Future Grace

Recomiendo muchisimo este libro. Aparte de la Biblia, este libro me ha impactado mas que cualquier otro. Me ha levantado y animado en mi fe en Jesucristo. Me ha hecho ver que El es el tesoro de mi vida, y cuando estoy contenta en El, ese contentamiento es el poder sobre la tentacion del pecado. Quiero compartir este libro con todos mis amigos!

A wonderful, thought-provoking read. This is the first book I read by John Piper, recommended and lent to me from my pastor. I enjoyed it so much that it became dog-eared and travel stained so I decided to get him a new copy and keep the one I "used". Although it takes some time to get through (each chapter requires some thought) The ideas are presented in an easy to understand way. Scripture is well explained and included for the topics presented. Christian authors, old and new, are quoted in the beginning of each chapter along with appropriate scripture passages and give meaning to the ideas presented. I will defintitely read more of Piper's work.

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.

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