Future Grace [Paperback]

John Piper (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 5, 2005

In Future Grace, author John Piper helps readers discover the key to overcoming sin and living a life that honors God. Many men and women attempt to walk upright out of gratitude for what Christ did in the past, but Piper encourages believers to look ahead to the grace God provides for us on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis—putting faith into action by laying hold of God’s promises for the challenges we face.

Sever the Root of Sin

No one sins out of duty. We sin because we want to. Sin promises happiness, and we buy the lie. So how can the root of sin be severed in our lives? The penalty of sin must be paid by the righteous blood of Christ. And the power of sin must be broken by banking on the promises of Christ.

John Piper’s meditations are rooted in rock-solid biblical reflection. Chapter by chapter—one for each day of the month—he reveals how, by cherishing the promises of God, you can break the power of anxiety, despondency, covetousness, lust, bitterness, impatience, pride, misplaced shame, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (January 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590521919
• ISBN-13: 978-1590521915
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Piper, the preaching pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis since 1980, is the author of numerous books and a senior writer for World magazine. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Munich and taught biblical studies for six years at Bethel College, St. Paul, before becoming a pastor. He and his wife, Noel, have four sons and one daughter.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (January 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590521919
• ISBN-13: 978-1590521915
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, where he first sensed God's call to enter the ministry. He went on to earn degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.) and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author of more than 30 books, including Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, What Jesus Demands from the World, and Don't Waste Your Life.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#42 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#86 in Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality

#42 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#86 in Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sanctification - the Power of a Superior Pleasure July 14, 2000

By Brian G Hedges

Format:Paperback

In what I would consider to be the essential John Piper "trilogy", this one should come third in reading order (with Desiring God and The Pleasures of God preceding), but the message is certainly not inferior to the other two! This God-saturated pastor delivers one of the most helpful and hopeful books on the power of sanctification that I have ever come across. He commends what Chalmers called "the expulsive power of a new affection" as the key to holiness. He shows from Scripture that gratitude is NOT to be the primary motive for the believer's pursuit of God, but rather "faith in future grace" (or "trusting in the promises of God," to use a less original phrase!). This theology is defended from Scripture, illustrated through countless anecdotes and quotes from the likes of C. H. Spurgeon, John Flavel, and Jonathan Edwards, and is applied to various sin struggles (anxiety, bitterness, coveteousness, pride, lust, etc.) - which Piper shows to be rooted in unbelief. The underlying theme of this book is that the faith that justifies also sanctifies. As you might imagine, this book is an aggressive (and needed) attack on the false concept that Jesus can be one's Saviour without also being one's Lord. I commend this book very highly - but I do warn you - it is a thinker. Read it twice. Once for familiarity and then again for saturation and meditation.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars REAL HELP for Spiritual Progress February 5, 2001

By Matthew Westerholm

Format:Paperback

This book revolutionized my war against sin. Rather than the "OK - this time I MEAN IT" approach that leads to an exhausted Christian life, Dr. Piper gives practical, biblically-saturated council in how to REALLY live the victory Christ achieved for us.

I'm in no danger of "blowing" the book with a 1,000 word review, so I'll let you in on the premise. (1) No one sins out of duty, but rather because of the promise of pleasure that sin offers. (2) The key to destroying sin's power is by prizing the pleasure of biblical promises regarding obedience above sin. Dr. Piper than offers up some VERY practical examples regarding different sorts of sin.

This book was the expansion I was looking for after reading Dr. Dan Fuller's great book "The Unity Of The Bible."

Warning: the book gives you two options - really change, or invent another excuse for staying like you are.

58 of 71 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book overall but some questionable conclusions June 28, 2005

By theologicalresearcher

Format:Paperback

John Piper will always be remembered as a popular Christian author/theologian who wrote many books to help pastors and lay people understand the Christian faith better and how to truly live a Christian life. In this book, Piper explains what it means to live by faith in future grace. In the first several chapters of the book (1-9), Piper explains why "past grace" is an insufficient motive to live a God-centred and obedient life. He explains that past grace only looks to the past and not to the future. What truly motives a Christian to live a God-centred and obedient life is to look forward to the grace that will be revealed. In fact, if we live looking back to what Christ did for our salvation then we are following the "debtor's ethic" which lessens the motivation and power to live a truly obedient Christian life. What Piper tries to do in this book is to make us realize that the way to overcome sin and disobedience in the Christian life is to look FORWARD to the grace of God (i.e., future grace) and to be truly satisfied for all that God is for us in Jesus Christ.

I really appreciated Piper's emphasis on the eschatological aspect of Christ's redemptive work. Too many evangelical Christians are too past or present oriented rather than future oriented in how they see the Christian life. They do not realize that salvation is not only a past fact and a present reality, but a future gift to those who trust in Jesus Christ. This is something that must be addressed behind the pulpits in many of our churches today. I also liked the fact that Piper always forces us to really look hard on where our affections lie. Does it lie with the present and the world or does it lie with God and the future?... Even if things don't go the way we want them to do we still trust God and delight in him through Jesus Christ? True faith is a faith that hopes and banks on God for the satisfaction of one's heart and soul. This is where Piper makes us really examine our hearts and to see if our faith is a mere profession or born by the Spirit. Another helpful aspect of the book is that Piper makes his theology deal with practical issues of the Christian life. In each major section, Piper devotes a chapter on practical issues which affect the Christian: anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondancy, and lust. Many will find these practical-issue chapters helpful and informative.

However, with all these positives in the book there should be some word of caution. Piper appears to have cut down the fence between the law and the gospel (a dichotomy that is the hallmark of the Reformation). This is clearly seen in chapters 11 and 12. For Piper, the difference between the OT and NT "is that in the old covenant the gracious enabling power to obey was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus" (p. 158). Hence, the gospel is not something that is alternative/antithetical to the law but is a power that enables believers to keep the law (contra Galatians 2:16). (In fact, in the preface on page 7, Piper dedicates this book to Daniel Fuller and states that one of Fuller's, albeit controversial, books is "an explanatory background to most of what I write." Fuller is known in many evangelical circles for advocating a law-gospel synthesis and rejecting justification by faith alone.) Another controversial aspect of this book is Piper's notion of "conditional grace" (chaps. 18-20). In chapter 19, Piper states that there are eleven conditions Christians must meet in order to inherit future grace (i.e., final salvation). One of the more controversial ones is "covenant keeping." He states: "I am hard pressed to imagine something more important for our lives than fulfilling the covenant that God has made with us for our final salvation" (p. 249). This seems hardly evangelical. Evangelical Protestants (esp. Lutherans and Calvinists) say that Christ fulfilled the law/covenant on behalf of the elect. The only way to receive the benefits of Christ's obedience and death is through faith alone. I believe Piper really dropped the ball on this one. He comes perilously close to formulating a view of salvation that has affinities with the Medieval scholastics of Luther's time. This is important to highlight since so many so-called evangelical pastors and teachers today deny (explicitly or implicitly) many tenets of the evangelical faith and still want to be called evangelical or Protestant.

Overall, I would recommend this book...with caution. Read the book with a discerning eye and take out what is unnecessary and unbiblical. Popular authors can make mistakes at times and Piper certainly does in this book. Read more ›

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh treatment of the doctrine of sanctification August 13, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

John Piper continues to impress me with his God-centered books. Future Grace is a Biblically- loaded defense of the thesis that faith looks forward, not just backward, and that this foward- looking faith is the heart and soul of sanctification. Piper's thorough work covers the topics of divine sovereignty in salvation, the nature and purpose of the Mosaic law, the conditions of salvation, and the rebirth of creation and the end of the age. The book's central strength is its treatment of the many relevant Biblical passages - Future Grace is saturated with Scripture. It manages to be a masterful work of theology while at the same time remaining infinitely practical. Piper's Biblically-sound suggestions on how to battle specific sins (anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, and lust) are of immeasurable help to the struggling saint. I have but one complaint: Piper's treatment of the Mosaic law follows closely that of his teacher, Dan Fuller, and is Biblically unconvincing. But this is a small complaint - I recommend all evangelicals to read this book as soon as possible