If people who had been under God's judgment for 70 years in Babylon

had just returned out of judgment,

could look to God, expect mercy, and be fearless,

how much more should we, who have all the assurances of God's mercy and power in the Lord Jesus' death

for us, how much more should we be fearless in the execution of our duty and in love?

Think about the courage it took for those returning from Babylon, 70 years of exile, yet they trusted God's mercy enough to be fearless

in their calling. So John Piper's question here should really hit home. If they could, how much more

should we with all the gospel gives us in Christ? I'm your host, Dan Kruver.

In this episode of Light and Truth,

John Piper unpacks why the Holy Spirit matters now,

enabling us to love others with real boldness, not timidity.

This message was originally delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on February 19, 1984.

The difference between a historian and a pastor is that a historian asks, was it so?

And a pastor asks, so what?

I took a course in Old Testament wisdom literature in seminary.

And I had the reputation of being the so what guy.

We studied heavy things in that class like Hebrew poetic parallelism and determinism and

Heilzgeshista, which is a big German word for salvation history.

And I'd always raise my hand at the end of class and say, so what?

And Dr. Hubbard would always tell me, so what?

He always had a good answer.

But I never wanted to let those classes go without so what being asked.

...