Don't Waste Your Life

let's pray together father in heaven I thank you for Christ and that he is our rock and our hope and our substitute and our treasure and that he's worth selling everything to have and so I invite you Holy Spirit to come and to magnify him now and to penetrate into the hearts of all of these young people and to do a work here that will have a reverberation a ripple effect beyond anything we've ever dreamed for this night do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that I've been able to ask or think or anybody else for the glory of your great name I ask this through Christ amen God was really very kind to me when I was 17 something came alive and something became wonderful something became way he that until that time wasn't way he wasn't wonderful and it wasn't the gospel per se I had been a believer since I was six as far as I can tell what was wonderful and way he was the thought that I had one life and only one to live and that all of eternity would be shaped and determined by it my destiny would be determined by what I did with this life and and the way I spent eternity and that seemed simply breathtaking to me just utterly out of proportion that this one small life and then followed by forever and that that forever would be shaped and determined by this life that became very very heavy 1964 I was a senior in high school and I've loved looking back just to remind myself of some of the evidences of what God was doing I was a very mediocre teenage poet and published a poem in our high school literary magazine called leaves of grass and the poem was written from the perspective of an old man looking back and my reason for liking this verse I'm going to read you is not not the quality of the poetry at all but the fact that it revealed the weight I was feeling starting in the 11th grade a year later and here's one verse from that mediocre teenage poem long I saw for Earth's hidden meaning long as a youth was my search in vain now as I approach my last year's waning my search I must begin again and the overwhelming sense the had was that just not going to happen to me I'm not going to come I'm 66 now I'm not going to I'm not going to get to my 66th year and look back and say I never could figure this out I don't really know why I was here no United purpose no lasting vision just a big question mark and limping along every day intending to be as happy as I could be and not get into too much trouble so that I could make something of these few years so I resolved that's just not going to happen I'm not going to come to the end and say I could never figure this out I must figure this out and and for me the word was why and I discovered very quickly that to figure out the why of my existence I had to know the meaning of why the English word why is ambiguous you know this in German there's a whole lot of words for why at least for and and one of them is veau hair and the others votes ooh and they help clarify the ambiguity of the meaning of the word why so if you say why did you eat you could say I ate because I was hungry or you could say I ate to get some strength the first one is the cause when you say why you mean what was the cause of your eating and the second was the purpose you say why did you mean what was your purpose so our word y is ambiguous frankly I don't care much about the cause of my life except as it informs the purpose of my life which means it's massively important God caused me but I I really don't care that God caused me to exist unless that she had light on what to do tonight or for the next season of my old life I don't care I don't care about causes I want to know purposes I want to know why I'm here in the vote to sense where - why am I here and I want you to care about that I want to know why everything exists what know why the universe exists why color why sound while of why hate why evil why good sports leisure works souls bodies government art beauty mosquitoes laughter marriage disease war I'm sure I'm causing that sound by something I'm doing here and if anybody wants to fix it I'm happy to adjust so I don't want to wreck anything I want to know why why do I exist in particular that was in my house it was hanging over the kitchen sink there was a soffit in the wall that came out and I remember it it hung there and now that little plaque rests on the window frame in my study at home so it's been in my eyes for 60 years that's when we moved into the house when I was six and I'm 66 so I've been looking at this plaque for sixty years and it says only one life two 'soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last so I went to college burning to say I'm not going to miss this I'm not going to come to be 66 years old and not know what this was about and all the rage in the late 60s was existentialism which is just a warmed-over version of what you now know as post-modernism which is a warmed-over version of of that they're really not very different and the one difference is they were real serious about their existentialism and most potter postmoderns are joking about it it was a blood earnest issue for the people in the late 60s when they read Camus and Sartre and Nietzsche and in the front of Time magazine in April of 1966 said God is dead these were things people were dying about killing themselves over and acting on in very radical ways and as I listened to existentialism I just couldn't see it here's here's the meaning of existentialism same thing for post-modernism really if you take it seriously existence precedes essence so exis that exists tential ISM comes from this principle existence precedes essence which means you don't have any essence you make an essence about of your existence so there was kind of a radical freedom just choose do something wild and free and make a life make a being make essence you don't have any there's no power outside of you there's no ultimate reality that's constraining the meaning of humanity be make it happen and that produced some pretty wild and amazing dramas and books I couldn't see it I simply couldn't buy it and the Lord was kind to me again to protect me because of so much of that around me and everybody thinking it's so avant-garde and so fashionable so cool so relevant and I'm saying it's just so insane because I knew one of the implications of it was if there is no intrinsic essence to me as a human being no no soul no mind that's more than chemicals and energy then love is chemicals and hate his chemicals and Joy's chemicals and everything in me said that's not true I would die that that's not true you she will not tell me that my loves and my hates and my sorrows and my Joy's are merely chemicals and so the Lord protected me very very profoundly in a very existential way you might say against existentialism he was very kind to me between the ages of 17 and 24 those are just awesome years for me and that's where most of you are I presume those were simply amazing years everything that has shaped me fell into place in those years all the major things fell into place between 17 and 24 really big things really big things and I'll tell you what three of those are in the hopes that they will have a similar effect on you that they've had on me because as I look back now over the last 50 years I don't think I've wasted that's a big assumption but you'll hear why I don't think I'm ignorant about why I'm here I don't think I'm ignorant about why you're here neither tonight are on the planet I know why you're on the planet and you do too probably but I'm going to tell you from the Bible and from God with great authority why you're here and then the the working out of that is a beautiful lifelong thing but before I tell you those three things let me say to you what I said to the students gathered at one day in 2000 down there in Sherman Texas I said and this is just so important to me you don't you don't have to know a lot of things in order for your life to make a big difference you just have to know a few massively important things and be willing to die for them and the reason that is so important for me and I think will be important for you is that even though you may think I'm a big shot I am very average in very many ways that made me very insecure as a person your age I'll give you a few of these I can't read fast can't read any faster than I can talk some kind of glitch in my brain I took all kinds of Evelyn wood reading dynamics courses and paid a lot of money to so I could be more successful and read still can't it's useless hopeless I just read as fast as I can talk second I have a really lousy memory if you introduce yourself to me tonight don't come up and say hi tomorrow it isn't going to help any so a memory I'm not a comprehensive thinker that is I can't hold lots and lots of things I look at historians historians other people have to know everything and and and and I can't begin to hold in my head what needs to be held if you're going to be a great scholar I have mood swings ask my wife from really deep disappointment I'm going to avoid the word depression because you might give me pills if I say that I'm not intrinsically opposed to pills I just don't want any deep discouragement and and really really high exhilaration so I'm not always easy to live with and then the last thing I wrote down so you get a feel for how what what obstacle these just felt like massive obstacles to me when I was your age they I feel I'm an introvert now I've come to terms with that and I would like to write a book someday I just thought of this today so I've got a new book idea I would like to write a book someday on how introverts love people because they don't like people that's that's an overstate I mean here's the way to say it when they're around people they're being drained and when they're by themselves they're being energized that's what an introvert is I'm energized when I sit with a book and and read and write a lot of energy that way and then I go and I spend it at church now not it's one way to say talk about that it says what you don't really love people you know people really joke that that people like they love the church they just don't like people now I want to write a book about that I do because I I have to stand before my God and give an account for the last 32 years of pastoring I pastor people I don't pastor books and I'll have to give an account and I I have some ideas of what I'll say I hope he likes it the point there is as you sit there and you catalog in your head all your weaknesses all right all the reasons why you'll never make any waves in this world for Jesus I just want to tell you it ain't necessarily so I have made a few waves why what happened what why why have I written all these books and what blah blah blah you know what what and and I think the reason is I know a few things I could I mean the only takes a while to name them I just know a few things and I say them over and over again because I think they are massively important they just can't be any more important and I took hold of them and they took hold of me and I try to say them in as many different ways as I can say them I try to live them as well as I can live them and I can hold them in my little head there's only three or four and it it's wonderful just a freeing thing to realize as your student you reading all these books and for reading forget forget forget Saul you do is read forget didn't forget and you what's the point of it all so I'm going to try to tell you what what the point of it all is so I've got three great truths that if you knew them and they took you you wouldn't waste your life this event is about not wasting your one and only solitary eternity shaping life so here they are the first one is the longest and then those two quick ones number one you know I'm going to do I'll take this off because that's that's making the problem three big truths that took me between the ages of 17 and 24 that's where they all fell into place there's been very little adjustment since I was 24 years old so the amazing thing I have learned some things but the big things haven't changed God was so massively precious and powerful for me in those years so here's number one there is an absolute now this is long when I read your long sentence and they'll give you a short version there is an absolutely sovereign transcendently pure self existing self sustaining incomparable beautiful all-knowing all-wise all governing all upholding all defining infinitely valuable all satisfying God whose ultimate purpose of all creation and all redemption in all history and all culture in my life is to communicate his glory that is his greatness and his beauty for the everlasting and ever-increasing enjoyment of his redeemed people that's number one which the short version is God is and he needs he means to be known truly and treasured or enjoyed duly by his redeemed people and that's why he created the universe and why he put you on it and brought you here tonight when Moses asked God what shall I say to the people of Israel when they asked who sent you what's his name God said to Moses I am Who I am tell them I am sent you I am no beginning no ending I don't depend on anything everything depends on me nothing defines me I define everything I'm not kept in being by anything I keep all things in being I simply absolutely am self-sustaining self-existing tell them that's who sent you and when I discovered this great sovereign God I knew one thing for sure I will not define my purpose for life he will that's just it was that's just to me that is so crystal clear obvious that if there is such a god which I settled it that there was in those years then I'm not telling him anything about what I'm supposed to do I'm listening totally you are god I am NOT I am utterly pendant you are totally self dependent and I will learn what I'm on the planet for from you and that set me on a course to try to discern what is God's ultimate purpose what's he up to in the world oh what a difference is made in reading outside the Bible Jonathan Edwards CS Lewis John Owen it has been a life defining ministry defining discovery to learn why God does all that he does in his great sovereignty and it fit it it separates the whole world over here is Oprah and Brad Pitt and the early CS Lewis and Michael Proust the the fun times commentator in London and Eric Ries the American social critic and over here are are those who take no offense that God does everything for his glory and I mentioned all those because I have files on all those people where they narrate that they walked away from historic Christian faith because God was presented to him to them at some point as being self-exalting and self-promoting which he is everywhere all the time and they would not have it it didn't sound like love and it didn't sound morally virtuous that God would be so God exalting and for me in those days God touched me don't know why and he made me love that truth I love it to this day I there are few things when I read the Bible that make my spirits soar more than text like these isaiah 40:3 bring my sons from afar my daughters from the ends of the earth everyone who's called by my name whom I created from my glory Jeremiah 13 11 I made the whole house at Israel in the whole house of Judah cling to me that they might be for me a people a name a praise and a glory some 106 verse 7 our fathers rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea he saved them for his name's sake that he might make known his power Isaiah 48 9 the most god-centered two verses in the Bible for my name's sake I defer my anger for the sake of my praise i restrain it for you for my own sake for my own sake I do it how should my name be profaned my glory I will not give to another when Oprah and Brad Pitt hear that they walk away don't want anything to do with the God like that they said so when I hear it I'm on my face saying you are God and that's exactly the way a God who is God should be John 17 1 father the hour has come glorify the son that the son may glorify you this intra Trinitarian conspiracy to glorify each other on the world 2nd Thessalonians 1:9 Jesus is coming on that day to be glorified in his Saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed so it became clearer and clearer to me that God as the creator and the Redeemer and the ruler of all things has done everything to put his glory on display God does everything he does to communicate his glory why what's that got to do with me and the way I'm wired and you're wired every single person in this room is wired to want to be happy you cannot not want to be happy anymore than you cannot get hungry God made you to want satisfaction nobody can want to be long-term permanently miserable the reason people commit suicide is because they become so miserable they can't take it anymore and this looks wrongly like the best way not to be miserable any our suicide is not a contradiction to the fact that every human being is wired to want to be happy and so I want to know you set it up that way god what does this massive self-promotion of God have to do with that and so the second half of my first point remember that list he is there is a God and all glorious God an all-powerful God and all wise God and all good God a self-sustaining God who has made all things for the everlasting and ever-increasing joy of his redeemed people and what clicked with the help of CS Lewis and Jonathan Edwards was that God is most glorified in me when I'm most satisfied in him and therefore he is summoning me to see his glory so that I would be satisfied in his glory and in that satisfaction he would be shown to be supremely valuable and I would be satisfied in my soul than these two massive longings God's passion to be glorified in my passion be satisfied came together in perfect harmony that's the first May using discovery that happened to me between the ages of 17 and 24 listen to Romans 9:22 God desiring to show his wrath and make known his power and do 'red with much patience vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy when this says that God does everything he does including evil the enduring of evil the managing of evil in the world he does it for the riches of his glory to be known by the vessels of mercy he doesn't mean so that the vessels of Mercy would be moderately interested in his riches of glory but that they would be ravished by them if we are only moderately interested in God's glory we don't make much of it and he's not honored in our lives for God to be honored in our lives and magnified in our lives which is why he made us then we need to be thrilled with his glory which is why he keeps presenting it to us in so many ways God is most glorified in me when I'm most satisfied in him is the first point it's what it's what you say when you're in tune with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21 I eat your expectation and hope now as always is that Christ would be magnified in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain I want Christ to be magnified what God to be seen to be great in my life and the way it happens is for my life to be Christ and my death to be gained which I paraphrase like this when Christ is so precious to you that he is a greater treasure than all that life can give and all that death can take then he is magnified in your life the first discovery that I made and the first truth I think you can grasp as a average or below average or an above-average person is God made me to display and communicate his glory and he brings that to fulfillment by bringing me to enjoy it because when I enjoy him so much I can let Goods and kindred go this mortal life also then he looks really great in my death and in my life a few things will make your death look more Christ exalting than if you are so satisfied in him that when you lose everything life gives you you say gain that's what's got to happen in your heart you see him so clearly and you savor him so dearly that you can lay your life down for him and not feel massive loss but rather huge gain that's number one discovery number one there's a great glorious all satisfying God who made the world and does everything he does including bring you into existence with your unique gifts in order that you might glorify Him by being satisfied in him forever here's number two what necessitates number two is that there's a huge obstacle between your present condition and you're seeing and savoring the glory of Christ the glory of God to the degree that it will satisfy your soul and enable you to take risks for him there's a huge obstacle and it's called your depravity and your sin and the corresponding reality in God namely wrath God is very angry at you in your sin and if he's very angry at you in your sin then there's not gonna be a good connection you won't see his glory as satisfying you'll be angry at it and running from it and he won't be pouring himself out in beautiful ways upon you so that you can't see him because he's angry and the second discovery that you might think didn't you know this already but I mean 17 to 24 didn't you know already that God had done something about that it's called the gospel that God has sent His Son into the world to bear your sin and absorb God's righteousness I mean God's wrath provide you with righteous didn't you know that already yes I did but here's what I didn't know I didn't know that in sending Jesus his one and only Son into the world to remove the obstacle that was between me and him namely my guilt and his wrath my depravity and his anger I didn't know that in the very act of becoming the means of my reconciliation the means of my seeing and savoring God as my all satisfying treasure he would become the highest expression of that glory I know that and that's what today Marvel's me must in other words God didn't look down and say oh here's a big problem I want all these people to glorify me by enjoying me none of them enjoys me because they're all sinners in rebellion against me and my anger is on them I will fix that I will send my son down there he will become a curse for them Galatians 3:13 he will take their condemnation Romans 8:3 he will bear their sin and become sin for them 2nd Corinthians 5:21 he will impute his righteousness to them romans 5:19 he will do that and that will be the apex of my display of the very glory I created them to enjoy this is mind-boggling because what it says and I've seen this now I'll give it to you just three passages of scripture so maybe you can begin to feel what I'm saying what this is saying is that the the purpose of God to create the universe and thus communicate his glory to a redeemed people who would savor it and be satisfied in it and in that satisfaction show how precious it is that purpose necessarily involved Jesus entering the world to save sinners in the most excruciating substitutionary death imaginable because that's where the glory of grace shone most brightly which is the pinnacle of the glory at all that's what I had not seen and here let me give you three passages of scripture to show what I'm saying number one Ephesians 1:5 in love God predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of the glory of His grace so what that verse says is we were predestined by God through Christ to praise the glory of grace so now I know that the ultimate purpose is not just to see and savor his glory but to see and savour the glory of His grace that's what that verse says the ultimate purpose of creation and predestination and all the saving works that go into getting me to see is that I would see and savor not just glory but the glory of grace that's verse number one here's number two second Timothy 1:9 he saved us and called us to a holy calling not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began now that simply underlines the fact that before there was any universe God had a purpose he was going to be praised by a redeemed people who experienced and saw his glory and specifically the glory of His grace and here it says he gave us that grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began which means that was the plan before there was any sin that needed grace or in a universe in which anybody could sin there was a plan to give us grace so that we would see it taste it be stunned out of our minds by it and spend the rest of our eternities praising it the glory of grace here's the third text Revelation chapter 13 verse 8 the Beast will triumph over everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain again listen carefully he's describing what will keep some people from submitting to this Antichrist power he says they're all going to fall before him except those whose names are written before the foundation of the world in a book and what's the name of the book this is the name the book of the life of the Lamb who is slain is the name of the book before there was a universe before the foundation of the world so God had in his mind I'm going to create a universe where my glory goes on display for the enjoyment of my people the apex of my glory is going to be my grace my absolutely undeserved D merited favor where I pour out my riches in glory upon undeserving sinners and the way I'm going to do it and the way it will reach its apex is through a lamb slain my son that's the plan so that when they see it they will spend the rest of their eternity is just like it says in revelation 5:9 singing the song worthy are you who were slain and did ransom men for God from every people in tribe and tongue and nation we're gonna sing about slaughter forever that's the word slaughter slain sister nice English word for slide is oh my which is slaughter as a lamb he went to the slaughter and did not open his mouth and we will be amazed by that with increasing degrees of amazement as eternity progresses forever because it is an inexhaustible display of the glory of grace so the second truth that I'm unpacking right here wasn't merely I hate to use the word merely that he would send his son to remove the obstacle that kept you and me from seeing and savoring his glory so that we could reach our full of satisfaction that that I had some sense of even as a boy so salvation meant that's what the gospel meant but what I hadn't seen was God's purpose is to be glorified to be praised for his glory reaching its apex in grace reaching its apex in Christ reaching its apex in the slaughter of the Christ for sinners like me so that in the very moment of becoming the means of my salvation he was the glorification I was designed to see he didn't just help me see something else what he did to help me see was what I needed to see and I hadn't seen that that's number two so number one there's a great glorious holy self-sufficient sovereign all-wise God who creates a world in order to display his glory for the everlasting ever-increasing enjoyment of a redeemed people that's number one and number two was there's a huge obstacle that has to be removed and he didn't just remove it through Christ that whole purpose of displaying his glory for the enjoyment of his people came to consummation at Calvary so that all of history was looking toward it and all of eternity will look back and praise the apex of the glory of His grace finally number three this is a an event here that has a strong and beautiful missions thrust to it and I am happy for that and this one will come close to pushing in that direction here's my third truth that came clear in the years 17 page 17 to 224 the life that when you walk out of here tonight that will most clearly draw attention to the beauty of the glory of the grace of God in Jesus crucified for his enemies the life that will glorify that is a life of sacrificial love for other people which is the overflow of your joy in God and they're just all I'd love to talk for an hour on this from the book of Hebrews but I mean not even go to the book of use I'm going to go to Jesus and just use one text and wrap it up with this one and see if I can show you something you might not have noticed before so here we are in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew five and at the end of the V attitudes he shifts gears around from the blessed are you blessed are you blessed are you to this blessed are those those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs the game of heaven blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely rejoice this is crazy rejoice in that day and be glad for great is your reward in heaven great for it for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you and great is your reward in heaven hold on to that you are the salt of the earth I'm just continuing on you are the salt of the earth but if the salt has lost its flavor is good for nothing but you're thrown out and trampled under people's feet you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden neither do men light a lamp and put it on a neither male island and put it under a basket but on a lampstand that it may give light to those in the house therefore let your light so shine that men may see your good deeds and give glory to your father who is in heaven now my question is what would get him glory that's why I'm on the planet that's why you're on the planet you are supposed to live a life that inclines people to give glory to God that is to see him as great to seems beautiful to see him is all satisfying to see him as the greatest treasure that there is so what kind of life does that well it says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory but how often does that happen I mean secular people are celebrating the good works of Christians all the time without seeing anything about God in it in fact that's what unites Christians with liberal unbelievers finally Christians are doing something worthwhile for a change like God talk they're helping the poor it's not working so did Jesus blow it when he said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who's in heaven here's here's another way to ask the question what is the light and what is the salt is the light and the salt merely I help you fix your tire on a frigid night in Minnesota I see you're stopped on the road I stop I get out and my hands get cold you warm yours up I try to loosen these bolts and I'm gonna help you is that the light well try this if you just keep verse 11 through 16 that's what I quoted 5 Matthew 5:11 through 16 together and asked does it all have anything to do with each other blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake blessed are you when men revile you persecute you say all kinds of evil against you falsely rejoice and be glad for so mended the prophets who were before you you have great reward in heaven so be so fixed on Christ that's the reward because Paul said two dies gained because it's to go and be with Jesus of the great reward of the Christian is I get more of Christ so loved him so fully that when you set your minds on things that are above you see Christ shining and all of his crucified glory and you say oh you are enough I don't need to hate my enemies I don't need to get payback here I can just spend myself because you are everything to me and I have resources inside flowing from you and you're all sufficiency so that I can give my life away and rejoice in doing it now my my argument is that's the light every Joe on the planet does a good deed every non end but how many people have you met that in the doing of the good deed when they're being harassed when they're being called names reading a Christian or when worse they're being ostracized or persecuted or killed for being a Christian they rejoice and don't return evil for evil Matthew 5:11 Matthew 5:44 they go together you've heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so 544 and 511 you got persecution going on here we're praying for them and here we're happy as doves go into the slaughter the world doesn't see that very often then my argument is verse 16 really does work when that's the context in other words if your whole life becomes a grumble free rejoicing in pain and sorrow and grief and loss because of your reward in heaven the world cannot explain that which is why Peter said in chapter 3 verse 15 be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you nothing causes people to ask that question except for your hope making you act weird on the planet and the weird that you should act is sacrifices with joy that they can't explain so I think light and salt in this context is the works done in a certain way namely I'm so satisfied in Jesus my reward I'm so confident in the hope of the gospel and what I will inherit just on the other side of my death that right now I have some resources within not to despair and not to murmur enough to hate and not to return to evil for evil but to keep on doing the right thing and the good thing in the beautiful thing with some element of cheer in my life so that the world will shake their heads and give glory to our Father who is in heaven so my third point and up I'll be done is the life I want to just put the three together the first one was God is awesome self-existent infinitely holy pure wise good all glorious and he made the universe and me in order to communicate his glory for my everlasting ever-increasing enjoyment that's number one number two is that he removed an obstacle my sin and his wrath by sending his son not just to become means of my seeing that glory but become the supreme expression of that glory in his Calvary work that's what I'm supposed to enjoy most fully be satisfied most fully and display most clearly another third one is what life will help you do that what is the unweighted life it's a life of sacrificial love lay your life down kind of love that is rooted in affirm confidence in the all satisfying reward of being more close to Jesus which is why must fight for joy in your life and why the the unweighted life is a life of pursuing joy satisfying joy in Jesus not in stuff it's it's the stuff that makes us so angry when people plunder our houses or threaten our health because we're valuing our health more than we're valuing Jesus and we're valuing our iPhones more than we're valuing Jesus and so we're going to get really angry if somebody steals our phone or wrecks our house or threatens our health because our God is very much here instead of our satisfaction being very very much there so I'm just going to close by pleading with you turn away from all non God turn away from all non Jesus as your supreme treasure and reach out and embrace the glory of God the glory of the grace of God the glory of the grace of God manifest in Jesus the glory of the grace of God manifest in Jesus supremely at the moment when he for the joy that was set before him endured the cross so that you could see and savour not just glory in general but that glory let's pray so father I plead with you that my life would way better reflect this truth I feel so inauthentic in some ways thinking about how I treat my wife sometimes or my daughter how I murmured and I've just said a murmur free life would be a beautiful thing so we're all guilty here Lord we're all in desperate need of what you have provided so lavishly namely grace so we receive it we bank on it we treasure it and we mean by it Jesus supremely displaying it in his dying for sinners like us pray this in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 306,117

Rating: 4.8573127 out of 5

Keywords: John Piper, Gospel, Don' Waste Your Life, Life, Risk, Mission, College, Michigan State University

Id: Ou8y_0377wE

Length: 56min 26sec (3386 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 30 2013