Future Grace: The Purifying Power of the Promises of God

by John Piper

Explore this stunning quality of God’s   It never ends!

In this revision of a foundational work, John Piper reveals how grace is not only God’s undeserved gift to us in the past, but also God’s power to make good happen for us today, tomorrow, and forever. 

True life for the follower of Jesus really is a moment-by-moment trust that God is dependable and fulfills his promises.  This is living by faith in future grace , which provides God's mercy, provision, and wisdom—everything we need—to accomplish his good plans for us.  

In Future Grace , chapter by chapter—one for each day of the month—Piper reveals how cherishing the promises of God helps break the power of persistent sin issues like anxiety, despondency, greed, lust, bitterness, impatience, pride, misplaced shame, and more.

Ultimate joy, peace, and hope in life and death are found in a confident, continual awareness of the reality of future grace.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Nonfiction, Faith, Religion

428 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.

John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Gerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most readable (not to mention spiritually satisfying!) of Piper's books that I've read so far. The book is divided into 31 chapters, most of them focusing on Piper's thesis--that the way of sanctification is by having faith in God's future grace--but also many chapters on how to apply that faith to battle various sins.

Lessons I learned:
1) Why do we follow and obey Christ? Our primary motive is not gratitude for what Christ did on the cross (although we are thankful nonetheless), but faith in God's future grace.
2) The faith that sanctifies is the same faith that justifies. We are called to obedience, not by our own works, but by faith.
3) Love towards others is a fruit of faith, i.e. "faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). True love for others can only come from a heart of faith.
4) The root of sin is unbelief, and therefore the battle against sin is a battle for faith, a battle to trust in the Lord and be satisfied in Him.
5) Lastly, though it was not a major theme of the book, I learned about the glorious hope of the resurrection in the last few chapters: not just a resurrection of our spirits, but of our bodies. God did not create our bodies just to get rid of them: he created them for His glory! What great future grace we have to look forward to!

I'm sure there are many other lessons as well. This book is so rich, so deep, and speaks straight from the Scriptures. If you cannot tell already, I highly recommend it.

[Luke Deacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pity I can't give it more than 5 stars... This book is radically life-changing. I can't recommend it highly enough! Get it, read it and learn how to live by faith in future grace! Learn how anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency and lust can be fought, conquered and laid low. This book is not only ultra-practical, but it's also theologically brilliant: it actually helped me understand many issues I'd been thinking about - rewards in heaven, justification/sanctification, new heavens and new earth, etc. It's made a lot more of Scripture make so much more sense!!

[Kelsey Gould · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thesis of this book is a game-changer: That our obedient living is not fueled by gratitude to God but by faith in His promises (what Piper calls “future grace”). That idea, introduced in chapter 1, changed my life. The book felt unnecessarily long and at times Piper’s logic was hard to follow. I appreciate, however, his high view of the promises of God and how satisfied a Christian would be to trust in them.

[Rafael Salazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. This is a compelling, incisive, and accessible case for understanding sanctification as an outworking of faith, love, and hope (future grace). Piper's writing shows how deeply he loves the doctrines he expounds in this volume. It is a fitting follow-up to "Desiring God" and "The Pleasures of God", deepening and expanding his vision and theology.

It is somewhat repetitive at times, but one couldn't expect any different from a book that seeks to alter your whole perspective on the bulk of the Christian life. He means these principles to become second-nature to you. And, as far as I am concerned, he succeeds in his goal. For this reason, I would also recommend reading it slowly.

It has the potential to impact your Christian living for a lifetime. One of the many paradigm-shifting insights of the book is that sanctification works not merely out of gratitude for past graces but especially by faith in God's promises. I'd love to reread this book in the years to come.

[Becky Pliego · Rating 4 out of 5]

2019: Love it.

2016: John Piper in the introduction of this book tells something about his mother that I can see as a summary of what the book is all about: "She [John Piper's Mother] taught me to live my life between two lines of 'Amazing Grace.' The first line: ''Tis grace has brought me safe thus far.' The second line: 'And grace will lead me home.'"

"Christ is God's Yes to all future grace."

"Amen means, 'Yes, Lord, you can do it.'
It means, 'Yes, Lord, you are powerful.
Yes, Lord, you are wise.
Yes, Lord, you are merciful.
Yes, Lord, all future grace comes from you
and has been confirmed in Christ.
'Amen' is an exclamation point of hope after a prayer for help."

Note: Piper and I have a different eschatology, which means that I differed with him in the last few chapters.

[Jacob O'connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book.  Among the best works of one of the best pastoral voices of our time.  How should the Christian live?  I can’t think of a better answer than the one Piper provides here.  This book is one I'll return to.  



Notes: 


Audible


God's love as the gift of Himself.  (1:3)


The cross is the basis for future grace (1:8)


Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God.  No one sins out of duty.  We sin because it hold out some promise of happiness.  That promise enslaves us.  (1:17)


The prospect of the glory of God is "future grace" -- roll credits (1:17)


Could it be the gratitude for bygone grace has been pressed to serve to serve as the power for holiness that only faith in future grace was designed to perform (1:21)


Faith "realizes" the future (1:31)


Personal note: Hebrews 11 makes Piper's point well.  


Raking is easy, but you'll only ever get leaves.  Digging is harder, but you might find a diamond (2)


faith working through love (2:51)


Perseverance in faith is in one since a condition of justification to that is, the promised of acceptance is only through a persevering sort of faith (2:36)


The debtor's ethic.  Because you did something good for me, I feel indebted to do something good for you (3:2)


This mindset would nullify grace (3:3)


Gratitude as a motivation for obedience is scarcely in the Bible (3:8)


Rather, it's a lack of faith in God's future grace -- expedite in light of His past grace (3:9)


True gratitude doesn't not give rise to the debtor's ethic because it gives rise to faith in future grace (3:24)


We fight anxiety by fighting against unbelief and fighting for future grace (5:00)


Grace is toward the one who sins.  Mercy is to the one who suffers.  (7)


Conditional grace does not = earned grace.  Why?  Even the condition is an act of God's grace (7:3)


The purpose of our salvation is for God to lavish the riches of His grace on us, and it will take Him forever to do it (7:14)


Personal note: good wisdom on anxiety (8:19)


Most of what makes us feel shame is not that we’ve brought dishonor to God but that we’ve failed to give people the appearance of ourselves that they'll admire.  This is misplaced shame.  (11:15)


If our shame is man-centered and not God-centered, we will not be able to fight shame at its root (11:17)


It's appropriate to feel shame when we dishonor God -- even if it raises our esteem in the eyes of others (11:23)


The Law of Christ (13:12)


The key to patience is faith in the future grace of God's glorious might to transform all our interruptions into rewards (14:7)


God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours (14:8)


Example Joseph.  The evil his brothers meant, God meant for good (14:12)


Even death becomes a servant of God's children (14:15)


The way to pursue righteousness and love is to fight for faith in future grace (17:23)


Covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God (18)


11 conditions of future grace: loving God, being humble, drawing near to God, crying out to God from the heart, fearing God, delighting in God, hoping in God, taking refuge in God, waiting for God, trusting in God, and keeping God’s covenant


All conditions are summed up in this: faith and love (20:12)


Most of your problems are because you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself (24:4)


All sin comes from failure to live by future grace (25:24)


The focus of Satan is the subversion of faith (26)


faith in future grace breaks the power of cancelled sin (26:18)


The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier (26:21)


Salvation is owned by faith.  Salvation is shown by deeds (28:9)


What was Solomon looking for?  A deed that would demonstrate this was the true mother (28:32)


Prizing is the essence of praising (30:1)

[Julie Mabus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good stuff in here but also longer than it needed to be. Piper tends to repeat his ideas a lot and I get lost in the repetitive nature of his ideas. I did take quite a few ideas away from the book so it was successful. I didn’t connect well with the last chapter. Perhaps it was because I was tired but it felt like a bit of a stretch. Overall, time well spent.

[Dominic Duran · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Piper’s best!!

An incredible resource on what it means to live by faith in future grace... much needed since faith has a profound and pervasive future orientation. Throughout the reading of the book, God refreshed and stabilized my comfort, trust, and confidence in His promises, and more importantly, in all God himself will be for us in every grace-filled moment until eternity!

[Binsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book has been a spiritually rich experience for me !! Grab it and read it and enjoy it and mine the deep riches of Gods Words so clearly presented in this book.

[Taylor Brooke McLean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love love

[Amelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Tim Hatfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far I'm not terribly impressed but I have been so saturated as of late with redemptive historical and typological exegesis that Pipers much more "practical" and existential exegesis is almost klunky and uncertain. However it is helpful and he does throw out tons of scripture to support his views.

His main argument thus far is against a "debt ethic" (I think that's what he calls it) that gratitude can cause when it is used as an impetus for daily sanctified living. He sees a deep problem with trying to summon up obedience based on past grace, and present thanksgiving. So if we out of gratitude say "yes.! Since God has been so good to me, I'm going to live for Him" we may be working out a kind of transaction with God where We are sort of repaying HIm for His grace. This can also he thinks bleed into our personal relationships in a destructive way which I true I think and a big danger.

He seems to be arguing instead that we must with grateful hearts for past grace look into the future (future grace) with faith for what God will continue to do and thus act faithfully and in so doing receive Gods grace. He does seem to be treating grace as sort of a substance that we receive which may be somewhat problematic since I think mostly grace is union and communion and union and communion is grace but he does admit that grace is God giving Himself to us as well as for us but so far atleast hasn't dealt with that as profoundly as I would like. Maybe he will as it continues.

This was helpful and instructive at times but too abstract and systematic for me at times.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that demands the reader's full attention. It didn't always get that from me. So sometime, I'm going to read it in the way John Piper suggests, one chapter a day for 31 days.
To the best of my understanding, the theme is that we don't do good works out of gratitude. That comes dangerously close, Piper argues, to trying to pay God for what He has done for us, which would: 1) be impossible; 2) nullify grace. But our good works are evidence of the faith that has transformed us. If there are no good works there is no faith, regardless of what we might say. We are able to do good works not just because of what God has done but because of our faith in what He will do, i.e., future grace.
Piper writes:
"My faith is not just a backward-looking belief in the death of Jesus, but a forward-looking belief in the promises of Jesus. It's not just being sure of what he did do, but also being satisfied with what he will do."
Some of the chapters that I thought were particularly helpful the first time through were on bitterness and despondency, and on "The Future Grace of Suffering."
I particularly liked the quotations he used from Christians from the past. Included among them are Charles Spurgeon and the missionary David Brainerd. I found it strangely encouraging that Brainerd, who could write, "Oh, how sweet it is to be spent and worn out for God!" also at one point wrote, "I was so much oppressed that my soul was in a kind of horror."

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a year and a half I have finished this wonderful book. I will be forever grateful for the way that this book has formed my theology to model a Godward and all satisfying love for "all that God is for us in Jesus". It has helped point me to the Word. I've wrestled with the questions of "what is the nature of true belief in God?", "How do I walk in holiness?" And "How do I enjoy God for who he is and put my faith in his promises?". It really is a dense book that has taken me a long time to "dig" through, but just as Piper suggests, when you dig you may find diamonds. I would recommend this book to anyone who is desiring to have a deeper understanding of how to navigate the Christian life. Piper has pointed me to the fact that God will always be who he says he is and that Christ's death purchased for us a life that is future oriented with grace. Promises we can believe in that give him glory and establish him as our greatest joy!

[Wayne Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful book that breaks through some of the hardened misconceptions I've grown about what grace and faith really are to me as a believer. Piper addresses specific areas of sin that hinder a proper understanding of God's grace. Anxiety, pride and covetousness stood out to me in particular, and I've marked those chapters for rereading.

I liked the quote from J.I. Packer on the back page of my copy: "This is a rich and wise book, one to treasure and reread."

Good summary - I agree!

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little hard to get through because at first it seems terribly repetitive. I was like "I get it, we need to have faith that God will fulfill his promises while other things won't." He seems to beat it to death.

But then...it starts to get interesting when he really gets into what it means. Matter of fact, it goes way beyond what you initially think of.

It's a book I'm going to have to think about.

[Barac Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.

[Meggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon the recommendation of a friend, I picked up this heavy, 400-page tome, and hoped that John Piper would not disappoint. In the end, he did not, and I’m glad for time spent in each of the thirty-one chapters.

Piper’s thesis is woven throughout each chapter: “live by faith in future grace.” He then fleshes out what this means from a variety theological arguments as well as offers practical implications for living by faith in future grace. I especially liked these practical chapters that were sprinkled throughout the book (at the end of each section) rather than grouped at the end of the book. It applied “in real time” the truths he was putting forth.

I won’t get into Piper’s theology in this review as I am neither qualified to do so, nor did I really take issue with his stances. His perspective is solidly reformed, yet filled with joy and satisfaction in God. The book is full of scripture from beginning to end. Piper is probably known for his repetitive writing—and perhaps preaching too—and that comes through a bit. However, the repetition does express important points in a variety of ways.

Future Grace is worth the time to understand why we obey and live for God. It changed my perspective of this life journey and how we are called to live for Him.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really helpful thoughts on how sanctification happens. It’s common to view our Christian life and our obedience as ‘debtors’. That because God has done something good for us (Jesus’ death and resurrection) that we now feel indebted to God and have to pay him back by our obedience.

There isn’t a lot biblical data that suggests that gratitude should be the primary motivation in our Christian living.

“Faith in future grace is the secret that keeps impulses of gratitude from turning into the debtors ethic. True gratitude exults in the riches of God’s grace as it looks back on the benefits it has received. By cherishing past grace in this way, it inclines the heart to trust in future grace. We might say that gratitude has a strong appetite for the enjoyment of looking back on outpourings of God’s grace. Since God does this future outpouring through faith, therefore gratitude sends its impulses of delight into faith in future grace.”

[Christa Harrison]

Future Grace favorite quotes

Quoting Murray

The idea [many Christians] have of grace is this: that their conversion and pardon are God's work, but that now, in gratitude to God, it is their work to live as Christians and follow Jesus. No, wandering one, as it was Jesus who drew thee when He spake
"Come” so it is Jesus who keeps thee when He says "Abide." The [past] grace to come and the [future] grace to abide are alike from Him alone. Pg 45-46

[Allison Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, so good. Piper could use an editor - HA. 401 pages and I got most of the premise 3 times over in the first 100 pages. But there's something to be said for repetition. Especially on a topic so significant as this - delighting in the Lord which subsequently takes all pleasure out of sin. This is a significant work in my mind and heart, and though it's taken me a few months to read through, it will take me many more to apply the truth Piper has imparted here.

[Jessica P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Piper offers a lot of valuable insight and convicting ideas. I didn't disagree with any of the content, but I really struggled to follow along, hence the 3 stars. Piper is so wildly intelligent on the topic, but I feel he couldn't translate it for the lay person. That, or I'm just dumb.

[Will Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Piper! This book really made ponder the nature of faith and God’s promises in new deep ways. I do wish the practical battling sin chapters had been woven in the rest and not standalone.

[Hannah Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

will read again.
much of my belief system has been rocked and recentered on scripture with the help of this book.

[Andrew Luther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I’d read this book a long time ago. So rich and impactful and biblically rooted — that faith in God’s future grace and promises are what empowers a life of obedience and satisfaction in all that God is for us in Jesus!

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think every Christian should read this!! It has had a profound effect on my understanding of grace and other foundations of the faith for which I am very grateful.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book dad read aloud to the family. Lots of important thoughts!

[Laura Crosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t recommend this book enough. It has been so helpful in shaping me and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in my heart and help me grow.
I recommend reading this one slowly.

[Danna Dykema · Rating 5 out of 5]

31 chapters. Written so you read 1 chapter per day and focus on the Grace of God every day. Is it something we take for granted every day, think about every day, put into our lives every day? When I think less about me and more about the Lord, I will have more joy.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elucidating and encouraging, if a bit disorganized