Hardcover
190 pages
Sep 2005
Crossway

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Review:

Count your blessings, name them one by one, but often we end up gloating over all those blessings and gifts. In God is the Gospel, John Piper calls us to move past those blessings and make God Himself the foundation of our gladness, to become besotted with the glory of God in the face of Christ. Consider this pertinent question asked by Piper: have we shifted with the world from God’s love in the gift of Himself, to God’s love as the gift of a mirror in which we like what we see?

God is the Gospel is formatted into a series of meditations which lead deeper and deeper into the subject. Consider the Gospel, what it means, how it is absorbed. Take time to really look at God, at the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Contemplate on the Holy Spirit. Look deeply into evangelism and missions and the gladness of God. Take time for Christ-exalting contrition. Accept God as He presents Himself, whether in pain or joy. Then, after reflecting on all this, be ready to sacrifice and sing.

Baptist pastor and noted author, John Piper’s carefully considered, Bible-based, lucid, engrossing style aims his audience at God. God is the Gospel is a book you may find hard to lay down. It forces you to your own meditations as you discover each facet. – Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

This book is a cry from the heart of John Piper. He is pleading that God himself, as revealed in Christ’s death and resurrection, is the ultimate and greatest gift of the gospel.

None of Christ’s gospel deeds and none of our gospel blessings are good news except as means of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. Forgiveness is good news because it opens the way to the enjoyment of God himself. Justification is good news because it wins access to the presence and pleasures of God himself. Eternal life is good news because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Christ.

All God’s gifts are loving only to the degree that they lead us to God himself. That is what God’s love is: his commitment to do everything necessary (most painfully the death of his only Son) to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying—namely, himself.

Saturated with Scripture, centered on the cross, and seriously joyful, this book leads us to satisfaction for the deep hungers of the soul. It touches us at the root of life where practical transformation gets its daily power. It awakens our longing for Christ and opens our eyes to his beauty.

Piper writes for the soul-thirsty who have turned away empty and in desperation from the mirage of methodology. He invites us to slow down and drink from a deeper spring. "This is eternal life," Jesus said, "that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This is what makes the gospel—and this book—good news.