead in Christ are not going to miss out on the spectacular return of Jesus to earth. All the saints will participate in this event together.
The promise of the resurrection doesn’t minimize grief, but it does provide a ballast so Christians can grieve with hope.
What does it mean to “live quietly?” What does a life characterized by this kind of quietness sound like?
When Christians love one another, they show that they are not just taught, but God-taught. Our love shows God is on the move.
Setting yourself against God’s command for sexual purity means you’re resisting his active, present working in your life.
The command to pursue sexual purity is empowered by the promise that God sanctifies everyone he saves.
God gives husbands and wives the promise of divine vengeance as a motive to maintain holiness and honor in marriage.
Treating your wife in holiness and honor demonstrates that you rightly value God, your wife, and your brother.
Sexual purity is more a matter of knowing God than of following a prescribed list of dos and don’ts.
We all need comforters who commend us for our faithfulness and champions who challenge us to greater heights.
Faith that rests in the righteous work of Christ produces a life of good fruit which pleases God.
How often do you dream about the return of Jesus? Does the hope of that day fuel your desire to be holy?
Does the apostle Paul expect believers to be sinless in this life? What does it mean to be found blameless at the day of Christ?
If God and his infinite worth are everything to you, then you are set free from the hindrances to love.
Paul doesn’t need a road map to get to Thessalonica, but he does need God to shatter the obstacles raised by Satan.
Christians who keep praying, even when they don’t see immediate changes, display a deep trust in their heavenly Father.
What things make you happy? What about witnessing the enduring faith of a brother or sister in the midst of hardship?
The apostle Paul gladly said that the faith of others was a source of life for him. Can you say the same?
If the cross was a random act of evil, instead of a purposeful act of God, then there is no good news.
God destines afflictions for believers, not to shake our faith, but to bolster it. He often displays his love best when our conditions get worse.
The gospel doesn’t merely save us; it provides hope day by day to endure the afflictions we face.
God has willed to use us in specific ways. And we should expect and embrace messiness as we seek to discern what those ways are.
Is boasting always bad? If we answer yes, we miss opportunities to glorify the power of Christ on display in the lives of others.
Christians not only love Christ; they love what Christ loves. And since Christ loves his church, so do we.
The Jews rejected their Messiah and have been, for a time, rejected. How long will such wrath last?
Scripture teaches that the sins of some needed to be “filled up” before God judged them. What does that mean?
If the gospel is the way that souls are saved, it’s hateful to in any way hinder the preaching of the gospel.
For anyone who loves to wrestle with profound mysteries: Who killed Jesus? The Romans, the Jews, or God?
The apostle Paul once said of the Jews, “Wrath has come upon them at last!” Did this make him anti-Semitic?
Are you growing in holiness and love and courage? Then rejoice, the word of God is at work within you.
To receive the gospel is not just to be ready to go to heaven by it, but to be ready to suffer for it.
Saving faith is not merely assenting to true facts about Christ; it’s a glad reception of all he is for us.
Do you believe the Bible is the word of God and not the word of man? How can you tell if you do or not?
The apostle Paul did not think “tradition” was a dirty word. He wanted churches to receive and pass along a certain type of tradition.
The greatest crescendo we could possibly experience in life is to be called by God into his kingdom and enjoy his beauty forever.
What does it mean to be called by God? And how should this reality impact my everyday life?
When fellow Christians watch your life, what do they see? Do they see growing holiness, righteousness, and love for Jesus?
The apostle Paul’s finances had everything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do yours?
The apostle Paul wanted to share more than the gospel with people; he longed to share his own soul with them.
The apostle Paul could be gentle like a nursing mother and firm like an exhorting father. Does our ministry share that balance?
The fear of man can become a subtle and relentless craving for praise. How much do you do to be seen by others?
Ministers should not only keep their lives free from the love of money, but from the appearance that they love money.
Scripture uses the word “apostle” in two ways, a special way and a common one. Do you know what they are?
An apostle has more authority than an earthly king, so why did Paul make it a point to lay down his power so often?
Pastors, we must not minister for popularity, for greed, for sex, for power. Shepherd from a love for people, for God, and for his glory.
Is the Spirit ever more evident than when a man keeps sharing the gospel despite all it has cost him?
No suffering is like eternal suffering under the righteous wrath of Christ. Flee to him for refuge from that coming disaster.
Jesus does not leave us to wait in passivity and inactivity. As he leaves, he says, “Engage in my business until I come.”
False gods clamor for our embrace and affection, but only our God can deliver what he promises: life and joy everlasting.
Each of us has an opportunity to become an example for someone in a way that strengthens them to live for Christ.
Can preachers today say to their people, “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake”?
A great way to know that you are a genuine Christian: you receive the word of God with joy, even when afflictions and setbacks come.
Joy in Christ that withers when tribulation comes had no real root to begin with. Real joy perseveres even through real trials.
The apostle Paul often gives thanks to God for what other Christians do. Why does he do that?
Join Pastor John for this first episode in his new teaching series through the book of 1 Thessalonians.
How would you go about summarizing the whole book of Ephesians? Join Pastor John as he attempts to do just that.
When you love the Lord Jesus, you are showing that your life got its start in grace, and that you will experience more grace forever and ever.
At the close of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he calls on God to give to the church two things: the peace and love which come from faith.
Pastors, your people need to see your lives so that they might pray for you, imitate you, and be encouraged by you.
The armor of God is not just meant for us in our individual walk. It is meant to help us fight the good fight together.
Those who are eternally secure still need a helmet, a sword, and a shield. They still need to put on armor and fight the war.
If you are a Christian, you have a supernatural enemy who every day aims his arrows at you. Do you know how to use your shield?
The apostle Paul commands us to wear the readiness of the gospel of peace on our feet. What is the readiness of the gospel and why our feet?
The apostle Paul calls us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. What exactly is that and how do we put it on?
Christians are people of the truth. We speak the truth, believe the truth, love the truth.
You do not put on the armor of God with your hands. You put it on with your mind and your heart and your reason and your will.
The armor of God must be worn in order for us to withstand the evil one. Do you know what the armor is?
The armor in Ephesians 6 is not brand-new armor. It is ancient armor. It is tested armor. It is God’s armor.
To withstand a supernatural enemy, we must dress in supernatural armor — and this is just what Christ offers us.
How do we get free from the dark and demonic rule over this world? We repent of our sins and entrust ourselves wholly to the God who can free us.
The demonic opposition that we face is a decisively defeated foe that has been disarmed of all his accusations against us.
Our battles in life are not merely against human opposition. Behind any person is a greater enemy: the prince of the power of the air.
The word of God is clear: we are at war, however peaceful our lives may otherwise feel. Are you prepared for battle?
Do you live with armor on? If you’re a Christian, you need to wear God’s armor, because you do not wrestle with mere flesh and blood.
What does it mean that masters are to stop their threatening? And how did that revolutionize the slave-master relationship?
How could heaven be perfect and yet some people get more (or less) rewards? How could there be degrees in perfection?
True Christian love and service spring from within. People-pleasers may sometimes serve, but not from the heart.
The apostle’s words to slaves commanding them to obey their earthly masters apply to all of us — but how?
What can we learn about the lordship of Jesus Christ when we consider the relationship between slaves and masters in the early church?
Fathers, have compassion on your children. Do not provoke them to anger. Be firm in discipline and instruction, but don’t break them.
If a child professes faith in Christ and honors his mother and father, yet dies at a young age, has the promise of God failed?
In a culture that downplays and undermines marriage, we need to know why marriage is worth protecting and cultivating.
What does it mean that a husband and wife are “one flesh”? Is it only a reference to sexual intimacy?
Does it undermine love to have self-interest as a main motivation in caring for others?
The model for the first marriage was modeled after Jesus and his bride; not vice versa. This is the meaning of marriage.
The best way for a man to pursue more joy for himself in his marriage is to make it his business to give her all he can of Christ.
What makes marriage unique among all human relationships? God has made a husband and wife one flesh.
Husbands, don’t settle for imitating the best human husband you can find. Love your wife as the Lord Jesus loved his bride, the church.
Jesus is the perfect leader, the perfect supplier, the perfect protector. How could an imperfect husband possibly imitate him?
If Adam and Eve were married and without sin before the fall, why are they not our primary model for Christian marriage today?
Wives take their cues from the church as she submits to the Lord. Husbands take their cues from Christ as he loves the church.
What makes marriage the most glorious relationship on earth? Because it is uniquely modeled on the relationship between Christ and his church.
Our fear of Christ is not only a fear. We do fear him, but we also trust him and love him and delight in him.
How do we count others better than ourselves, even when we might be more gifted than they are?
God does not command us to give thanks for some things, or even most things, but for all things. How could we do that?
When we gather together, we not only sing to God. We sing to one another in order to build one another up.
Drunkenness is anti-living. It wastes time. It wastes wisdom. It wastes our ability to honor the Lord.
We live in evil days. Therefore, walk wisely, purchase time, and seek to understand the will of God.
Do you just let life happen to you, or do you pray, do you plan, do you act, do you consider how you spend your time?
Are you a thankful person? When we are truly filled by the Spirit, we increasingly give thanks for everything.
God uses our voice to do the impossible. He sends us to open the eyes of the spiritually dead through our words.
How do you confront and expose works of darkness without speaking in ways that dishonor Christ?
To expose unfruitful works of darkness means the uncomfortable work of confronting them, rebuking them, and showing them to be wrong.
The lifestyle of those who walk in light is full of fruit and goodness. The lifestyle of those who walk in darkness is barren and full of evil.
All the effort of holiness flows from the new birth, the new heart. If you reverse the order, you don’t have Christianity; you have legalism.
Once we were lost in darkness as children of darkness. But now, we are light in the Lord. Therefore, walk as children of light.
How do you think of yourself? If you are in Christ, do you consider that he already calls you “light” in the Lord?
No one is justified because they stayed sexually pure. But no one inherits the kingdom of God while living a sexually impure life.
Foolish talk, crude joking, and shameful speech have no place to grow when our communities are filled with explicit thankfulness to God.
The apostle Paul rarely, if ever, calls believers “Christians,” but he often calls us “saints.” What does the name mean?
If Christ is not the King of your heart on earth, he will not be the King that satisfies your heart for all eternity.
Those marked by sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness will not inherit the kingdom of God. Are such warnings aimed at Christians?
If the Father crushed the Son on our behalf, could he also be pleased with his Son while he died?
Loving others as Christ loved us is not a safe or convenient enterprise. It is a sacrificial love that bleeds.
The love of God is too great to leave us as we were. Anyone who has experienced the love of God has been transformed by the love of God.
Can you forgive someone who doesn’t repent of doing you any wrong? Can there be real forgiveness?
If you are a Christian, you are a new person. You are not what you were. You are fundamentally, profoundly, deeply new.
Whenever we get hurt, we become vulnerable to bitterness. But God calls us to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.
God seals us with his Holy Spirit to ensure we make it home. And this sealing by the Spirit leads to a life of love on earth.
Keep your eyes on fellow Christians. Are they worn out, discouraged, downcast? Ask God for an upbuilding word.
What does stealing reveal about our hearts? It shows a lack of love for people and a lack of contentment in the Lord.
Falling asleep with anger is an invitation to the devil to sow bitterness into your life and relationships.
Going to bed angry is dangerous. It invites bitterness into your life, but more than that, it invites the devil.
He who loves the church loves himself because he’s a part of the church. Take care how you love your fellow members in Christ.
If you don’t love the truth, you don’t love the gospel. If you love the gospel, you will love being a truthful person.
Christ does not simply tell us to put off our old lives. He tells us to put on his character.
Our minds must have more than new ideas to be made new. It must have a new inclination, disposition, and ruling principle.
Are you still living according to your old sinful life? Put to death old desires and be transformed by truth in Christ.
The Christian is not just one inwardly. We put on a new man, a new uniform, a new identity that others can see.
What does it mean to learn Christ? And if you were studying Ephesians for yourself, how would you answer a question like that from the Bible?
The heart that loses God as its greatest desire becomes a cauldron of desires for sensuality.
Underneath every rejection of Christianity is a hardness of heart and rebellion of life.
The reason God gave us reason was so that we might know God. When we refuse knowledge of him, we are left with futility.