All Good Without God Is Evil

By John Piper

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

There is enormous pressure on you today to think of the good — good, opposite of evil — to think of “good” in ways that have nothing to do with God. Just think now: “Okay I call that good, I call that good, I call that good,” and God is never even in your mind when you say it. And so does the world. So you can strip God out, strip the Son of God out, strip a heart out that is dependent on God and delighting in God — just strip all that out and still have good.

This is what Paul said in Romans 14:23: “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” That’s devastating for everybody in the world. Whatever action, whatever attitude does not proceed from faith is sin. Here’s the way Hebrews 11:6 puts it: “Without faith it is impossible to please him [God].”

So on this last point, I’m asking, “Okay, what’s the glory of the Christian life?” And Paul and the writer to the Hebrews are saying your life is just sin and your life is just displeasing to God unless there’s faith; that is, unless there’s an embracing of God as supremely valuable.

Don’t reduce faith to affirmations of sentences that Satan himself knows are true. Faith is the reception and the embrace of all that God is for us in Jesus, with a restful contentment and joy. And Paul says, and Hebrews says, where that is not happening, life is evil. Sin. That’s as radical as you can get.

By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org

Author Biography: John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.

---

BPCIS UPDATE

31 August 2025

THE POWER OF STORY

I once heard a speaker from Disney who shared about a girl who left her teddy bear behind after visiting Disneyland. Her parents wrote to ask if it could be found and returned. Disney not only returned the bear but sent with it a story titled, “My Adventures at Disneyland” told firsthand by the lost bear. I was fascinated by the creativity behind what could have been a simple administrative procedure.

TRUE STORIES.

If made-up stories like the one by the left-behind bear could appeal, how much more true stories! We have been telling such stories (or testimonies) on our BPCIS website. Two latest stories come from Mount Carmel BPC, one by someone who failed in school, suffered deep inferiority complex, and found her identity and worth. Another is by a caregiver who journeyed with her stroke-incapacitated sister for over 20 years.

In the coming months, we plan to feature such life stories, church by church. We will also hear from our pastors what they share as reflections with their churches. Remember to log in to bpcis.org.sg.

STORY OF BPCIS

As we celebrate our 15th Anniversary in 2026, we will put together a video, “The Story of BPCIS” from the time it was launched in 2011. More than 20 years after the BP denomination was disbanded in 1988 (with the Dissolution of the BP Synod), 11 BP churches have regathered to support one another in fellowship and service. Mark Saturday, 19 September 2026, for the Thanksgiving Dinner.

THE GREATEST STORY

All stories converge on the greatest Story ever told: the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Next year, our Good Friday services will be decentralised to 3 locations: churches in the West at Mount Carmel BPC, Central at Zion Bishan BPC, East at Shalom BPC. The Chinese service will be centralised at Zion Serangoon ZPC. Our Easter Sunrise Service will be at MacRitchie Reservoir. More details in due time. Finally, remember us in prayer as we convene our Annual Presbytery Meeting on Saturday, 20 September, to elect new office-holders, and listen to guest speaker Rev Lee Hann Yang of Evangel BPC on the topic: “Mandarin Ministry: Sunset or Sunrise?” Appropriately, the venue is the newly acquired worship place of our Chinese-speaking church, Mount Gerizim BPC, at Woodlands 11.

“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” Psalm 78:4 ESV

Pastor David Wong

General Secretary, BPCIS