Quotes from John Piper

True saints have their minds, in the first place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with . . . the things of God. But the dependence of the affections of hypocrites is in a contrary order: they first rejoice . . . that they are made so much of by God; and then on that ground, he seems in a sort, lovely to them.

What this means is that if you want to grow up and feast on the fullness of God's revelation, you don't do it by jumping from milk to meat. You do it by the way you drink the milk. The milk has to make you a certain kind of discerning person before you can digest the meat.

Be sure that you live not idly, but in some constant business of a lawful calling, so far as you have bodily strength. Idleness is a constant sin, and labour is a duty. Idleness is but the devil's home for temptation, and for unprofitable, distracting musings. Labour profiteth others and ourselves; both soul and body need it. - Richard Baxter

The gospel of the glory of Christ spreads better and flourishes more because of 6,500 languages, not in spite of them.

Most people don't feel conscious hostility to God. The hostility is manifest more subtly with a quiet insubordination and indifference.

February 21, 1746. "My soul was refreshed and comforted, and I could not but bless God, who had enabled me in some good measure to be faithful in the day past. Oh, how sweet it is to be spent and worn out for God!"4

When we understand that seeing Christ is what leads to enjoying Christ, and that therefore the fight for joy is mainly a fight to see, we grasp how the fight does not undermine the fact that joy is a gift and a spontaneous experience

O come with me to the Word of God! If this way of carrying it with you does not work for you, then find your own way. Whatever it costs, do not read it and leave it. It transforms us by its presence in our minds, not by staying on the bedside table.

Not all question asking is good. It depends on the attitude. Is there a submission to the Word of God and a readiness to obey God when we understand what he wants of us? Is there a willingness to embrace the mysteries of God if something is plain but over our head?

Jesus was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18—20) and "increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52) and was perfectly obedient and sinless in all his life and ministry, all the way to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:5—8; Heb. 4:15)—in order to destroy the works of the Devil—to take away sin.

Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others.

We must train our people that it is not irreverent to see difficulties in the biblical text and to think hard about how they can be resolved.