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Two Things to Note in Free Justification | John Calvin · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the deep dive and you
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know how we do things here. We take the source material, cut
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through the noise, and pull out the core ideas, helping you get
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informed without needing to read everything yourself.
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Today we're getting into some really key parts of John
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Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.
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We're focusing on what he calls free justification.
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Our goal? To really get a handle on 2 main
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reasons this doctrine is so central for Christians.
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First, how it defends God's honor, keeps his glory as Calvin
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says, undiminished, and so to speak, in good repair, and 2nd,
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how this idea can bring real solid peace to your conscience.
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Why should you care? Well, understanding this helps
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make sense of a lot in Christian thought about faith, salvation,
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how we relate to God. It clears things up and shows
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where true rest is found. That's a great way to set it up.
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Calvin definitely starts with God's glory.
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It's front and center. It's the foundation, really
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nonnegotiable. His view is that God's honor
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must stay completely whole, untouched.
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It shapes his whole view of justification.
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And he points to Scripture, right, which keeps telling us
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when we think about righteousness, where we stand
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with God. We have all the credit to God
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alone. No sharing spotlight.
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OK, so thanks to God alone for righteousness.
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What does that actually look like?
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I mean, it kind of goes against wanting to feel good about what
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we do, doesn't it? It absolutely does, and that's
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the point Calvin's making. He points us straight to Paul,
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Romans chapter 3, verses 25 and 26.
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Paul says God gives righteousness mainly to show us
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his own righteousness. Think about that.
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It's not mostly about us looking righteous.
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It's about revealing his character, his perfect
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rightness. And this happens, Paul says, if
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he alone is recognized as righteous and justifying him who
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has faith in Jesus Christ. So God's righteousness isn't
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really displayed properly unless he alone gets the credit, unless
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he alone is seen as righteous. Giving this gift to people who,
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let's be honest, don't deserve it.
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It's a free gift not earned. It shows off His goodness, not
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ours, like an artist making an amazing statue.
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The glory is all the artists right, not the clay.
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Our righteousness, in this view, is all God's work given freely.
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That helps. And really drives home like any
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attempt by us to add to our own righteousness even a tiny bit,
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why that scene is taking away from God's glory, like trying to
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steal credit for his masterpiece, Talman says.
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Flat out, when someone has anything to say in his own
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defense about their standing with God, they detract somewhat
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from God's glory. But it's like trying to edge
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into His spotlight. Look at Ezekiel 20, verses 43
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and 44. It's quite graphic.
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God says His name, His character is glorified.
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When we really get how sinful we are, recognizing our iniquity,
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we're told to loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the
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evils you have committed. But the point isn't just feeling
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bad. It's about getting the right
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perspective, seeing that God gives good things and ax for us
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for my name's sake and not according to your wicked
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offenses. He does it for His own
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reputation, His glory, not because we earned it.
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This isn't just theory, it's deeply personal.
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Owning our unworthiness makes His mercy shine brighter.
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So to filch from the Lord, even a particle that thinks we owe
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His free kindness, it's like, well, stealing his credit.
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Like taking a penny from a gift of $1,000,000 and saying you
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helped pay for it. Exactly, and that leads right
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into Calvin saying whoever glories in himself glories
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against God. It's direct opposition.
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We can't truly glory in God unless we've totally given up on
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our own glory. We have to, as he says, utterly
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put off our own glory. Humility is sort of the entry
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requirement for real worship, for seeing things clearly.
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Paul, again, Romans 3 verse 19 backs us up.
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The whole world is subject to God only when men are utterly
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deprived of any occasion for glorying in themselves.
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So any sense of self righteousness, even if it seems
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small or humble, it builds confidence in self and that
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always, always leads to self glory.
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It's a subtle trap. So it's not just obvious pride.
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Even a quiet sense that I'm doing OK on my own is a problem.
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Yes, that's it. It's systemic.
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You know our human tendency we naturally try to find worth in
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ourselves. But look at Isaiah 45 verse 25.
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It's the opposite. Israel's justification is
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entirely in God. It says the elect are justified
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by the Lord to the end that they may glory in Him and in no
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other. The message is crystal clear.
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Any real strain, any real righteousness we have, it's
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found only in the Lord and Peter.
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In first Peter 2 verse 9 talks about believers being called out
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of darkness. Why?
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Why? To proclaim the excellencies of
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Him who called you. Then you have Ephesians 2 verses
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8 and 9. Paul says salvation is by grace
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and by the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should
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boast. Calvin sees this as directly
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hitting against any claim to self credit.
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He calls claiming even a crumb of righteousness for yourself a
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sacrilege. It's like taking something holy
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and treating it common because it's plucked and taken away from
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the glory of God's righteousness, and it goes
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against God's whole reason for saving us, just to show his
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goodness, not ours. Wow, sacrilege that really lands
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hard. It makes a point very strongly.
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It does, and Calvin wraps up this first big idea, saying the
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goal is for the praise of righteousness to remain perfect
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and whole in the Lord's possession.
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He wants the soul. Praises of God may so resound in
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the ears of believers as to overwhelm and deep silence all
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arrogance of the flesh, not just a little humility like 0 room
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left for human pride or back padding.
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And make sure God's glory shines fully, with no shadows from our
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supposed efforts. Completely resets who gets the
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credit. When you get this, the only
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response left is worship focused entirely on God's goodness, His
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sovereign grace. OK, that definitely sets a high
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standard for giving God His due. We've talked about the big
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picture, God's glory, but now let's shift.
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Let's bring it down to something very personal, something
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internal that, well, everyone deals with.
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That deep. Need for peace inside in our
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conscience. You ever lie awake, you know,
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thinking about your flaws, wondering if you're really OK,
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if you've done enough? That's the struggle, that search
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for interest, especially when you think about standing before
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God, his judgment. That's where Calvin goes next.
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He says this need for peaceful rest and serene tranquility
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isn't just nice to have. It's vital for your conscience
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when it faces God. It really is.
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It's fundamental for our spiritual health.
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Calvin brings up Solomon's question from Proverbs 20, verse
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nine. Who will say I have made my
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heart clean? I am pure for my sin?
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It's rhetorical, obviously. And the answer for Calvin is
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humbling. Nobody.
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He says humanity starts out sunken in infinite filth.
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That's strong language. It's a statement about our basic
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condition. And then he pushes it further.
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Even the most perfect man, you know, the person who looks like
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they have it all figured out, if they were judged only by their
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actions, their works, they'd be torn by dire torments.
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They'd find grounds for condemnation within himself.
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Huh. Just think about that.
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No human accomplishment, no matter how good it looks, and
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stand up under God's perfect standard.
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The best of us, if we're honest, looking inward, we find flaws,
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failures, always. This leads to a huge internal
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conflict. So if even the most perfect
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can't make it, what about the rest of us?
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That sounds, well, pretty hopeless, doesn't it?
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It does if we stop right there. But that's what forces us to
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look for the real solution. The main issue, Calvin says, is
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trying to find peace through our works.
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It just creates an impossible bind for the conscience, he
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says. If your conscience looks to God,
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it faces a choice. Either sure peace with his
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judgement or be besieged by the terrors of hell.
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No comfy middle ground. Either deep peace or deep dread
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and the stability your conscience needs.
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It just can't come from a workspace.
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Righteousness. Why not?
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Because of God's promise of righteousness.
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Looks to the merits of our works or depends upon the observance
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of the law. Then Calvin says faith is
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nullified and the promise is void.
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This isn't just theology speak, it's about how we actually live,
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how we find comfort day-to-day. Hold on, can you break that down
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a bit more? How does relying on works?
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Cancel out faith and void the promise?
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That sounds really serious. It is serious and it's a key
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part of Calvins argument. He argues that no one can ever
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confidently trust in it the promise, because no one will
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ever come to be really convinced in his own mind that he has
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satisfied the law, as surely no one ever fully satisfies it
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through works. I mean, think about it
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practically. How could you ever be totally,
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100% sure you've done enough, obeyed every rule all the time
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with perfect motives? You just can't.
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It's not about being pretty good, it's about meeting a
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perfect divine standard. This constant internal
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accounting, this, how great a weight of debt still pressed
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upon him, It leads straight to doubt and eventually despair.
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I mean, imagine trying to pay off an infinite debt with like
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pocket change. You'd always feel crushed by
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what you still owe. That feeling.
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Uncertainty, doubt, despair is the total opposite of what real
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faith is supposed to bring. Real faith, Calvin says, is
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meant to strengthen the mind with constant assurance and
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perfect confidence to have a place to rest and plant your
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foot. It's supposed to be solid
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ground, not shaky ground. That paints a really clear
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image. It's not just abstract talk.
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It's about our inner life. Think about the pressure of
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always trying to be perfect at work, in relationships, whatever
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Calvin's saying, trying to earn God's approval creates that same
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exhausting treadmill, but with eternal stakes.
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If getting God's promise fulfilled depends upon our
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merit, we have to ask that scary question.
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When will we at last have reached a place to deserve God's
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blessing? And the answer, like you said,
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is never. Not by ourselves, not in this
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life. So relying on our actions makes
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the promise practically useless, void and without force because
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we can never reach it. It's like building on sand.
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The failure of faith here is tied right into the promise.
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Feeling too, Cowan says The promise will be fulfilled only
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to those who have faith in him. When, therefore, faith fails,
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the promise will not remain in force.
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Yes, it's a critical link. If faith isn't certain because
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it's based on us, the promise can't be certain either.
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Right. And that's the problem.
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Promises that do nothing but vacillate and waver if they rest
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upon our own works can't give us a solid footing.
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They can't bring real peace because our works are always
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flawed, always falling short, always leaving us wondering, did
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I do enough? It's just an endless loop with
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no peace at the end. The conscience wants certainty
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and our works just don't deliver.
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It's striving without ever arriving.
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So, OK, if Works and Merit failed to bring that peace we
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need, what does Calvin gives us? The only way, the only path for
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your conscience to be made quiet before God, is when unmerited
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righteousness be conferred upon us as a gift of God.
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That's the solution. It has to be a gift, something
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totally unearned, otherwise it can't be a real source of peace.
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This gift from God let's your soul present themselves fearless
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before God's face and receive His judgement undismayed.
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Imagine that feeling standing before God without terror, but
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with home confidence. It has to be a righteousness so
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steadfast that it can support our soul in the judgement of
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God. Anything less, anything shaky or
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based on our flawed efforts, just collapses under God's
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standard. This righteousness isn't
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achieved. It's received and it enables
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total peace, total confidence before God because it's His
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righteousness, perfect and complete.
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And this gift, this unearned righteousness, it's tied
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directly to the forgiveness of sins.
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Calvin says that's absolutely key for peace.
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He says believers will not enjoy true peace until they have
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obtained forgiveness of sins. It's not just about feeling
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better, It's about our actual status before a holy God.
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Christ is called king of peace and our peace specifically
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because he quiets all agitations of conscience.
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Think of all that inner noise, the worry, the guilt, the self
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blame. Christ silences it.
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This deep, lasting peace comes through the sacrifice by which
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God has been appeased, specifically that one atonement
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in which Christ endured His wrath.
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Right and appeased here means God's justice was satisfied, not
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like he was angry and then calmed down.
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It means Christ's death fully met the demands of justice that
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our sin incurred. Exactly.
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Without that single finished work of Christ on the cross,
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Calvin says you'll never cease to tremble.
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There's just no other way for the conscience to find solid
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ground, a truly quiet place. We have to look for peace solely
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in the anguish of Christ, our Redeemer.
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His suffering, His perfect life, His death.
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Those are the only source for this deep inner calm.
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It's a peace not based on how we did today or our struggles or
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failures. It's rooted completely outside
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us, like finding shelter in a storm not by building your own
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flimsy Hut, but by being brought onto a solid ship.
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And that's why the nature of this justifying faith is so
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important. Calvin draws a sharp line here.
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He tells us peace or quiet joy are retained in consciences only
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when we are convinced that we are justified by faith.
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That's straight from Romans 5.1. And where does this assurance
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come from? He says it's when God's love has
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been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
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Also from Romans 5. This leads to being surely
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persuaded that we are pleasing to God.
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Not just hoping, but persuaded so.
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It's not just believing God exists, it's believing we are
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right with God because of what Christ did.
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Yes, precisely. And the really crucial thing
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about this faith, Calvin says, is its passive nature and
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justification. What's passive mean here?
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It means faith is bringing nothing of ours to the
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recovering of God's favor, but receiving from Christ that which
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we lack. Think of it like opening your
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hand to take a gift, not trying to build the gift yourself.
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It's not about achieving things, checking boxes.
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It's about humbly receiving. This is totally different from
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any idea of self effort or adding our bit to salvation.
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Calvin even says people who try to rely on regeneration, that's
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the change inside of a lever or on their spiritual living, their
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growth in goodness. People who rely on those for
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justification, he says they have never tasted the sweetness of
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grace. It's a strong statement, But
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why? Because regeneration, while real
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and vital, is always imperfect in this flesh.
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And because it's imperfect, it always has manifold grounds for
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doubt. You're still growing, still
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stumbling. How can something imperfect give
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you perfect peace before perfect God?
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It just can't. That's a really challenging idea
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for a lot of people. We often think becoming better
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is how we get right with God. So you're saying even our
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spiritual growth are getting better?
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Can't be the basis for our standing before God.
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Not for our justification, no. Our growth is a result of being
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justified, not the cause. It's what happens after God
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declares us righteous as we live out our gratitude for His grace.
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But it's not the foundation, the sweetness of grace received by
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this passive faith. That's what leads to real
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confidence, especially in prayer.
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It's what lets us cry ABBA Father, like in Galatians 4IN
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Romans 8, that close, trusting way of talking to God.
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It's possible because we're convinced of his love, not
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because we've met some standard. It's what gives us boldness and
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access with confidence through faith in Him.
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As Ephesians 3 says, this access isn't based on our shaky
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efforts, but on Christ's perfect, finished work.
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It changes the whole relationship.
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That really clarifies faith's role.
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It's about receiving, not achieving.
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And This is why, Calvin explains, the inheritance arises
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from faith in order to establish the promise according to grace.
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The promise isn't built on our efforts, it's built on God's
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undeserved favor. The promises God makes, Calvin
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says, are abundantly confirmed when it rests solely upon God's
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mercy. Since mercy and truth are joined
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together by an everlasting bond. God's merciful promises are
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reliable because they come from his unchanging character, not
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our changing performance. Yes, it connects right to who
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God is, His mercy and His truthfulness.
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They go together. So His promises, which flow from
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His mercy, are as solid and dependable as He is.
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You see this in David's prayer in Psalm 119, verse 76.
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He asks for salvation according to thy word, but he grounds it
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in God's mercy. David isn't making a case based
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on his record. He's appealing to God's
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character. God, Calvin argues, is led to
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promise simply by his mere mercy alone.
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And this isn't just Calvin making things up.
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He's echoing older voices, Augustine said centuries
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earlier. The promises firm, not according
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to our merits, but according to His mercy.
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Bernardo Clairvaux talked about needing faith to help us and
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God's truth to help us through the Spirit convincing our hearts
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were God's children. It all comes back to God's honor
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and favor, His willingness to give because of who He is, not
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who we are. It's a strong current and
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reformed thinking, Yeah, tracing way back.
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So Calvin pulls this all together based on scripture in
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this tradition, and says something huge for our peace.
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God's promises are not established unless they are
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grasped with a full assurance of conscience.
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Quote Wherever there is doubt or uncertainty, it pronounces them
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void. Quote.
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Quote meaning if we're always second guessing, wondering if
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we're good enough, then God's promises for us lose their power
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to bring comfort and peace. This is why faith alone must
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have place, turning our focus away from all worth or merit of
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man. It's a radical shift in where we
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look for hope, for security. And what's really neat here is
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how these two things, God's glory and your piece of
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conscience, aren't separate issues.
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They happen together through free justification, two sides of
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one coin. For the world to really be
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subject to God, for His rule to be fully seen, humans have to be
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utterly deprived of any occasion for glorying.
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When all our self praise is gone, when we see salvation is
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all God's work, then the soul praises of God so resound as to
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overwhelm and deep silence all arrogance of the flesh.
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This isn't just poetry, it's reality.
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Theologically and psychologically.
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When you truly get that, you add nothing to your right standing
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with God, all your pride, yourself congratulation, it just
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vanishes. Only God's greatness remains so.
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It's not just about God getting his due, but it's also freeing
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for us. It lists the burden of trying to
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earn our way. Absolutely.
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It frees you because it gives you your only ground of hope for
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the inheritance of a heavenly Kingdom.
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There's no other safe place to stand.
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You see, the end result for you as a believer is being engrafted
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in the body of Christ. They are freely accounted
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righteous. It's a total change in status,
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not earned just given, that gives solid unshakable hope.
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This secure rest coming from sins forgiven is even pictured
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in Zechariah chapter 3. There, once the iniquity of this
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land will be removed, real peace comes.
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It's shown by people inviting friends under his vine and under
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his fig tree. A picture of total security,
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well-being peace that only comes through Christ.
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He is our King of peace. He silences that inner turmoil
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because He did everything needed for us to be right with God.
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Understanding this, really getting it, frees us up to live
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for Him out of gratitude, not trying to earn His favor.
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So what's the take away? This deep dive into Calvin on
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free justification really highlights a core message of
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grace and Christianity. It's a message that says our
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right standing with God and the deep peace that follows.
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It's a gift totally unearned, totally undeserved, freely given
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by God. And that truth changes
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everything. How you see God recognizing His
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singular glory and salvation, and how you see your own
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spiritual security. It removes that heavy load of
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trying to earn what you can't earn.
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It replaces it with the amazing rest and confidence that comes
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from just receiving what God freely gives in Christ.
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It's about letting go of what you think you need to do and
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resting in what God has done. And that leaves us with a key
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question for you to think about. How does really grasping
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salvation as a gift given freely purely for God's honor and for
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your deep peace? How does that change where you
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instinctively look for comfort or confidence day by day?
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Maybe chew on that as you continue to live in light of
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these amazing truths.