Love to the Uttermost En

7/25/2019 Love to the Uttermost En

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DEVOTIONAL READINGS FOR HOLY WEEK FROM JOHN PIPER

LOVETO THE UTTERMOST


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DEVOTIONAL READINGS FOR HOLY WEEK FROM JOHN PIPER

LOVETO THE UTTERMOST


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2014 Desiring God

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Now be ore the Feast o the Passover, when Jesusknew that his hour had come to depart out o this world to the Father, having loved his own who werein the world, he loved them to the end.

John 13:1


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

i Editors Preface

01 Prologue A Vision or Holy Week

04 Palm Sunday Luke : Seeing the King on Palm Sunday

07

Monday Luke : He Set His Face or Jerusalem

10 Tuesday Romans : Depth o Love or Us

13 Wednesday John : Why Jesus Is All- rustworthy

16 Maundy Thursday John : Tursday o the Commandment


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18 Good Friday Hebrews : What Good Friday Is All About

21 Saturday Luke : A Holy Week Volcano

24 Easter Sunday John : Such Amazing Resurrection Love


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Love to the Uttermost i

EDITORS PREFACE

Teres nothing intrinsically holy about particular days,but or most o church history Christians have set asideeight days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday or

solemn ocus (Romans : ). Tis string o days pro- vides an annual interval or us to ocus intently on thegreatest events in human history, the acts o our Savior Jesus Christ. Fix your gaze steadily on him, John Piper writes o Holy Week, as he loves you to the uttermost.

Tat one worduttermost is loaded with signicance.

Jesus willingly died or his riends and endured unimagi-nable degrees o suffering to do so (John : ). o lovetothe uttermost is to love reely, without reserve or limit, and without aw or ailure. Love to the uttermost is unquench-able, unstoppable, and resolute. As we watch his arrest andtrial and death un old or eight days, we gaze on a Christ who begrudges no pain or reproach on his pathway toredeem lost sinners. Tis is the man who humbled him-sel by becoming obedient to the point o death, even deathon a cross (Philippians : ). Tis is loveto the uttermost .


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Love to the Uttermost ii

As the story o Christs death reshly hits our senses, we read o a Savior who exercises his own authority overdeath and promises to take up his own li e in the end(John : ). Anybody who makes a statement like that,Piper writes, is either mentally deranged, or lying, orGod. Everything is at stake in how we respond to thoseoptions. What are we to do with this Jesus who loves tothe uttermost and tramples death?

Lo e to the Uttermostis a devotional spanning romPalm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It is comprised o eightexcerpts (plus one prologue reading) selected rom JohnPipers vast -year writing and preaching ministry atBethlehem Baptist Church in the win Cities. Tis devo-tional can be used or personal, amily, or group devo-tions. It can serve anyone who seeks a steadied gaze to

watch our Savior as he loves usto the uttermost .

ony Reinke Desiring God


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Love to the Uttermost 1

A VISION FOR HOLY WEEK

As I have tried to prepare my heart to meet Jesus in a spe-cial way on Palm Sunday and Maundy Tursday and GoodFriday and Resurrection Day, a series o pictures has come

back to my mind again and again. Let me try to describethe story or you.

A little lamb was born all wooly-white with skinny legsand a wet nose, pretty much like all the other little lambs.But as the lamb grew into a sheep, the other sheep began tonotice a difference. Tis sheep had a strange lump on his

orehead.At rst, they thought hed been hit, but the lump never went down. Instead, a large pad o deep, white wool grewover the lump and made it very sof and rm. Te lumpmight have stopped attracting attention except or the actthat this sheep began to use the lump on his head in verystrange ways.

For one thing, the lump seemed to weigh down his headso that he always looked like he was bowing and showingreverence to some invisible king. Ten he began to seek

Prologue


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out other sheep that were sick or wounded. He would usethe rm, sof lump on his orehead to help the weak ontotheir eet and to wipe away tears.

Whole ocks o sheep started to ollow him around,but the goats laughed him to scorn. Sheep were disgustingenough, but a sheep with a queer lump on his orehead wasmore than they could take. Tey harassed him all the timeand made up jokes and taunts: How come you hang your wooly head? Your lump made out o woolen lead? And it just in uriated them that he would walk away rom themand keep on doing his quiet works o mercy.

So one day the goats surrounded him and rammed him with their horns until he died, and they lef him alone inthe eld. But as he lay there, something very strange happened. He began to get bigger. Te bloody wool ell away

and revealed a sleek, white, horse-like hair. Te sof pad odeep white wool dropped off his orehead and straight outo the merci ul lump grew a mighty horn o crimson steelunlike any horn that has ever been or will be again.

And then, as i by command, the massive Unicornleaped to his eet. His back stood eight eet above the

ground. Te muscles in his shoulders and neck were likemarble. Te tendons in his legs were like cables o iron.His head was no longer bowed, and when he looked to theright or to the lef, the crimson horn slashed the air like asaber dipped in blood.

When the sheep saw him, they ell down and wor-shiped. He bowed and touched each one on the orehead with the tip o his horn, whispered something in their ear,and soared away into the sky. He hasnt been seen since.

Tats the vision in my mind as I enter Holy Week. Its a


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portrait o Jesus Christ painted by Isaiah under the inspi-ration o God and put on display by Matthew : .Like every good work o art, this portrait has a purpose,and the purpose is to cause us to set our hope on JesusChrist. And I am praying that this will happen in yourli e, because I know that everything else you set your hopeon will let you down in the end. But i you hope in JesusChrist, he will be honored in your li e, and you will neverregret it.


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SEEING THE KING ONPALM SUNDAY

Fear not, little ock, or it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke : )

oday is Palm Sunday. We picture ourselves welcomingthe King into our city and into our hearts. He tries tomake his intentions known by coming, not on a great stal-lion, but on a lowly donkey, meek and humble.

I wonder how many here look upon this lowly Ser-

vant-King and eel that this is just a thin veneer, and thatbeneath this lowly exterior there is a terrible power andauthority which is just waiting to burst out against you i you slip in any way. I wonder how many eel that it is notreally the deepest pleasure o this Kings heart to serve his people and meet their needs.

I wonder how many eel that hes riding this donkeyo lowliness as a kind o camouage. And once he gainsa oothold, he will throw off his rags, pull out his sword,and storm orth to do what he really loves to do, namely,

Palm Sunday


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judge and destroy. O course, some will be savedthe ew who somehow could please him. But that is not his heartsdesire. He is basically angryalways angry. And the best we can do is stay out o his way, and maybe, i we keep therules well enough, we could sneak by him when he is inone o his temporary good moods.

Gods Deepest Delight

Jesus is at pains to help younot eel that way about God.And I want to draw your attention to one verse, namely,Luke : , because every little piece o this verse is intend-ed to help take away the ear that Jesus knows we struggle with, namely, that God begrudges his benets, that he isconstrained and out o character when he does nice things,that at bottom he is angry and loves to vent his anger.

Luke : is a verse about the nature o God. Its a verseabout what kind o heart God has. Its a verse about whatmakes God gladnot merely about what God will door what he has to do, but what he delights to do, what heloves to do, and what he takes pleasure in doing. Fear not,little ock, or it is your Fathers good pleasure to give youthe kingdom.

Te phrase good pleasure, is a verb in Greek: to be a pleasure or to be pleased by. You could translate it: It pleased God, or, God chose it gladly. In other words, Godis not acting in this generous way in order to cloak and hidesome malicious motive. Te word good pleasure utterly

rules that out. He is not saying inside, I will have to be gen-erous or a while even though I dont want to be, because what I really want to do is bring judgment on sinners.


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Te Lords meaning is inescapable: God is acting herein reedom. He is not under constraint to do what hedoesnt really want to do. At this very point, when he giveshis ock the kingdom, he is acting out his deepest delight.Tis is what the word means: Gods joy, his desire, his wantand wish and hope and pleasure and gladness and delight,is to give the kingdom to his ock.


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Monday

HE SET HIS FACE FOR JERUSALEM

When the days drew near or him to be taken up, he set his ace to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead o him, who went and entered a village o theSamaritans, to make preparations or him. But the people did not receive him, because his ace was settoward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell re to come down fom heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on

to another village. (Luke : )

In Luke : , we learn hownot to understand PalmSunday.

o set his ace towards Jerusalem meant something verydifferent or Jesus than it did or the disciples. You can seethe visions o greatness that danced in their heads in verse

: An argument arose among them as to which o them was the greatest. Jerusalem and glory were just around thecorner. O what it would mean when Jesus took the throne!


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But Jesus had another vision in his head. One wondershow he carried it all alone and or so long.

Heres what Jerusalem meant or Jesus: I must go onmy way today and tomorrow and the day ollowing, or itcannot be that a prophet should perish away rom Jeru-salem (Luke : ). Jerusalem meant one thing or Jesus:certain death. Nor was he under any illusion o a quickand heroic death. He predicted in Luke : : See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is writ-ten about the Son o Man by the prophets will be accom- plished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shame ully treated and spit upon.And afer ogging him, they will kill him.

When Jesus set his ace to go to Jerusalem, he set hisace to die.

The Time Had Come

Remember, when you think o Jesuss resolution to die, thathe had a nature like ours. He shrunk back rom pain like we do. He would have enjoyed marriage and children andgrandchildren and a long li e and esteem in the communi-ty. He had a mother and brothers and sisters. He had special places in the mountains. o turn his back on all this, andset his ace towards vicious whipping and beating and spit-ting and mocking and crucixion, was not easy. It washard .

We need to use our imagination to put ourselves backinto his place and eel what he elt. I dont know o any

other way or us to begin to know how much he loved us.Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay downhis li e or his riends (John : ).


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I we were to look at Jesuss death merely as a result oa betrayers deceit and the Sanhedrins envy and Pilatesspinelessness and the soldiers nails and spear, it mightseem very involuntary. And the benet o salvation thatcomes to us who believe might be viewed as Gods way omaking a virtue out o a necessity. But once you read Luke

: , all such thoughts vanish. Jesus was not accidentally entangled in a web o injus-

tice. Te saving benets o his death or sinners were notan aferthought. God planned it all out o innite love tosinners like us, and he appointed a time.

Jesus, who was the very embodiment o his Fathers loveor sinners, saw that the time had come and set his ace toulll his mission: to die in Jerusalem or our sake. No

one takes my li e rom me, Jesus said, I lay it down o my

own accord (John : ).


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DEPTH OF LOVE FOR US

While we were still weak, at the right time Christdied or the ungodly. For one will scarcely die or arighteous personthough perhaps or a good personone would dare even to diebut God shows his love

or us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died or us. (Romans : )

As I have pondered the love o Christ or us, and the di -erent ways that the Bible presents it to us, I have seen our

ways that the depth o Christs love is revealed.First, we know the depth o someones love or us by what it costs him. I he sacrices his li e or us, it assures uso deeper love than i he only sacrices a ew bruises. So we will see the depth o Christs love by the greatness o whatit cost him.

Second, we know the depth o someones love or us byhow little we deserve it. I we have treated him well all ourli e, and have done all that he expects o us, then when heloves us, it will not prove as much love as it would i he

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loved us when we had offended him, and shunned him,and disdained him. Te more undeserving we are, themore amazing and deep is his love or us. So we will see thedepth o Christs love in relation to how undeserving arethe objects o his love (Romans : ).

Tird, we know the depth o someones love or us bythe greatness o the benets we receive in being loved. I we are helped to pass an exam, we will eel loved in one way. I we are helped to get a job, we will eel loved anoth-er way. I we are helped to escape rom an oppressive cap-tivity and given reedom or the rest o our li e, we will

eel loved another way. And i we are rescued rom eter-nal torment and given a place in the presence o God with

ullness o joy and pleasures orevermore, we will know adepth o love that surpasses all others ( John : ). So we

will see the depth o Christs love by the greatness o thebenets we receive in being loved by him.

Fourth, we know the depth o someones love or us bythe reedom with which they love us. I a person does goodthings or us because someone is making him, when hedoesnt really want to, then we dont think the love is very

deep. Lo e is deep in proportion to its liberty. So i an insur-ance company pays you , because you lose yourspouse, you dont usually marvel at how much this compa-ny loves you. Tere were legal constraints. But i your Sun-day School class makes all your meals or a month afer yourspouse dies, and someone calls you every day, and visits youevery week, then you call it love, because they dont haveto do this. It is ree and willing. So we will see the deptho Christs love or us in his reedom: No one takes myli e rom me; I lay it down o my own accord (John : ).


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o push this truth to the limit, let me quote or you a psalm that the New estament applies to Jesus (Hebrews

: ). It re ers to his coming into the world to offer himselas a sacrice or sin: I delight to do your will, O my God(Psalm : ). Te ultimate reedom is joy. He rejoiced todo his redeeming work or us. Te physical pain o thecross did not become physical pleasure. But Jesus was sus-tained through it all by joy. He really, really wanted to saveus. o gather or himsel a happy, holy, praising people. Hedisplayed his love like a husband yearning or a belovedbride (Ephesians : ).


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WHY JESUS IS ALL-TRUSTWORTHY

I am telling you this now, be ore it takes place, thatwhen it does take place you may believe that I am he.(John : )

Jesus himsel taught that all the prophecies about him would be ullled. In other words, we have a testimony,not only that the writers themselves saw Jesuss li e as ul-llment o prophecy, but that Jesus did, too.

For example, in Luke : , Jesus says, I tell you that

this Scripture must be ullled in me: And he was num-bered with the transgressors. For what is written aboutme has its ulllment (see Isaiah : ). Jesus saw that the predictions o the Messiah and his sufferings would be

ullled in himsel . Jesus took up the principle o John : and oretold

numerous details o what was going to happen to him sothat we might believe when they happened. He began toteach them that the Son o Man must suffer many thingsand be rejected by the elders and the chie priests and

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the scribes and be killed, and afer three days rise again(Mark : ). Jesus saw the predictions o the Messiah andhis sufferings being ullled in himsel .

He oresaw that his death would be by crucixion(John : ; : ).

He predicted that the disciples would nd an unriddencolt when they entered the town (Luke : ).

When the disciples entered Jerusalem that last Turs-day, he predicted they would meet a man with the water pitcher who would have a room or them to meet in(Luke : ).

Afer three years o waiting, he knew theexact hour o his departure out o the world

(John : ). Jesus knew that he would be betrayed, and who would

betray him, and when it would happen (John : ; : ;Matthew : , ).

He knew and predicted the act and the time o Peters

three denials (Matthew : ). Jesus predicted that the disciples would all all away

and be scattered (Matthew : ; John : ; Zechariah: ).

Jesus prophesied that he would be lifed up rom theearth (John : ). Tat is, he would not be stoned butcruciednot by Jews but by Romans. So the decisionso Pilate and the Jews o how to dispose o him were a

ulllment o his prediction.


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He makes all these predictions, according to John : , sothat we would believe he is God, that what he says abouthimsel is true.

In other words, Jesus is saying, I you are struggling tobelieve that I am the promised Messiah, that I am the one who was in the beginning with God and was God (John

: ), that I am the divine Son o God, who can orgive all your sins and give you eternal li e and guide you on the path to heaven, then I want to help you believe. And one othe ways I am going to help you have well-grounded aithis by telling you what is going to happen to me be ore ithappens, so that when it happens, you will have good rea-son to believe in me.


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THURSDAY OF THE COMMANDMENT

A new commandment I give to you, that you loveone another: just as I have loved you, you also are tolo e one another. (John : )

oday is Maundy Tursday. Te name comes rom theLatinmandatum, the rst word in the Latin rendering o John : , A new commandment (mandatum novum) Igive to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Tis command-

ment was given by Jesus on the Tursday be ore his cru-cixion. So Maundy Tursday is the Tursday o theCommandment.

Tis is the commandment: love one another: just asI have loved you. But what about Galatians : ? Forthe whole law is ullled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yoursel . I the whole law is ullled inLove your neighbor as yoursel , what more can Love oneanother as Christ loved you add to the ulllment o the whole law?

Maundy Thursday


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I would say that Jesus did not replace or change thecommandment, Love your neighbor as you love yoursel .He lled it out and gave it clear illustration. He is saying,

Here is what I mean by as yoursel . Watch me. Imean: Just as you would want someone to set you fee

fom certain death, so you should set them fee fomcertain death. Tat is how I am now loving you. My suffering and death is what I mean by as yoursel .

You want li e. Live to give others li e. At any cost.So John says, By this we know love, that he laid downhis li e or us, and we ought to lay down our lives or thebrothers ( John : ). Was Jesus loving us as he lovedhimsel ? Listen to Ephesians : , No one ever hatedhis own esh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ

does the church,because we are members o his body.In the horrors o his suffering, Christ was sustained by

the joy that was set be ore him (Hebrews : ). And that joy was the everlasting gladness o his redeemed people,satised in the presence o the risen king.

Tere ore, let us see the greatest love in action on

Maundy Tursday and tomorrow on Good Friday. Hav-ing loved his own who were in the world, he loved themto the end (John : ). He loved us to the uttermost. Andlet us be so moved by this love that it becomes our own.He laid down his li e or us, and we ought to lay down ourlives or the brothers. Tis isthe commandment. Tis isthe Tursday.


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WHAT GOOD FRIDAY IS ALL ABOUT

Consequently, he [Jesus] is able to save to theuttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession or them.(Hebrews : )

Te great passion o the writer o Hebrews is that wedraw near to God (Hebrews : ; : ; : ; : ).Draw near to his throne to nd all the help we need. Drawnear to him, condent that he will reward us with all that

he is or us in Jesus. And this is clearly what he means inHebrews : , because verse says that we have con-dence to enter the holy place, that is, the new heavenlyholy o holies, like that inner room in the old tabernacleo the Old estament where the high priest met with Godonce a year, and where his glory descended on the ark othe covenant.

So the one command, the one exhortation, that we aregiven in Hebrews : is to draw near to God. Tegreat aim o this writer is that we get near God, that we

Good Friday


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have ellowship with him, that we not settle or a Chris-tian li e at a distance rom God, that God not be a distantthought, but a near and present reality, that we experience what the old Puritans called communion with God.

Tis drawing near is not a physical act. Its not buildinga tower o Babel, by your achievements, to get to heaven. Itsnot necessarily going into a church building, or walking toan altar at the ront. It is an invisible act o the heart. Youcan do it while standing absolutely still, or while lying in ahospital bed, or while sitting in a pew listening to a sermon.

Drawing near is not moving rom one place to anoth-er. It is a directing o the heart into the presence o God who is as distant as the holy o holies in heaven, and yet asnear as the door o aith. He is commanding us to come, toapproach him, to draw near to him.

The Center of the Gospel

In act, this is the very heart o the entire New estamentgospel, isnt it? Tat Christ came into the world to make a way or us to come to God without being consumed in oursin by his holiness.

For Christ also suffered once or sins, the righteousor the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (

Peter : ).

For through him [Christ] we both have access in oneSpirit to the Father (Ephesians : ).

We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,through whom we have now received reconciliation(Romans : ).


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Tis is the center o the gospelthis is what the Gardeno Gethsemane and Good Friday are all aboutthat Godhas done astonishing and costly things to draw us near. Hehas sent his Son to suffer and to die so that through him we might draw near. Its all so that we might draw near.And all o this is or our joy and or his glory.

He does not need us. I we stay away he is not impov-erished. He does not need us in order to be happy in the

ellowship o the rinity. But he magnies his mercy bygiving us ree access through his Son, in spite o our sin, tothe one Reality that can satis y us completely and orever,namely, himsel . You make known to me the path o li e;in your presence there is ullness o joy; at your right handare pleasures orevermore (Psalm : ).


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A HOLY WEEK VOLCANO

Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody weremocking him as they beat him. Tey also blind oldedhim and kept asking him, Prophesy! Who is it that struck you? And they said many other things againsthim, blaspheming him. (Luke : )

As I read these terrible words, I ound mysel saying to Jesus, Im sorry. Im sorry, Jesus. Forgive me! I elt myselto be an actor here, not just a spectator. I was so much a

part o that ugly gang that I knew I was as guilty as they were. I elt that i the rage o God should spill over ontothose soldiers and sweep me away, too, justice would havebeen done. I wasnt there, but their sin was my sin. It wouldnot have been unjust or me to all under their sentence.

Has it ever bothered you that sometimes in the Oldestament when one man sins, many get swept away in the

punishment God brings? For example, when David sinnedby taking a census o the people ( Samuel : ), theredied o the people rom Dan to Beersheba , men

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( Samuel : ). In another example, Achan kept some othe booty rom Jericho and his whole amily was stoned(Joshua : ). Maybe my experience in reading Luke is aclue to the divine justice in this.

My Volcanic Rebellion

An analogy came to my mind. Te hearts o humanityare like a molten mantle beneath the sur ace o the whole

earth. Te molten lava beneath the earth is the universal wickedness o the human heartthe rebellion againstGod and the selshness toward people. Here and therea volcano o rebellion bursts orth which God sees t to judge immediately. He may do so by causing the scorch-ing, destructive lava to ow not only down the mountain which erupted, but also across the valleys which did noterupt, but which have the same molten lava o sin beneaththe sur ace.

Te reason I con ess the sin o beating Jesus, eventhough I wasnt there, is that the same lava o rebellion isin my own heart. I have seen enough o it to know. So eventhough it does not burst orth in such a volcanic atrocityas the crucixion, it is still deserving o judgment. I Godhad chosen to rain the lava o their evil back on their ownheads and some o it consumed even me, I would not beable to ault Gods justice.

We may wonder why God chooses to recompense someevils immediately and not others. And we may wonder

how he decides whom to sweep away in the judgment. Why seventy thousand? Why not fy thousand, or onehundred, or ten? Why Achans wi e and not the greedy


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neighbor two tents down? I doubt that answers are avail-able to us now. We are lef to trust that these decisionscome rom a Wisdom so great that it can discern all possi-ble effects in all possible times and places and people. How widely the lava o one persons rebellion and judgment willow lies in Gods hands alone.

And I believe rom Romans : that, even though thelava o recompense overtakes me at a distance rom the volcano, there is mercy in it. I do not deserve to escape, orI know my own heart. But I trust Christ, and so I knowthe judgment will be turned to joy. Tough he slay me, yet will I trust him. For precious in the sight o the Lord is thedeath o his saints.


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SUCH AMAZINGRESURRECTION LOVE

For this reason the Father loves me, because I laydown my li e that I may take it up again. No onetakes it fom me, but I lay it down o my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authorityto take it up again. Tis charge I have received fommy Father. (John : )

Why does Jesus say this? Why does he stress his willing-

ness to die? Because i it werent truei his death wereorced on him, i it werent ree, i his heart werent reallyin itthen a big question mark would be put over his love

or us.Te depth o his love is in its reedom. I he didnt die

or us willinglyi he didnt choose the suffering andembrace itthen how deep is his love, really? So he stress-es it. He makes it explicit. It comes out o me, not out o cir-cumstances, not out o pressure, but out o what I really longto do.

Easter Sunday


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Jesus is stressing to us that his love or us is ree. Heseems to hear some enemy slander saying, Jesus doesntreally love you. Hes a mercenary. Hes in it or some oth-er reason than love. Hes under some kind o constraintor external compulsion. He doesnt really want to die or you. Hes just got himsel somehow into this job and has tosubmit to the orces controlling him. Jesus seems to hearsomething like that, or anticipate it. And he responds,No one takes it rom me, but I lay it down o my ownaccord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have author-ity to take it up again. So he is pressing this on us to see i we will believe his protest o love, or i we will believe theoppositethat his heart is really not in this.

Anybody who makes a statement like that is eithermentally deranged, or lying, or God. I have authority fom

inside death, as a dead man, to take li e back again, when I please. Now whats the point here? Well, which is harder:to control when you die, or to give yoursel li e again once you are dead? Which is harder: to say, I lay my li e downon my own initiative? Or to say, I will take my li e backagain afer I am dead?

Te answer is obvious. And thats the point. I Jesuscouldand didtake his li e back again rom the dead,then he was ree indeed. I he controlled when he came outo the grave, he certainly controlled when he went into thegrave.

So heres the point. Te resurrection o Jesus is given tous as the conrmation or evidence that he was indeed reein laying down his li e. And so the resurrection is Christstestimony to the reedom o his love.


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The Meaning of Easter

O all the great things that Easter means, it also means

this: it is a mighty I meant it! behind Christs death. Imeant it! I was ree. You see how ree I am? You see howmuch power and authority I have? I was able to avoid it. Ihave power to take up my li e out o the grave. And couldI not, then, have devastated my enemies and escaped thecross?

My resurrection is a shout over my love or my sheep:It was ree! It was ree! I chose it. I embraced it. I was notcaught. I was not cornered. Nothing can constrain me todo what I do not choose to do. I had power to take my li e

rom death. And I have taken my li e rom death. Howmuch more, then, could I have kept my li e rom death!

I am alive to show you that I really loved you. I reelyloved you. Nobody orced me to it. And I am now alive tospend eternity loving you with omnipotent resurrectionlove orever and ever.

Come to me, all you sinners who need a Savior. And I will orgive you and accept you and love you with all myheart orevermore.


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Desiring God

Post Ofce Box 2901, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402

888.346.4700 mail @desiringGod.org

The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere wouldunderstand and embrace the truth that God is most gloriedin us when we are most satised in him. Our primary strategyfor accomplishing this mission is through a maximally usefulwebsite that houses over thirty years of John Pipers preach-ing and teaching, including translations into more than 40languages. This is all available free of charge, thanks to ourgenerous ministry partners. If you would like to further ex-plore the vision of Desiring God, we encourage you to visitwww.desiringGod.org.


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Jesus willingly endured unimaginable depths of sufferingfor his friends. John 13:1 says he loved us to the uttermost.

To love to the uttermost is to love freely, without reserve orlimit, and without aw or failure. As we journey with Jesusfor eight days from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday

from triumphal entry, to arrest and trial, to death andburial and triumphant resurrection, we gaze on a God-man who begrudges no pain or reproach on his pathwayto redeem lost sinners. Here is the one who humbledhimself by becoming obedient to the point of death, evendeath on a cross (Philippians 2:8).

In Love to the Uttermost: Devotional Readings for HolyWeek , John Piper calls you to x your eyes steadily onJesus as he loves you to the uttermost.

John Piper is founder and teacher of Desiring God and served

33 years as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis,Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, and more than

30 years of his preaching and writing are available free of charge

at desiringGod.org.

Documents

Love to the Uttermost En