He does his exam and he says, I think I want to do a biopsy.

I look at him and I say, why?

And he says, just a little irregularity.

That morning I had read, God has not appointed you for wrath.

What Christ bought for me is not escape from trouble

or sickness or death. He just took care of the most important things. Welcome to the Crossway

podcast, a show where we sit down with authors each week for thoughtful

interviews about the Bible, theology, church history, and the Christian life.

I'm Matt Tully, and today I'm talking with John Piper.

John is the founder and teacher of Desiring God.org and the Chancellor of Bethlehem

College and Seminary. He served for 33 years as the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in

Minneapolis, Minnesota, and as the author of more than 50 books, including Why I Love the Apostle Paul,

30 Reasons. Today, John and I discuss the one Bible verse that changed everything about how he viewed

God, himself, and the Christian life. He also reflects on why it took him eight years to preach through the book of Romans,

what he thinks of criticisms of the term Christian hedonism,

and what went through his mind the moment he heard he had cancer.

Let's get started.

John Piper, thank you so much for joining us today on the Crossway podcast.

Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.

So a few years back, you had a routine checkup with the doctor.

And little did you know that appointment would start you on a journey that ultimately led you to receiving what you've called an exquisite, perfectly timed, perfectly expressed gift.

Can you walk us through what happened and what that gift was?

...