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Lift Up Our Minds to God’s Judgment Seat: Free Justification | John Calvin · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. Today we're taking a deep dive
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into something really central, I think, to understanding our
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standing before God. It's about the true nature of,
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well, righteousness and grace. That's right.
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And we've gathered some really illuminating sources for this.
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We're drawing mainly from Calvin's Institute to the
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Christian Religion, which is foundational, of course, but
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also bringing in key biblical passages and some other
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historical theological texts as well.
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And these sources, they don't just layout ideas, they really
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push back against a lot of common assumptions.
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Assumptions about what it means to be good, you know, or how we
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think we stand rightly before God, can be quite surprising.
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Yeah, I think our aim here is to try and cut through maybe some
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noise, some preconceived ideas you might have listening.
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We want to offer you a bit of a shortcut to being well informed
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on this and hopefully help uncover some fresh perspectives
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from these really significant texts.
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We want to help you get a clearer picture of how we see
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ourselves and maybe more critically, how God sees us,
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which, as we'll hear, are often very, very different things.
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They are and, and this discussion, I think it'll really
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highlight the, the huge gap between human judgment, you
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know, our limited way of looking at what's good or fair and God's
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perfect, absolutely unblemished judgment.
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That distinction seems key. It's vital.
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Understanding why that distinction makes all the
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difference is, well, it's crucial for anyone seeking God's
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favor or trying to have a right relationship with Him.
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OK, so let's begin, maybe by setting the scene a little.
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We often think about justice, you know, in terms of human
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courts or human laws or everyday stuff.
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We judge integrity based on what we see, what seems fair by our
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own sort of human standards. Sort of the things we can
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measure. Right.
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But our sources, they invite us to think about something much
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bigger, something they call the Heavenly Tribunal.
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Can you help us unpack what that really means, especially when
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we're told to move beyond our own small measure of judging
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things? Yeah, the first thing that jumps
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out is this immediate, stark contrast between our limited
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view and God's, well, boundless, absolute standard.
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So when the sources talk about a heavenly tribunal, it's not like
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a literal courtroom with benches and stuff like we picture it.
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Right, not a physical place. No, it's more a powerful
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metaphor for God's perfect final judgement, His infallible
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assessment of everything, every creature, every thought, every
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single deed, and our small measure, our way of judging
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integrity based on how things look or how someone stacks up
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against other people. Comparing ourselves to others.
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Exactly. It's just completely inadequate
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when you put it up against God's perfect judgement and those
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people who, as the source says, boisterously chatter over the
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righteousness of works. Meaning those who boast about
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their good deeds. Yeah, those who talk
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confidently, maybe even arrogantly, about their own good
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works, as if those could earn God's favor.
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They often do that, Calvin suggests, precisely because they
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do not think about God's justice.
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They don't really get. It they lack even a basic grasp
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of its true scale, it's holiness.
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This divine justice is described as so perfect that nothing can
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be admitted except what is in every part whole and complete,
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and undefiled by any corruption. Wow, whole and complete.
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That kind of absolute purity, the text says it was never found
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in man and never will be. Never, never think about it like
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this. Calvin puts it quite vividly, he
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says, in the shady cloisters of the schools.
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Meaning like in academic debates or just casual talk?
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Right. In abstract discussions, it's
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easy to argue about whether our works can justify us.
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But when you actually approach the presence of God, those kinds
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of debates just become, well, meaningless.
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You missed the point. Completely.
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We're dealing with something incredibly serious here, not
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just playing with words or theories.
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This whole discussion is really about how you, the listener,
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will respond when that heavenly judge calls you to account, and
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whether your own efforts, your own goodness, can actually stand
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up to that scrutiny. So what you're saying is it's
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not about being, you know, pretty good or even better than
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average compared to other people or even close.
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It's an absolute standard, a level of perfection that sounds,
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well, totally beyond anything a human can reach.
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It is. So how do the sources tell us to
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really picture this judge? Not how we might comfortably
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imagine him, but how Scripture actually reveals him.
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Well, connecting it to the broader biblical picture, the
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sources paint this really awe inspiring, almost overwhelming
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portrait of God as a judge whose brightness it says the stars are
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darkened. The stars are darkened.
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Yeah, whose strength the mountains are melted, whose
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wrath the earth is shaking. This isn't just, you know,
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poetic flourish. It's meant to convey the sheer
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scale of His Holiness. It sounds terrifying, honestly.
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It's missed to me. Are inspiring.
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Certainly his wisdom catches the wise in their craftiness,
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meaning no human cleverness could outsmart him.
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And beside his purity, all things are defiled.
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Everything looks dirty next to him.
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Pretty much his righteousness, it says, not even the angels can
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bear. Even angels fall short.
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That's the illustration. Even the most perfect created
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beings pale in comparison to his absolute holiness.
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And this judge he makes not the guilty man innocent.
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He won't compromise his justice. You won't just wave away guilt.
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No shortcuts. No shortcuts.
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His vengeance, when it comes, penetrates to the depths of
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hell. The prophet asks.
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You know who can dwell with the devouring fire?
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Who can dwell with everlasting burnings?
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That's intense imagery. It is, and it's not meant to be
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comforting in the way we usually see comfort like in human
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relationships. It's meant to produce this
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powerful sense of reverent awe and, yes, frankly, A terrifying
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realization of His Holiness. It challenges any idea that we
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can just stroll up to Him based on our own merits.
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Right, it demands a different kind of response.
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It demands really an appropriate fear and respect.
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It forces us to drop any casual attitude about divine judgement.
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That picture definitely challenges our our comfort
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zones. It's a God much grander, much
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more demanding than we often think about South.
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Given this, this truly awesome perfection, the standard so
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absolute that even angels can't bear it, who then can stand
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before him? Who can possibly to be found
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righteous in his sight? Well, the answer and it's it's
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startling, but it's completely clear from the sources, is no
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one. No one.
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At all. Absolutely no one.
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You heard that right. The sources quote Psalm 130,
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verse 3, which asks if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities.
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Lord, who shall stand? And the answer implied is.
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Nobody. It's a rhetorical question.
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The answer is clearly no one could stand.
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Similarly, Job asks, shall a man be justified in comparison with
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God, or shall he be purer than his maker?
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Again, the answer seems obvious. It is.
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These passages just highlight the universal inability of
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humans to stand before God based on anything we do.
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Our sources go so far as to say that even the holiness of angels
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cannot please God if He should weigh their works in his
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heavenly scales. So even perfect obedience from a
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created being wouldn't be enough.
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If weighed against God's infinite perfection, no, it
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would be found wanting. And the written law, the 10
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commandments and so on, which people often see as a guide to
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being good. Yeah, like a checklist.
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Right. But when you truly apply it to
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your life, really hold it up as a mirror, it brings, the text
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says. Horrid fear and a recognition of
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universal guilt and nothingness. So the law doesn't save us?
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No, it functions more like a mirror reflecting our true
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spiritual state. And that mirror shows us our
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complete inadequacy, our failure, the utter uselessness
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of our own efforts to measure up.
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Yeah, it's meant to strip away any self righteousness.
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It compels every man, it says, to admit his guilt before the
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heavenly judge and concerned about his own acquittal, to
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willingly cast himself down and confess his nothingness.
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Cast himself down. It's about recognizing our true
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position, this rigorous look in the mirror of the law.
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It ought to lead us into what the source is called, complete
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consternation. Consternation.
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Like total dismay. Exactly.
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Utter dismay, hopelessness in ourselves, and essentially any
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human idea about justification is just foolish and weak if it
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doesn't start right there with that honest, crushing admission
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of our total inability. OK, so given that overwhelming
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divine standard you've laid out, it really does feel like our
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everyday perception of our own goodness, you know, thinking
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we're good people is maybe just an illusion.
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What do our sources say about this human righteousness, this
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picture we build up of ourselves?
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They're pretty blunt about it, actually.
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It is easy, one passage says, so long as the comparison stops
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with men, for anyone to think of himself as having something that
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his fellows ought not to despise.
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Meaning if we just compare ourselves to other people.
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Right. If you just look around at your
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neighbors or people at work, or even historical figures, as long
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as you seem equal or maybe even a bit better than them, it's
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easy to feel pretty confident about your own moral standing.
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Yeah, I'm not as bad as that guy.
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Exactly. We convince ourselves we're
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doing OK, but this empty confidence, this sort of flimsy
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comfort we get from comparing ourselves to other humans, It
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vanishes in a flash and dies the moment we rise up to our God.
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The moment we consider his standard instead.
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Precisely. The analogy used is like having
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really sharp eyesight that works perfectly up close.
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You can see every little detail on the nearby objects OK, but
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that same sharp eyesight gets stricken and numbed by excessive
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brightness when you try to look straight at the sun.
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Right, you're blinded. You're blinded in the same way.
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Our perceived strengths, our sense of goodness, which might
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seem OK when we're just looking around at other people.
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It just dissolves into weakness when we direct it toward the
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divine light of God's absolute holiness.
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Why does that happen? Why are we so prone to that
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self-assessment? Well, Calvin calls it a
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pestilent self indulgence. That, and here's an all of us by
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nature. Meaning it's just part of our
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fallen nature. Yeah, it's this built in
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tendency we have to pamper and flatter ourselves to willingly
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fool ourselves into thinking we're better than we really are.
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We tend to construct this vain and airy semblance of
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righteousness for ourselves. Like a flimsy facade.
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Yeah, kind of superficial show based on our own limited ideas
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or maybe just an outward mask of righteousness that Highs was
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really going on underneath. OK, So what we might think is
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good or even righteous among ourselves, the things we might
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boast about, how does that actually look to God, the one
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who sees past the mask right into our hearts?
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Yeah, and this is where he's really start.
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There's a direct quote from Luke's gospel, chapter 16, verse
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15. What is exalted among men is an
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abomination to God. Abomination.
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That's a really strong word. It is.
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It's not just disagreement. It implies something utterly
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disgusting, detestable in God's sight, and it serves as this
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sharp warning against anyone who might, you know, haughtily boast
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of your righteousness among men. Showing off your good deeds for
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applause. Exactly.
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Confidently displaying them for human approval.
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And the reason it's judged so severely is because of the
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nature of God's judgement itself.
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Paul writes about this. God's judgement will penetrate
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to the most hidden thoughts of the heart.
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Nothing hidden from him. Nothing, no secret motive, no
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unspoken intention escapes his notice.
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He will uncover the hidden purposes of hearts, and he
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demands purity of will alone, not just outward actions.
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So the outward show means nothing then?
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Our outward parade of good works, all the stuff we might
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value and show off to the world as proof of our goodness, is of
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absolutely no benefit there in God's presence.
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What humans often count as righteousness is, before God,
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sheer iniquity. Iniquity like wickedness, yes.
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What we might judge is uprightness he sees as
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pollution. What we count is glory.
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He sees his ignominy as shame. Wow, so it completely flips our
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values. Completely.
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To put it plainly, the sources argue that all human works, even
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the ones that look good to us, if you judge them just on their
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own merit, strip away any divine grace.
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They're nothing but filth and defilement to God's sight.
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That's humbling. It is, and any peace or false
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confidence we build on this self-made righteousness, it will
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soon, in God's judgment, be shaken from them, just as great
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riches heaped up in a dream vanish upon awakening.
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Like waking up and realizing it wasn't real.
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Exactly. It's a total reordering of our
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assumptions about what's truly good.
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That really does sound like a complete reordering.
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It's a tough truth to absorb, and even someone we'd think of
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as incredibly devout, like the Apostle Paul, he was called a
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chosen instrument of God, right? Even he had to grapple with
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this. That's such a crucial point,
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Paul. I mean, here's a figure of
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immense spiritual stature, genuine zeal.
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He confesses in his letters that even though he was not aware of
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anything against himself. Meaning his conscience was
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clear. Right.
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As far as he knew regarding his own conduct, his conscience was
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clear. But then he says he was not
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thereby justified. So even a clear conscience isn't
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enough. That's the bombshell.
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It shows that even the cleanest human conscience, even a sincere
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personal belief in your own goodness, is utterly
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insufficient before God's absolute standard.
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Paul had, you know, by his own account, tried so hard he
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thought he was righteous according to the law, as a
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Pharisee, found no fault in himself by that standard.
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Yet he still said that didn't justify him in God's eyes.
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That's quite a statement. It is, and Solomon's proverbs
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echo this, highlighting this pervasive human tendency
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towards, well, self deception. To every man.
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His way is right in his own eyes, and all the ways of a man
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seem pure in his own eyes. We're good at convincing
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ourselves. Remarkably good, but the same
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proverbs then say the Lord weighs men's hearts.
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He sees deeper. He looks right past that outward
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mask of righteousness the public display, straight to the secret
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and curity of the heart, the hidden motives, the deep seated
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stuff we might not even fully recognize in ourselves.
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And this tendency to flatter ourselves to be fooled by our
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own self love, it just inevitably leads to ruin when
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we're confronted by God's perfect penetrating gaze.
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OK, this picture, human and righteousness, God's absolute
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standard. It can feel pretty sobering,
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maybe even a bit crushing to hear.
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It might leave you, the listener, wondering, well, if no
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man living is righteous in thy sight, as the Psalm says, what's
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the right posture for us then? How should we respond to this
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kind of reality? Yeah.
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And this brings us to a really central point.
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What is genuine humility, because the source is defined it
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very carefully. It's not just, you know, seemly
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behavior. It's just being polite or modest
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on the outside. No, and it's not just yielding a
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hair of your right to the Lord, as Calvin puts it, while
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secretly still clinging to some consciousness of excellence,
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still believing deep down that you have something good to offer
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God. Like holding back a little bit.
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Exactly that kind of thinking, where we believe we have
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anything left to ourselves that could possibly recommend us to
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God. That's bluntly called pernicious
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hypocrisy. Pernicious like.
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Harmful, harmful, dangerous hypocrisy.
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It's not just saying you're humble.
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It's this deep, deceptive self congratulations.
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Instead, true humility is defined as an unfeigned
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submission of our heart. Unfeigned, meaning genuine,
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honest. Genuine, honest, a heart that is
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stricken down in earnest with an awareness of its own misery and
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want. It means becoming holy, poor and
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destitute in spirit, really recognizing you have absolutely
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nothing of your own worth to bring to God, and utterly
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casting out confidence in ourselves.
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Letting go of all self-reliance. Completely.
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It involves immediately trampling upon whatever seems
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glorious or praiseworthy and letting go of all self traits.
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When the sources talk about contrition, it's not just
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feeling sad for sin. It's described as a wound of the
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heart that does not permit a man cast to the ground to be raised
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up. Wow, that sounds deep.
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It's a deep internal brokenness, A profound sense of spiritual
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helplessness. And that kind of brokenness,
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that authentic humility, is exactly what prepares us to be
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lifted up by God. So if that's the standard for
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truth, humility, this radical self stripping, letting go of
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all self-reliance, what stops us?
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What gets in the way of reaching that state?
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What blocks us from this this necessary self abasement?
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Well, the sources really point to two main obstacles, 2 big
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barriers, arrogance and complacency.
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OK, arrogance comes from that foolish persuasion of our own
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righteousness, that mistaken belief that we actually do have
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something meritorious to commend him before God.
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That vain and airy semblance again.
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Exactly that false front we put up, or maybe even genuinely
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believe that our good deeds or our moral character will somehow
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earn us points with God. And this often leads people to
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think, well, I don't really need grace quite as much as, you
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know, those. People right?
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Then what about complacency? Complacency, on the other hand,
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happens when sinners are, as the text puts it, drunk with the
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sweetness of their vices, meaning they're so caught up in
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worldly pleasures or their particular sins that they do not
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aspire to the mercy offered to them.
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They just disregard God's judgment because they're too
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absorbed in their own desires. Spiritually asleep.
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Maybe. Yeah, they lie, dazed, as it
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were, in a sort of drowsiness. Spiritually unaware of their
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danger, and so they feel no need to seek God's mercy.
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And both of these attitudes, whether it's self-righteous
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pride or just spiritual apathy, they're huge barriers that have
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to be shaken off, the sources say, in order for us to hasten
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to Christ. You have to get past them first.
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Yes, if we think we can somehow enjoy God's grace without first
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going through this fundamental humbling, this stripping away,
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we're just fooling ourselves. So this complete emptying of
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ourselves, this true humility, recognizing our absolute
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spiritual poverty, is that the entry point to God's grace?
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Is it like the prerequisite? You can't get grace without it.
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It absolutely is presented as a prerequisite.
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Yes, the sources stated very powerfully.
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God confounds the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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That sounds familiar. It's a fundamental principle
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woven all through Scripture. It's not just a nice saying.
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The heart, it says, cannot be open to receive his mercy unless
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it be utterly empty of all opinion of its own worth.
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Empty of self worth. Think of it like trying to pour
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water into a cup that's already full of rocks or sand.
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You. Can't.
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You can't. In the same way, if our heart is
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filled up with any sense of self worth, any belief that we're
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contributing to our standing before God, it effectively
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closes the entry to God's mercy, blocks it off.
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This necessary humility. It leads to that complete
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consternation, that deep dismay we talked about, which is
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precisely what prepares us to receive Christ's grace.
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God looks to him who is lowly and contrite in spirit and
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trembles at my words. Those who recognize their need.
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Exactly. He leaves nothing for the truly
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humble but to hope in the Lord because they are afflicted with
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the knowledge of their own poverty.
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This sense of desolation in ourselves, this experience of
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truly seeing our spiritual need and emptiness, it's presented as
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a necessary step for us to truly receive consolation, comfort in
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Christ. So you have to feel the need
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before you can truly receive the help.
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That's the idea. It's only when we admit our
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complete need that we can fully embrace His provision.
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OK, this leads us then to a really crucial point about
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Christ's emission itself. If no one is truly righteous in
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God's sight, if you all have to confess this utter unworthiness,
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this spiritual poverty, then who exactly does Jesus call?
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You'd think maybe it would be the good people, the ones
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trying. Hard right?
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The ones following the rules. Yeah, but our sources seem to
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hint at something else, something that lines up
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perfectly with this radical humility theme.
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It really is a fascinating, almost counterintuitive part of
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Christ's message. He makes this explicit statement
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and it just cuts right against all human expectations.
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Yeah, he says. I have come not to call the
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righteous, but sinners. Not the righteous, but sinners.
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Directly contradicting that common assumption that God would
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naturally seek out the morally upright, the hourly pious,
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instead Christ's Commission, His job description from the Father
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was quote to publish good tidings to the poor, to heal the
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contrite of heart, to preach liberty to the captives,
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deliverance to the imprisoned. To console the sorrowing.
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Notice the pattern there. Exactly, Look at the language.
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Poor, contrite, captives, imprisoned, sorrowing.
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It's all about people in distress, people hurting, people
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trapped, Not people who feel self-sufficient or confident in
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their own goodness. He specifically invites only
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those who labor and are heavy laden.
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Those feeling the burden. Those weighed down by the burden
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of their sin and their inability to meet God's standard.
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So this tells us really clearly that Christ's beneficence, his
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compassion, his help, it's not aimed at those who are confident
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in their own perceived righteousness or those who think
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they have some merit, something good to offer God.
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He's looking for the needy. Precisely.
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He comes specifically to those who recognize their spiritual
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poverty and distress, those who are aware of their deep need and
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their helplessness. And the parable of the publican
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and the Pharisee just illustrates this so powerfully,
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doesn't it? It contrasts these two very
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different ways of approaching God, and the outcomes are
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completely different. Let's unpack that one because it
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really brings this whole idea to life.
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Yes, that parable in Luke 18, it's just a crystal clear
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picture of everything we've been discussing.
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You've got the Pharisee standing proudly, maybe near the front,
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and he thinks, God, that he's not like other men,
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extortioners, unjust adulterers. Comparing himself again.
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Comparing again and listing his credentials, he boasts about his
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strict religious practices. I fast twice a week.
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I give tithes of all that I get. Now he does acknowledge his
21:40
righteousness comes from God, but the key phrase is he is
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confident that he is righteous. In his own eyes.
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In his own eyes, he's relying on his outward performance,
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presenting it to God like a resume.
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And the result. He departs unpleasing and
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hateful from God's presence. His prayer is rejected.
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OK then the publican. The publican, the tax collector,
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someone despised in that culture.
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He stands afar off, way in the back, doesn't even dare to lift
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his eyes to heaven. He beats his breast, which was
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the sign of deep grief and contrition, and he prays,
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apparently with much weeping. Just simply Lord, be merciful to
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me, a Sinner. That's it.
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No list of deeds. Nothing.
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And the text notes these aren't signs of fake modesty.
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They're testimonies of an inner feeling, a genuine gut level
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awareness of his own spiritual bankruptcy.
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And his outcome? The publican is justified by the
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acknowledgement of his iniquity. He goes home declared righteous
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by God. Incredible contrast.
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It shows that true justification being declared righteous by God.
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It doesn't come from boasting about yourself or confidently
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showing off your works. It comes from genuine self
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abasement, humble confession of sin, and an honest, unvarnished
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recognition of your own misery and desperate need for God's
22:52
mercy. So what does all this tell us
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about that common idea of, you know, earning God's favor or
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merit? Does anything we do, no matter
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how sincere it seems or how good it looks on the outside,
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actually earn us a place or give us a claim before God?
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Yeah, this brings us right to that crucial point about merit
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and our sources. Drawing on figures like
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Augustine, Bernardo, Clairvau, they are crystal clear.
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True righteousness, true hope, is found only in Christ.
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Period. It leaves absolutely zero room
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for confidence in anything we do.
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Only in. Christ Agustin says it plainly.
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All the pious have one hope, that we have one mediator, Jesus
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Christ the Righteous. 1 And he's the appeasement for our sins.
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He's the bridge. He alone bridges the gap, and
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Bernard says something similar. Very striking.
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The Lord's compassion is my merit.
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My merit is his compassion. Think about that.
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His merit isn't located in his own efforts, his fasting, his
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prayers. It's found entirely in God's
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mercy towards him. And Bernard elaborates on this.
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He says merit. Enough it is to know that merits
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are not enough. Just knowing your merits aren't
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enough is enough. It's a sufficient good, a true
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sign of wisdom, he argues, to simply grasp that our own merits
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are totally insufficient, he adds.
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But as it is merit enough not to presume upon merits, so to be
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without merits is enough for judgement.
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OK, break that down slightly. It means relying on your own
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merits is actually dangerous and simply lacking merits.
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Being without them is enough reason on its own to face God's
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judgement. Bernard even warns the church
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that it's true glory shouldn't be found in his own
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accomplishments or merits, but only in God's purpose and his
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abundant mercies. So it's all gift.
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All gift. He uses this really striking
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analogy. He compares people who claim
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merits for themselves to faithless servants, servants who
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wrongfully retain the credit for grace that passes through them.
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They take credit for something not theirs.
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Exactly, he says. It's as absurd as a wall should
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say that he gave birth to a sunbeam that it received through
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a window. OK, I get that the window
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doesn't create the light. Right.
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The sunbeam passes through the window, but the window didn't
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create it, it just transmitted it.
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In the same way, Bernard argues, any good that flows through us
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is just a manifestation of God's grace.
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It's not something we originated or earned.
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So any claim to merit is just wrong.
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It's a false claim, according to these sources, a
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misunderstanding that ultimately stops us from resting entirely
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on Christ, who, as Paul says, was made righteousness for me by
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God. It's his righteousness given to
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us. OK, so pulling this all
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together, what does this mean for us practically?
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What's the take away? How are we supposed to actually
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approach God and receive His grace, given that we're told to
25:35
have zero confidence in our own efforts?
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Well, the core message, and it sounds like a paradox at first,
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is this. We will never have enough
25:42
confidence in him unless we become deeply distrustful of
25:45
ourselves. More distrust in self leads to
25:48
more confidence in God. It's presented as a reciprocal
25:50
relationship. Yes, to be truly full of
25:54
confidence in Christ, you first have to be truly empty of
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confidence in yourself. We have to utterly cast out
26:00
confidence in ourselves and rely only on the assurance of His
26:03
goodness. Rely only on His goodness.
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Only we cannot lift up our hearts enough in Him, you know.
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Truly praise and trust Him unless they be previously cast
26:13
down in US, humbled, brought low by recognizing our unworthiness.
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The casting down comes first. It has to, and critically,
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you'll never truly experience consolation enough in him.
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Real comfort and peace, unless you have first experience.
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Desolation in yourself. That profound sense of spiritual
26:29
poverty. We talked.
26:30
About that experience prepares you.
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It prepares us, the sources argue, to really seize and grasp
26:35
God's grace in a way that actually changes things life
26:39
changingly. So it's about being, as the
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sources put it, empty and hungering for what Christ
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offers, rather than feeling like we have something to bring to
26:46
the table or that we somehow deserve his favor.
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Precisely that, yeah. It's about forgetting our own
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merits, not just setting them aside temporarily, but genuinely
26:56
forgetting them is any kind of basis for our standing with God,
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and instead wholeheartedly embracing Christ's gifts.
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Embracing the gifts. Yeah, to really seize and grasp
27:07
God's grace effectively, you have to empty Himself, as it
27:10
says, empty yourself of a vain and airy semblance of
27:13
righteousness. Not emptying yourself of actual
27:15
righteousness. Right, because, as we've seen
27:17
the sources argue, it just exists.
27:19
Not in us by our own power anyway.
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It's about letting go of the pretense of it, the illusion.
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OK. How might that look day-to-day?
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Well, think about it. In your job, maybe you strive
27:30
for excellence and that's good. But if your sense of self worth
27:34
or your hope for God's favor starts coming from your
27:37
achievements, your productivity, even your generosity.
27:39
If that's where you find your standing.
27:40
Then you are, by this definition, relying on that vain
27:44
and airy semblance. You're building on sand.
27:47
The sources are just unequivocal.
27:49
To the extent that a man rests satisfied with himself, he
27:52
impedes the beneficence of God. So being satisfied with yourself
27:56
actually blocks God's goodness. It gets in the way.
27:59
If you're content with your own efforts, your own perceived
28:01
goodness, you're effectively blocking God's ability, or
28:05
perhaps willingness to pour out his goodness into your life.
28:09
So the path to receiving God's grace isn't about adding more to
28:13
your own list of achievements. It's about a complete
28:15
abandonment of self-reliance, a recognition of your total
28:19
spiritual poverty, and placing a full, unqualified trust in God's
28:23
provision through Christ alone. Depending entirely on him.
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Entirely on him, not on your own strength or wisdom or how good
28:28
you think you. Are wow, this deep dive has
28:31
really laid bare this huge gap, hasn't it?
28:35
Between how we often see ourselves, you know, basically
28:38
good capable people, and how a perfectly holy God sees us.
28:41
It really underlines that our absolute best efforts are
28:44
perceived goodness. It's not just insufficient, it
28:47
can even be, as you said, an abomination if it becomes the
28:50
source of our self-reliance. It truly does.
28:53
We've seen that God's justice is this unyielding, comprehensive
28:56
standard, this perfect light, and before it, all our human
29:01
pride, all our self righteousness just vanishes.
29:04
Poof. And that realization, that often
29:06
difficult realization, leads directly to the essential
29:09
message of humility, which isn't about groveling, but about a
29:13
complete self abasement, an honest assessment that alone
29:17
opens the heart to Christ's call and to God's completely
29:20
undeserved favor. It's a call to rely completely
29:23
on him. Completely not on ourselves.
29:25
So maybe as you, our listener, reflect on this deep dive, maybe
29:30
consider this. What self-made righteousness
29:33
might you still be clinging to, maybe even subtly in your
29:36
thoughts, maybe in your efforts, perhaps in your hopes, Something
29:39
that might actually be preventing a fuller acceptance
29:42
of God's all sufficient grace? That's a good question to
29:44
ponder. Yeah, something for you to think
29:45
about and consider. We really hope this exploration
29:48
has given you a clear understanding of these these
29:50
vital concepts. From all of us here at Reformed
29:52
Thinking, thank you for joining us.