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No Boasting—Saved by Grace Alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to Reform thinking. We've got a fascinating set of
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  sources today all pointing us towards, well, the very
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  architecture of salvation as it's laid out in Scripture.
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  So we're doing a real deep dive into Ephesians 2, specifically
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  verses 8 through 10. And our mission really is to
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  unpack how this design works. How does God secure our standing
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  with him but do it in such a way that any kind of human self
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  congratulation is just, well, impossible?
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  It seems the whole system is geared towards receiving
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  something, a gift, not, you know, achieving some status.
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  And to help us navigate this, the sources give us this really
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  helpful four part framework. It really clarifies the
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  different roles of grace, faith, Christ and works.
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  It goes like this. Grace is the ground, faith is
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  the hand, Christ is the treasure and good works are the walk.
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  So I guess we have to start right there with the foundation.
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  Grace is the ground. What happens if we get that
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  wrong? Well, everything really.
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  If the ground isn't solid, if it's compromised, then anything
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  you try to build on it is just jakey unstable.
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  That's why you have to start with Grace.
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  It's presented as the absolute immovable ground or foundation
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  for the whole saving event. Introduce anything else into
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  that foundation, anything human, and the sources say, well,
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  you've lost the integrity of the entire structure.
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  It's no longer God's salvation. Really.
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  So how do we define grace? It's God's unmerited favor,
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  specifically in Christ. It's favor that isn't just
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  undeserved, it's given to the ill deserving.
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  You know, Romans five ways is how clearly we were enemies,
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  sinners, weak, when God acted. So grace by its very nature has
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  to be completely separate from our effort, our background, our
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  inherent worthiness. It just can't depend on those
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  things. It's a gift given to those who
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  actually can't pay it back, ever.
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  OK, grace is the soul foundation, But you know, people
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  might still wonder how can we be so sure it's entirely God's act,
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  not just say 99% God and maybe 1% our response or something.
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  Is there actual proof, maybe even in the grammar, that shuts
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  the door on that last bit of human contribution?
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  Yes, there is, and it's right there in the text in the way
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  it's constructed. Look at Ephesians 2.8 again.
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  For by grace, you have been saved.
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  That phrase, you have been saved.
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  It's a passive verb. Theologically speaking, that's
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  significant. It means the believer is the
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  object, the one being acted upon.
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  Yeah, we are the recipients of a work someone else performed
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  completely. We didn't achieve it.
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  We didn't contribute to the saving act itself.
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  And what's more, that verb tense also signals something else.
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  It points to an action that was completed in the past, but its
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  results, its effects, they continue.
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  Right now, the saving is done. It rests in the past, but it's
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  reality holds true today. It's God's action that makes
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  salvation happen, not our reaction to it.
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  Think about the turning point of that whole chapter of Ephesians.
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  It comes down to 2 words in verse 4, but God.
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  Right, not but you. Exactly.
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  It's God's mercy, His initiative, not our human
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  resolve or effort, that flips the script from spiritual death
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  to spiritual life. That's a really key distinction,
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  recipients versus achievers, and it leads right into another
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  point. Our sources highlight something
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  often missed when we talk about grace.
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  They emphasize that if salvation rests on grace, it just cannot
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  also rest on works. But what about trying to sneak
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  works in? What does the human heart
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  typically try to sort of smuggle onto that foundation?
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  Well, the human heart, as our reformed sources consistently
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  point out, it's it's almost like a factory for idols and for
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  merit making. We naturally want to earn our
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  way, even spiritually. So the biggest temptation is
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  always to bring something in that looks spiritual, looks
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  pious, but it's actually just self contribution disguise.
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  Maybe it's how deep our repentance feels, or how many
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  tears we cried, or how consistently we read the Bible,
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  or maybe even how strong or, you know, vigorous our faith itself
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  feels. So even faith itself could be
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  smuggled in as a work. Potentially, yes.
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  If we treat any of those things, our commitment level, our
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  emotional state, our religious activity, if we treat them as
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  the reason God accepts us, the basis for his favor, then we
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  violated what Paul warns about in Romans 11.6.
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  He says if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works,
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  otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
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  You try to mix earning with receiving and grace just
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  evaporates. It ceases to be grace.
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  Full point of grace is that it's for those who can't earn it.
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  And this seems to force us to confront a really significant
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  dividing line in theology, how justification actually happens.
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  Our sources bring up the Westminster Confession talking
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  about justification happening by imputing Christ's obedience and
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  satisfaction to us. That's often contrasted with God
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  infusing righteousness. And to us, for listeners who
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  know these terms, why is that technical difference, imputation
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  versus infusion, potentially the difference between real
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  assurance and constant anxiety? Oh, that distinction is
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  absolutely critical. It cuts right to the heart of
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  grace and assurance when we talk about justification.
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  The question is, how does a person who is actually ungodly
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  get declared legally righteous before a perfectly holy God now?
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  The idea of infusion suggests God somehow pours or injects
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  actual inherent righteousness into the center.
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  If that's the model, then you're only declared righteous when you
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  actually become sufficiently righteous internally.
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  Your acceptance by God then depends on the quality of
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  righteousness inside you, which is always going to be imperfect
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  in this life, Right? Exactly.
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  It leaves you constantly checking your spiritual pulse,
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  wondering, am I holy enough today?
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  Am I righteous enough now? It breeds anxiety.
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  Imputation, on the other hand, which is foundational to reform
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  thought, means nothing quite different.
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  It means God legally credits Christ's perfect righteousness
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  to our account. It's an accounting term almost.
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  God looks the believer, and he sees the righteousness of Christ
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  counted as hours. It's an alien righteousness,
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  meaning it comes from outside us.
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  It's perfect. It's complete.
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  Justification happens, as the confession says, freely by
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  grace. It rests entirely on the
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  Savior's perfect performance, His record, not on our
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  fluctuating feelings or efforts. And because Christ's
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  righteousness is perfect and complete, the foundation is
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  totally secure. It anchors our assurance.
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  The work is finished. It can't be repeated.
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  It's guaranteed. That shift is huge, isn't it?
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  From looking inward at my performance to looking outward,
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  his provision that really does ground assurance.
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  So the foundation is stable. It's not subject to the weather
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  of our emotions, as one source put it.
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  Precisely when guilt bites or temptation looms, the believer
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  isn't supposed to look inside themselves for comfort.
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  Checking their feelings or recalling cast good deeds.
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  They look outward to Christ. The ground of their salvation is
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  solid because it rests on the strength of His blood, the
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  sufficiency of His satisfaction for sin, not on how intensely
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  sorry they feel at that moment. OK, that leads us perfectly from
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  the cause, grace, the solid ground to the means, faith, the
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  instrument. So we shift now to faith, which
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  our framework calls the hand. I like that analogy.
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  It makes it concrete, something you can picture.
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  But faith itself is often misunderstood, isn't it?
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  How do we keep it clear that faith is just the instrument,
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  the channel for grace, and not somehow the cause or the ground
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  itself? Yeah, the analogy of the empty
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  hand is really the key here. Faith is like the empty hand
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  that receives him. Think of a beggar reaching out.
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  The value isn't in the hand, it's in what's placed into it.
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  Or someone hands you $1,000,000 check.
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  The value is the check, right? Not how well you grip it.
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  Faith is just the means of receiving that gift.
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  It's the connection. Paul even uses the language
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  through faith, the out of pistas in the Greek of Ephesians 2.8.
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  That preposition through marks it as the channel, the conduit.
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  Remember the order saved by grace through faith.
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  Grace is the source. The power of faith is just the
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  point of connection. What does this empty hand
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  actually do? The sources talk about the acts
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  of saving faith. It sounds like it's more than
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  just, you know, passively agreeing with something.
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  It's. Definitely not passive
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  agreement, no. It's better described as an
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  active posture of dependence saving faith involves.
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  Well, usually we talk about 3 connected acts.
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  The old Latin terms are sometimes used, but the ideas
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  are straightforward. First, there's no Tisha.
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  That's knowledge. You have to know who Christ is,
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  what he did, basic information about the gospel.
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  Second is a census. That's intellectual ascent,
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  agreeing that this information is true, believing that Christ
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  work really is sufficient for salvation.
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  But the third part, and this is crucial, is fiducia.
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  That's personal trust, reliance. It's the act of resting your
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  whole weight, your whole hope for justification,
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  sanctification, eternal life, resting it only on Christ.
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  Like the drowning person analogy you mentioned earlier.
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  Exactly like that. It's not just knowing about the
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  rescuer or agreeing he's strong enough, it's actually letting go
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  and trusting him to save you is relying entirely on him.
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  OK, but here's where it gets tricky for me, and maybe for
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  listeners too. If Fiducia involves personal
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  reliance, an act of resting, doesn't that feel like something
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  I'm doing? Doesn't that feel like a
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  contribution we've been so careful to keep works out of the
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  foundation? How do we make sure that faith,
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  even this act of reliance, is truly the opposite of
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  contribution and not just the one special deed God accepts?
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  That is the absolute essential clarification, because you're
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  right. The moment faith becomes
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  something meritorious, something we contribute that earns God's
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  favor, we've just undone grace all over again.
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  But Scripture itself sets faith U in opposition to working.
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  Romans 4 is clear. If you're justified by working,
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  you get paid a wage. If you're justified by faith,
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  you receive a gift. The act of relying fundamentally
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  isn't meritorious precisely because it's relying.
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  The moment you rely on something outside yourself for rescue, you
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  inherently stop relying on yourself.
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  You confess your own inability. OK, the ACT itself points away
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  from self. Exactly.
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  And furthermore, the value or the strength of faith doesn't
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  come from how intensely we believe or how vigorously we
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  trust. Its power, Its dignity, rests
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  entirely on the object it grasps, which is Christ.
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  Which is Christ. Our sources put it so well, even
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  a trembling faith saves because Christ is mighty.
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  Think about that. The weakest hand imaginable can
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  still grasp the strongest Savior.
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  The quality of your grip doesn't add or subtract value from the
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  Savior you're holding onto. That's helpful, but someone
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  might still push back on the responsibility aspect.
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  If faith is the hand and reliance is what the hand does,
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  how can we really say there's no reason for boasting, especially
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  when scripture itself says faith is a gift?
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  Philippians 1.29 It's granted to us.
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  John 6.65 No one can come unless the Father grants it.
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  If even the ability to say yes is given by God, where does my
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  yes fit in? This is where I think Reformed
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  theology offers really necessary clarity precisely to eliminate
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  boasting. Think of it if faith were purely
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  a human decision, something we generate entirely ourselves.
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  Then the person who believes would have something to boast
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  about over the person who doesn't, right?
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  Like I was smarter or I had a better.
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  Exactly. They could boast about their
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  superior insight or their stronger willpower.
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  But if faith itself is a gift, meaning the ability to believe
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  is created in us by the Holy Spirit working through the Word,
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  then the whole process start to finish, foundation to
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  connection, it's all from God. Now.
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  God still commands everyone to repent and believe.
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  We're responsible creatures. That command is real, but
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  because we're spiritually dead and naturally hostile to God, as
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  Ephesians 2 describes earlier, God must also sovereignly grant
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  the ability to obey that command.
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  So God commands the hand to reach out, but he also gives the
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  hand the power to do it. That's a good way to put it.
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  He provides both the command and the capacity.
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  This completely removes any basis for human pride.
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  Our dependence is total from beginning to end, which would
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  lead us to prayer, not boasting. OK.
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  Grace is the ground. Faith is the empty hand, enabled
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  by God, extended by us. Now let's look inside that hand.
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  What fills it? Christ, the essential treasure.
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  If the hand starts empty, what exactly is the content of this
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  gift? What makes up this treasure?
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  Christ is the treasure, He's the center, the invaluable content
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  that faith receives. The hand might be empty, but the
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  moment it takes hold of Christ, it holds well essentially all
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  the resources of heaven. The gospel doesn't offer a
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  partial Savior, it offers the full handed Savior as one source
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  described him. And this treasure is
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  comprehensive. It's not just say forgiveness,
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  though. It includes that.
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  It's Christ himself, and with Him comes the full credit, the
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  full weight of his perfect performance on our behalf.
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  This is vital because for us to be justified, declared
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  righteous, we need two things. Christ provided perfect
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  righteousness credited to us and perfect satisfaction for our
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  sins. OK.
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  Can you break down those two parts of his performance a bit
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  more? Why is the specific treasure of
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  these two things? Why is it totally sufficient?
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  Sure, this ties right back into the imputation we talked about.
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  Christ's perfect performance covers what theologians often
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  call his active and passive obedience.
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  They sound technical, but the ideas are crucial.
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  His passive obedience refers to his suffering and death, paying
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  the penalty, bearing the curse of the law For us on the cross,
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  this is God's justice being satisfied.
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  This brings forgiveness. It wipes the slate clean,
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  cancels the debt we owe God because of our sin.
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  OK. So that clears the debt.
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  Right, but just having a clean slate, a 0 balance isn't enough
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  to get you into heaven. Biblically speaking, you also
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  need a positive record of perfect obedience to God's law.
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  That's where Christ's act of obedience comes in.
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  This refers to his entire life of perfect obedience to God's
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  commands. He fulfilled the law perfectly
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  and thought word and deed for us in our place.
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  So we live the life we should have lived.
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  Precisely, and when that act of obedience is imputed, credited
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  to the believers account through faith, it gives us that perfect
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  positive standing before God. So we received both the pardon
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  for our sins from His passive obedience, His death, and the
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  positive righteousness needed for acceptance from His act of
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  obedience. His life, that complete package
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  is the treasure. It leaves nothing lacking.
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  And that's what makes him the value.
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  It's entirely outside of us. It really is like the royal ring
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  placed in the beggar's hand. The value is the ring, not the
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  hand. Exactly right.
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  Our justification rests completely on God, crediting
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  that perfect two fold performance of Christ to us.
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  It doesn't depend on how strongly we believe or how
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  deeply sorry we feel. And This is why the security of
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  our salvation depends entirely on Christ, the one we receive.
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  He's totally sufficient, totally complete.
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  This is also why, as the source of stress, the weakest believer
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  is just as fully saved, just as fully justified as the
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  strongest, most mature St. Their standing isn't based on
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  the quality of their grasp or the intensity of their feelings.
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  It's based on the infinite worth of the Christ they hold onto.
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  This whole structure then, grace is the ground, faith is the
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  hand, Christ as the treasure. It all leads up to the purpose
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  statement, doesn't it? The divine design behind it all.
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  Ephesians 2.9 says this whole system is set up this way so
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  that no one may boast. How does this design actually
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  functionally work to just dismantle human pride and make
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  sure all the credit, all the glory, goes back to God?
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  It's really quite brilliant in its design because it shuts down
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  boasting at every possible point.
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  Think it through. You can't boast about the ground
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  grace because you did absolutely nothing to deserve it or
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  establish it. It was pure gift.
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  You can't boast about the treasure Christ because his
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  righteousness, his satisfaction, it was all achieved outside of
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  you and it was perfect, whereas yours is not.
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  And as we just discussed, you can't even boast about the means
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  faith, because even the ability to reach out that empty hand was
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  itself a gift granted by God's Spirit.
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  So there's just no room left for self congratulation anywhere.
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  None at all. When you grasp this, when you
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  see the grace initiated everything and Christ
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  accomplished everything, boasting just, it dies.
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  It has no air to breathe, and what replaces it naturally is
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  worship, Thanksgiving, awe. The whole structure has this
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  leveling effect too. It brings everyone down to the
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  same place, at the foot of the cross, as they say, because we
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  all arrive with nothing but the sin that made the cross
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  necessary. But then it lives everyone up to
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  the exact same standing in Christ, which is a perfect
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  standing, equally secure for every single person who receives
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  this gift by faith. It sounds like the structure is
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  almost perfectly engineered to counteract to really common,
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  persistent problems or errors that creep into the church's
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  understanding of the gospel. What are those and how does this
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  Grace, Faith, Christ structure address them?
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  Yeah, the sources point to two main errors that the structure
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  directly combats legalism on one side and antinomianism on the
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  other. Legalism is that constant human
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  tendency to want to contribute something, to earn God's favor,
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  to make salvation. Partly grace, but also partly
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  our works, our efforts. It's the error of the proud
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  performer, right? Wanting to hand God a resume.
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  Exactly, and the doctrine of grace alone just kills legalism
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  dead by saying lay down the resume, stop performing.
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  You bring absolutely nothing to the table for your salvation
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  except the sin that makes it necessary.
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  The ground is grace alone. Then the second error is
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  antinomianism. This is the flip side.
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  It's the presumption that says OK, if salvation is totally
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  free. If it's all grace, then it
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  doesn't matter how I live. Grace gives me a license to sin.
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  If the gift is secure no matter what, why bother with obedience,
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  right? That's the antinomian mindset,
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  but the structure dismantles this too by constantly pointing
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  to the cost of the gift. This free gift was purchased
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  with the infinite price of Christ's own blood.
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  A gift secured by such a sacrifice can never logically be
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  seen as permission to disregard or abuse the giver.
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  Grace doesn't excuse sin. It exposes his horror by showing
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  what it cost God to deal with it.
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  Plus, the same grace that justifies us also initiate
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  sanctification. It immediately begins to work in
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  US, training us, as Titus says, to announce ungodliness and live
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  self controlled, upright lives. And critically, this whole
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  system being outside of us, it really secures assurance,
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  doesn't it? If it all hand is on God's
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  perfect work, not my shaky efforts, what does that mean
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  practically for the believer who feels weak or is struggling?
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  It means everything for assurance.
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  It means, as one source puts it, if your salvation did not start
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  from you, it will not be sustained by you.
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  The power that began the work in you is the same power that will
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  keep you. The God who gave the gift freely
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  will also keep the recipient secure in Christ.
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  Our assurance doesn't rest on the consistency of our feelings
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  or the strength of our will, but on the finished, unrepeatable,
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  absolutely complete work of Christ that guarantees that even
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  the weakest believer is never in danger of somehow falling out of
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  God's grace or losing their salvation.
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  OK, so we've established the ground grace, the hand faith,
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  and the treasure Christ. Now we have to turn to the last
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  part of the framework, good works.
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  These are defined as the walk of the redeemed.
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  And this is often where the confusion comes in, isn't it?
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  Because works are so clearly denied as the cause of salvation
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  in verse 9, but then they seem mandated as the pathway for the
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  saved in verse 10. Yes, and getting the sequence
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  right here is absolutely everything.
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  Good. Works are the fruit.
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  They show that there's life. They are not the rude that
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  somehow earns that life. We are saved, as Paul says
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  forcefully in verse 9, not as a result of works full stop, so
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  that no one can boast. But then verse 10 immediately
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  follows. We are saved for works.
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  They are the intended outcome, the pathway we're now meant to
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  walk on. So not the price of redemption,
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  but the pathway of the redeemed. Exactly, Paul says believers are
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  God's poyoma. His workmanship is masterpiece
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  created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared
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  beforehand that we should walk in them.
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  See the sequence first. Grace saves through faith apart
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  from workspace 8 to 9. Then this new creation in Christ
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  is set on a path of good works that God himself has already
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  prepared. The fundamental question
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  changes. It's no longer what must I do to
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  get saved. It becomes OK now that I am
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  saved by grace, what does God want me to do?
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  How should I walk? This leads us straight into that
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  classic point of tension, the one that trips up so many people
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  reading the Bible, Paul versus James.
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  Paul seems all about faith alone, apart from works for
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  justification. James comes along and says
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  pretty bluntly, faith without works is dead.
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  How does this understanding of grace alone help someone
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  standing in the middle of that apparent battlefield?
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  Yeah, it can seem like a direct contradiction at first glance,
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  but the tension really dissolves when we realize Paul and James
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  are likely addressing two different problems, and they
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  might even be using the word justify in slightly different
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  ways. Paul is primarily fighting
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  legalism, the idea that you can earn God's favor through works
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  of the law. So when he talks about
• 20:05
  justification, he's usually talking about forensic
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  justification. Meaning our legal standing
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  before God in his courtroom. Precisely how are we declared
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  righteous in God's sight? Paul's answer is clear by faith
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  alone, completely apart from works.
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  Works contribute nothing to that initial declaration of
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  righteousness. James, on the other hand, seems
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  to be confronting a different issue, a dead intellectual
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  faith. People who say they believe,
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  maybe they even have the right knowledge noticia and give
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  mental assent census, but there's no real trust fiducia,
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  no life change, no action. So when James says Abraham was
• 20:40
  justified by works when he offered Isaac, he's likely using
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  justifying A demonstrative sense his work showed they proved they
• 20:47
  vindicated the reality and genuineness of the faith that
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  was already there. OK, so works demonstrate that
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  faith is real, not that works make us right with God in the
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  first place. That's the resolution.
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  Faith alone justifies us before God.
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  Paul's point. But the faith that justifies is
• 21:04
  never alone. James's point.
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  It's a living faith. True saving faith unites us to
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  Christ, and union with Christ isn't static.
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  It inevitably produces fruit. It results in love, obedience,
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  good works. Just like a living apple tree
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  inevitably produces apples. A faith that never produces any
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  corresponding action is rightly called dead by James because it
• 21:24
  shows it lacks the life giving connection to Christ through the
• 21:27
  Spirit. It's likely not true saving
• 21:29
  faith at all. So if good works are the
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  superstructure built on the foundation of grace, and we're
• 21:34
  not doing them to earn acceptance, what then is the
• 21:37
  real sustainable motivation for this walk?
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  Why do we do good works? The motivation is simply
• 21:42
  gratitude has to be. If grace is the ground, then the
• 21:45
  only appropriate response, the only sustainable driving force
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  for the Christian life, is grateful.
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  Love the believer, walks in holiness, pursues good works,
• 21:53
  not trying to win God's smile or earn his favor.
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  Because in Christ they already have it.
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  Exactly. They already have it.
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  Works are done because the believer is already reconciled,
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  already adopted into God's family, already accepted in the
• 22:04
  beloved. Grace actually frees us from
• 22:07
  that exhausting, impossible burden of trying to earn God's
• 22:10
  acceptance through our performance.
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  And paradoxically, that freedom liberates us to truly love God
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  and neighbor and to labor for His Kingdom out of joy, not
• 22:20
  fear. Grace becomes the energy source.
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  Paul himself said I worked harder than any of them, but
• 22:26
  then immediately added, though it was not I but the grace of
• 22:29
  God that is with me. Grace empowers the walk.
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  It makes us want to walk in those works God prepared.
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  This has been incredibly clarifying, really breaking down
• 22:36
  the structure. Before we wrap up with
• 22:38
  applications, let's just quickly cement those categories and the
• 22:41
  images one more time, just to help everyone remember.
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  Yeah, let's lock it in. Remember the four parts.
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  Grace is the ground. That's the solid, unearned
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  foundation from God. Faith is the hand, the empty
• 22:52
  instrument that simply receives. Christ is the treasure.
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  He is the perfect, sufficient gift that fills the hand.
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  And good works are the walk, the necessary grateful path.
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  We travel because we've received the gift.
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  It's all about receiving, not achieving.
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  And keep those mental pictures. The beggar with an empty hand
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  receiving a priceless royal ring.
• 23:12
  All the value is in the ring, not the hand.
• 23:14
  Right. Or the person drowning.
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  Simply trusting, consenting to be rescuing.
• 23:17
  Faith is reliance, not effort. And the apple treat, the apples
• 23:21
  prove it's alive. But they don't make it alive.
• 23:23
  Works flow from life. They don't create it.
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  OK, so because salvation is this incredible gift, it frees us up
• 23:29
  to love and serve. Let's offer maybe 3 practical
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  ways, head, heart and hands, to take this theological structure
• 23:35
  and live it out all. Right for your head.
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  Train your mind. Learn to spot counterfeit
• 23:41
  gospels, any teaching, any message that tries to sneak
• 23:44
  human merit back onto the ground floor.
• 23:46
  Whether it's your repentance, your feelings, your decisions,
• 23:49
  even the intensity of your faith.
• 23:50
  Recognize it as a dangerous heir.
• 23:52
  Remind yourself constantly, justification rests only on
• 23:55
  Christ's perfect obedience and his shed blood credited to you
• 23:59
  by grace through faith, not on anything in you.
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  Spot the lie. That certainly asks you to
• 24:03
  contribute to the ground of your acceptance.
• 24:05
  Good and for your heart. Let this truth do its work.
• 24:09
  Let the doctrine of grace absolutely slay your pride and
• 24:11
  your tendency to boast, but let it also soothe your anxieties
• 24:15
  and your trembling conscience. How?
• 24:16
  By meditating often on the reality you were spiritually
• 24:19
  dead, an enemy of God, But he, because of His great love, acted
• 24:22
  first. Let gratitude well up and push
• 24:25
  out that old guilt driven need to perform.
• 24:27
  Really marvel at the fact that the holy God justifies ungodly
• 24:30
  people and seats them with Christ.
• 24:31
  That reality should produce deep humility but also profound
• 24:34
  peace. And finally, for your hands,
• 24:37
  since you are God's workmanship, created for good works, then
• 24:40
  walk in them intentionally. Practice acts of service,
• 24:43
  kindness, generosity. But here's a specific challenge
• 24:46
  tied to boasting. Try practicing some acts of
• 24:49
  service in secret this week. Do something helpful or kind
• 24:52
  that only God sees. Why?
• 24:54
  Because secrecy deliberately starves that innate desire.
• 24:57
  We have to get credit to boast. It helps confirm you're acting
• 25:00
  out of gratitude, not for applause.
• 25:03
  Pursue holiness, not to get God's smile, but because in
• 25:05
  Christ you already possess His full acceptance and favor.
• 25:09
  So walk like who you now are, God's beloved child and His
• 25:12
  workmanship. We always like to end with a
• 25:15
  final thought, something to chew on.
• 25:16
  So here it is. If salvation is entirely by
• 25:18
  grace, what about all those verses that talk about rewards
• 25:21
  in heaven based on our works? How does that fit?
• 25:23
  If works are just the consequence, why are they
• 25:24
  rewarded? Well, here's an insight from the
• 25:26
  sources. God crowns his own gifts.
• 25:28
  Even the rewards believers receive for their works are
• 25:31
  ultimately rewards of grace. Why?
• 25:33
  Because the desire, the power, the motive, the ability to do
• 25:36
  those good works, it all came from God's grace working in you
• 25:40
  in the first place. He works in you.
• 25:42
  Then He rewards the food of His own work.
• 25:45
  So let your whole life then be oriented around this theme.
• 25:48
  Since everything originates from Him, comes through Him, and
• 25:51
  ultimately points back to Him, let all the glory go only to
• 25:55
  God. Realizing this leaves you with
• 25:57
  no pedestal to stand on, no platform for pious self
• 26:00
  congratulations. There's only a cross to kneel
• 26:02
  beneath and humble gratitude.