You've tasted in some dark night's moment, you have seen a glimpse of the fact that on the other side of the cross, when you've died to yourself, there is a new identity in Jesus Christ that is absolutely ravishing in its satisfaction and righteousness.

Have you ever experienced the freedom of living for something greater than yourself?

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper opens 1 Corinthians 1 verse 31 to expose the

root of pride and reveal the satisfaction found in boasting only in the cross of

Christ this sermon was originally delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on

January 31st, 1988.

I hope that you'll agree with me this morning as we begin that in order to love deeply, you have to hate something deeply.

You can think of examples, I think.

If you love children deeply,

you would surely need to hate child neglect

and child abuse deeply.

And if you love level-headed, clear-minded, respect, and kindness, you need to hate

alcoholism and drug addiction. And if you love freedom, you need to hate slavery and totalitarianism.

It just is a psychological necessity that if you're going to love something passionately and deeply,

you must also respond with hatred toward that which ruins and replaces and destroys what you love.

Now, the reason I begin with that comment is because I'm going to tell you that God hates something in a minute.

And I know that if I were to just start out by talking about the hatred of God, we are so programmed that

the term hate carries with it negative, unattractive, distasteful connotations about

whoever's doing the hating. But I hope that having set the stage like this,

you will hear the hatred of God as the echo of his love.

That is, you will recognize that the reason God hates anything

is because he loves something so much.

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