Renewing Your Mind – Justice and Grace

Podcast: Renewing Your Mind
Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Ligonier Ministries
Speaker: Dr. R.C. Sproul
Main Theme: Understanding the relationship between God’s justice and grace, challenging common misconceptions, and calling listeners to a proper awe of God’s mercy.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. R.C. Sproul explores the profound concepts of God's justice and grace, building on the biblical account of Uzzah and reflecting on both the severity of God's judgment and the astonishing nature of His mercy. Dr. Sproul challenges listeners to reconsider what should truly amaze us about God, urging a deeper awareness of our unworthiness and the gratuitous gift of divine grace.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Presuming on God’s Grace

• Opening Challenge
  • Dr. Sproul warns against taking God’s patience for granted because judgment is not immediate:

    "Because God does not send down fire from heaven every 15 minutes, every time we sin, we assume that God will be as kind to us always as he is now, and that because he stays the hand of his justice that he will stay it forever." (00:00)

2. What Truly Amazes Us?

• Reflection on “Amazing Grace”
  • Dr. Sproul questions whether people are still truly “amazed by grace,” noting that often what shocks us is God’s wrath or perceived injustices rather than His willingness to show mercy:

    "When was the last time that you were amazed by grace? It seems as if the thing that amazes us about God is His wrath or his justice." (01:32)

3. Wrestling with Suffering and Injustice

• God’s Justice vs. Human Victimhood
  • Sproul shares a personal encounter with a grieving, angry friend and turns the question around:

    "I looked at him and I said, why shouldn't it happen? Why shouldn't he do it to your other children? Why shouldn't he strike you dead since you got out of your bed this morning?...I can understand a holy God killing everybody who is unholy." (03:10)

  • He pushes against the modern “victim mentality” and emphasizes that, as sinners, we do not deserve the good that happens to us:

    "We harbor the idea that heaven wouldn't quite be what it ought to be without us. That somehow we deserve every good thing that we get..." (05:58)

4. Horizontal vs. Vertical Justice

• Justice Among People vs. Justice with God
  • Dr. Sproul makes a crucial distinction between seeking justice from people (horizontal) and demanding justice from God (vertical):

    "On the vertical plane, I can never say to God, oh God, it is unjust of you to allow this injustice from another person against me." (07:34)

  • Every breath we take is by grace, not by right.

5. Jesus Confronts Human Expectations of Justice (Luke 13)

• Tragedy, Sin, and Repentance
  • Sproul unpacks Jesus' response to questions about tragic deaths (the Galileans slaughtered by Pilate, the Tower of Siloam):

    “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners...because they suffered such things? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (09:35)

  • The correct question is not “Why did they die?” but “Why was I spared?” We should be overwhelmed by the grace shown in our own preservation, not surprised at judgment falling on others.

6. The Danger of Presuming on Mercy

• Illustration from Teaching Experience
  • Dr. Sproul uses a story from his years of teaching to illustrate how quickly mercy is taken for granted and turned into entitlement:

    "We get mercy once, we're thrilled, we praise God...but by now we're beginning to assume it and to presume it. And without the twinkling of an eye, we begin to demand it." (20:09)

  • His warning:

    “Don’t ever ask God for justice. You might get it.” (22:04)

7. The Essential Difference: Justice is Owed, Grace is a Gift

• Grace Is Never Obligated
  • Sproul underscores this vital point:

    “Grace is never, never, never, never due us. God is never obligated to be gracious. Grace, by definition, is voluntary. And the minute you think that God owes you mercy…you’re no longer thinking about mercy. You’re thinking about justice.” (22:57)

  • Citing God’s words:

    “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will be merciful to whom I will have mercy.” (23:40)

  • The only proper response is awe and thanksgiving for His mercy, not presumption upon it.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Presumption of Mercy:

  “We have grown accustomed to his grace. We've presumed upon that grace. We assume that God will be as kind to us always as he is now.” (19:51)

• On Suffering and Divine Justice:

  “I can never complain to God. Oh, God, you're not being fair to allow me to have to suffer through these indignities...Because I know that every breath of air I take in this world I take by grace.” (07:53)

• On the Meaning of Repentance:

  "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13, repeated at 12:48 and 16:39)

• On Justice, Mercy, and Our Response:

  "Don’t ever ask God for justice. You might get it." (22:04)
  "Grace is never obligated…God reserves the right of grace to himself.” (23:04)

Key Timestamps

• 00:00 – Dr. Sproul warns against assuming God’s mercy will last forever.
• 01:32 – Challenging personal amazement at grace.
• 03:10 – Story of a grieving friend and reframing of suffering.
• 05:58 – Exposing our own sense of entitlement and victimhood.
• 07:34 – Distinguishing between seeking human and divine justice.
• 09:35 – Jesus’ answer to the question of tragedy and sin in Luke 13.
• 13:08 – Lessons from the Tower of Siloam and the call to repentance.
• 18:57 – The story of a student presuming upon repeated extensions (mercy) and facing justice.
• 22:04 – Dr. Sproul’s warning against demanding justice from God.
• 23:04 – The critical distinction between justice and grace.

Conclusion

R.C. Sproul powerfully reminds listeners that God’s justice is always fair, but it is His grace that should stagger us. Rather than resenting the presence of suffering or thinking we’re owed mercy, we are called to humble repentance and joy-filled gratitude, recognizing every moment as an unearned gift.

“What would happen to you if God gave you absolute justice? You would surely perish, as we all would.” (23:48) – R.C. Sproul

Next episode preview: Sinclair Ferguson on “Who Is the Holy Spirit?” (Not covered in this summary)