John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books , including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Coronavirus and Christ

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books , including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Coronavirus and Christ

Audio transcript

Where does the courage come from to be a Christian? That was the question asked in John Piper’s recent sermon, “The Plundering of Your Property and the Power of Hope,” preached at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia on January 18. The sermon was on Hebrews 10:32–36. Here’s John Piper’s answer:

Where does the courage come from to be a Christian? Of compassion and courage and sacrifice and love when the world is not agreeing with any of that. Where does that come from? And the answer is in verse 34. You joyfully accepted, joyfully accepted, joyfully accepted — the question is: Where does that come from?

Joy is the strength that is carrying the day here. You joyfully accepted the seizure of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. The most important word in that sentence is since. Or it could just read: “Knowing that you have,” because it means since. Let me read it again “You joyfully [put yourself in here now] you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, because . . .” If you ask me, “Where does this joy come from? Where does this strength come from, this courage come from, this sacrifice come from?” Because you knew, you Christians know, that you yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one.

Hope has a name. The possession has a name. The better and the eternal has a name. His name is Jesus. We hope in him. We hope for him. This is the better and abiding possession, Paul said in Philippians 1:21–25, “For me to die is gain. I am torn. I want to depart and be with Christ, for that is far — what is the word? — better.” That is the word. Far better. “To remain in the flesh is more necessary in your account.” Do you believe that? To die is better than living. Paul did. These people did.

That is where the joy came from as they went to prison. That is where the joy came from as they lost their property. “You joyfully accepted the seizure of your property” means “your hope in the better and abiding possession is so real, these aren’t just words for you.” I would ask you. Are they words for you? Are they realities for you? Is your possession beyond the grave more precious than anything this world offers? If it is not, you won’t live like this.

That is what 350 years have ruined. It has made us at home here so that this world is more precious to us than that world. “Thank you very much. I don’t want to go yet. Stay awake. So I am going to go into the prison and I am not going to say anything or do anything that would make this life which is my real love uncomfortable. Nope. Not going to do it.”

Notice two things in Hebrews 10:34. Abiding, it is an abiding and it is better — abiding and better, abiding and better. Better means this life is inferior, that life is better. Abiding means this life is temporary. That life is forever. My favorite verse in the psalms is Psalm 16:11. “You show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Do you hear those words? Fullness of joy, pleasures forever. Does that sound familiar to verse 34? Better and abiding? Better, full, abiding, forever.

Let me throw this out. Anybody who can come up to me after the service and authentically, genuinely, truly offer me anything better than full and abiding joy in Jesus, I will stop being a Christian this morning. I invite you. If you can offer me anything better than full and forever pleasure in Jesus that is real, not made up, real, I am done with Christianity. I am done.

The reason I feel so confident and that God is honored by what I just said is that, not only can’t you do that, you can’t even conceive of it. It is inconceivable that there is something fuller than full. And it is inconceivable that there is anything longer than eternal. So I am totally safe. You are not coming up to me afterwards.

I mean, this is what it is. There are a lot of you, probably, who showed up this morning, didn’t have a clue, and you are not a believer yet in Jesus. You are just searching and wondering what it is all about. You need to hear me say that this hope that Louie is always talking about his church believes in, and that can drive your life to be the most compassionate, the most sacrificial, the most risk-taking, the most loving, the most counter-cultural life on the planet. That hope is full and forever and there is nothing fuller than full.

These people have found what every human being is looking for. I don’t have any doubt that every human being in this room is looking for the very best happiness and the very longest happiness. Happiness that peters out on me after 80 years, no thank you. Happiness that could be improved upon, oh, I’ll take the other one. Everybody on the planet by God’s design wants the best happiness and the longest happiness. Only Christians know this. It is Jesus. Jesus died to get that for sinners.

You may sit there saying, “Well, there is no way knowing what I have done in my life as a sinner I could ever be the beneficiary of the fullest possible happiness and longest possible happiness in Jesus, because you don’t know the crap that I have done in my life.” And I say, “Oh, yes, he does. Oh, yes, he does, which is why this church loves to sing about the blood of Jesus. Because it was so infinitely costly that it can cover the very worst of lives and invite people out of the darkness of failing in every one of those five points, failing on every one of those five points, into the light of full and everlasting joy.”