Tonight on the Worldview Weekend Hour: Are the Ten Commandments for today? Is the moral law for today? Were Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed God or because they didn't seek their pleasure in Him? What is Christian hedonism? These are the philosophies and ideas we'll examine tonight as we look at the worldview of John Piper, a very well-known popular neo-Calvinist that's influencing many other pastors and many young people. The Worldview Weekend Hour begins right now.
[Intro music plays]
Presenter: WVW TV presents the Worldview Weekend Hour with Brannon Howse. Whether the topic is law, science, government, economics, history, family, social issues, education, or theology, Brannon brings the issues of today into clear focus through the lens of a biblical worldview. And now here is your host, Brannon Howse.
Hello, I'm Brannon Howse, and welcome to the Worldview Weekend Hour. Tonight we'll look at what I believe is the theological liberalism of John Piper. Last week we looked at what I believe is his social, public policy liberalism, or his social liberalism. This week, what I believe is his theological liberalism. Is John Piper promoting antinomianism? What is that? We'll break it down into layman terms as we look at the worldview of John Piper.
As I said in the introduction, John Piper is very popular with pastors, very popular with young people. He's a neo-Calvinist, I believe. And he's likely influencing someone you know, maybe even your own grandchildren or children. So it's very important that we break down the theological worldview of John Piper. He's an author and he is a pastor as well as speaks at many conferences, including conferences like the Passion Conference, before 20,000-plus young people, teenagers, college students, year in and year out. Piper also speaks for the Together For the Gospel conference.
Let's start with a video clip. It's John Piper interviewing Rick Warren, and Rick Warren is having his worldview affirmed by John Piper. Watch this.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: And The Purpose-Driven Life – here's one more agenda that I have besides strengthening foundations or making them explicit. I read The Purpose-Driven Life very carefully. See, this is 20 pages of notes here. And I have read critiques of it, and one of my agendas is to do an appreciative critique, and it will, I think, feel to you – I hope it does – mainly appreciative, because, frankly, I'm appalled at the kinds of slanders that have been brought against this book by people whose methods of critique, if they were consistently applied to the Bible, would undo it as the word of God. Really, I'm one of these reform types, and my type tends to get on your case pretty often. And when I read the book, I thought, "What's the issue here?" So I want to –
[end of video clip]
Well, the fact that John Piper can read The Purpose-Driven Life and can't see what the issue is, I think, says a lot about the lack of discernment of John Piper. As I detail in my book Religious Trojan Horse, there are many problems with the worldview of Rick Warren and his book The Purpose-Driven Life. On page 408, I document that Rick Warren quotes no less than nine mystics. No less than nine mystics. And then, of course, there is the fact that Tony Blair has the Tony Blair Faith Foundation that seeks to bring all the religions together as one. Who sits on the advisory board of that? Rick Warren, according to Tony Blair's website.
And then you have Rick Warren, along with others, signing on to the Yale document that says that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. No, they do not. So we have Rick Warren quoting mystics. We have Rick Warren promoting and bringing Tony Blair to his church and giving him an award, Tony Blair who's working to bring the religious world together as one. You have Rick Warren signing the Yale document that says Muslims and Christians worship the same God. And then you have Rick Warren's communitarianism, as I detail in the book Religious Trojan Horse – communitarianism, mixing socialism with capitalism.
Rick Warren admits he was mentored by Peter Drucker. Peter Drucker praises Søren Kierkegaard. Søren Kierkegaard, someone I write about in the book Grave Influence. Peter Drucker says he thinks one of the greatest economists of all time was John Maynard Keynes, a Fabian socialist.
Peter Drucker was not a believer; he admitted that. And yet Rick Warren says he was mentored by Peter Drucker, who taught this idea of, really, a three-legged stool, communitarianism: solve the world's problems through bringing together the government, corporations, and social sector, or churches. Government, corporations, and the social sector – the three-legged stool. This greatly influenced Rick Warren.
Rick Warren, through his purpose-driven life and purpose-driven church ideology, has promoted this concept that we could slay the five giants of the world, the five global giants. Sin is never mentioned as one of the five global giants. It's poverty and other things, disease. And so he composed the PEACE Plan. Reads like something right out of the United Nations. It's not gospel-centered; there is no gospel there. Again, it means bringing together all faith centers to conquer the social problems of the world.
Well, you say, what's wrong with that? Well, you can conquer social problems and still have people die and go to hell. It's as one of my friends says, giving water bottles to people on their way to hell. And, again, this involves Rick Warren working with Muslim groups and mosques to somehow solve the social ills of the world. Well, how about the social ill of jihad, and Muslims trying to bring about their caliphate? But there's John Piper praising the global PEACE Plan of Rick Warren that could've just as well come out of the United Nations. Watch this.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: But let me mention the PEACE Plan: pursuing reconciliation, equipping servant leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick, educating the next generation. Now, what I wanna say is, who could not love those five commitments?
[end of video clip]
And, again, the only way to solve these kinda issues, of course, is by getting people to change their worldview. Most of the time, these problems are related to sin, their sinful choices and behavior. And yet there is John Piper promoting this and praising this PEACE Plan of Rick Warren. We're getting an idea, I think, not only now of the theological liberalism, but social liberalism of John Piper mixing together here with a theology and social justice kind of mentality. In fact, here's Rick Warren talking about what he hopes to do through something like the PEACE Plan at, no less, the Bill Clinton Global Peace Initiative. Watch this.
[beginning of video clip]
Rick Warren: So right now, through our PEACE Plan, we are training both the pastors and imams, and we're training leaders – actually, volunteers – from both the mosques and the churches, that are coming together to say, "How can we learn health care so we can care for the people in our congregations?" The congregational unit, whether it's a Muslim congregation, a Jewish congregation, a Christian congregation, or whatever, is a basic unit you're gonna find in every community. And that congregational unit is there to be mobilized for these global problems.
[end of video clip]
Well, again, he's promoting this idea that if we just all come together as one and work together across ecumenical lines, then we can solve the problems. But the big problem is sin. And the only solution for that is the gospel.
And how can you solve the big problems of man – sin – if you are working with mosques and Muslim groups? Are they gonna let you preach the Gospel? No, Muslims hate the gospel. They hate Christians. They hate Christ, the Christ of the Bible. They hate the message of the church. They hate Christians. And so how can you work with people unless you have compromise? So, again, that's John Piper promoting Rick Warren and understanding a little bit of the worldview of Rick Warren.
Now, let's understand a little bit more of the theology of John Piper and, particularly, something he's been promoting since 1986 known as Christian hedonism. I remember in the late '80s hearing about Christian hedonism being promoted by John Piper, and I thought, "What an oxymoron. Christian hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure or the pursuit of oftentimes lustful, fleshly pleasures would be hedonism. How can you have a Christian hedonism?"
Well, I think John Piper, like many of these guys, tries to be cute. I think he tried to come up with something new to be fresh and cutting-edge and have a book published and get some spotlight on himself and get booked to speak at conferences because he's so cutting-edge and has something new to say. And as a result, sometimes that, I think such a quest drives these guys off the reservation and into danger and into promoting such foolish and even heretical things like "Christian hedonism."
There's an excellent book, I believe, that you should get a copy of. It's just come out recently. And it's called Christian Hedonism? A biblical examination of John Piper's teaching, by E.S. Williams. It's a little book. Won't take you long to read it at all. Highly documented on the worldview of John Piper. One of the neo-Calvinists we're looking at – in programs coming up, we'll be looking at the worldview of Matt Chandler, who's another neo-Calvinist, promoting Black Lives Matter, "white privilege," other things like that.
And so we're kinda getting an idea of what many of these neo-Calvinists believe, and these neo-Calvinists are greatly influencing many, many pastors; many churches; many young people. And we need to counter their worldview. I believe the neo-Calvinist is a very dangerous movement, and I'm explaining why, because, again, many of you have high school/college students/grown children/grandchildren that are now following these teachers, and you're emailing us and you're greatly distressed.
I received a phone call last night from Shahram Hadian, who was speaking at a church. And the pastor of this church had been watching this series on John Piper and then listening to the series we did on radio. And it was listening to this series that convinced this pastor he needed to get his church out of some of the organizations associated with neo-Calvinist John Piper. So we're thankful for pastors that have the ears to hear and will then, after hearing the information and seeing that it lines up with Scripture, will then get their churches away from what we believe is the theological error of men like John Piper. In fact, some are saying John Piper is a heretic. Some are saying John Piper is another gospel, is a false gospel. Well, that'll have to be for you to decide, after we present all the facts tonight.
But he's promoted something for years called Christian hedonism. And this has led to him, I believe, rejecting the idea of the moral law being for today, that the great sin of Adam and Eve was not disobeying God, but it was not finding their pleasure in God, not enjoying Christian hedonism. And so this excellent book I recommend by E.S. Williams, Christian Hedonism. Well, he's also produced a little documentary, E.S. Williams has. You'll find it out there on YouTube. And I think it's a great way to introduce this section as we look at the worldview of John Piper. Watch this.
[beginning of video clip]
Narrator: John Piper first presented his philosophy of Christian hedonism in his book Desiring God, published in 1986. Over the next three decades, Piper has taken every opportunity to promote his philosophy in numerous sermons, a number of books and articles, and many conference addresses, with a special focus on the annual Passion Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The subject of Piper's address to the Passion Conference in 1997 was Christian hedonism. Preaching to a large audience of young people, he said...
John Piper: So my call to you, now, in the name of God Almighty, is that you might make it your eternal vocation to pursue your pleasure with all the might that God mightily inspires within you.
Narrator: Since then, as the keynote speaker at many Passion Conferences, he has given 17 passion talks encouraging tens of thousands of young people to follow the way of Christian hedonism. In October 2016, Piper preached a sermon entitled "Fifteen Dreams for the Future of Christian Hedonism." Piper began the sermon by describing the heart of Christian hedonism.
John Piper: You are obligated to pursue your maximum joy in God. So here's my definition of Christian hedonism today. Since God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, therefore, in everything we do, we should always be pursuing maximum satisfaction in God and striving to take as many people with us into that satisfaction as we can, even if it costs us our lives. That's my definition of Christian hedonism.
In my 1961 high school Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, hedonism is defined as, quote, "a living for pleasure." And definition number two is "a devotion to pleasure as a way of life," and that is precisely what I mean by the word "hedonism." And I will immediately insist upon the radical position that the only pleasures that oblige us to seek them – that is, the only ones we're morally obligated by God to seek – are ones you cannot feel until you are born again. They are spiritual pleasures, in all that we do, made possible by the creation of a new heart.
Christian hedonism, in other words, is not optional. There's not one way of life that you could choose among others. It is the heart of what it means to be a Christian, to be saved. You're not saved if you're not a Christian hedonist, if you use the term. Christian hedonism goes so far as to say that if you don't pursue your maximum pleasure in God, you cannot worship Him. And if you don't pursue your maximum pleasure in God, you cannot love people. So we're not talking about something marginal when we talk about Christian hedonism. We're talking about the very heart of a Christian.
[end of video clip]
Wow. "If you don't pursue your maximum pleasure in God." Notice the continual use of the "you," "you." Well, I'm sorry, the Gospel is not about us. The Gospel's not about you. The Gospel is the good news; it is the story, it is the testimony, it is the proclamation, it is the truth of He who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. It's all about Him; it's not about us.
And yet Piper keeps using this term "you must pursue your pleasure," and that if you're not a Christian hedonist, you're not a Christian. He says you're not a Christian if you're not a Christian hedonist. Devotion to pleasure as a way of life. How about a devotion to ongoing faithfulness and obedience, sanctification? Again, notice John Piper gives no Scripture, no Scripture, at all, to back up this Christian hedonism garbage that millions have bought into.
Now, remember, this book of John Piper's came out in 1986. Pray tell why some of the so-called older theologians have not figured this out. Why are we now in 2017 and it's taken Mr. E.S. Williams to write a book exposing John Piper? Why is it just now John Piper's being exposed? Could it be that many within the conservative, so called, Calvinist camp will go after a lot of folks, to clear-minded charismatics and others, but no one in their own camp will go after this strange fire? Could it be much like what we saw with the interfaith dialogue? We exposed an interfaith dialogue here in Memphis with a jihadi imam being led by a well-known Calvinist, James White, and we got criticized royally by well-known Bible ministries for daring to call out one of the good guys. In fact, one so-called minister is on video saying that when certain guys do certain things, we need to give them a pass if they're one of the good guys.
Well, maybe John Piper's gotten a pass because he's been seen as one of the good guys. Yet this book by him on Christian hedonism came out in 1986. Here we are, 2017 – finally someone is helping to expose it, Mr. E.S. Williams, who, by the way, attends the church over in England that was the church of Charles Spurgeon. So this is a reformed guy exposing reformed Calvinist John Piper. I think E.S. Williams is also a medical professional as well.
So, again, why is it just now that this Christian hedonism is being taken on, when that book came out in 1986? Why have so many so-called conservative Calvinists continued to work with him and speak with him at conferences around the country? Because I find this to be a very dangerous worldview, and one that I daresay is man-centered. I'm afraid John Piper might indeed have a man-centered, more humanistic definition of the gospel. You'll have to decide for yourself. Let's go to the next clip.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: The essence of evil is to lose a taste for God. Or, the flip side of the coin, to prefer anything more than God is the essence of all your evil.
[end of video clip]
The essence of evil is to lose your taste for God. Well, what if you're a nonbeliever and you never had a taste for God? Because, after all, the things of the cross are foolishness to those who are not saved.
So how can an unbeliever have a taste for God? Therefore, how do you define evil for a nonbeliever? 'Cause he says evil is to lose your taste for God. Well, a nonbeliever likely has never had a taste for God. The things of God are foolishness to him. He's at enmity with God.
Give me a chapter and verse on this definition of evil, John Piper, that evil is losing your – notice the emphasis on "your"? – again, man-centered definitions here – to lose your taste for God. How about evil is the absence of the character and nature of God? Evil is the opposite of the adherence to the character and nature of God. Evil is lacking fidelity to the original truth. Jesus, in John 14:6, said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Truth is what it is, based on the character and nature of God. Sin is what it is because God is who he is: holy and just and righteous. Lying is wrong because he is truth. Murder is wrong because he's the giver of life. Immorality is wrong because he is pure.
You see, everything that we know about what is true and just and right and holy is defined by the character and nature of God. It is not defined by what man does or doesn't do in regards to your seeking your pleasure, or losing your taste for God. These terms must be defined by the standard God, not by us. And yet is that not what John Piper's doing? And he's giving no Scripture at all to back this up. Watch this next clip.
[beginning of video clip]
Male: John, are Christians under the Ten Commandments?
John Piper: No. The Bible says we're not under the law. [Laughs] So we died to the law. You're not married anymore. You can have another husband – namely, Christ. He's raised from the dead. So the approach towards ethics is different. You don't ask the question "Am I under the law?" We're under grace. Law is fulfilled perfectly –
[end of video clip]
So John Piper says the Ten Commandments are not for today. That's a real problem because nine out of ten of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament. The only ones not repeated is "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy." And the Scriptures in the New Testament says we are not to be compelled on what day we worship. And of course, we know that the Apostles were witnessing and proclaiming Christ and gathering together on Sunday, after the resurrection, as acknowledgment of the resurrection. So nine out of ten of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament. Sorry John Piper, but God’s law is for today.
Now, is the civic and ceremonial law of Israel for us today, the New Testament church? No. The civic and ceremonial laws of Israel, that part of the law is not for today. What we wear, what we eat, what we can't, all those things, tithing, first and second and third tithe – those are not for today. We don't practice these civic and ceremonial laws of today, so no, we don't practice the civic and ceremonial laws, but we still adhere to the moral law. We'll look a lot at Scripture that validates that the moral law, that which is a reflection of God's character and nature, Romans 1, 2, and 3 says it has been onto the heart of man. Their conscience bears witness there is a God. That's why we have universal consent that lying is wrong, stealing is wrong, adultery is wrong, murder is wrong.
Why is there universal consent? Why do you travel the globe and find governments that outlaw murder and theft and such? Because there's universal consent. Where does this universal consent come from? The conscience bears witness. Romans 1, 2, and 3. Man knows what is sin because his conscience bears witness. "Con" means with, "science" means knowledge. Man sins with the knowledge. They've offended a holy and just God. It's the moral law. It is still for today.
Now, he says we're not under the law. We're not under the civic and ceremonial law. No. We're also not under the law as – meaning that we have to keep the law precisely. The Ten Commandments, you break one of the Ten Commandments, it says in the New Testament you've broken them all. We're not under the Ten Commandments for salvation. You can't do it. No one would be saved. So we're not under the law for salvation, but we follow and pursue the moral law as part of our sanctification.
Let me make that very clear. There is justification. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. The righteous life that Christ lived that I could not live, the righteous life of Christ that he'd lived, was credited or imputed to my account – banking terms – as though I had never sinned. My life, my sinful life that I have lived, was taken on by Christ on the cross as though he lived it, yet he never did. That's why it says, he who knew no sin became sin as it were. He never sinned, but he became sin as it were, as a sacrifice for us.
So he died in my place, he died in my stead, taking the sins of the world on himself. He died as a sinless, perfect sacrifice, 'cause only a sinless, perfect sacrifice can pay the price of sin. And his righteous life that he lived, which is why he had to live 33 years, not come to this earth and live for 33 days – he had to live a righteous life so that that righteous life could be credited to my account through faith and repentance – a banking term – by faith alone. That's it: faith. Justification.
And then there's sanctification, ongoing faithfulness and obedience. So today, we adhere to the character and nature of God, as revealed through His word or what is called the law, the revealed word of God, Old and New Testament, as it is to be applied in context. We followed the law of God, the truth revealed about God, in the Old and New Testament – that would be the law of God. It's also known as the moral law, that which is a reflection of God's character and nature that's been placed in our heart and mind. And we follow that today not out of an essence to be saved – so we're not under the law for salvation; we are not under the law for judgment for salvation. We follow the moral law, we follow the word of God, not for salvation, not for justification, but for sanctification, ongoing faithfulness and obedience.
We're not doing that because we're trying to earn our salvation. It's a gift of God. You cannot earn your salvation. It's a gift of God. We don’t follow the law for salvation or for justification, but for sanctification, because we desire to be more like Him. We desire to serve Him. We desire to please the one who laid down His life for us. Out of gratitude, we seek and serve our Lord. We are not our own; we are bought with a price; we are His slaves. We're a slave to sin, he purchased us, and now we are slaves to Him and righteousness, out of great, deep gratitude – out of, actually, the desire to obey, because when I became a new creation in Christ, all things passed away – behold, all things become new. That which I once loved, I now hate; and that which I once hated, I now love. We're not talking about sinless perfection, but we're talking about a heart that desires to daily follow Christ, choosing willingly to obey sanctification, ongoing faithfulness and obedience.
So no, we're not under the law today for some kind of justification. But we pursue the law of God – the law of God being the revealed truth about God in the Old Testament, the truth of God revealed in the New Testament, the Ten Commandments being abbreviated version of the moral law, but it's also a moral law that was placed in our heart and mind that is a reflection of God's character and nature. So for John Piper to say that the Ten Commandments, or the moral law, is not for today is wrong. Watch this next clip.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: You will never devote your life to magnifying God by being satisfied in God, until you see that the ultimate essence of evil is the failure to be satisfied in God. The essence is, "I don't get any pleasure from God. So I want other things to drink, thank you very much." That's the essence of evil: "I don't enjoy God anymore."
The ultimate essence of evil is the loss of taste for God as our all-satisfying life and joy. Or, flip the coin over, the ultimate essence of evil is a preference for other things, other people, anything created more than God. That's the ultimate essence of evil, biblically.
[end of video clip]
Well, if it is biblically, then why is he not giving a chapter and verse on that? Because, again, his definition of evil is man-centered. The essence of evil is your not desiring God.
No, evil is what it is because God is who he is. Evil is the absence of the holiness and righteousness of God being adhered to. Evil is not defined by you and I, my friends. Again, this is why I believe John Piper is very dangerous in his theology and is very man-centered in his theology; and thus, I would say he's a liberal. Watch this next clip.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: Genesis 3: What's the ultimate essence of the first, original, world-infecting sin? When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she gave some to her husband. He ate.
Let me say those three things again. Watch what's happening in the human heart that gives rise to an act. "This is really good food. It's delicious and it's nourishing. I can see it. And you won't let me have it. You won't let me have it. This is beautiful. It's a delight to my eyes. God wants to keep me from it." And they ate. And what did that mean? It meant we will not be denied while we desire more than God.
So what was the essence of evil as it began in the human race? What was the essence of the Fall of humanity? Was it the eating of the forbidden fruit? No. The moral outrage, the horror of what happened here was that Adam and Eve desired, desired, desired this fruit more than God. That's the essence of evil. They delighted more in what the fruit could be for them than what God could be for them. Eating was not the essence of evil; they preferred something else, and that is the ultimate essence of evil.
[end of video clip]
Did you catch that? John Piper says the essence of evil or the Fall was not disobedience to God; it was that they desired the fruit more than God. They desired something else more – they desired something more than God. The essence of evil or the Fall was not disobedience to God; it was they desired something more than God. Folks, is that what the Bible says? You're saying, "Brannon, is that really what he's teaching?" Watch this next clip, and then we're gonna go to lots of Scripture, so get your Bible.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: I've been taught they disobeyed, period. No. Disobedience to the command of God is not more basic, not more fundamental, not more ultimate than what they desired above God.
[end of video clip]
Is that what the Bible says? Well, get your Bible and let's go to some Scripture. Let's look at Genesis 3:8-11. "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?' So he said, 'I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.' And he said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded that you should not eat?'" Notice the word there: commanded. God commanded them not to eat of the tree.
And yet they did, and they disobeyed, and it was because of disobedience of one man's sin entered into the world. Yet you heard John Piper say, "I was always told it was their disobedience." No, says John Piper. Look at Genesis 3:17. "Then to Adam he said, 'Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, of which you desired more than me –'" Is that what it says? No. "And have eaten from the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it.'' My friends, John Piper has a very messed-up understanding of evil and the Fall, as we have seen in his own words, lined up against the word of God. What are you gonna believe: the word of John Piper or the word of God? Watch this next clip.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: As long as you see commandment-keeping as the essence of good, and commandment-breaking as the essence of evil, you will never know why you do what you do.
[end of video clip]
Wow, as long as you see commandment-keeping as the essence of good. Well, let's see what the Bible says about how we know what is good, what is evil, what is right, what is wrong, what is righteous, and what is sin. Go to 1 John 2:3-4. Now, by this we know that we know him if we pursue our pleasure in him. Is that what it says? By this we know that we know him if we practice Christian hedonism. Is that what it says? No. No, John Piper.
It says, "Now, by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says 'I know him' and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
How about 1 John 3:4: "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." So how do you know what is evil? By whether or not you pursue your pleasure in him? No, we know what is evil by whether or not we understand what is the law. What is the law? A reflection of God's character and nature. So how do we judge what is evil or what is right or what is wrong? By the character and nature of God revealed in the law. What is the law? The law could be defined in different ways. As I'm using it, and as oftentimes the Scripture uses it, it is the revealed word of God. It is the truth revealed about God in the Old and New Testament. That's the law of God, or the word of God. It is also referred to as the moral law. That would be the character and nature of God placed on the heart and mind of every person, Romans 1, 2, and 3.
So we know what is sin, we know what is evil, by the study of the word of God, the law of God. And it is a reflection of God's character and nature. So truth, or evil, is not – what is good or what is right is not defined by what we do or don't do. It is defined by the character and nature of God that is revealed in the word of God. Look at this, 1 John 5:3. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." So if you love God, you'll keep his commandments, but yet didn't we just hear John Piper say you can't be defining our life by commandment-keeping? That's not what the Bible says.
Look at John 14:15. "If you love me, keep my commandments." How about John 15:14? "You are my friends if you do whatever I command you." How about 2 John 1:6? "This is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it."
How about Luke 11:28? "But he said, more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Blessed are those who keep the law or the word of God. How about James 1:25? "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." Who does what? It says right there, in James 1:25. "But he who looks into the perfect law," the word of God, the revealed word of God, the commandments of God. Thus saith the Lord, the instruction manual on how we're to live the Christian life. But John Piper says we can't be defining how we live based on commandment-keeping.
How about Psalm 19:7? "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Psalm 19:8, "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure in lightening the eyes."
Now, this, obviously – not adhering to the law of God, not calling believers to the adherence to the law of God, or even to reject the law of God, as we're seeing and learning about John Piper – is called antinomianism. Antinomianism, that's a big word. And it just means "against the law."
Here's what E.S. Williams, in his excellent little book Christian Hedonism? A biblical examination of John Piper's teachings, writes. He says, "Antinomianism is from the Greek and means 'against the law.' Anti, against; nomias, law. It may briefly be defined as the doctrine that holds that God's moral law is not binding on Christians as a rule of life. An antinomian believes that because a Christian is under grace, he is no longer under God's moral law as expressed in the Ten Commandments." And I would add it's more than just the Ten Commandments; it would be all of the law, or the revealed word of God about the Old and New Testament, applied in context.
And so this is why John Piper, many say, is into antinomianism, "against the law." And so let's watch the next clip, and in this clip you'll hear the voice of the author of this book, E.S. Williams.
[beginning of video clip]
E.S. Williams: Piper answers his question about rebellion against God's authority.
John Piper: I've been taught they disobeyed, period. No. Disobedience to the command of God is not more basic, not more fundamental, not more ultimate than what they desired above God.
E.S. Williams: Contrary to the teachings of Piper, the Apostle Paul teaches that the sin of Adam was the sin of disobedience. In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul, referring to Adam's sin, writes, "For by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners."
John Piper: As long as you see commandment-keeping as the essence of good, and commandment-breaking as the essence of evil, you will never know why you do what you do.
E.S. Williams: Piper's teaching is misleading, for he has completely ignored God's first command to man, and so he makes light of Adam's disobedience. The essence of Piper's teaching is antinomianism. Piper does not teach that disobedience to God's commandment is the original sin against God's holy, righteous character.
[end of video clip]
So John Piper says that the essence of evil is not disobedience to the law. Well, let's see what the Apostle Paul says in the Book of Romans. Romans 2:15 reads: "Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or excusing them." What is this talking about? The moral law, the reflection of God's character and nature, written on their heart and mind, as I talked about earlier. "Con" means with, "science" means knowledge. They sinned with the knowledge they've offended a holy and just God. We saw from 1 John: "Without the law, I wouldn't have known what sin is, for sin is transgression of the law."
By the way, what does it say in Matthew 7, one of the scariest passages in the Bible? "Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, for I never knew you." You workers of what? Lawlessness. Well, if the law is not for today, why do we see these false prophets and apostles being judged by Christ, and he says, "Depart from me. I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness"?
They were – it was evident by the fruit in their life that they were not justified or involved in sanctification, ongoing faithfulness and obedience. They weren't involved in ongoing faithfulness and obedience, by living according to the word of God, the law of God, the precepts of God, the character and nature of God. No, their fruit revealed that they were practicers of lawlessness. Other passages say – other translations say, "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity." They were workers of lawlessness or workers of iniquity. In other words, they made their sinful choices and practices as a regular part of their life. They weren't people who just stumbled into sin. All Christians stumble into sin. And Christians sometimes find themselves involved in very gross sins.
But a true believer should be under conviction. They should be under conviction. "Whom he loves, he chastens," and the Holy Spirit will chasten them and bring them under great conviction, and maybe even some serious consequences for their sin. So a believer can fall into sin, yes; but believers, by the fruit of their life, do not willingly jump into sin day in and day out, having no remorse, never having any remorse at all. True believers eventually will either be taken out – God will take them out because they're a bad testimony – or they will come to a place of repentance and turn from that sin.
But a work of lawlessness has a regular, ongoing practice, willingly, of disobedience. Do Christians sin? Yes. Do Christians stumble into sin? Yes. But Christians don't have an ongoing practice of sin with no remorse, with a seared conscience, with no guilt, with no conviction. But a worker of lawlessness does.
And what did he say to them, again, in Matthew 7? "Jesus said, 'Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.'" Well, the law is still for today. And how do we know what is lawlessness? It is written on their heart and their mind, according to Romans 2.
Romans 3:19-20, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law." Wait a minute, who's under the law? Nonbelievers. They're under the law. They're being judged by the law. Can they keep the law? No, they can't keep the law. They break the Ten Commandments, if you will. Look at someone with lust? Equal to adultery.
In fact, Jesus didn't come to destroy the law. Isn't that what he said? He came to fulfill the law, to live it perfectly, so that his righteous life could be credited or imputed – banking terms – to my account through faith and repentance. He didn't come to abolish the law; he came to fulfill the law. In fact, it could be said that Christ actually made the law even stricter. He says that you shall not commit adultery. Isn't that what Jesus said? "Jesus said, 'The law says you should not commit adultery,' but I say if you look upon a woman as to lust after her, you've already committed adultery in your heart." Christ did not only – he didn't do away with the law. He not only did not do away with the law; he actually strengthened the law. Now he says to look upon a woman with lust is equal to adultery.
Hatred towards some fellow man is equal to murder. Love your neighbor as yourself. He was strengthening the law, not for the believer for salvation – no – but for ongoing faithfulness and obedience, living in accordance with his character and nature, pursuing righteousness, holiness.
But for the unbeliever, they're under the law. They're judged by the law. They're found guilty by the law. Now, what we – it says, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." So we are not under the law for judgment. That doesn't mean the law has been abandoned. The law is still here. It's still here. It's written on the hearts and minds of all people, including unbelievers. And they're under the judgment of the law.
The law does not save us as Christians. We can't keep the law. You break one, you break them all. The law does not save us; the law condemns us. The law, Paul says, is a schoolmaster to bring us to repentance. The law is a mirror which shows us our true depraved, sinful state. But for the unbeliever, the unbeliever is under the law, and when they stand before a holy and just God, he will not say, "Why should I let you into heaven?" and the answer is, "Because I lived a good life," because no one is good, no, not one. You break one of the Ten Commandments, you've broken them all. So the law reveals that.
And Christ says to them, in Matthew 7, the false teachers, the false prophets, "Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness." They practiced that which is unrighteous. So the law is, for today, still the moral law condemning men. And the moral law, for the believer, is no longer condemning us. The moral law today is a moral compass that allows us to see what the standard of right living is.
Romans 5:19, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous," the obedience of Christ, even to death on the cross. Romans 7:12: "Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandments holy and just and good." Romans 7:22: "For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man."
Romans 8:1-4 says, "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit, for the law of the spirit of life." What is the law of the spirit of life? The law of the spirit of life is the gospel, for the gospel, the good news of the gospel. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ has made me from the law of sin and death." You see, the law condemned us. The law doesn't save us; the law condemns us. It shows us that we have broken the moral law. You break one, you've broken them all; you deserve the penalty of eternal death and damnation. So we are saved by the spirit of the law, the gospel in Christ Jesus.
"Jesus has made me free from the law that I could not keep." So the law is for today. It's for the unbeliever to show them their unrighteous state. It's for the believer to press us on towards sanctification, the standard for ongoing faithfulness and obedience. Not for salvation; for sanctification.
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh." In other words, you're gonna break the law in your flesh as an unbeliever because you can't keep it. "God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh." So Christ lived a perfect life, fulfilled the law, and then died as that perfect sacrifice. "He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." So what's the righteous requirement of the law? Sinlessness, a perfect, sinless sacrifice. Christ fulfilled that.
So, again, the law is for today, despite what John Piper says. Listen to this next clip.
[beginning of video clip]
John Piper: So, no, disobedience or lawbreaking is not the ultimate essence of evil. Paul put it like this. Romans 3:20, "Through the law comes the knowledge of sin." So, the law doesn't make sin "sin." It's there. In you, in me. It's in our desires. "I want other things more than God. I enjoy other people more than God." That's the ultimate essence of evil. We have simply reduced evil to commandment-breaking, and good to commandment-keeping. You didn't need – it's not the essence. It's all resolved. It's all overflow. It's all fruit from this foul fountain of preferring anything to God. The greatness of God's majesty is magnified, not in hollow efforts to keep commandments. Every religion does that. That doesn't make God look great. Makes you look moral.
E.S. Williams: Note Piper's dismissive attitude towards God's commandments. He ridicules the efforts of those who seek to keep God's commandments as hollow and, by implication, as unimportant. The Apostle John wrote, "And hereby we do note that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith 'I know him' and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not [][] in him. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." Piper's offhand comments about morality reveal his antinomian mindset. The Apostle Peter teaches, "As he who called you is holy, you'll also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'"
[end of video clip]
You see what Piper said at the very beginning of that clip? "Disobedience or lawbreaking is not the ultimate of evil." Well, yes, it is, and we've seen a lot of Scripture that says that is what evil is. Evil, or sin, is the breaking of the law, going against, not keeping the character and nature of God. That is what sin is. Watch this last clip and the voice of E.S. Williams.
[beginning of video clip]
E.S. Williams: Piper says that pursuing pleasure in God is our highest calling, our ultimate duty. Piper's associates are deeply antinomian, for they ignore the teaching of Scripture, which declares: "Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
The clear teaching of Scripture is that God is glorified when we obey his commandments, live a holy life, and worship him in the beauty of holiness: "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Our Lord said, 'Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples."
Scripture does not teach that God is glorified by a hedonistic approach to life. Our Lord said that the highest pursuit of man is to love God with all his heart, mind, and strength by obeying his commandments. According to the Apostle John, this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. But Piper's antinomian mindset has made the pursuit of pleasure in God a higher Christian duty than obeying God's commandments.
[end of video clip]
I highly recommend this book by E.S. Williams, Christian Hedonism? A biblical examination of John Piper's teaching. You'll find this on Amazon.com, I'm sure, as other websites as well. Highly recommend it. Why? Because John Piper's very popular with many pastors, many young people, people across all denominational lines. He's one of the new Calvinists, as we're looking at the dangers of neo-Calvinism. And in our next series, we'll look at the teachings of people like Matt Chandler and others.
And in conclusion, we see that John Piper's put out an article on his website, September 25th, 2017, titled "Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?", Notice the question mark. Well, he put out a tweet as well, John Piper's ministry did, that said this: "You're not saved through faith alone." That's a shocker. "You're not saved through faith alone." Well, we've already heard John Piper say, what is the essence of evil? Accroding to Piper it's not pursuing your pleasure in God. It involves some kinda works on the part of man, it appears.
So I wouldn't be shocked that he tweeted out, "You're not saved through faith alone" at his ministry, or that he wrote an article, September 25th, 2017, "Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?", question mark. And he writes, "These works of faith," the ones being talked about in the Book of James and in Romans and 1 Thessalonians – "These works of faith, and this obedience of faith, these fruits of the spirit that come by faith, are necessary for our final salvation." He's saying you have to have these works to be saved.
He then goes on to say, "Essential to the Christian life and necessary for final salvation is the killing of sin and the pursuit of holiness." Look at that, folks. "Essential to the Christian life and necessary for final salvation is the pursuit of holiness." He's confusing justification with sanctification. No, you can't earn your salvation. Your works are not what saves you. Your works are the fruit of your salvation, not the root of your salvation. So we warn you about what we believe is the false teaching and the false gospel of John Piper and his Christian hedonism.
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Thank you so much for watching. This has been a broadcast of the Worldview Weekend Broadcast Network. Till next time, I'm Brannon Howse. Take care.
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