(upbeat music) - Pastor John, here's a question we get with some regularity now from people who have no idea what we're talking about. Give us a simple definition or description of Reformed Theology or this thing we call Calvinism. What are we talking about when we use those terms on this podcast?

- Here's what I ordinarily mean when I use the term Reformed Theology or Calvinism, and please, our listeners should understand that others may want to give a lot fuller or more precise meaning. So don't be surprised if you hear someone say, "Piper's definition is way too narrow." They're right in one sense.

Historically, Reformed Theology would include everything you read in a big systematic theology written by a Reformed theologian. So that's Reformed Theology, which is why certain Reformed folks get all uptight if you just give it a little teeny definition. So I totally am okay with that and affirm that, but I think what people wanna know and what I mean is what are some of the distinctives that you're talking about when you use this phrase?

And so here's what I mean. Reformed Theology, as I mean it, is a view of God and His way of working in the world that grows like a tree with lots of branches out of a deep conviction that God's glory is the goal of all things and His freedom and His sovereignty are essential to His deity, and because He's free and sovereign and glorious, He doesn't need to be served by anyone to meet His needs, and therefore He is gloriously free to be gracious to us.

That's it in a nutshell. So let me just take those one at a time and put texts underneath them. The glory of God is supreme, the supreme theme of Reformed Theology. So Isaiah 48, "For my name's sake I defer my anger, "for the sake of my praise," God says, "I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.

"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. "I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. "For my own sake, for my own sake I do it. "How should my name be profaned? "My glory I will not give to another." I don't think there's a more God-exalting verse in the Bible than Isaiah 48, 9 to 11.

So the glory of God from creation to consummation is the supreme value that God has in the world, and He's pursuing it in all that He does. "Bring my sons from afar, "my daughters from the ends of the earth, "everyone who's called by my name, "whom I created for my glory," God says in Isaiah 43, 7.

And in doing this, in pursuing His glory in all that He does, which is the theme at the center of Reformed theology, He is totally free and sovereign. That is, He's not decisively constrained or controlled by any force from outside Himself. He can overcome every obstacle to His purposes and do everything He pleases.

So here's a text or two on His freedom. Psalm 115, 3, "Our God is in the heavens. "He does whatever He pleases," totally free. Or Romans 9, 15, "I have mercy on whom I have mercy. "I have compassion on whom I have compassion." A statement like that is designed to help us embrace the freedom of God.

He does what He pleases, and He does it with absolute sovereignty. And what I mean by that is Isaiah 46, 9, "I am God, there is no other. "I am God, there is none like me, "declaring the end from the beginning, "and from ancient times things not yet done, "saying," and here it comes, "My counsel shall stand, "and I will accomplish all my purpose," says the Lord.

So nothing can stop Him. He is sovereign. Anything that looks like an obstacle in the way, if He lets it remain an obstacle, He's just permitting it. He could go over it any time He wanted, and therefore He's sovereign over it. So He has no needs, and therefore overflows in free grace to whom He pleases.

Acts 17, "God is not served by human hands "as though He needed anything. "He Himself gives and gives and gives "to all mankind, life and breath and everything." God is a bountiful God because He's not a needy God, and He's not a needy God because He's infinitely glorious and free and sovereign.

So those are the roots of God's action in creation and history, which means that when it comes to saving sinners, and here's where we get down to the nitty gritty, just briefly, when it comes to saving sinners, God is free and sovereign in the way He does it. We are dead.

John Piper was dead in my trespasses and my sins. I was unable to change my life. I did not love God. I did not trust God. I did not want God. I found God boring, and therefore I was enslaved to my own sin. God was not beautiful, and He wasn't satisfying, and that's the condition of everybody until God moves.

And so Reformed theology says the only solution to this hopeless condition that I was in and everybody's in is that God is sovereign, and by His free grace, overcomes our blindness. He raises us from the dead. He gives us eyes to see the beauty of Christ so that we freely and joyfully embrace Him as our supreme treasure.

For example, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," way back there in creation, "has shone in our hearts "to give the light of the knowledge "of the glory of God in the face of Christ." That's how I got saved. My heart was dark.

It was dead. It was rebellious. It had all the wrong preferences, and God said, "Let there be gospel light "in John Piper's heart," and by miracle, in a moment, I saw Christ differently. He was compellingly true and beautiful and satisfying, and I was saved. The Bible calls me now a new creation so that Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 are true.

By grace, you have been saved. Through faith, this is not your own doing. It's a gift of God, not a result of works or anything we did, so faith is a gift. We don't create it with our free will. Now, here's where it gets controversial, and I'm just gonna close with this statement.

We don't create it. We don't create faith with our free will. If left to our free will, we will all choose the pleasures of the creation over the beauty of the Creator. Our free will is a slave to sin. Just read Romans 6, and you'll see that we were enslaved to sin, enslaved on righteousness.

Only the sovereign grace of God can set us free so that we see Christ for who He really is and embrace Him as our supreme treasure. That's what I mean by Reformed theology. - Excellent. Thank you for the introduction, Pastor John, and if you'd like more about Reformed theology, see two podcast episodes, episode number 117, The Joy of Calvinism and the Fight for Joy, and see also episode 237, Where Did All These Calvinists Come From?

And if you want a written introduction to Calvinism with biblical proofs for you to see and study for yourself, see Pastor John's new book, "Five Points Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace." The book can be downloaded in its entirety, free of charge from our website, DesiringGod.org. Click on Books at the top, and then look for the title, "Five Points." While you're at the website, look around.

We have thousands of books, articles, blog posts, sermons, and other resources from John Piper and all free of charge for you to enjoy. And they're all intended to explain why God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Well, spring is here, the sun is out, and tomorrow we'll be back to talk about bikinis and modesty.

Oh my, that should be quite interesting. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)