Does John Piper Add (Joy) to the Gospel? // Ask Pastor John

We don’t receive Jesus in a saving way when we receive him as a ticket out of hell. He’s not a ticket. He’s a treasure — the greatest treasure.
Welcome back to the podcast. Well does John Piper add to the gospel? Namely, does he add joy to the gospel? It’s a question today from a listener named Brian: “Hello, Pastor John. I thank God for using your ministry to bless many people, and to restore them to a meaningful relationship with God.
“I saw a recent tweet, a quote from you, saying: ‘You either treasure Jesus above all, or you’re not saved. If you don’t value Jesus above everything else, you don’t have saving faith.’ Now such a hot-potato tweet caught a lot of heat from Christians and pastors because the statement implies that treasuring Christ is perhaps a step in addition to believing in Christ, and hence adds to the gospel. Some of the critique was about how this treasuring Christ is better put under the umbrella of sanctification. My knowledge of Christian Hedonism is very small, so I would like to ask: Is treasuring Christ a part of saving faith, or does it come later in sanctification?”
Episode 1220:
Related Resources:
“Gospel Hope for Self-Haters”
“Why I Abominate the Prosperity ‘Gospel’”
“Humbly Handling the Offense of the Gospel with Non-Christians”
“Where the Gospel of Roman Catholicism Fails”
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