One of the great hindrances to our being merciful to bad people is that we feel like if I treat them well, it's going to look like what they've done is okay.

God knows it isn't okay.

And it doesn't matter much what other people think,

what God thinks.

Isn't it a wonderful relief

that all the injustices against you are going to be made right someday.

There's a kind of mercy that's polite on the outside, but bitter, underneath.

And that's not what Paul and Piper are after here.

I'm Dan Kruver.

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper turns to Romans

12 to call us to a deeper kind of mercy, one that prays for our enemies and means it. This message was

originally delivered at the Cove in Asheville, North Carolina on July 29, 2007.

Well, I invite you to open your Bibles once more to Romans 12.

Just once more, I want to thank the Cove 12.

Just once more, I want to thank the Cove and all of its administrators and servants for inviting me and inviting you and bringing us together.

They've served us well, and we all deeply appreciate what they've done very much.

And I want to thank you for your wonderful attentiveness and for your encouragement to me,

especially in that testimony time.

It was very heartening to see God at work.

And I want to thank N Noel and Talitha.

Once you stand up, people want to know who you are.

So there they are.

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