Welcome back to the podcast. Well, does John Piper add to the gospel? Namely, does John Piper add joy to the gospel? It's a question today from a listener named Brian. "Hello, Pastor John. I thank God for using your ministry to bless many people and to restore them to a meaningful relationship with God.

I saw a recent tweet, a quote from you online saying, quote, 'You either treasure Jesus above all, or you're not saved. If you don't value Jesus above everything else, you don't have saving faith.' End quote. Now, such a hot potato tweet caught a lot of heat from Christians and pastors because the statement implies that treasuring Christ is perhaps a step in addition to believing Christ and hence adds to the gospel.

Some of the critique was about how this treasuring Christ is better put under the umbrella of sanctification, not faith. My knowledge of Christian hedonism is very small, so I would like to ask you, is treasuring Christ a part of saving faith or does it come later in the process of sanctification?" So my tweet was, quote, "You either treasure Jesus above all, or you're not saved.

If you don't value Jesus above everything else, you don't have saving faith." And the criticism is, treasuring Jesus above all as an essential mark of a Christian adds something to saving faith as the instrument of justification and so corrupts the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. So Brian puts it in a question, "Is treasuring Christ a part of saving faith or does it come later in sanctification?" Perhaps a couple of preliminary comments before I answer that question.

First, it's important to realize that all growth in every grace belongs to sanctification, including growth in faith, even though faith was there at the point of the beginning of the Christian life as the only instrument obtaining justification. So to say that something is essential for the beginning of the Christian life does not exclude it as part of the ongoing experience of the growth of sanctification.

That's the first preliminary observation. Second, when the Bible says that something is evidence that you are a Christian, you'll know them by their fruit, that you don't have saving faith unless you have that evidence or that fruit, that you're not born again without this fruit or evidence, this does not mean that the missing fruit or evidence has to be a constituent part of justifying faith.

For example, Hebrews 12, 14 says, "Strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Holiness without which no one will see the Lord. If you don't have this holiness, you're not going to see Jesus, which means you're not saved. In other words, there is a holiness, a measure of sanctification, without which we will not see Jesus.

We are not saved. We will prove that we were not born of God. We didn't have saving faith. But that doesn't mean that such holiness is included in saving faith. There are fruits in the Christian life that bear witness to the authenticity of the root or the tree of saving faith.

And the Bible is willing to say that without those fruits, we show that we are not saved. We didn't really have authentic saving faith, which would have produced the fruit. Third preliminary observation. The text that I had in mind with that tweet is, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." This is Jesus' way of saying, "You are not truly my disciple.

You are not truly saved if you give me a nice, secure, steady, high-esteemed second place in your life. I am number one in your life, or you're not mine." That's what he says. This doesn't mean there's no struggle in the Christian life to treasure Jesus above everything. It just means if the steady, continued condition of your heart is to have more affection for your family than for Jesus, you're not a Christian.

And Jesus says numerous other things like this. In that tweet, I was simply echoing the strength of these words in Matthew 10:37. Now, none of that answers the question. Do I think that treasuring Jesus is part of saving faith? And my answer is yes, I do believe that treasuring Jesus is part of saving faith.

Here's why. I take it from John 1, 11, and 12 that saving faith is a receiving of Christ. I think the wording of verse 12 makes it clear that John wants us to define saving believing as saving receiving of Christ. It goes like this. "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name," did the same thing. "He gave the right to become the children of God." In saying this, Jesus is not saying that anything is being added to believing or added to faith as the instrument of justification. Receiving Jesus is not a work.

It's a happy welcoming of the one who did the work and who works for us now. So justifying faith, believing on Jesus, means receiving Jesus. Now, what Christian hedonism does is press in to these words and asks, "What is the experience of receiving Christ really like?" Is it like receiving a blow to your face?

No. Is it like receiving a gift you need but don't want? Is it like receiving help that you like from someone you don't like? Is it like receiving a package from a postman that you love receiving, but you're scarce to even know the postman? Don't care to get to know him.

Christian hedonism will not settle for just familiar Christian words, "Receive, receive, receive." It presses in to the actual experience of believing and receiving Christ because it knows from the Bible there are many ways to receive Christ that are not saving ways. The people in John 6 received him as a king, and Jesus escaped from them, didn't want anything to do with them.

The brothers of Jesus in John 7 received him as a miracle worker, and he said they didn't even have faith. The people at the feast believed in John 2. They believed, it says, "believed on Jesus in some sense, but Jesus would not entrust himself to them," John 2:24. Simon the magician was so blown away by the reality of the Holy Spirit, he was ready to receive him with money.

He paid for him, and Jesus says, "Take your money and go to hell." That's what he said. Read it, Acts 8.20. Therefore, Christian hedonism presses in to the actual experience of receiving until it discerns what is this receiving? What is it really? What is the experience like? And what does it find in receiving Christ that is saving receiving?

We must receive, Christian hedonism says, we must receive Christ not only as rescuer, not only as master, but as supreme treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up, and then in his joy, he sells everything he has to buy that field.

Or again, "Whoever loves mother or father more than me is not worthy of me." Or Paul in Philippians 3.8, "I count everything as lost because of this passing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." You read that in context and you'll see it's a definition of faith. It's interchangeable with faith.

In other words, receiving Christ in a saving way, and remember, receiving is the biblical synonym for believing, receiving Christ in a saving way means preferring Christ over all other persons and things. It means desiring him, not only what he can do. Desiring, receiving, welcoming, embracing is what we exercise toward what he is.

We desire him, receive him, welcome him, embrace him. It means being satisfied with all that God is for us in him, in Jesus, even though we can't see fully at all that God is for us in Jesus. We grow, we grow in that seeing and that satisfaction. We grow in faith.

We don't receive Jesus in a saving way when we receive him as a ticket out of hell or a ticket into heaven. He's not a ticket. He is a treasure. He's the greatest treasure. He is what makes heaven heaven. If we trust him to get us into heaven, but would be satisfied with a pain-free heaven without him there, we don't receive him, we use him.

Saving faith means receiving Jesus as our supreme treasure. That kind of affection for Jesus is not peripheral add-on. That's what saving faith is. And I would just plead with those who are quick to pass judgment on such views that they too not be satisfied with words, but press in to the meaning and the reality and the real heart experiences of what it is to really embrace Jesus Christ in saving faith.

Amen. Thank you, Pastor John. That's exactly right. We must receive Christ not only as our rescuer, not only as our master, but as our supreme treasure above all things. So good. Thank you, Pastor John. Well, at our online home, DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn, you can explore all 1,200 plus of our episodes.

You can scan a list for our most popular ones, read full transcripts, even send us a question of your own. And to get new episodes delivered to you three times per week, subscribe to the Ask Pastor John podcast on your favorite podcast app. Well, both Paul and Moses say they would rather be damned and let others be saved by way of a trade.

So doesn't this imply that their vision of mission was a higher priority in their lives than their personal and eternal joy in the presence of God? In other words, didn't Paul and Moses prioritize mission over their joy in God? Wow. You guys come up with some really good and hard questions.

I'm your host Tony Ranke. We'll see you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend.