This is the sermon John Piper preached at Passion 2017. Sunday a friend told me to check it out. She said that her and her husband listened to it last week and that it left them dumbfounded – that it changed their whole perspective on sin and the essence of evil. So I heeded her sisterly admonishment to ‘check it out’ and started to listen to it while cooking dinner earlier tonight. After listening to the first twenty minutes of this message, I wanted my kids to hear it. So I hooked-up the movie projector and we listened to (watched) John Piper preach on the ultimate essence of evil.

The reason that I wanted my kids to hear this sermon is my desire that they understand that preferring anything else more than they prefer God is the ultimate essence of evil and the root of all sin. I wanted to remind them that the Christian life is not about a check-list of dos and don’ts, which is an easy thing to forget when raised in a Christian home. I wanted my kids to hear again that the Christian life is about seeing “…the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6), rejoicing over all that God is for us in Christ (Romans 5:11),  “…being transformed into the same image from one degree to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18), and that pleasing God in righteous living and obedience results from a faith-filled love for God (Hebrews 11:6). Or, to put it another way,  I wanted my kids to remember that loving God, wanting God, desiring God above all other things is at the heart of glorifying God, magnifying Christ, and serving Him in this world. I wanted them to lay-hold of the reality that Christ is everything, and that everything other than Christ is nothing without Him.

God has been very kind to give this generation preachers like John Piper. I am so glad that I took my friend’s advice and was able to share this sermon with my kids. It blessed us all. So if you have 45 minutes and you need to be reminded of some of these truths too – check it out.