(upbeat music) - Hello everyone, this is Tony with a special episode for you today. A special episode because we have a new book release this summer. Preachers and aspiring preachers will wanna know about it. Pastor John's book, "The Supremacy of God in Preaching" is now out as a hardcover for the very first time from our friends at Crossway Books.

Here's the deal. If you order a print copy of this new printing of "The Supremacy of God in Preaching," you'll receive a free copy of John Piper's other book I'm preaching, "Expository Exaltation," free of charge to you. Two books I'm preaching for the price of one, available exclusively through our friends at Westminster Books online at WTSBooks.com, WTSBooks.com.

Of these two preaching books, "The Supremacy of God in Preaching" and "Expository Exaltation," Pastor John calls them bookends and quote, "The sum of what I want preachers to know "about the miracle of preaching," end quote. And you can get them both from Westminster Books for the price of one by the hardcover of "The Supremacy of God in Preaching" for 50% off, it's just $9.99.

And with it, you'll get "Expository Exaltation," a $30 book free of charge, all while supplies last. It's amazing. How is this possible? Well, it's made possible by the incredible generosity of Desiring God's ministry partners. And with that, today we have Pastor John reading his brief conclusion to "The Supremacy of God in Preaching." He did not record the full audio book, no, but he did record the conclusion for you, the APJ audience.

Here he is. - The "Supremacy of God in Preaching" conclusion. People are starving for the grandeur of God, and the vast majority do not know it. Those who do say, "Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water," Psalm 63, 1.

But most do not discern that they were made to thrill at the panorama of God's power and glory. They seek to fill the void in other ways. And even those who go to church, how many of them can say when they leave, "I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory," Psalm 63, 2.

The glory of God is of infinite worth. It is the heart of what the apostles preached, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6. It is the goal of every Christian act. Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, 1 Corinthians 10, 31.

It is the focus of all Christian hope. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, Romans 5, 2. It will someday replace the sun and moon as the light of life. The city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it for the glory of God gives it light, Revelation 21, 23.

And even now, before that great day, the heavens declare the glory of God, Psalm 19, 1. When people discover the worth of God's glory, when God says, "Let there be light," and opens the eyes of the blind, they are like people who find a treasure hidden in a field and full of joy, sell all that they have to buy that field, Matthew 13, 44.

They are like Moses who cried to the Lord, "Please show me your glory," Exodus 33, 18. This is the heart pang of every human being. Only a few know it. Only a few diagnose the longing beneath every human desire, the longing to see God. If only people could articulate the silent cry of their hearts, would they not say, "One thing have I asked of the Lord and that will I seek after, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord," Psalm 27, 4.

But instead, people in their unrighteousness suppress the truth and do not see fit to acknowledge God. And even many who name the God of Israel have changed their glory for that which does not profit, Romans 1, 18 and 28, Jeremiah 2, 11. Christian preachers more than all others should know this truth, that people are starving for God.

If anyone in all the world should be able to say, "I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory," it is the herald of God. And as we look out over the wasteland of our secular culture, must we preachers not ask, "Who but us will say to this people, 'Behold your God?' Who will tell the people that God is great and greatly to be praised?

Who will paint for them the landscape of God's grandeur? Who will remind them with tales of wonder that God has triumphed over every foe? Who will cry out above every crisis, 'Your God reigns?' Who will labor to find words that can carry the gospel of the glory of the blessed God?" If God is not supreme in our preaching, where in this world will people hear about the supremacy of God?

If we do not spread a banquet of God's beauty on Sunday morning, will not our people seek in vain to satisfy their inconsolable longing with the cotton candy pleasures of pastimes and religious hype? If the fountain of living water does not flow from the mountain of God's sovereign grace on Sunday morning, will not the people hew for themselves cisterns on Monday, broken cisterns that can hold no water?

Jeremiah 2.13. "We are called to be stewards of the mysteries of God." 1 Corinthians 4.1. "And the great mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1.27. "And that glory is the glory of God. And it is required of stewards that they be found faithful, faithful in magnifying the supreme glory of the one eternal God, not magnifying like a microscope that makes small things look bigger, but magnifying like a telescope that makes unimaginably great galaxies of glory visible to the human eye." If we love our people, if we love the other sheep that are not yet gathered into the fold, if we love the fulfillment of God's global purpose, we will labor to spread a table in the wilderness.

Psalm 78.19. "People everywhere are starving for the enjoyment of God. For as Jonathan Edwards said, "The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied." To go to heaven fully to enjoy God is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows, but God is the substance.

These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean." The ocean. (music) (music) (music)