Good News of Great Joy
| Author | John Piper |
|---|---|
| Download the pdf at | desiringgod.org |
| Follow along at | Good News of Great Joy | Desiring God |
Notable Quotables
So the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with reality, but also that he takes the reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 79
- The English word advent is from the Latin adventus, which means “coming.” The advent primarily in view each December is the first coming of Jesus two mil- lennia ago. But Jesus’s second coming gets drawn in as well, as the popular Christmas carol “Joy to the World” makes plain
Takeaways
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Advent is for adoring Jesus. At least that’s our angle on it at Desiring God. - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 10
My Notes
Preface
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There’s no biblical mandate to observe Advent. It is optional—a tradition that devel- oped over the course of the church’s history as a time of preparation for Christmas Day. Many of us find observ- ing Advent to be spiritually challenging, enjoyable, and beneficial- good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 10
Introduction
John 17.24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
- Jesus wants His people to be with Him so that we can see and savor His glory
- Why? Not because He’s lonely (He’s not). It’s for our benefit.
- Don’t just see His glory. Savor it. Adore Him.
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[Jesus] doesn’t mean that we merely imitate the love of the Father for the Son. He means the Father’s very love becomes our love for the Son - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 18
Day 14: Making It Real For His People
- good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 78
- Hebrews 8:6: Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. What does that mean?
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So the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with reality, but also that he takes the reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 79
My Prayer
Lord, in our broken world, we simply cannot fix our problems. Continually we need your salvation, and desperately yearn for it. Our yearning is so fundamental to who we are, that many of us want you, and yet don’t even realize it. We long for a Savior and yet don’t even have the vocabulary to express that. We want it so badly, that we come up with any ridiculous story just to fill that need. We have made and remade Christmas into our own image countless times, and it has left us wanting. We counterfeit you time and again, but we are not satisfied. We want, and we need something real. How blessed we are that You are the actual propitiation of our sins! You are not a mere hope, or fantasy, or potentiality. You are not a maybe. We do not long for the day that you might save us. We thank You for the day that you already did your saving work on the cross! You made it real for us! Thank you LORD!
Day 15: Life and Death at Christmas
- good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 80
- John 10.10 The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
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Many of you will feel your loss this Christmas more pointedly than before. Don’t block it out. Let it come. Feel it. What is love for, if not to intensify our affections—both in life and in death? But, oh, do not be bitter. It is tragically self-destructive to be bitter. good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 83
Day 16: God’s Most Successful Setback
Phil 2:9-11 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [[Phil-02#v10|]][[Phil-02#v11|]]
- good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 86
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The way up is down. The way forward is backward. The way to success is through divinely appointed setbacks - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 87
- Today’s devotion is highly reminiscent of last night’s sermon: 2024-12-15 Sermon Notes1.
- I would add to the message of this devotional, disagreeing just a little bit. I don’t think that God “makes tactical retreats in order to win strategic victories”. More accurately I think He:
- limits the abilities of His people so that it is undeniable that their victory was only possible because of Him:
- See the wall of Jericho, Gideon’s battle etc.
- He uses the fools and the weak to advance His kingdom:
- 1 Cor 1:18-21[[1 Cor-01#v19|]][[1 Cor-01#v20|]][[1 Cor-01#v21|]]
- humbled Himself, coming to earth as a man in order to make His work of salvation all the more apparent and great.
- limits the abilities of His people so that it is undeniable that their victory was only possible because of Him:
- The point that I’m trying to make
Day 17: The Greatest Salvation Imaginable
Jer 31.31 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.
This is our main problem at Christmas—and every other season. How shall we get right with a just and holy God? Nevertheless, God is merciful - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 90
How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so much kindness as to give us the greatest reality in the universe…? … The answer is that God put our sins on his Son, and judged them there, so that he could put them out of his mind and deal with us mercifully and remain just and holy at the same time. - good-news-of-great-joy-en, page 91
My Prayer
LORD, I confess, that your advent is certainly not the first thing I think of in Christmas season. My selfishness and sin cause me to hesitate to meditate on you. Deep down, I know that you are a just and holy God, and I feel the tension. How do I get right with you? I know full-well that I cannot get right with you on my own. I also know that I don’t need to. I know that You have already done that work for me. And yet the habit of sin is so strong. I keep trying to bear my own sins and the weight is beyond me. I need reminder, yet again of your advent. I need the joy of knowing that You bear my weight. But that requires the disappointment of me admitting yet again, that I cannot bear this weight. Please humble me to see my inability, and lift me up to thank You for the promises that you have already offered, and fulfilled, and given!
Day 22: That You May Believe
John 20:30-31 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. [[John-20#v31|]]
Why did Christ come to Earth? Why did God become man? Why not stay up in Heaven, away from sin, and pain, and death? Thankfully, we do not have to guess or speculate. He said in His Word precisely why: so that we may believe that Jesus is is the Christ, and that believing in Him, we would have life in His name.
He came so that we would believe, and so that we would have life.
This implies that we don’t believe, or rather that we wouldn’t believe, unless He came.
It also implies that we don’t have life. Of course, we do have life. But is this thing that we call life really living? We are doomed to inevitable death. We cheat and steal from our neighbors. What kind of life is that?
We desperately need life. True life. Everlasting life. And in order to have life, we need to believe in the One who gives us that life, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Day 25: Three Gifts
My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice1 for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. [[1 John-02#v2|]] … Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: so that he might destroy the works of the devil2. [[1 John-03#v8|]]
Gift 1: A Clear Purpose For Living
- What is our purpose? What is The Meaning of Life? Our purpose can be summarized:
- in the negative: do not sin
- in the positive: believe in His Son and love one anoher
- 1 John 3.23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
- Notice that two things (believe in His name, and love one another) are started as one commandment. They are inseperable. You can’t do one without the other.
Gift 2: Hope That Other Failures Will Be Forgiven
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We make progress in overcoming our sin when we have Hope that our failures will be forgiven. If you don’t have hope that God will forgive your failures, when you start fighting sin, you give up.
Gift 3: Christ Will Help Us
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Christ will really help us in our fight. He really will help you. He is on your side, He didn’t come to destroy sin because sin is fun. He came to destroy sin becaus it is fatal.
- 1 John 4.4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.