(music) Well, last Wednesday we looked at what makes Pastor John tick. There he gave us a glimpse into his ministry and his aims. That was APJ 1769. In today's clip, I return to that same sermon because he goes from that point of what makes him tick in ministry to talking about how God makes much of us, his children, and why he makes much of us, his children.

First, the point to clearly state it, God makes much of us. He does, and he does so beyond our wildest imaginations. In fact, we'll see that point next week in greater detail, how God makes much of us. So hold that thought for now because here in this Wednesday sermon clip, I want you to see that, yes, God makes much of us, but his plan aims at something far greater than merely making us feel loved for the sake of making us feel loved.

You'll see why here in just a moment. Again, as we dive into this sermon clip for context, this comes from a sermon preached two weeks out from John Piper's eight-month leave of absence from his church in 2010. These are part of his parting words, so to speak, to his church, and in them, here's Pastor John to explain how God makes much of us and why he does it this way.

Here's Pastor John. My shorthand way of trying to help the nominal Christian wake up to their real condition and then plead for regeneration, plead for an awakening, so that at the bottom of their souls is Jesus and not self, is to say, "Do you feel more loved by God when he makes much of you, or do you feel more loved by God when at great cost to his son, he frees you from that horrible bondage to self in order to enjoy making much of him forever so that the peak of your joy is see him, savor him, show him?" Now, all that's introduction.

Today, I am really jealous that this concern of mine that I just described not undermine the immeasurable way that God loves you, including his making much of you. He makes more of you, Christian, true, born-again, struggling Christian, he makes more of you than you ever dreamed he could or would.

I want you to see and feel that you are more loved by God when he loves you that way than any other way. He makes more of you when he makes much of you for his sake than if he were to make much of you only for your sake.

If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't preach this sermon. God is making more of you when he makes much of you for his sake than if he only made much of you for your sake. More is being made of you, and I hope to show you that. I argued, I mean, I said that God reveals himself relentlessly in the Bible as loving you for his namesake.

Let me give you just a few examples so that those of you who may not be as familiar with this as others will get on board with me. You'll know, "What are you saying? What do you mean by that?" I'm going to give you four or five examples. Number one, God shows his love for us by predestining us for adoption into his family.

I don't--every one of these feels like the greatest act of love to me. I want to say, "This is the greatest." Well, it's probably--I want to reserve that for the cross, I think, but, man, this is big. That God in eternity looked upon me foreseeing my fallenness, my pride, my sin, and said, "I want that man in my family.

I'll do anything to get him in my family. I will pay for him to be in my family with my son's life." That's love, folks. That is mega, off-the-charts love. And the verse is Ephesians 1, 6. "He predestined us for adoption as sons to Jesus Christ." Get that? "He predestined us for adoption into the divine, universe-ruling family according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace." Does that ruin it?

Does that ruin it? No. He did it. He said, "I'm going to have John Piper. I'm going to have you in my family. I've decided this before the world is created. I'm having you to the praise of the glory of my grace." I hope that doesn't ruin it for you.

I want to make it more, more, not less, that he did it for his glory. Number two, God shows his love for us by creating us. If we didn't have existence, we couldn't enjoy him or anything else. So he loved us into being. Why? Isaiah 43, 6, "Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory." Don't let that diminish the love of God for you and your creation, that you came into being for his glory.

Number three, God shows his love for us by sending us a savior, the angels. "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For unto you this day in the city of David is born a savior, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.

You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly foes praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest. A savior's come." Does that bother you, that they would sing that way? Instead of saying, "Glory to the men for whom he's dying.

Glory to the women for whom he's dying." Instead, they sing, "Glory to God. A savior came to rescue sinners. God, God, God, what a God." I just want you to get inside this so bad. We get the savior, he gets the glory. We get the great joy, he gets the honor.

Is that okay? Goodnight, that's okay. It can't be any other way if there's a God and a sinner like me. It can't be any other way. This is the greatest news in all the world. A savior has come for me, and the angels are praising God. Number four, God shows his love for us when Christ died.

This is probably the biggest, isn't it? In the Bible, that the death of Christ is the biggest display of the love of God. Let me give you just one verse. This is 2 Corinthians 5:14. "The love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

And he died for all." Here comes the purpose clause. "So that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sakes died and was raised." Christ died for me. He put himself between me and the bullet, me and the sword, me and the flames, and he took it, though I deserved it, and he didn't.

He took it, and he did that so that I might no longer live for my magnificent self and would now die and enjoy living for him forever. That's why he did it. That's love. It's a bigger love than if he hadn't done it that way. Number five, and it's this verse.

It's verse 9 in Psalm 79. "Help us, O God, of our salvation for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for us, for our sins, for your name's sake." Born-again people pray like that. "Save me for your name's sake. Deliver me, atone for my sin, for your name's sake." That's the way born-again people think.

It's all going back. It's all going back. Every grace that comes to me is being reflected back, and I love it! I love it! That's why I'm alive. It's just the greatest thing in all the world that I would be rescued from immersion in Piper. Yuck! To be freed a little bit, a little bit, and just know him and love him and give it all back and let him be God for me.

So good. That 2 Corinthians 5:15 text is really stunning, isn't it? "Christ died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised." Incredible. Christ died to save me from me. This is from John Piper's April 18, 2010 sermon on Psalm 79, titled "How Much Does God Love This Church?" The whole thing is online.

I found this clip. If you find one, email it to me. Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio, and make a note of what stands out to you in the clip. Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

That's an email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. Well, Friday we're back to talk about the pursuit of holiness as justified believers, something we must get right. Does God delight in our justification, our imputed righteousness, or does God delight in our actual lived-out righteousness, our holiness? It's a really super important question, and that is up next time.

I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we are joined in studio with Pastor John when we return on Friday for that. We'll see you then.