Inspirational Quotes by John Piper
“He said it even more plainly in Romans 14:23, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” The absence of faith gives rise only to sinful motives and acts. This may sound extreme. But it is simply a clear expression of Paul’s radical God-centeredness. What does not come from satisfaction in God, and through the guidance of God, and for the glory of God, is godless—it is sin. And no matter how philanthropic or esteemed or costly it may appear among men, it is deficient in the main thing: love for the glory of God. There”
“It would seem more appropriate to say that we are debtors to God’s justice, not to his grace.”
“If you are like me, you may have strong longings from time to time for the mighty working of the holy Spirit in your life...But what I have found most often in my own life is the failure to open myself to the full measure of the Spirit's work by believing the promises of God.”
― John Piper ,
from Future Grace
“R.C. Sproul has written that "we live in what may be the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western civilization." As far as my fundamentalist upbringing goes, Noll says that for the kind of thinking that embraces society, the arts, the human person, and nature—"for that kind of thinking the habits of mind fundamentalism encouraged can only be called disaster.”
“It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. . . . To depart and be with Christ . . . is far better. . . . I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Phil. 1:20–21, 23; 3:8)”
“The fruit of love is worked in us through the Spirit 'by hearing with faith.' The Spirit will not bear his fruit in us apart from our faith. Why is this?..The answer seems to be that the Holy Spirit loves to glorify the all-satisfying dependability of Christ and his Word. If the Holy Spirt simply caused acts of love in the human heart without any clear, ongoing causal connection with faith in Christ's promises, then it would not be plain that Christ is honored through love.”
― John Piper ,
from Future Grace
“the main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things.”
“When a sinful person meets the holy God in Christ, what he hears is Yes. God, do you love me? Yes. Will you forgive me? Yes. Will you accept me? Yes. Will you help me change? Yes. Will you give me power to serve you? Yes. Will you keep me? Yes. Will you show me your glory? Yes.”
“If you cannot embrace the pain of learning but must have instant gratification, you forfeit the greatest rewards of life.”
“Grace is free because God would not be the infinite, self-sufficient God He is if he were constrained by anything outside Himself.”
― John Piper ,
from Future Grace
“There is no point in winning an argument if you know or suspect you are wrong.”
“No One Is a Relativist at the Bank”
“Calamities are God’s previews of what sin deserves and will one day receive in judgment a thousand times worse. They are warnings. They are wake-up calls to see the moral horror and spiritual ugliness of sin against God.”
― John Piper ,
“This is the message of the coronavirus: Stop relying on yourselves and turn to God. You cannot even stop death. God can raise the dead.”
― John Piper ,
“God and his word are the reality we need -- the Rock under our feet.”
― John Piper ,
“Paul says that one weapon in this ongoing fight of faith is the practice of “disciplining” the body. He was not unaware that the desires of the body are deceitful as well as delightful. He said that the “old self” is “being corrupted in accordance with the desires of deceit ” (Ephesians 4:22, AT ). The nature of this deceit is to lure us subtly into living for the “fleeting pleasures” of body and mind, rather than the spiritual delights of knowing and serving God. These pleasures start as innocent delights in food and reading and resting and playing, but then become ends in themselves and choke off spiritual hunger for God.”
“Prayer is not for the enhancement of our comforts but for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom.”
“We want people to like us and admire us and speak well of us. It is a deadly drive. Jesus warned us, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).”
“There is something that assaults God even more directly. It is the subtle sense that grows in us, usually unconsciously, that the real effectiveness of our spiritual acts is at the horizontal level among people, not before the face of God. In other words, if my children see me pray at meals, it will do them good. If the staff sees me fasting, they may be inspired to fast. If my roommate sees me read my Bible, he may be inspired to read his. And soon. Now that’s not all bad. Jesus’ public prayers certainly inspired the disciples (Luke 11:1). But the danger is that all of our life—including our spiritual life—starts to be justified and understood simply on the horizontal level for the effects it can have because others see it happening. And so God subtly and slowly can become a secondary Person in the living of our lives. We may think that he is important to us because all these things that we are doing are the kinds of things he wants us to do. But, in fact, he himself is falling out of the picture as the focus of it all.”
Group of Brands
© 2026 Bibleportal.com All rights reserved.
John Piper (1946 - Present)
is a Calvinistic Baptist Christian preacher and author currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His books include ECPA Christian Book Award winners Spectacular Sins, What Jesus Demands from the World, Pierced by the Word, and God's Passion for His Glory, and bestsellers Don't Waste Your Life and The Passion of Jesus Christ. The evangelical organization Desiring God is named for his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (1986).In 1980, after what he described as an "irresistible call of the Lord to preach", Piper became Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he has been ministering ever since. Piper hit the evangelical scene after the publication of his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (1986) and has continued to publish dozens of other books further articulating this theological perspective. In 1994, he founded Desiring God Ministries, which provides all of Piper's sermons and articles from the past three decades, and most of his books online free of charge, as well as offering for sale books, CDs, and DVDs and regularly hosting conferences.
John Stephen Piper is a Reformed and Baptist theologian, preacher, and author, currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of numerous books.
Piper's motto in ministry, preaching, and teaching is: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." He calls those who live out this motto Christian Hedonists. Piper places a heavy emphasis on the objective and absolute nature of truth and is confident in the Christian's ability to grasp that truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.