This is part 6 of 6 in a series of quotes and endorsements anticipating the release of Finally Alive.
Quote
Someone may say: "I know religious people—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, cultic—who act like vipers. They aren’t part of the renewal." Jesus knew them too. But he did not infer from this that the new birth doesn’t work. He infers that they are hypocrites. "You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence" (Matt. 23:25). "You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones" (Matt. 23:27).
Religious fakes were no surprise to Jesus. He prepared his most stinging words for them. They do not contradict the new birth. They confirm it. What could possibly change a ‘brood of vipers’ (Matt. 12:34)? Reformation is not what vipers need. They need regeneration. Religious fraud does not make the new birth nonsense; it makes it necessary. (191)
Endorsements
J .I. Packer, Regent College:
Regeneration, or new birth, meaning simply the new you through, with, in, and under Christ, is a largely neglected theme today, but this fine set of sermons, criss-crossing the New Testament data with great precision, goes far to fill the gap. Highly recommended.
Bruce Ware, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:
The evangelical church is witnessing a resurgent commitment to social action—the doing of good deeds for a needy culture and world. While correct and commendable for many reasons, one danger now as ever is that ‘good deeds’ will supplant "good news."...
John Piper’s Finally Alive is a vivid and stirring description of the Bible’s teaching on what it means to be born again. The good news of the gospel—that by God’s grace, and through faith in Christ and the all-sufficiency of his atoning death, one may be fully forgiven and born again to newness of life that will never end—is a message that must be understood, believed, embraced, and proclaimed for true transformation of life to occur.
"You must be born again" (John 3:7) is a "must" we dare not lose. Finally Alive unpacks the truth, the necessity, and the process of the new birth clearly and beautifully.
For those curious about the Christian faith to those deeply committed to Christ and his ways, come read and behold the glory of any and every sinner’s only hope—the miracle of the new birth that brings forth new life in Christ that will never end.
