| Title | : | Future Grace |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1590521919 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781590521915 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 447 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 1995 |
This book helps readers discover the key to overcoming sin and living a life that honors God. John Piper encourages believers to look ahead to the grace God provides for us on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis.
Future Grace Reviews
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Probably the most readable (not to mention spiritually satisfying!) of Piper's books that I've read so far. The book is divided into 31 chapters, most of them focusing on Piper's thesis--that the way of sanctification is by having faith in God's future grace--but also many chapters on how to apply that faith to battle various sins.
Lessons I learned:
1) Why do we follow and obey Christ? Our primary motive is not gratitude for what Christ did on the cross (although we are thankful nonetheless), but faith in God's future grace.
2) The faith that sanctifies is the same faith that justifies. We are called to obedience, not by our own works, but by faith.
3) Love towards others is a fruit of faith, i.e. "faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). True love for others can only come from a heart of faith.
4) The root of sin is unbelief, and therefore the battle against sin is a battle for faith, a battle to trust in the Lord and be satisfied in Him.
5) Lastly, though it was not a major theme of the book, I learned about the glorious hope of the resurrection in the last few chapters: not just a resurrection of our spirits, but of our bodies. God did not create our bodies just to get rid of them: he created them for His glory! What great future grace we have to look forward to!
I'm sure there are many other lessons as well. This book is so rich, so deep, and speaks straight from the Scriptures. If you cannot tell already, I highly recommend it. -
Pity I can't give it more than 5 stars... This book is radically life-changing. I can't recommend it highly enough! Get it, read it and learn how to live by faith in future grace! Learn how anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency and lust can be fought, conquered and laid low. This book is not only ultra-practical, but it's also theologically brilliant: it actually helped me understand many issues I'd been thinking about - rewards in heaven, justification/sanctification, new heavens and new earth, etc. It's made a lot more of Scripture make so much more sense!!
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The thesis of this book is a game-changer: That our obedient living is not fueled by gratitude to God but by faith in His promises (what Piper calls “future grace”). That idea, introduced in chapter 1, changed my life. The book felt unnecessarily long and at times Piper’s logic was hard to follow. I appreciate, however, his high view of the promises of God and how satisfied a Christian would be to trust in them.
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Excellent. This is a compelling, incisive, and accessible case for understanding sanctification as an outworking of faith, love, and hope (future grace). Piper's writing shows how deeply he loves the doctrines he expounds in this volume. It is a fitting follow-up to "Desiring God" and "The Pleasures of God", deepening and expanding his vision and theology.
It is somewhat repetitive at times, but one couldn't expect any different from a book that seeks to alter your whole perspective on the bulk of the Christian life. He means these principles to become second-nature to you. And, as far as I am concerned, he succeeds in his goal. For this reason, I would also recommend reading it slowly.
It has the potential to impact your Christian living for a lifetime. One of the many paradigm-shifting insights of the book is that sanctification works not merely out of gratitude for past graces but especially by faith in God's promises. I'd love to reread this book in the years to come. -
This book might be the best book I have ever read! There is truth dripping off of every page. Piper designed this book for 31 days of reflection and we would do well to go slow with this one. His central message is that faith in God's promises (or what he calls "Future grace") is the conduit or channel which God uses to empower us to obedience and so glorify Him. This is how we overcome sin or battle unbelief - by believing the promises of God (This is how Abraham glorified God, see Romans 4:19-20)! He further illustrates from Scripture how love for God (a desiring/cherishing/delighting in Him) is part of the essence of saving faith and how love for people is the confirmation or evidence of the genuineness of saving faith. His chapters on the conditionality of certain promises were certainly an eye-opener for me. Some grace is unconditional while some grace is conditional (conditional however doesnt mean earned!) He demonstrates from Scripture that faith in God and love for people are two conditions for future grace in our lives, faith being the cause of love and love being the affirmation of faith. Most of these truths are plain in Scripture, but at times we dont see them clearly until someone explains it to us. The application chapters too are profound and life-changing. All in all, if you need a book to challenge you, to feed your soul and to help you desire God with all your heart, I would heartily recommend this book.
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2019: Love it.
2016: John Piper in the introduction of this book tells something about his mother that I can see as a summary of what the book is all about: "She [John Piper's Mother] taught me to live my life between two lines of 'Amazing Grace.' The first line: ''Tis grace has brought me safe thus far.' The second line: 'And grace will lead me home.'"
"Christ is God's Yes to all future grace."
"Amen means, 'Yes, Lord, you can do it.'
It means, 'Yes, Lord, you are powerful.
Yes, Lord, you are wise.
Yes, Lord, you are merciful.
Yes, Lord, all future grace comes from you
and has been confirmed in Christ.
'Amen' is an exclamation point of hope after a prayer for help."
Note: Piper and I have a different eschatology, which means that I differed with him in the last few chapters. -
What a great book. Among the best works of one of the best pastoral voices of our time. How should the Christian live? I can’t think of a better answer than the one Piper provides here. This book is one I'll return to.
Notes:
Audible
God's love as the gift of Himself. (1:3)
The cross is the basis for future grace (1:8)
Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it hold out some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us. (1:17)
The prospect of the glory of God is "future grace" -- roll credits (1:17)
Could it be the gratitude for bygone grace has been pressed to serve to serve as the power for holiness that only faith in future grace was designed to perform (1:21)
Faith "realizes" the future (1:31)
Personal note: Hebrews 11 makes Piper's point well.
Raking is easy, but you'll only ever get leaves. Digging is harder, but you might find a diamond (2)
faith working through love (2:51)
Perseverance in faith is in one since a condition of justification to that is, the promised of acceptance is only through a persevering sort of faith (2:36)
The debtor's ethic. Because you did something good for me, I feel indebted to do something good for you (3:2)
This mindset would nullify grace (3:3)
Gratitude as a motivation for obedience is scarcely in the Bible (3:8)
Rather, it's a lack of faith in God's future grace -- expedite in light of His past grace (3:9)
True gratitude doesn't not give rise to the debtor's ethic because it gives rise to faith in future grace (3:24)
We fight anxiety by fighting against unbelief and fighting for future grace (5:00)
Grace is toward the one who sins. Mercy is to the one who suffers. (7)
Conditional grace does not = earned grace. Why? Even the condition is an act of God's grace (7:3)
The purpose of our salvation is for God to lavish the riches of His grace on us, and it will take Him forever to do it (7:14)
Personal note: good wisdom on anxiety (8:19)
Most of what makes us feel shame is not that we’ve brought dishonor to God but that we’ve failed to give people the appearance of ourselves that they'll admire. This is misplaced shame. (11:15)
If our shame is man-centered and not God-centered, we will not be able to fight shame at its root (11:17)
It's appropriate to feel shame when we dishonor God -- even if it raises our esteem in the eyes of others (11:23)
The Law of Christ (13:12)
The key to patience is faith in the future grace of God's glorious might to transform all our interruptions into rewards (14:7)
God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours (14:8)
Example Joseph. The evil his brothers meant, God meant for good (14:12)
Even death becomes a servant of God's children (14:15)
The way to pursue righteousness and love is to fight for faith in future grace (17:23)
Covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God (18)
11 conditions of future grace: loving God, being humble, drawing near to God, crying out to God from the heart, fearing God, delighting in God, hoping in God, taking refuge in God, waiting for God, trusting in God, and keeping God’s covenant
All conditions are summed up in this: faith and love (20:12)
Most of your problems are because you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself (24:4)
All sin comes from failure to live by future grace (25:24)
The focus of Satan is the subversion of faith (26)
faith in future grace breaks the power of cancelled sin (26:18)
The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier (26:21)
Salvation is owned by faith. Salvation is shown by deeds (28:9)
What was Solomon looking for? A deed that would demonstrate this was the true mother (28:32)
Prizing is the essence of praising (30:1) -
Reading this book has been a spiritually rich experience for me !! Grab it and read it and enjoy it and mine the deep riches of Gods Words so clearly presented in this book.
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This is a book that demands the reader's full attention. It didn't always get that from me. So sometime, I'm going to read it in the way John Piper suggests, one chapter a day for 31 days.
To the best of my understanding, the theme is that we don't do good works out of gratitude. That comes dangerously close, Piper argues, to trying to pay God for what He has done for us, which would: 1) be impossible; 2) nullify grace. But our good works are evidence of the faith that has transformed us. If there are no good works there is no faith, regardless of what we might say. We are able to do good works not just because of what God has done but because of our faith in what He will do, i.e., future grace.
Piper writes:
"My faith is not just a backward-looking belief in the death of Jesus, but a forward-looking belief in the promises of Jesus. It's not just being sure of what he did do, but also being satisfied with what he will do."
Some of the chapters that I thought were particularly helpful the first time through were on bitterness and despondency, and on "The Future Grace of Suffering."
I particularly liked the quotations he used from Christians from the past. Included among them are Charles Spurgeon and the missionary David Brainerd. I found it strangely encouraging that Brainerd, who could write, "Oh, how sweet it is to be spent and worn out for God!" also at one point wrote, "I was so much oppressed that my soul was in a kind of horror." -
After a year and a half I have finished this wonderful book. I will be forever grateful for the way that this book has formed my theology to model a Godward and all satisfying love for "all that God is for us in Jesus". It has helped point me to the Word. I've wrestled with the questions of "what is the nature of true belief in God?", "How do I walk in holiness?" And "How do I enjoy God for who he is and put my faith in his promises?". It really is a dense book that has taken me a long time to "dig" through, but just as Piper suggests, when you dig you may find diamonds. I would recommend this book to anyone who is desiring to have a deeper understanding of how to navigate the Christian life. Piper has pointed me to the fact that God will always be who he says he is and that Christ's death purchased for us a life that is future oriented with grace. Promises we can believe in that give him glory and establish him as our greatest joy!
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Very helpful book that breaks through some of the hardened misconceptions I've grown about what grace and faith really are to me as a believer. Piper addresses specific areas of sin that hinder a proper understanding of God's grace. Anxiety, pride and covetousness stood out to me in particular, and I've marked those chapters for rereading.
I liked the quote from J.I. Packer on the back page of my copy: "This is a rich and wise book, one to treasure and reread."
Good summary - I agree! -
Upon the recommendation of a friend, I picked up this heavy, 400-page tome, and hoped that John Piper would not disappoint. In the end, he did not, and I’m glad for time spent in each of the thirty-one chapters.
Piper’s thesis is woven throughout each chapter: “live by faith in future grace.” He then fleshes out what this means from a variety theological arguments as well as offers practical implications for living by faith in future grace. I especially liked these practical chapters that were sprinkled throughout the book (at the end of each section) rather than grouped at the end of the book. It applied “in real time” the truths he was putting forth.
I won’t get into Piper’s theology in this review as I am neither qualified to do so, nor did I really take issue with his stances. His perspective is solidly reformed, yet filled with joy and satisfaction in God. The book is full of scripture from beginning to end. Piper is probably known for his repetitive writing—and perhaps preaching too—and that comes through a bit. However, the repetition does express important points in a variety of ways.
Future Grace is worth the time to understand why we obey and live for God. It changed my perspective of this life journey and how we are called to live for Him. -
Piper offers a lot of valuable insight and convicting ideas. I didn't disagree with any of the content, but I really struggled to follow along, hence the 3 stars. Piper is so wildly intelligent on the topic, but I feel he couldn't translate it for the lay person. That, or I'm just dumb.
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I love Piper! This book really made ponder the nature of faith and God’s promises in new deep ways. I do wish the practical battling sin chapters had been woven in the rest and not standalone.
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will read again.
much of my belief system has been rocked and recentered on scripture with the help of this book. -
Another book dad read aloud to the family. Lots of important thoughts!
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I couldn’t recommend this book enough. It has been so helpful in shaping me and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in my heart and help me grow.
I recommend reading this one slowly. -
How would you like a book that takes the concept of grace and interweaves it through the whole of Scripture? By that I mean what grace really means to us. How does faith play out to bring the dramatic power of grace into our lives? How does grace, faith, sin, and the promises of God interrelate to make the Christian life the awesome thing it is? I assure you that Mr. Piper makes one of the strongest explanations I have seen in that regard.
Not that I would agree with everything he writes (I don’t), but he takes you to thoughts that need to be entertained though you have never thought them before. That interrelation of key Bible concepts I spoke of is the volume’s greatest asset. He connected a few dots for me.
Though he ties many things together, his theme is one: we must live by faith in the future grace of God. We find that that simple theme brings great clarity to the Christian life as expressed in the Scriptures. Or as he further explained, “…the faith which justifies also sanctifies, because the nature of faith is to be satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.”
I can at best whet you appetite in this review of the things he brings out. For example, he describes sin as what you do when you are not satisfied with God. We sin, he says, because we believe we will find happiness there. That presupposes a lack of faith in what God said. If we believed His grace will deliver what it promised, it would be impossible to think that the sin in question could bring happiness. I can see that truth, can’t you?
Perhaps you will be as shocked as I was to follow his discussion on the debtor’s ethic. He justly describes how we so often try to motivate ourselves and others by saying that we owe the Lord for what He did for us. Though what He did for us is monumental beyond description, he shows that is not at all how the Bible seeks to motivate us. No, he rightly argues, our problem is always a lack of faith, not a lack of gratitude, when it comes to the matter of radically following and obeying Jesus Christ.
Pride, he goes on, is a specific form of unbelief that is a turning from God to self. With that goes a loss of faith that comes a foolish faith in the promises of self. That ties the hands of grace’s work. Building on C.S. Lewis he tells of the “itch of self-regard and the scratch of self-approval.” He quotes: “The pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching. If there is an itch one does want to scratch; but it is much nicer to have neither the itch nor the scratch.” He explains how the craving of the praise of others is a loss of faith in future grace.
There is so much more. He goes all the way to a faith in future grace that can triumphantly lay down one’s life for the glory of God as many martyrs before us have done. How did they do it? They believed the promises of God and the grace they contain.
Besides a few points of disagreement, I love this book. I find it superior to his writings on Christian hedonism, though he believes they are connected. It is 400 pages that I had to read slowly, but it is worth it. He has conveniently given this work in 31 chapters if you want to take a month with it. That might be the best way.
This volumes re-establishes how my faith in what my Lord has told me is so essential to the overall success of my Christian life. For that, I thank Mr. Piper.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 . -
This is such a dense book I had to read it aloud to myself to be able to take in every word and thought string. It was really challenging. Parts of it were either over my head or kind of dry. But there are some great truths here that really made me think deeply about how I view God and whether I fully understand what faith and grace is. I would recommend this one.
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J.I. Packer is quoted as having said that reading Tozer "is like drinking at an oasis in the desert". That is how this book was to me.
I know it's titled "Future Grace", but this is a book primarily about faith. Piper delves into the mysteries of faith and leaves no stone unturned or thread unfollowed. There are no presuppositions, no assumptions, no theological givens. He asks the hard questions and delves into scripture after scripture to find answers.
I think Piper's fame actually works against his books. He has almost become a figurehead for particular doctrines or practices. People jump on bandwagons and/or write him off based on his celebrity, his associations, or other people's opinions instead of actually reading him.
Behind the hype is a person of deep thought, thorough study, and brave questions. Intellectually, this book is not for the faint of heart. I will not claim he is an amazing writer. But thinker and theologian? Absolutely.
I am so thankful for this book at this point in my life. Any Christian who is honest enough to ask hard questions, experiences depression, has doubt, is fearful, wants a better grasp of this faith that is not yet sight, or longs for a deeper understanding of the purposes and person of God should read this book. -
This is clearly one of Piper's early works, as is evident by the very short list of "other books by the author" in the back (only 7 titles if you can believe it)! :) I don't know if the book being nearly 20 years old was a contributing factor but I found parts of Piper's writing to be confusing and rather complicated. Several times I debated putting the book aside not because I disagreed with what he said but rather it seemed to be said in a tedious and somewhat repetitious manner. However, I persevered and I'm glad I did! I really think the strength of the book's teaching lies in the last several chapters in which Piper fleshes out the truth of future grace in relation to suffering and despondency and dying and other similar struggles of the Christian's life. This is a book full of hope and encouragement, however complicated the approach, and I'm thankful for the sufficiency of future grace!
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Oh man......Piper's thoughts in Future Grace are (much like Desiring God) personally revolutionary. Not in the sense that the idea of living by faith in future grace is new to the CHURCH, but that it's new to me.
Being raised in a very performance-driven shade of 'Christianity,' the reminder that being ENAMORED with God is the essence of trusting and serving Him is always a precious reminder! Indeed I must allow this reminder to be repeated to my spirit often, lest I return to the bondage of supposed self-sufficiency!
I have often struggled with recurring doubts about salvation, mostly stemming from the nature of faith...and Piper addresses the nature of faith head on! In classic Piper fashion, he pursues all of the relevant questions, and is so helpful in the PRACTICALITY of his answers! I've been helped greatly by this book, and I will definitely be reading again, God willing!! -
Absolutely loved this book. John Piper is one I'm kinda on the fence about. He sometimes has (what I feel) are some screwy ideas & in fact I believe he often flirts with heresy. There is no doubt though that the man is very committed and on this issue I believe him to be rock solid.
This book is now an indispensable part of my library that I will be revisiting again & again often. He was very helpful in my difficulties with understanding the doctrine of grace and helping me to understand that GOD's grace isn't always simply in "the good" (my limited understandings) parts of life, but can also be found in the pains, difficulties, & even in the discipline of GOD when I've failed HIM & sinned. -
This book is completely heterodox to Christianity. I think people gloss over it because of Piper's flowery language, and his reputation, which is insane. The Reformed community venerates Martin Luther, but we can all admit he was waaaay off on things (Communion, The Jews, etc.)
Piper is way off here, and it's dangerous. Even the title is misleading: It should be titled:
Conditional Grace
Because that's what he's arguing for. And he doesn't seperate it from salvation, at all.
