Whenever I read a book by Piper, it takes me longer than any other book, by any other author. Piper puts so much into his books that I find myself reading lines on the page over and over again just so I can understand the point he is trying to get across.
Now this is not a bad thing; it's just that it means that reading a book by Piper is different than reading books written by anyone else.
Having said that, I have just finished reading my first "headache free" Piper book, and what a book it is!
"Spectacular Sins And Their Global Purpose In The Glory Of Christ"
is one amazing book. In it, Piper answers some of the hardest questions that have ever been posed about the God of the Bible and about Christianity.
I'm not going to go into detail about what is in this book; you just need to read it. After all, any book with an introduction that has a sub-title of "When The Bruised Heart Needs A Tire Iron" is a different type of book.
This book answers the question about sin and the devil & how can any "good" come from these two...as well as addressing particular sins of the scripture, such as David's fall and the sin of Judas.
I will leave you with a few quotes from the book to whet your appetite. One thing is for sure, you won't hear this preached in many churches in the good ol' USA.
"Christians in the West are weakened by wimpy worldviews. And wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. God is weightless in our lives. He is not terrifyingly magnificent. His sovereignty is secondary (at best) to His sensitivity."
And then there is this one:
"What is missing is the Bible. I mean the whole Bible, with its blood and guts and sins and horrors...and all of it under the massive hand of God. The hand whose fingers flick stars into being. The hand that gives life and takes it. The hand that rules everything. Everything. What we need is to know the great things about God. Knowing great things about God will help make us ready not to collapse under cataclysmic conflict and personal catastrophe."
And finally:
"I am writing this book to build a vision of God into our lives that will not let us down in the worst of times. I mean really bad times. Horrific times. Who is prepared to meet the agony that is coming? Our worship services and our preaching too often pamper us. They coddle."
Believe it or not, the above quotes come from the first six pages of the introduction. That's right--the introduction. And it only gets better from there.
I want to leave you with one last quote. This is where Piper states his reason for writing this book:
"My aim is to show that sin and evil, no matter how spectacular, never nullify the decisive, Christ-exalting, purposes of God. No, my aim is more than that. These spectacular sins do not just fail to nullify God's purpose to glorify Christ, the succeed, by God's unfathomable providence, in making His gracious purpose come to pass."
I cannot say it enough. This is an amazing book. It is a small book (only 112 page of reading, plus some with notes), but the information inside of it is BIG.
Do yourself a favor, pick up "Spectacular Sin" by John Piper...it will make you think but I promise, you won't get a headache.
Now I'm off to read some Tozer.
Pastor Dave
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