Extemporaneous moments in corporate worship are sometimes the parts that stick with us the most. One such moment came in John Piper's concluding prayer of a recent sermon on John 8:30-36.

In this video, Piper confesses when Christians would be utterly insane:

Lord, I want to be free. I want my desires so changed into accord with reality so that I can do what I want to do and never regret it. That's what I want. And so I'm going hard after Jesus to change me, because many of my desires are stupid.

It occurs to me to say, Father, that we Christians would be utterly insane to envy people who pitch themselves out of the window of sin—on top of a skyscraper—to enjoy a vapor's exh…

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The Apostles' Creed:

. . . [Jesus] suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell. . .

Jesus descended into hell? Really? John Piper answers this question [audio].

For more content on this subject, check out Calvin's explanation in the Institutes.

To help us feel the weight of Calvary, Rick Gamache has written an imaginative narrative of Jesus' final hour.

We encourage you to listen to the 23 minute audio of Rick reading "The Father's Cup: A Crucifixion Narrative."

Psalm 16 is majestic. Peter unleashes its importance during his first ever sermon in Acts 2:29-36, arguing that David was clearly talking about Jesus. I'm convinced.

But there's more treasure to behold in Psalm 16 as we see the words within the lush forest of its context. Playing Hegel, there is thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

Thesis

Psalm 14 calls the atheist a fool. The diagnosis is impartial—we're all the fools. The LORD looks to see if there are any who understand (Psalm 14:2), followed by they have all turned aside (Psalm 14:3). This is not a put-down to people’s intellectual ability, it's the painful description of our rebellion. Thesis: There is none good, not even one.

An

…

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A special session convened in light of Rob Bell's book Love Wins. The panel, moderated by Kevin DeYoung, included D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, Crawford Loritts, and Stephen Um.

Listen to the audio of "God: Abounding in Love, Punishing the Guilty."

Carson framed the discussion giving a brief and clarifying overview on universalism:

1. Be clear about definition of universalism, don't muddle what it is.

2. Universalism is built out of several different assertions: a) everyone is savingly loved by God and is reconciled to God already; b) because of the wideness of God’s mercy, people of other religions will somehow find their way to heaven; c) initially, the only lost people are those who reject G…

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Listen to "Desiring God" by Curt Allen (a.k.a. "Voice")—

Yay though I walk through the valley of the death man, I wasn't killing sin it was taking my last breath man. I was more than stressed man wasn't living right and it was like I know what's right but my life would go left man. Death was my best man married to my sin and I was on my way to hell for the wedding reception. I was lost but some horizontal and vertical wood formed a cross, and placed upon it a man who was there and stood for the lost. Life is free but it cost the price of blood and this sacrifice is Christ who chose the right to be judged. Instead of me, over time I went from blind to now I better see, my problems bega…

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The moment we think that our act of praying or not praying contributes to God's being for us, it is self-righteousness.

Piper explains in this video excerpt:

"Christ died for my sins" is shorthand for "The only way to have God 100% on my side is to receive and rest in—as a gift—who Christ is and what he has done for me, and not who I am and what I did for him." That's the heart of the gospel . . .

Watch, listen, or download "Praying in the Closet and in the Spirit."

Desiring God's staff meets together every Friday morning for an hour of biblical teaching and prayer. Pastor John led this morning's gathering by unfolding the role of poetry in the Christian life.

He explains:

Poetry is not the answer, but it is a greater part of the answer than 95% of what we do with our time.

Woe to me if I think souls are saved by me or them becoming poetic. But few are damned by it. And of the thousand things we fill our days with, this could be more useful to the glory of God than what we do most of the time.

Listen to the entire audio of "Poetry, Pain, and the Power to See: Why Words Matter at Desiring God."

The temptation is not new: silencing certain biblical texts in order to say that eventually everyone will be saved. In fact, we could just call it recycled liberalism.

Desiring God focused on this subject 21 years ago at the Conference for Pastors — "Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment."

In his sermon that assesses the biblical and theological arguments for universalism, Sinclair Ferguson reminds us:

There is a mighty sermon in Gresham Machen’s book, God Transcendent, on the text in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who can kill the body; fear Him who is able to cast soul and body into hell.” And the sermon begins by the repetition of the text and with these words: “The…

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In yesterday's post Pastor John cited Philippians 2:12-13 concerning our sin-killing role in sanctification —

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

But why should we attack sin with fear and trembling?

In this video excerpt, Pastor John answers:

. . . The ground for my trembing here is not threat, but gift. Tremble! God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, your Father, your Redeemer, your Sustainer is in you willing and working. Tremble! Your acting is his acting. That's what I meant by "I don't wait for a miracle, I act the miracle."

My attack on my sin in reliance upon the Holy Sp…

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