"Finally Alive" - John Piper

Some time ago at a church that we attended for a number of years I was asked to bring a lesson to an adult Bible class on one of the major doctrines of the Word that the class was studying at that time. Being informed that I could choose one of the doctrines on a list that had not yet been considered, I looked over the possibilities before me and being the lazy kind of guy that I can be from time to time I chose the doctrine of regeneration. My rationale was simple: we all know about this “new birth” doctrine so there shouldn’t be much study and research necessary as for the most part I could speak out of my own experience and knowledge of this “simple” teaching. As I look back at that moment in time now I am shocked at my own arrogance. For while the gospel is simple, an individual study of the wondrous doctrines that make up the Word are anything but. To the average mind perusing these magnificent teachings from a surface only point of view there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot there. Of course this was my mistake. For when one gets into the “meat of the Word” and begins to consider the many facets that our Heavenly Father has there embedded we cannot help but be thrilled by the depth of truth and the riches that He has for us there. For me and subsequently my wife, this study began over five years ago and it continues to this day.

Earlier this year a very dear and well known servant of our Lord, John Piper, published a book entitled simply “Finally Alive” which is from my vantage point one of the clearest, simplest and most powerful works that I have ever come across on the doctrine of regeneration. I have read over the years literally dozens of articles, books and pamphlets on this and yet I now hold in my hand, and I encourage all who read this to obtain a copy for themselves, a truly outstanding work. It is in our day absolutely essential for Christians to understand what the new birth is all about. For the plain fact of the matter is, tens of thousands of professing believers who use the exhortation all the time, viz, “You must be born again”, really have no idea what it means and that is a tragedy of monumental proportions. John addresses this very real problem in the opening pages of his book and the facts cannot be denied unless of course you’re doing the “ostrich” thing.

As I write these words my plan is to bring to you something of a review of this excellent volume as well as I can for I have never really reviewed a book in this way before. I am buoyed up by the fact that since John has already done a series of messages on this before writing the book, I shall be leaning rather heavily on at least three YouTube clips in which he spells out quite clearly the fuller implications of what it means for a man or woman or young person to be “born again”.

Every preacher worth his salt has at one time or another done a series of messages on the elusive prophet Jonah. Pretty well all Sunday School children can tell you about this man and his bout with the “big fish”. Adult Christians know his story well and usually can re-tell it for the enjoyment of all who will listen. Unfortunately the delightful events of this account (though it’s doubtful that Jonah thought they were) usually do not include some of the deeper truths that this brief book tells. One of these truths in particular rarely get mentioned either by lay Christians or preachers of the Word, and that is – “Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

Now, yes of course we would all agree that since Jonah at the time of making this glorious statement he was soaking up the rather rancid interior of a large underwater mammal. And for a man of God as he was there was no other source for his on-going survival than the Lord his God. Where else could salvation come from? But salvation in the physical sense is certainly not the only salvation that men might know. There is that salvation of which the Bible speaks in much detail in the New Testament and that is the salvation of the souls of men from the grasp of Satan and the pit of Hell. For when this life comes to that point in time when the body ceases to perform all of its normal functions and breath is no more, what then is the outcome? There are only two destinations available: life eternal or death everlasting. If one is to know the first then salvation through faith by the life giving power of the Spirit of God in what is known simply as the new birth must be a reality in a man or woman’s life. That’s what “Finally Alive” is all about. Listen carefully as John brings this truth to the fore as he essentially does but reiterate Jonah’s marvelous words, “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” Please note as John specifies – this is an unsettling truth.