Why God Makes Much of You
Chapters
0:03:40 God Reveals Himself Relentlessly in the Bible as Loving You for His Name
5:36 God Shows His Love for Us by Creating Us
7:42 Four God Shows His Love for Us When Christ Died
00:00:00.000 | (music)
00:00:04.000 | Well, last Wednesday we looked at what makes Pastor John tick.
00:00:09.000 | There he gave us a glimpse into his ministry and his aims.
00:00:13.000 | That was APJ 1769.
00:00:16.000 | In today's clip, I return to that same sermon because he goes from that point
00:00:21.000 | of what makes him tick in ministry to talking about how God makes much of us,
00:00:26.000 | his children, and why he makes much of us, his children.
00:00:32.000 | First, the point to clearly state it, God makes much of us.
00:00:37.000 | He does, and he does so beyond our wildest imaginations.
00:00:41.000 | In fact, we'll see that point next week in greater detail, how God makes much of us.
00:00:47.000 | So hold that thought for now because here in this Wednesday sermon clip,
00:00:51.000 | I want you to see that, yes, God makes much of us,
00:00:54.000 | but his plan aims at something far greater than merely making us feel loved
00:00:59.000 | for the sake of making us feel loved.
00:01:03.000 | You'll see why here in just a moment.
00:01:05.000 | Again, as we dive into this sermon clip for context,
00:01:08.000 | this comes from a sermon preached two weeks out from John Piper's eight-month
00:01:12.000 | leave of absence from his church in 2010.
00:01:15.000 | These are part of his parting words, so to speak, to his church, and in them,
00:01:19.000 | here's Pastor John to explain how God makes much of us and why he does it this way.
00:01:26.000 | Here's Pastor John.
00:01:28.000 | My shorthand way of trying to help the nominal Christian wake up to their real condition
00:01:36.000 | and then plead for regeneration, plead for an awakening,
00:01:40.000 | so that at the bottom of their souls is Jesus and not self,
00:01:44.000 | is to say, "Do you feel more loved by God when he makes much of you,
00:01:51.000 | or do you feel more loved by God when at great cost to his son,
00:01:58.000 | he frees you from that horrible bondage to self in order to enjoy making much of him forever
00:02:05.000 | so that the peak of your joy is see him, savor him, show him?"
00:02:14.000 | Now, all that's introduction.
00:02:17.000 | Today, I am really jealous that this concern of mine that I just described
00:02:24.000 | not undermine the immeasurable way that God loves you,
00:02:32.000 | including his making much of you.
00:02:38.000 | He makes more of you, Christian, true, born-again, struggling Christian,
00:02:46.000 | he makes more of you than you ever dreamed he could or would.
00:02:54.000 | I want you to see and feel that you are more loved by God when he loves you that way
00:03:03.000 | than any other way.
00:03:06.000 | He makes more of you when he makes much of you for his sake
00:03:14.000 | than if he were to make much of you only for your sake.
00:03:19.000 | If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't preach this sermon.
00:03:21.000 | God is making more of you when he makes much of you for his sake
00:03:27.000 | than if he only made much of you for your sake.
00:03:31.000 | More is being made of you, and I hope to show you that.
00:03:38.000 | I argued, I mean, I said that God reveals himself relentlessly in the Bible
00:03:43.000 | as loving you for his namesake.
00:03:47.000 | Let me give you just a few examples so that those of you who may not be as familiar
00:03:51.000 | with this as others will get on board with me.
00:03:54.000 | You'll know, "What are you saying?
00:03:56.000 | What do you mean by that?"
00:03:57.000 | I'm going to give you four or five examples.
00:03:59.000 | Number one, God shows his love for us by predestining us for adoption
00:04:05.000 | into his family.
00:04:07.000 | I don't--every one of these feels like the greatest act of love to me.
00:04:10.000 | I want to say, "This is the greatest."
00:04:12.000 | Well, it's probably--I want to reserve that for the cross, I think,
00:04:15.000 | but, man, this is big.
00:04:17.000 | That God in eternity looked upon me foreseeing my fallenness, my pride,
00:04:22.000 | my sin, and said, "I want that man in my family.
00:04:26.000 | I'll do anything to get him in my family.
00:04:29.000 | I will pay for him to be in my family with my son's life."
00:04:35.000 | That's love, folks.
00:04:36.000 | That is mega, off-the-charts love.
00:04:39.000 | And the verse is Ephesians 1, 6.
00:04:42.000 | "He predestined us for adoption as sons to Jesus Christ."
00:04:46.000 | Get that?
00:04:47.000 | "He predestined us for adoption into the divine, universe-ruling family
00:04:56.000 | according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace."
00:05:01.000 | Does that ruin it?
00:05:03.000 | Does that ruin it?
00:05:07.000 | No.
00:05:09.000 | He did it.
00:05:11.000 | He said, "I'm going to have John Piper.
00:05:13.000 | I'm going to have you in my family.
00:05:16.000 | I've decided this before the world is created.
00:05:18.000 | I'm having you to the praise of the glory of my grace."
00:05:26.000 | I hope that doesn't ruin it for you.
00:05:29.000 | I want to make it more, more, not less, that he did it for his glory.
00:05:36.000 | Number two, God shows his love for us by creating us.
00:05:43.000 | If we didn't have existence, we couldn't enjoy him or anything else.
00:05:47.000 | So he loved us into being.
00:05:50.000 | Why?
00:05:52.000 | Isaiah 43, 6, "Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends of the earth,
00:05:56.000 | everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory."
00:06:01.000 | Don't let that diminish the love of God for you and your creation,
00:06:06.000 | that you came into being for his glory.
00:06:10.000 | Number three, God shows his love for us by sending us a savior, the angels.
00:06:21.000 | "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy,
00:06:26.000 | which will be for all the people.
00:06:28.000 | For unto you this day in the city of David is born a savior,
00:06:32.000 | who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.
00:06:35.000 | You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
00:06:39.000 | And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly foes
00:06:42.000 | praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest.
00:06:48.000 | A savior's come."
00:06:51.000 | Does that bother you, that they would sing that way?
00:06:55.000 | Instead of saying, "Glory to the men for whom he's dying.
00:06:59.000 | Glory to the women for whom he's dying."
00:07:01.000 | Instead, they sing, "Glory to God.
00:07:03.000 | A savior came to rescue sinners.
00:07:06.000 | God, God, God, what a God."
00:07:10.000 | I just want you to get inside this so bad.
00:07:14.000 | We get the savior, he gets the glory.
00:07:17.000 | We get the great joy, he gets the honor.
00:07:20.000 | Is that okay?
00:07:21.000 | Goodnight, that's okay.
00:07:23.000 | It can't be any other way if there's a God and a sinner like me.
00:07:29.000 | It can't be any other way.
00:07:32.000 | This is the greatest news in all the world.
00:07:34.000 | A savior has come for me, and the angels are praising God.
00:07:42.000 | Number four, God shows his love for us when Christ died.
00:07:49.000 | This is probably the biggest, isn't it?
00:07:51.000 | In the Bible, that the death of Christ is the biggest display of the love of God.
00:07:55.000 | Let me give you just one verse.
00:07:57.000 | This is 2 Corinthians 5:14.
00:08:00.000 | "The love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this,
00:08:06.000 | that one has died for all, therefore all have died.
00:08:11.000 | And he died for all."
00:08:13.000 | Here comes the purpose clause.
00:08:17.000 | "So that those who live might no longer live for themselves,
00:08:23.000 | but for him who for their sakes died and was raised."
00:08:28.000 | Christ died for me.
00:08:31.000 | He put himself between me and the bullet, me and the sword, me and the flames,
00:08:36.000 | and he took it, though I deserved it, and he didn't.
00:08:39.000 | He took it, and he did that
00:08:42.000 | so that I might no longer live for my magnificent self
00:08:49.000 | and would now die and enjoy living for him forever.
00:08:56.000 | That's why he did it.
00:08:59.000 | That's love.
00:09:01.000 | It's a bigger love than if he hadn't done it that way.
00:09:07.000 | Number five, and it's this verse.
00:09:10.000 | It's verse 9 in Psalm 79.
00:09:12.000 | "Help us, O God, of our salvation for the glory of your name.
00:09:19.000 | Deliver us and atone for us, for our sins, for your name's sake."
00:09:26.000 | Born-again people pray like that.
00:09:30.000 | "Save me for your name's sake.
00:09:35.000 | Deliver me, atone for my sin, for your name's sake."
00:09:38.000 | That's the way born-again people think.
00:09:42.000 | It's all going back.
00:09:44.000 | It's all going back.
00:09:46.000 | Every grace that comes to me is being reflected back, and I love it!
00:09:49.000 | I love it!
00:09:50.000 | That's why I'm alive.
00:09:53.000 | It's just the greatest thing in all the world
00:09:55.000 | that I would be rescued from immersion in Piper.
00:09:59.000 | Yuck!
00:10:01.000 | To be freed a little bit, a little bit,
00:10:05.000 | and just know him and love him and give it all back
00:10:08.000 | and let him be God for me.
00:10:12.000 | So good.
00:10:13.000 | That 2 Corinthians 5:15 text is really stunning, isn't it?
00:10:16.000 | "Christ died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves,
00:10:21.000 | but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
00:10:26.000 | Incredible.
00:10:27.000 | Christ died to save me from me.
00:10:33.000 | This is from John Piper's April 18, 2010 sermon on Psalm 79,
00:10:37.000 | titled "How Much Does God Love This Church?"
00:10:40.000 | The whole thing is online.
00:10:42.000 | I found this clip.
00:10:43.000 | If you find one, email it to me.
00:10:44.000 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title,
00:10:46.000 | the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio,
00:10:48.000 | and make a note of what stands out to you in the clip.
00:10:51.000 | Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email
00:10:53.000 | and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:10:57.000 | That's an email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:11:01.000 | Well, Friday we're back to talk about the pursuit of holiness as justified believers,
00:11:05.000 | something we must get right.
00:11:07.000 | Does God delight in our justification, our imputed righteousness,
00:11:12.000 | or does God delight in our actual lived-out righteousness, our holiness?
00:11:20.000 | It's a really super important question, and that is up next time.
00:11:23.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we are joined in studio with Pastor John
00:11:26.000 | when we return on Friday for that.
00:11:28.000 | We'll see you then.
00:11:31.000 | [ Silence ]
00:11:36.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]