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Be Transformed by Trusting Jesus | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  Today we're doing a duck dive into a really central idea from
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  John Piper's book, All That Jesus Commanded.
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  We're looking at what it truly means to do the will of my
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  Father, who is in heaven. This feels critical, doesn't it?
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  For anyone wanting to get beyond just a surface understanding of
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  Christian faith. What's really at the core?
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  Absolutely. It's fundamental.
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  And Piper's work, our source today, it really lays out a
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  helpful framework. We're not just talking about
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  what God wants from us, but also how he actually enables us to do
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  it. We'll be looking at how trusting
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  Jesus, living his way, and the Old Testament law all connect.
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  The goal here is for you, the listener, to get a clearer
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  picture of living in line with God's desires and well, entering
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  His Kingdom. OK, so let's jump right in.
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  Our starting point is a pretty powerful statement from Jesus In
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  Matthew Chapter 7, verse 21. He says, not everyone who says
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  to me, Lord, O Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but the
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  one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
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  Now hearing Lord, Lord, that sounds like a pretty solid
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  confession of faith on the surface, but Jesus draws this
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  sharp distinction. So the big question he forces us
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  to ask is what does it actually mean to do God's will?
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  It sounds like more than just words.
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  It definitely is more than just verbal agreement.
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  This passage highlights something necessary beyond that
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  simple profession, and the source material points us to
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  other things Jesus said that kind of flush this out.
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  Like just a couple verses later, in Matthew 7 verse 23, Jesus
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  talks about people he calls workers of lawlessness.
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  Workers of lawlessness, even if they were doing things in his
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  name. Yes, that's the surprising part.
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  They might have prophesied, cast out demons, done miracles,
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  seemingly powerful things. But Jesus says to them, I never
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  do. You depart from me.
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  Their actions, however impressive outwardly, weren't
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  aligned with God's will because, well, the inner reality, that
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  true connection to him wasn't there.
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  They were operating outside God's spiritual framework.
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  Wow. So it's not just what you do,
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  even religiously, but the heart behind it, the actual obedience,
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  the relationship, that's what counts.
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  That's sobering. It is and look at Matthew 25
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  verse 45, another angle on this. Jesus describes people being
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  rejected because they failed to care for fellow believers.
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  The least of these He says. Truly, I say to you, as you did
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  not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
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  So how we treat others is a direct reflection of our
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  relationship with him. Exactly.
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  These examples together show that some real, lived out
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  obedience flowing from a genuine connection is necessary evidence
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  for final salvation. It's not just talk.
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  Mark 3.35 says something similar, doesn't it?
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  Whoever does God's will is his true family, brother and sister
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  and mother. Right.
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  It sets the stage. Actions matter.
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  They signify something real or the lack of something real.
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  That's a good way to put it. They're indicators of the inner
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  reality. It's not about earning salvation
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  through actions, but about actions revealing the true
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  nature of our connection to God. OK, but that immediately raises
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  another question, a big one for many people.
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  If our actions are part of the picture and we all know we fall
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  short, how can anyone actually attain perfection or right
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  standing before a holy God? I mean, if lived out obedience
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  matters and we're not perfectly obedient, how does that work?
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  Piper, drawing on Scripture, presents Jesus as the path to
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  perfection in two well distinct but connected ways.
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  Could you unpack that for us? Yes, that's crucial.
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  How do we bridge that gap between God's standard and our
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  reality? Jesus is our path to perfection
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  in two main ways, and they work together.
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  First, there's what we could call perfection by trust.
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  This is justification. Justification, OK.
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  Here Jesus himself is the absolute basis of our perfect
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  standing before God. It's not based on us at all.
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  When we simply trust Him, rely on him, depend on him, we're
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  connected to Him. And because of his perfect life,
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  his death for our sins, his resurrection, because of Jesus's
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  work, God legally declares us righteous.
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  He counts us as perfect in His sight.
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  Even before our behavior changes.
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  Yes, even before we see significant outward change, our
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  standing with God is secured instantly by Jesus's
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  performance, not ours. So it's a declared status,
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  imputed righteousness based solely on trusting him.
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  That sounds freeing. Almost too good to be true for
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  people who used to performance based thinking.
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  It can be hard to grasp, can it? But think about the tax
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  collector in Luke 18. Right.
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  The one who wouldn't even look up to heaven.
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  Exactly. He just cries out, God be
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  merciful to me as a Sinner. He didn't list any good deeds.
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  He had nothing to offer God, no basis for acceptance in himself.
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  He simply threw himself on God's mercy, and Jesus says that man
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  went home justified, declared righteous right then and there
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  before his lifestyle necessarily changed.
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  So trusting Jesus, relying on his mercy, that's the connection
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  point, that's the foundation for being declared righteous.
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  Precisely. Trust in Jesus is vital for
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  being united to Him, and that union is the bedrock of our
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  justification. It's a gift received through
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  faith. Remember when people asked Jesus
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  in John 6 What must we do to be doing the works of God?
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  Yeah, they wanted a list, didn't they?
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  They did, but Jesus's answer was stunningly simple.
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  This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has
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  sent. So believing, trusting, relying
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  on Jesus is the primary work God requires.
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  It's the foundational act. It's the core of God's will for
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  us. It provides a perfect
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  righteousness that isn't our own.
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  It's his righteousness credited to our account, our standing
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  before God is settled, secure, complete in Christ.
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  OK, that's huge. Believing is the work.
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  But if God declares us righteous just by trust, then what about
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  behavior? Does it just not matter anymore?
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  If we're already perfect in his eyes legally, why strive to live
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  differently, which must lead to the second aspect you mentioned.
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  Exactly. That's the logical next
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  question, isn't it? And it leads right into the
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  second way. Jesus is our path to perfection.
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  Perfection by change. This is what we call
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  sanctification. Sanctification.
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  OK, justification and now sanctification, right?
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  Jesus doesn't just declare us righteous, He also begins to
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  make us righteous through His presence and power within us.
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  Through the Holy Spirit living in US, He genuinely starts to
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  change our desires, our motives, making us begin to love as He
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  loves, prompting us toward actual godliness.
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  It's a real internal transformation He enables.
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  So it's dynamic. He's not just our legal
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  representative, he's actually working in us to change us.
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  Yes, he is actively making us holy.
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  Now it's important to be clear while we are moving towards this
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  greater spiritual maturity in this life, our full, complete,
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  lived out perfection, being totally free from sin that only
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  happens in heaven. We don't reach sinless
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  perfection. Here, no Jesus himself taught us
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  to pray in the Lord's Prayer for daily forgiveness.
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  Give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our debts.
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  Right Daily bread, daily forgiveness.
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  That implies an ongoing need for God's mercy in this life.
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  We're still going to stumble. We still need grace constantly.
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  We're not instantly perfected in our practice the moment we
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  believe. So it's a process declared
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  perfect instantly in our standing justification, but
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  being made perfect progressively in our character and actions
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  sanctification. How do those two fit together,
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  especially regarding, you know, what Jesus said about doing the
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  Father's will for final salvation?
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  That's the key connection. Piper.
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  Drawing on Scripture makes it clear Jesus really does change
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  us now, and this change, this growing obedience and love, this
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  is also necessary for final salvation.
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  But how it's necessary is different.
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  Trusting Jesus is necessary as the basis of our connection to
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  Him, the foundation of our justified status.
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  Then the change behavior, the sanctification is necessary, is
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  the fruit and the evidence that the connection is real and
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  alive. OK.
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  Basis versus evidence, that helps.
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  It's not the cause, but the effect.
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  Exactly. It demonstrates the reality of
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  that initial justification by faith.
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  Which leads us right into this whole faith and works
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  discussion. If God declares us righteous by
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  trust alone, why does our behavior still matter?
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  Are we slipping back into earning God's favor somehow?
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  This confuses a lot of people. It's a common misunderstanding
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  and a really vital point to clarify.
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  It can lead to either legalism or license if we get it wrong.
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  The source uses that fantastic analogy from Jesus in Matthew 7,
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  The Tree and its Fruit. Every healthy tree bears good
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  fruit. But the disease tree bears bad
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  fruit. Jesus says the fruit doesn't
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  make the tree good. The tree's nature produces the
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  good fruit. You don't glue apples onto a
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  dead branch and call it an apple.
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  Tree. It is an apple tree inherently,
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  and because it is, it naturally bears apples.
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  Applying that spiritually, our good actions don't create the
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  connection to Jesus or earn our righteousness.
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  No, they don't. Trusting Jesus makes the
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  connection that results in God declaring us righteous.
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  And that very same connection, that union with Christ, it
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  unleashes his life and power in us, which then naturally
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  produces the fruit. So the fruit flows from the
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  connection. Yes, it's the outflow.
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  Being connected to Jesus by faith produces a new life.
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  Lovejoy, peace, patience, all the fruit of the Spirit.
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  This is the fruit Jesus brings about as he works in US.
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  Think of John 15.5. I am the vine, you are the
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  branches. Whoever abides in me and I in
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  him, He it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can
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  do nothing. We can do nothing apart from him
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  that highlights our total dependence for any good fruit.
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  Completely. Our ability to live this new way
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  comes entirely from him, from abiding in Him, not from self
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  effort. OK, that really shifts the focus
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  from striving to relying. But what about the warning Jesus
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  gives if someone doesn't bear fruit?
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  Good question. The source material is clear.
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  The consistent absence of fruit indicates there isn't a real
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  living connection to Jesus. When Jesus warns every tree that
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  does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire,
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  Matthew 719, it's not because the fruit itself earns
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  salvation. Remember the tax collector?
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  He had no fruit to offer initially.
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  Right. He was justified by faith alone.
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  So the warning isn't about earning acceptance, it's that
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  the absence of fruit reveals the absence of a true connection to
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  the vine. It shows the tree isn't healthy.
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  Maybe it was never truly grafted in.
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  So the new changed behavior is necessary as the inevitable
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  evidence that we are connected. Exactly.
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  It's the proof our change lives. Our fruit can justify us, not in
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  the sense of earning our initial acceptance, but in the sense of
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  vindicating our claim to faith on the day of judgement.
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  It proves we are genuine believers united to Christ,
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  showing we have that right standing in him.
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  It confirms our faith was real. Does that make sense?
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  Evidence, not basis, Vindication, not earning.
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  OK, now shifting gears slightly, but related to obedience, the
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  Old Testament law. For many, it's just this
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  daunting collection of rules, ceremonial, moral, civil.
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  It's a lot. How does Jesus's arrival change
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  how we understand and relate to all those commands?
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  Did he just wipe the slate clean?
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  No, definitely not wipe the slate clean.
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  Jesus was very explicit about this.
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  Matthew 5.17 at 18 is key. Do not think that I have come to
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  abolish the Law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them,
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  but to fulfill them. Fulfill, not abolish.
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  That's a crucial distinction. It really is.
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  It means the Law and the prophets weren't just random
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  rules. They were pointing forward,
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  repairing the way, aiming towards Jesus himself.
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  His life, death and resurrection brought them to their ultimate
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  purpose and conclusion. Luke's 16 point has seen also
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  mentions this shift. The Law and the prophets were
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  until John the Baptist. Since then, the good news of the
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  Kingdom of God is preached. It signals a new phase, a new
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  covenant reality, a fundamentally new relationship
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  to the law. So fulfillment changes things.
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  How? Specifically, Piper outlines 4
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  major alterations Jesus brought. It's 4 significant shifts in how
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  we experience God's commands because of Christ's fulfillment.
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  OK, let's walk through them. What's the first big change?
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  First, Jesus effectively nullified the Old Testament
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  ceremonial laws. Things like dietary rules,
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  purity rituals, festivals. Exactly those laws that largely
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  set Israel apart ritually from other nations.
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  Think about food, lies, clean and unclean distinctions,
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  specific sacrifices. But Jesus taught whatever goes
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  into a person from outside cannot defile him.
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  That's Mark 7.18 and Mark adds the commentary.
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  Thus he declared all foods clean.
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  That would have been radical for his audience.
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  Absolutely. On his own authority, Jesus set
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  aside the whole principle of ceremonial purity that underpins
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  so much of the Mosaic code. The focus shifted from external
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  rituals to the heart to internal realities.
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  Now, choices about food, for example, are guided by love and
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  conscience, not ceremonial rules.
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  OK, so ceremonial law is fulfilled and set aside.
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  What's the second alteration? Second.
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  Jesus summed up the entire law and the principle of love.
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  He didn't just get rid of rules, He distilled their essence.
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  He gave us the Golden Rule in Matthew 7.12.
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  So whatever you wish that others would do, you do also to them,
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  for this is the Law and the prophets.
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  This is the law and the prophets.
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  Wow. Yes, he's saying.
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  This is the point. This is the heart of it all.
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  It moves our focus from just ticking boxes on a list of
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  commands to cultivating a relationship with Jesus that
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  naturally produces love. Love for God and love for
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  neighbor. Those two great commandments, he
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  said, are what everything hangs on.
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  Love becomes the driving principle.
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  The lens through which we understand all the other
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  commands makes sense. What's the third major shift?
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  The third one is huge. Really, it's the shift in God's
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  primary redemptive focus from ethnic Israel to a people
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  defined by faith. How did that happen?
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  Remember the parable of the Vineyard tenants in Matthew 21?
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  The tenants who rejected the owner's servants and killed his
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  son. Yes, representing Israel's
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  leadership, rejecting the prophets and ultimately Jesus.
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  Right. And Jesus concludes that parable
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  with a stark statement. The Kingdom of God will be taken
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  away from you, Israel's leaders, and given to a people producing
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  its fruits. Given to another people.
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  Yes, this marks a decisive shift.
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  God's redemptive plan now clearly includes the Gentiles,
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  all nations. God's people are no longer
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  defined primarily by ethnicity or participation in the old
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  Israelite political and religious system.
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  So who are God's people now? They're defined by faith in
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  Jesus Christ and the food of love that comes from that faith,
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  regardless of their nationality or background.
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  And what does that mean practically for the Old
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  Testament laws? It means that the specific civil
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  laws given to the nation of Israel, things like civic
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  punishments for blasphemy, adultery, Sabbath breaking laws
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  tied to their unique theocratic government, those don't apply.
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  Applied directly to followers of Jesus today.
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  Why not? Because the church isn't a
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  nation state. Believers are scattered
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  throughout all nations living under various governments.
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  Our primary identity isn't ethnic or national in that Old
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  Testament sense, It's spiritual. In Christ.
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  Our call is to live as salt and light within whatever society we
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  find ourselves following Christ's law of love.
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  That clarifies a lot about how Christians relate to Old
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  Testament civil law. OK, what's the 4th alteration?
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  The 4th is that the entire Old Testament religious system, the
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  priesthood, the physical temple, the animal sacrifices, all
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  reached its climaxing conclusion in Jesus himself.
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  He fulfilled all of that. Completely.
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  For centuries, access to God was mediated through that specific
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  system. But through his death and
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  resurrection, Jesus became the temple, the meeting place
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  between God and humanity. He became the perfect final
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  sacrifice for sin. He is our eternal High Priest.
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  So all those laws about how to run the temple, what sacrifices
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  to offer, the duties of the priests.
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  They're fulfilled. They've served their purpose,
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  which was to point to Him. His work accomplished what they
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  symbolized. We no longer need that physical
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  system because we have direct access to God through Jesus.
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  He opened the way. OK, so the law is fulfilled.
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  Not abolished, but significantly altered in its application.
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  Ceremonial law set aside, the moral law summed up in love.
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  The civil laws direct application changed, and the
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  religious system replaced by Christ himself.
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  Given all that, how do we practically live out God's will
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  and keep his commands today? What's our actual guide?
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  That's the bottom line, isn't it?
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  What does it look like now Jesus is called to do?
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  The Father's will means 2 core things for us today, and they're
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  inseparable. First, it means to believe in
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  Him, to trust Him completely as our only hope for that perfect
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  righteousness we talked about, the one we don't earn.
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  The justification piece. Exactly that trust, that
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  reliance on Jesus alone for our standing with God for eternal
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  life, that is the absolute foundation.
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  It's the first and most central aspect of doing God's will.
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  Believing is the primary work. OK, Foundation first, trust
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  Jesus. What's the second part?
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  Second, this very same faith, the trust that unites us to
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  Jesus for justification, also connects us to him.
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  Like that branch to the vine, it's a living connection.
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  And through that connection, he enables us.
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  He empowers us to actually produce the fruit of love, the
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  kind of behavior that genuinely fulfills the heart of God's law.
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  So the behavior flows out of the relationship established by
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  faith. Yes.
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  It's not about trying harder in our own strength to obey a list.
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  It's about drawing life and strength from Christ, who then
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  works his character out through us.
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  And where do we find the specific shape of that
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  character, that law fulfilling love?
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  Now, what's our pattern? We look to Jesus himself, his
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  life, his death, his teachings as recorded in the Gospels.
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  That's our guide. He embodies God's will
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  perfectly, and our ability to follow his example comes
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  entirely from depending on his ability working in us, just like
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  the branch depends completely on the vine.
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  Constant dependence. Constant dependence, and this
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  way all the glory, all the praise goes to Christ, not
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  Moses, not us. He purchased our salvation and
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  He enables our obedience. We have to let go of any idea
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  that our obedience earns God's acceptance.
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  Because the acceptance comes first through faith.
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  Right. Our changed life is the result
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  of being joined to Jesus. The joining itself by faith is
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  where acceptance lies. It sounds like a high calling,
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  this life of love and obedience reflecting God's character.
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  But realistically, knowing ourselves and the world, can we
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  ever actually be perfect in this life?
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  Fully meet that standard? Yeah, that's an important
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  reality check. The source material reflecting
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  Scripture is clear. Jesus doesn't suggest we'll
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  achieve sinless perfection in this present age.
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  Again, think of the Lord's Prayer.
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  Forgive us our debts. Praying that daily shows an
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  ongoing need for mercy. We still fall short.
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  So perfection is a future hope. Our full lived out perfection,
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  being completely free from sins, presence and power that's
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  obtained finally in heaven. Now, that doesn't diminish the
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  reality that Jesus is changing us now.
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  He does lead us to genuinely begin loving as He does, to grow
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  in obedience. That sanctification process is
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  real and vital. But it's incomplete here.
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  It's incomplete even with His divine help.
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  Our righteousness in this life isn't perfect.
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  The fruit we bear, while genuine and necessary as evidence, isn't
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  flawless and certainly not the basis for our standing with God.
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  That basis remains Christ's perfect righteousness, credited
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  to us through faith. We're always dependent on His
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  grace moving toward that heavenly completion.
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  As we wrap up this deep dive, maybe something for you, the
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  listener, to consider. The real heart of God's call
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  isn't a burdensome list, but this living relationship with
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  Jesus. So maybe ask yourself, in what
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  practical ways can I learn more fully on Jesus as my only source
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  of righteousness, trusting Him, not my efforts to produce that
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  fruit of love in my life this week?
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  That's a great take away. And as you think about that,
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  remember this whole process, Believing, living, growing, It's
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  all sustained by God's ongoing grace in Christ's work within
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  you. He provides both your perfect
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  standing before Him and the power for your daily walk.
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  It all comes from Him.