Future Grace, Revised Edition: The Purifying Power of the Promises of God

“In the long run, we’re all dead. In the even longer run, we’re raised from the dead. That’s the power of Future Grace. It will rocket attention away from the narrow horizon we see in front of us toward the incandescent glory of new creation, gospel power. This book evaporates all the false dichotomies weighing down contemporary Christianity. You don’t have to ping back and forth between the present and the future, the law of God or His grace, obedience or trust. Future Grace changed my life, and it can change yours.”

“There have been two or three books outside of the Bible that have profoundly shaped how I see and understand my relationship with God. When I first read Future Grace in the summer of 1999, it sent my head spinning and my heart soaring. I couldn’t be more excited about this revision.”

“Future Grace might be thought of as an extended elaboration on the glorious truth captured in the famous line of Wesley’s, O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,’ where he declares of God’s work in Christ: He breaks the power of canceled sin.’ The believer, indeed, should revel in canceled sin’ of sin forgiven, of punishment met, of God’s just demands against us satisfied, of Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to us by faith as grounded solely in our sinfully and once-for-all imputed to Christ. But since the faith that justifies is a living reality, wrought by the Spirit in the believer’s life, that very faith also sanctifies. To miss this is to miss the other half, as it were, of the completeness of Christ’s work for and in his people. The beauty and importance of Future Grace is precisely here: it explains and expounds a multitude of ways in which Spirit-wrought faith moves us forward in seeing sin’s power broken, Christlike character formed, and good deeds produced.”

“I am pleased to commend this newly revised edition of Future Grace for your thoughtful consideration. Read humbly, for the nourishing of your faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ. And read hopefully. In the here and now, you walk through many dangers, toils, and snares. But in the mercies of Christ, your here and now is decisively altered by the certainty of grace already accomplished, and by the sure hope calling you into a future when you shall see his face. So read happily, for indeed all shall be well.”

“Future Grace is one of John Piper’s most theological works, looking in detail at the nature of saving faith; at the same time it is one of his most practical, serving as a wartime manual for fighting the fight of faith. This combination makes it among his most important books. I hope readers notice that this is not merely a repackaging of an older book with a new look, but represents a careful recalibration at a few key places as Piper has become more Christocentric and more clear on the role of imputation and the function of bygone grace. Readers will find a sophisticated, nuanced, and hope-filled exploration of what it means to walk in the Spirit as we live by faith in all of God’s promises in Christ.”

“Future Grace gave wonderful encouragement to my heart when it first came out in 1995, and now it has done so again in this new edition. I think John Piper is faithful to Scripture when he explains that the Bible does not motivate us to obedience by appealing to our gratitude for salvation, but by calling us to believe that God will empower us, help us, and draw us near to Himself in this present life, if we are obedient to the conditions found in His many promises in Scripture. This book provides a much-needed key that will help every Christian understand just how to live a joy-filled life that is pleasing to God.”

“In Future Grace John Piper encourages believers to understand the present struggles of the Christian life in terms of the surpassing grace of God in Christa grace that calls us to exult in God’s future work in us, even as we experience God’s present grace and rest in the assurance of God’s grace to us in the past. In this new edition, Piper serves the church by showing us a mind at work as he wrestles with some of the most crucial issues of the Christian life. This book is deeply biblical, passionately practical, and Christ-centered.”

“Future Grace delivers a wealth of life-changing truths. With his characteristic passion and devotion to the Scripture, John Piper strikes at the heart of short-lived obedience born from the debtor’s ethic’ and lifts up a grace-driven obedience that flows from faith in God’s future promises. The result is a soul-satisfying book that beckons us to marvel at the beauty of King Jesus.”

“Future Grace is one of the fundamental building blocks for John Piper’s distinctive message. Here he emphasizes that saving faith, founded on the work of Christ in the past, is directed toward God’s promises for our future. That is a profoundly moving and motivating message, and I commend it to Christians today. The new edition clarifies some problems and presents the message more fully at various points.”

“Few books have sharpened my theological thinking, opened my exegetical eyes, and so consistently fed my soul as this one. Of all of John Piper’s big books,’ Future Grace has had the biggest impact on my life and ministry.”

“Future Grace is a spiritually rich treasure designed for thirty-one days of meditation and reflection. It drives home the truth that sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God and that ongoing faith in future grace, grounded in the perfect finished work of Christ, is the remedy. What a wonderful prescription for finding eternal satisfaction in our God and King.”

“Pastor Piper’s purpose in writing is to revitalize a decadent American Christianity that knows only cheap grace and cheap faith. Bible-soaked, God-intoxicated, deeply evangelical, and passionately humane, Piper fills the forgotten dimensions of faithhope and contentment, stability and sanctity, prizing and praising Godwith a master hand. This is a rich and wise book, one to treasure and reread.”