The Essence of the Gospel — John Piper Leads in Prayer

The following is a pastoral prayer by John Piper that concluded his sermon on Romans 8:3-9, How the Spirit Does What the Law Could Not Do. Dr. Piper’s prayer is a wonderful distillation of the Gospel:
O Lord Jesus, I am by nature a rebel and find more pleasure in what you made than in you. I am sick and corrupt. O Christ, how plain it is to me now that I need something so much deeper and more powerful and more personal than the law. I know your law is good. But I am flesh, and powerless to obey. And so, Lord Jesus, I turn away from the law, to you. You are my only hope. I turn away from my own resources and bank on your blood and righteousness for acceptance, and on your help for holiness. I turn away from all earthly pleasures and take you, and you alone, as the all-satisfying joy of my life. I renounce Satan and all his ways and all his works. I repent of all the sins I know, and those you know and I don’t.
And, O Lord, I pray that you would have mercy on me, and open the eyes of my heart to see you as you really are in all of your surpassing beauty. I pray that you would display your glory to me in the gospel. What I see and know of you now, I embrace with all my heart. I receive you as my Savior and Lord and Treasure. And ask you to dwell mightily in me and make yourself the Victor in my life so that when I love my brothers and my enemies – as I intend to do with all my heart – the glory will go to you.
This message, and so much more, is available through Desiring God. How the Spirit Does What the Law Could Not Do was preached November 11, 2001 at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.