Truths You Will Need When Cancer Hits
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - There was a moment when doctors told John Piper
00:00:09.360 | that they detected cancer in his body.
00:00:12.140 | Thankfully, it was a treatable cancer,
00:00:14.000 | but in that moment in the hospital
00:00:15.820 | when a doctor first voiced concern
00:00:18.860 | and Pastor John was left alone in a room,
00:00:21.280 | there in that moment without a Bible at hand,
00:00:24.200 | here were the first truths that flooded to his mind,
00:00:27.200 | as John Piper explained in a 2006 sermon.
00:00:30.880 | - 2 Corinthians 1.8, almost one of the first ones.
00:00:34.800 | I don't want you to be ignorant, brothers,
00:00:36.640 | concerning the affliction that we endured in Asia Minor.
00:00:41.640 | We felt that we had been given the sentence of death.
00:00:45.920 | That was to make us rely not upon ourselves,
00:00:51.880 | but upon God who raises the dead.
00:00:55.700 | Now, there are a thousand good purposes
00:00:59.040 | in what God is doing in me right now, a thousand plus.
00:01:02.840 | I don't know 99% of them, but I know one of them,
00:01:07.080 | helping me not rely upon myself
00:01:14.920 | and helping me rely upon the God who raises the dead.
00:01:19.200 | That's the purpose.
00:01:20.600 | I don't need the other 999.
00:01:23.480 | That's just enough.
00:01:24.760 | He's good, he's wise, the therapy is tailor-made
00:01:29.480 | for my need right now by God.
00:01:33.440 | That's number one.
00:01:35.560 | Number two, how sweet.
00:01:38.600 | 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, and 10.
00:01:42.240 | Comes to me in a dark moment.
00:01:44.380 | I can't remember morning or evening.
00:01:47.720 | God has not destined you for wrath,
00:01:53.520 | but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ
00:01:58.520 | who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep,
00:02:03.640 | we will live with him.
00:02:06.560 | Don't you love biblical clarity?
00:02:09.280 | I mean, it just is golden clarity.
00:02:12.160 | You tap that one and it rings clear.
00:02:15.040 | There are no ambiguities in that verse.
00:02:19.280 | John Piper, God says, "You are not destined for wrath."
00:02:24.280 | This is not wrath, but for salvation
00:02:32.120 | through Jesus Christ, not you, not you, you're nobody.
00:02:36.320 | You're a sinner, through Jesus Christ who died for you
00:02:40.640 | so that whether you're taken out at 60 or get 80,
00:02:45.640 | you're gonna live with him.
00:02:47.660 | Those are, that's why I want you to read your Bible.
00:02:52.660 | I was with six guys down in Louisville, Kentucky,
00:02:58.940 | praying and strategizing about big things the last few days
00:03:03.100 | and shared this with them.
00:03:04.900 | And we were talking about postmodern post-propositionalism
00:03:09.900 | and how bad it is.
00:03:17.380 | And I got real animated in Al Mohler's basement
00:03:20.660 | and almost broke a vase.
00:03:23.740 | And I said, "Okay, when I stand up at this Together
00:03:31.220 | for the Gospel Conference and talk about this,
00:03:35.180 | I'm gonna say,
00:03:36.400 | 'God has not destined me for wrath,
00:03:43.660 | but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ
00:03:48.300 | who died for me so that whether I die or live,
00:03:51.300 | I live with him.'"
00:03:52.340 | Don't take my propositions!
00:03:55.260 | These people, these postmodern emergent types
00:03:59.700 | think they're just moving beyond
00:04:01.940 | this enlightenment propositionalism.
00:04:04.660 | I say, "Well, I don't know where you're going,
00:04:07.860 | but I know a few propositions that I will live by,
00:04:11.420 | die by, and this is one of them,
00:04:14.220 | and there are about 18,000 others in the Bible.
00:04:17.260 | Don't get uppity about post-propositionalism.
00:04:21.140 | I will have propositions like,
00:04:23.860 | "You are not destined for wrath."
00:04:30.260 | That's a statement with a verb and a subject
00:04:35.540 | and a few other grammatical pieces
00:04:37.420 | that matter infinitely to me.
00:04:41.700 | I get really exercised about this stuff,
00:04:44.820 | this philosophical mumbo jumbo about how new everything is
00:04:50.100 | because we're going beyond the doctrines
00:04:52.260 | and beyond the propositions.
00:04:54.620 | Thank you, I don't know where you're going,
00:04:56.460 | but I'm staying right here with verses nine and 10
00:05:00.020 | of 1 Thessalonians.
00:05:01.500 | - Amen, and for more on this,
00:05:04.900 | see Piper's article titled,
00:05:06.500 | "10 Lessons from a Hospital Bed,"
00:05:09.020 | published at DesiringGod.org on April 8th, 2014.
00:05:14.020 | This clip was pulled from Piper's 2006 sermon,
00:05:17.140 | "How God's Word Produces Our Work."
00:05:20.380 | It was a clip sent in by podcast listener,
00:05:22.700 | Ricky Sanchez from Toronto, Canada.
00:05:25.700 | Of course, Piper's cancer was treatable.
00:05:27.860 | Tomorrow, we address a heartbreaking email
00:05:29.760 | from a teenager with terminal cancer
00:05:32.340 | who wants to know, "When is it okay to pray
00:05:35.020 | "that God would take us home?"
00:05:37.860 | I'm your host Tony Reinhke, and I'll see you tomorrow.
00:05:40.340 | (silence)
00:05:42.500 | (silence)
00:05:44.660 | [BLANK_AUDIO]