Sex before marriage.

This type of conversations come up all the time and I'm sad to say that, in general, evangelicals give what I call the "Nike answer": Just do it! Or, in this case, "just don't do it! I wish more people would be able to convey what Piper does right here. He, as always, is masterful at pointing out that the issue is not obedience in and of itself, but the issue is the motivation for obedience. Piper is quick to point out that "staying out of bed with your girlfriend" does not make you a good person. Nobody is good, he says. Which brings me to another point of appreciation for Piper: The fact that he does not let anything ever take the place of the Gospel. Spurgeon was also really good at it. He could bring any conversation (and Bible texts) to the cross. I, personally, need to learn to do this way better. Mark Dever preached a message once about "Improving the gospel" where he talked about this, things that aren't necessarily bad, some that were even good, replacing the gospel and he made those distinctions. We have to recognize that some things are actually good but we also have to recognize that they are not the gospel. In this video, Piper gives a great example of how to do it.