Sometimes people stumble over this vastness in relation to the apparent insignificance of man. It does seem to make us infinitesimally small. But the meaning of this magnitude is not mainly about us. Itโs about Godโฆ The reason for โwastingโ so much space on a universe to house a speck of humanity is to make a point about our maker, not us.
John PiperSo saving grace, converting grace, for Augustine, is God's giving us a sovereign joy in God that triumphs over all other joys and therefore sways the will. The will is free to move toward whatever it delights in most fully, but it is not within the power of our will to determine what that sovereign joy will be.
John PiperEvangelicals are distraught over the state of America because they have not been taught that we're aliens here.
John PiperWe will not let you choose between being a lover of God and his sovereignty and being a lover of lost people.
John PiperChrist did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel.
John Piper