God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Listen to John Piper read the intro to his new book Spectacular Sins.

(The recording was made during a lunch with the TBI guys and was probably not intended to be used like this, but I'm sure you'll forgive the bootleg quality!)

In this book, John Piper considers 6 of the most historically influential sins in the Bible:

• The fall of Satan
• The fall of Adam
• The Pride of Babel
• The Sale of Joseph
• Israel choosing to have an earthly king
• The betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus

As we look at these stories we see that they were not only turned for good, but were intended by God for the greatest good—magnifying Christ.

Here are 2 quotes from the introduction that summarize what the book is for:

The aim of this book is not to meet felt needs, but to awaken needs that will soon be felt, and then to save your faith and strengthen your courage when evil prevails.

And:

If we are to endure and bear and believe and hope, we need to see the spectacular sins of history the way God sees them. I hope this book helps. The assumption is that telling the stories of these sins as they are told in the Bible will be as helpful as writing a formal theology of providence. Once the stories are in place, then you have a lifetime to trace out all the implications in larger books than this.

This book is small, but my prayer for it is large. Sometimes if you put your eye close enough to the smallest pinhole, a pinhole can reveal a new world. It isn't the size of the window that determines how much you see; it's which way the window is facing, and how close you are, and whether the glass is clear.