Battling Unbelief Study Guide

Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure

When Faith Flickers, Stoke the Fire

No one sins out of duty. We sin because it offers some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us–until we believe that God is more desirable than life itself (Psalm 63:3). Only the power of God’s superior promises in the gospel can emancipate our hearts from servitude to the shallow promises and fleeting pleasures of sin.

In this twelve-chapter study guide developed by Desiring God, you will find practical ways to sever the clinging roots of sin that ensnare us, including anxiety, pride, shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, and lust.

Delighting in the bounty of God’s glorious gospel promises will free us for a less sin-encumbered life, to the glory of Christ. Rooted in solid biblical reflection, this book aims to help guide you through the battles to the joys of victory by the power of the gospel and its superior pleasure.

JOHN PIPER is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For thirty-three years, he served as pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. He is the author of more than fifty books, including the contemporary classic Desiring God, and more than thirty years of his sermons and articles are available, free of charge, at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noël, have five children and twelve grandchildren.