Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Anatomy of Sin (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

In Jeremiah, the people of Israel were calling out and saying, “What’s wrong with us? Why are things falling apart?” And God came through and said, “Let me tell you what’s wrong.” In Jeremiah 2, we have the first sermon by the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Israel. It’s a sermon to show them why their lives are falling apart, why their culture is falling apart, why their psyches are falling apart, why their families are falling apart. And it’s a sermon on sin. There are three things that we learn from this passage about the nature of sin: 1) sin is denial, 2) sin is a disposition, and 3) there is a solution. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 22, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:2-13, 19. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. You don't have to look far to see that something's deeply wrong with our world and with us. But is there an answer that gets to the root of why? In today's message, Tim Keller explores the human condition through stories in the Bible, uncovering what scripture says about sin and why it's the only explanation deep enough to face the truth about ourselves. The teaching this morning is based on this passage in Jeremiah. I'm going to read chapter 2 and what's printed there, verses 2 to 13 and verse 19. Jeremiah is one of the last prophets that God sent to the people of Judah before their nation and culture collapsed completely.

They were invaded. They were carried away into exile. and this, the book of Jeremiah is a series of sermons from God, in a sense, to the people through the prophet Jeremiah. And this is the first of all the great sermons in which Jeremiah is trying to show the people of Judah, what's wrong with them, why their lives are falling apart, why their cultures falling apart, why their psyches are falling apart, why their families are falling apart. Let me read, beginning here at the top, verse two, I remember the devil the devotion of your youth. How is a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert through a land not

sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who devoured her were held guilty and disaster overtook them, declares the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord, O House of Jacob, all you clans of the House of Israel. This is what the Lord says. What fault did your fathers find in me that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, where is the Lord who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of draught and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives. I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce, but you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priest did not ask, where is the Lord?

Those who deal with the law did not know me, the leaders rebelled against me, the prophets prophesied by bail following worthless idols. therefore I bring charges against you again, declares the Lord, and I will bring charges against your children's children. Cross over to the coast of Kittam and look, send a Kedar and observe closely, see, if there has ever been anything like this, has a nation ever changed its gods? Yet they are not gods at all. But my people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror, declares the Lord. My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken me. the springs of living water and have dug their own cisterns broken cisterns that cannot hold water your wickedness

will punish you your backsliding will rebuke you consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the lord your god and have no awe of me declares the lord the lord almighty this is God's word starting today stretching on for about three months all the way up to Easter Easter is about three months away we're going to be doing a series of teachings on the subject of sin

what it is how it operates what its effects are what kinds what types there are and we'll start this week and you'll see us again next week with this first sermon by Jeremiah to the people of Israel because they were saying to themselves and they were saying they were calling

out and saying what's wrong with us why are things falling apart what's wrong you know that's interesting that it seems like after every election nowadays everybody's been thrown out new people have been brought in and the papers are saying why is everybody so unhappy what's wrong with us and actually everybody's saying what's wrong what's going on well the people of israel were asking that question and God came through and said, let me tell you what's wrong with you. And he gives them a sermon on sin, the nature of sin, the character, the characteristics of sin. And as we look at this, it's interesting. I feel like it's a huge sermon, it lasts 37 verses, but it's really summarized in verse 19.

Sort of the summarization of it's in verse 19. There's several summarizations, but I'm going to look at that mainly. there's three things that we learn from this passage about the nature of sin, the definition, you might say, are the characteristics, the character of sin. And here's what they are. First of all, we learn from this passage and from the Lord, therefore, that sin is by essence denial. Sin is denial.

Look, look at the language he uses. Consider then and realize how evil and, bitter it is for you. See that? Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you. You know what this language is? This is intervention language. You know, let's say, you have a friend who calls you up, let's say, the wife of a friend calls you up and she says, you know, for years he's been covering something up. There's a self, there's destructive behavior in his life. He's been covering it up. He's been hiding it, but it's come out, but he still won't see it. Please come over here. tell him what he's doing. So you go on over and you sit down and you hear the story and how do you

start to talk? What do you say? What's your language? You say, can't you see? Don't you see what you're doing to yourself? It's clear everybody else can see it. You're killing yourself. How can you do this? You don't get it. You have to get it. You have to see. That's how you talk. That's the language of intervention for a deluded loved one. Don't you see? This is the language that God uses on us. He assumes by this language, consider then and realize,

what's that mean? Consider, you're not thinking. Realize, you don't get it. You don't see what your problem is. You don't realize what the source of the evil and bitterness of your life is. You don't see it. You don't get it.

You have to see it. This is the language of intervention. in the language of pleading. In other words, what we learned from this verse, what we learn from this passage, what we learned from the Bible, the root of our problems

is the force field of denial that sin always entails. Let me put it a couple of different ways. It is not fatal to be a sinner. It's not being a sinner that's fatal, according to the Bible. It's the denial that you're a sinner that's fatal. I mean, let's look at the most obvious, it's crying out, and I've already in a sense alluded to it,

the most obvious parallel here. It's not fatal to be an alcoholic, is it? Plenty of alcoholics are leading productive lives. What is fatal? It's a fatal to be an alcoholic and to deny that you are. That's fatal. And we also know that there's something about the evil of alcoholism, which is what it is, it's an evil. There's something about the very nature of it that puts out a force field of denial, isn't that right? Well, in a sense, that's just a metaphor. In many ways, a very small metaphor, just a dim reflection of what God is talking about here. God is saying, if there's evil and bitterness in your life, and if there's not evil and bitterness in your life, you're just very young. In other words, if you have evil and bitterness and you just wait, you know, wait, right?

I saw the Adams family values last night, and, you know, there's little preppy girls looking at Wednesday and saying, why are you dressed as if there's a funeral? Why are you dressed as if someone's died? And she looks and she says, just wait. Well, it's the same idea. God says, your life is evil and bitter. You say, my life isn't evil and bitter. God says, just wait. When you see the evil and the bitterness of your life, God says, the root problem of our society and of humanity is that we will not admit that we're sinners there's nothing fatal about being sinners god says there's lots you can do about that what's fatal is to deny that you are that's why it's the evil and bitterness because you don't consider because you don't realize consider that and realize that's the thing you've got to do that's the thing you've got to see

if i could if i could there's a force field that comes out from sin you know the old uh radio shows based on the shadow, that character that had learned over in the East to cloud the minds of people around him so they couldn't see him. And it became a movie that nobody went to see this last summer as well. But the whole idea is the shadow is someone who clouds people's minds. That's what sin is. Sin is the shadow. The real shadow. By its nature, sin entails. And you will not see the extent and the magnitude. Oh, yes. Of course, I'm a human being. I air. I'm flawed, that's not to admit you're a sinner. That's not to admit you're a helpless sinner.

That there's, as Dorothy Sayers says, there's a radical interior dislocation in the heart. That we're way off center because we center on ourselves. That we're capable of tremendous evil. I wish, if I could do it, I would make everybody read the poets and the philosophers and the great thinkers of the end. of the 19th century, both sides of the Atlantic, you know, over in Europe and here, what

they said, they were getting rid of Christianity, they were getting rid of religion, they were getting rid of what they considered superstition. They said, ah, yes, we are finally bringing in a rational approach to government, a rational approach to poverty, a rational approach to human beings, we've gotten rid of superstition, and we're going to see incredible things happen. We're going to see an end. You ought to read the stuff. They're going to see an end of poverty in the 20th century. We're going to see the end of war in the 20th century, the end of war. They almost all said this. And now where are we? What was their problem? Denial. They, look, I mean, here are two great, two terrific examples.

I mean, there's just zillions of examples. You know, H.G. Wells and W.H.I. And I love to quote them. You know, I hate to see the pain, but you see years of, you know, they start off with this idea, we are not sinners. And by the end of their lives, after years of disillusionment and years of brokenness, why? Because of the denial, that we are sinners. Finally in the end, they brought kicking and screaming to the place where the Bible could have pointed to start with. Years wasted over it.

There's a lady, two people who were at the very foundation of the reconstruction of the British Social Welfare Society, Sydney and Beatrice Webb. two great people did a lot of good. But they got rid of Christianity in their own lives. And in 1890, Beatrice Webb put in her diary this word. She said, I've staked everything on the essential goodness of human nature. 35 years later, in her diary, she reminded herself of what she had said in 1890. She cited that where she said, I've staked everything on the essential goodness of human nature.

But then she said, I realize now how powerful. permanent are the evil impulses and instincts in us that mayor's social machinery will never change she had staked her whole life on the idea that social machinery will get rid of the poverty we'll get rid of the violence we'll get rid of these things because we're essentially good at the end of her life the one thing she decided would be the solution she came to realize i now see i now know how permanent are the evil instincts and impulses in us she'd given her whole life to something the Bible could have told her to start with. She was in denial.

More recent, a guy named Ernest Becker won the Pulitzer Prize. He was a social scientist. He wrote two books on evil. The first book on evil was the structure of evil. And in that book, he says the real problem in the world, the reason we have poverty

and the reason we have war, the reason we have violence, is because the privileged are oppressing everybody else through oppressive social structures and therefore he says it's social science applied to government will deal with evil

right after he died his last book was published called Escape from Evil and in the preface you know what he says he had changed completely he says I am now in this book looking at humanity full in the face for the first time he says in my previous works i had failed to see how truly vicious human behavior is and then get this quote this is a dilemma that i have been caught in along with many others who have been trying to keep alive

the enlightenment tradition this enormous problem to see that humanity is so evil causing now requires some third alternative beyond bureaucratic science or despair Do you know what he's saying? It says, my whole life, I figured that bureaucratic science, which simply means social sciences apply. Better schools, legislation, better regulations, better work on people, you see. Social science applied to bureaucracy. That would deal with evil.

Now that I see, for the first time, after years of basing my whole life, I now see there's got to be some third way, because bureaucratic science won't work, and we can't just despair. What is that third way? Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is when you forsake the Lord your God. In other words, what the Bible says is, what's wrong? What's wrong? Why spend your whole life in denial and at the end, kicking and screaming to the place?

You'll never see thinkers ever start out saying people are scum-bags. By the end of their lives, they're saying, now, I realize that people are wonderful. Never happens. Never. It's always the other way around. At the end of their lives are saying, I've based my hope. How could people be so wicked?

How could people be so evil? They've been in denial. What was the problem? What was the problem? It's not the economy, stupid. It's sin. It's sin. We've got to move on.

The first point is this. Sin, by its nature, entails of itself. Sin puts out a force field. Sin is denial that we're sinners. And just quickly, do you believe it? Do you apply it to yourself? You know, sometimes I think I'll make these points, and I've got to show you the application, for example, just a couple ways.

For example, surely there's some of you, many, many people say, you know, I believe in the law of God in general. I think the Ten Commandments are great, I really do, most of the time. But, you know, we can take these two things too far. I mean, if you were honest all the time in New York, you'd never make any money at all. If you were sexually pure all the time, you'd never have any fun. I mean, you know, I mean, the moral law is pretty good up to a time, up to a place, but, you know, you can overdo these things.

Consider and realize you are in denial as to how powerful sin is. You cannot cut corners of the law of God. But to do that shows that you have no idea the power. that's within you. You have no idea about how pernicious and how pathological. You have no idea about how deadly sin is. When you say, I can play around with it. This is a gray area. I don't know if it's right or wrong. It doesn't seem wrong. Who knows? What the heck? Consider and realize. We all tend to deny. We all tend to underestimate. Let me give you another example. Some of you are saying, and I occasionally find you, but most of you I don't for the very reason.

many of you are saying here's an area of my life in which I've got a problem I know it there's a flaw there's a character flaw I keep falling into it I keep getting into it maybe I should tell somebody no no I'll do it myself I'd be too embarrassed I wouldn't want to tell anybody else I wouldn't want to go to anyone for counsel I wouldn't want to share this with a good friend and say please hold me accountable no no no that'd be too embarrassing. I can do it myself. Consider then and realize you're in denial. We're always in denial. We always underestimate the power of the sin. They always do. You always think I can handle it. You know? One more. Just one more example. There's an awful lot of folks, I think,

who there's an awful lot of people who are in a position where they are getting from somebody right now, criticism. And it's very easy to write it off 100% because the criticism is truly exaggerated. Or you can see that the motives of the person are bad, okay? Or you can see that there's a lot of error mixed in it. It's not just exaggerated, but much of what they're saying is wrong with you really isn't wrong. Okay? So maybe you look at it.

and you say it's mainly wrong or it's exaggerated or you can you know you know i mean you consider the source we you know who that person is and what a mess that person is or you know what kind of motives that person is but remember this you ought to say to yourself if you take this seriously that sin is denial by its essence in its nature you ought to say continually you know it may be exaggerated it may be mixed with error it may be from a fairly un uh you know unadmirable source but is God trying to tell me something? Because I know by my nature I tend to deny the things

that really are wrong with me. If you believe what I'm telling you here, you should be the most gracious when it comes to criticism, the most open when it comes to criticism when you get it. You should be the most willing to listen to people

who have something to tell you that's wrong with you. You should be the least defensive person if you take this seriously, do you? Everywhere we look, we see brokenness, wars, cruelty, and heartache. We feel it in the world around us and in our own lives. How did it get this way?

And what can be done about it? In his brand new book that's releasing this month, What is Wrong with the World? Tim Keller offers a clear and compassionate answer. Drawing from a series of teachings given at Redeemer, Dr. Keller shows how the reality of sin explains the pain we see all around us and how only the gospel offers lasting freedom and healing. Whether you're overwhelmed by the state of our world, struggling with your own mistakes or

choices, or looking for hope and joy, what is wrong with the world will help you see how the gospel speaks to both the heartache of our world and the pain within each of us. This newly released book, What is Wrong with the World, is our thanks for your gift this month to help Gospel in Life share the good news of Jesus. Request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

Sin is denial. But secondly, and mainly, sin is not just denial in general. What is sin denial of? We said sin is a denial. But in particular, Paul, pardon me, God here tells us what the essence of sin is, what the nub of it is, what the heart of sin is. What is it? Well, he says, consider and realize how bitter, evil and bitter it is, when you forsake me but then he goes and he tells you why they forsake and have no awe of me now this is the essence this is the essence of sin if you ask somebody what you know define sin for me and they'll say well sins are breaking the rules sins are breaking god's laws if you believe in god sins that's what sins are that's right that's what sins are but sin is a disposition

it's an attitude, it's a stance, it's a posture of the heart. And here, I keep saying Paul, that's because I'm remembering other times. God in this passage says, the heart of why you forsake him, the heart of why you sin, the reason you break the rules, the essence of it all, no awe. You have no awe of me. Let me show you why that this is the whole thing. this is the heart of it all. The new international version that we're reading,

this translation, the NIV translation, says, you have no awe of me. But the word that's here is the word that's used throughout the Bible, and in most translations it says, you have no fear of me. Now, one of the central themes of the Bible is the fear of the Lord. And all through the Bible,

there's all this talk about the fear of the Lord. And that's what God is saying, is the essence of sin. You do not have the fear of the Lord. Well, what does fear mean? Now, here's the problem. In the Bible, the word fear is used in two different ways. And we, in our modern common use of the word, only use it in one of those two ways.

So first of all, the Bible says there's a fear, in 1 John 4, it says there's a fear that hath torment. Now, what does that mean? Well, it's pretty simple. When we use the word fear, we mean it in this way. Fear is the anticipation of pain. Fear is the anticipation of pain, but look how fear works. Fear means you suddenly get fixed on what's going to happen to you. And when you're paralyzed by fear, you might say, or when you're in the grip of fear,

you are focusing on what is coming and everything is done in reference to it. See, if you're afraid, you know, in other words, for example, I'm not afraid of, at least I'm not creeped out by insects. So if I see a spider, I see in New York a roach or something like that, wandering around, I'll say, oh, there it is. I don't like it. Somebody else might find maybe it's irrational.

They cannot sit and read a book in a room with a little roach running around. Why? They can't. Because they're afraid of it. Okay? They're creeped out by it. It appalls them. It obsesses them, which means they cannot do anything without reference to it. They can't

forget it. It dominates everything they do. They can't get up and just, you know, have a cup of coffee. They can't read. They can't. They must deal with that roach. Why? That's what fear does. Fear absorbs you. It obsesses you with an object so that you cannot do anything except with reference to it. But then the Bible talks about a different kind of fear. In Proverbs 2814, it says, happy is the one who fears always. What? Happy is the one who fears always. We read, Jeff used it for our words of encouragement. It says in Psalm 130, verse four, because you've forgiven my sins, I fear you. What? And here's what's so interesting. There is, when it comes to God, something the Bible calls fear. It's a positive fear, not a negative fear.

But you see why? You say, well, why use the term? it's an inward awe before God. It's an inward condition of delight in the magnitude of who he is. You say, well, why I call that fear? Do you see what they have in common? Positive fear does not have torment. In negative fear, you're totally absorbed in yourself. In positive fear, you're blessedly free from thinking about yourself.

In negative fear, you're parallels. In positive fear, you're empowered. But here's what they have in common. The fear of the Lord means He is absolutely central You can do nothing without reference to him No matter what you do, you say How does this involve God?

How does this affect my relationship with God? How does this relate to God? Because you see the magnitude of who he is And the greatness of who he is And he is now utterly and absolutely central There is nothing that you can possibly do or think without reference to his glory, his greatness, his love, his power. Do you see that? Now, God says that's the essence of sin. That's the essence of everything. In other words,

God is so wise. God is getting beneath the violations. You say, well, you say sins are violating the law. You know, when you lie, when you are selfish, when you're cruel, when you do these things, that's sin. Well, God says, but why would you ever do it? Why would you ever disobey? Why would you ever be cruel? Why would you ever lie? Why? And the answer is, whenever you sin in a particular way, at that point, you are holding something in more awe than you are holding God in. Something you find more wonderful than God. Something more dynamic than God. Something more captivating than God. Something more awesome than God. Do you see? And that At that point is the reason why you sin.

Let me apply this as we start to close up here. Let me apply this. Do you understand? First of all, let me apply it in a couple different ways. There's a number of ways. First of all, do you see, therefore, that there is no way, no way that there can be halfway measures when it comes to God? God says the essence of sin is to not have me smack center in the middle of your

life, smack center in the middle of your thoughts. If you are a little religious, if you are a little moral, if you are kind of religious. In other words, you can't have a God at times. You can't have a God as a vitamin supplement. Years ago, a lady was teaching, I've never forgotten what she said, lady was teaching at a Christian conference and she said, if the distance from the earth to the sun, that 93 million miles was just the thickness of one, sheet of paper, do you know that the distance from the earth to the nearest star would be a stack

of paper 70 feet high? Do you know that just the diameter of our galaxy would be a stack of paper 310 miles high? Do you realize there's trillions and trillions and trillions of galaxies that we know of? And do you know that if there is a creator God, that creator God holds it all together with the word of his power? Now, she said, if he's there at all, how can you possibly ask a person like that, a God like that, into your life at times, to come when he's called,

as an assistant, as a way of getting you over the hump. Don't you see why sin is denial? Sin is denial in its essence because it's to be out of touch with reality. If there's a God at all, how can you relate to him in any other way than with complete,

unless you relate to him with complete and utter and unconditional devotion. That's the reason why Paul says in Romans, I finally got one for Paul, Paul says in Romans 12 verse 1, in the old King James, it's rendered this way, make yourself living sacrifices to God, which is your reasonable service. Sin is irrational. Either there's a God, but if there is a God, okay? We'll get to this and say, if there is a God, he must be central

he must be someone from whom you can do nothing you have to do everything with reference to him everything there's never an area of your life where you can say well you know I ought

you don't you don't even think about what would God say about that what does God say about that never do you understand that awe your problem the reason your life is so evil and bitter there's no awe

let me give you another apple education, intellectually, intellectually. You know, when the Bible says that a lack of centrality of God is not only the cause of all of our personal problems, but it's the cause of all our intellectual problems. And in a place like Manhattan, I ought to say something about this. So many of your students, scholars, thinkers, counselors, God says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of wisdom. Unless God is obsessively in the center of your intellectual scheme. Here's what's so interesting about this verse.

Don't you see how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake me? If you don't have awe before God, it's not just that you're trampling on his glory, you're trampling on your glory. If you don't understand God, you won't understand yourself. Stephen Gould teaches at Harvard

doesn't believe in God. As a result, he says what everybody has to say who doesn't believe in God. God. He says, why are we here? We are here because one odd group of fish had a peculiar anatomy that could transform into legs. We may yearn for a higher answer, but there is none. We cannot read meaning in life into the facts of nature. Now, here's what he's saying. Take out God. If there's no awe of God, then there's no awe before yourself. If God has no glory you have no glory you're a meaningless animal there is no higher answer to that and you know what

you're left with you're left with a senseless life you know why because you're left with an incredible discrepancy between how you feel and how you operate and what you must be you must be a meaningless animal when you're in love with somebody you sit down and you don't you never say as you're kissing him or kissing her you never say this is just neurochemistry there's no such thing as love i'm just an animal this is the way my brain is working but that's the case unless there's a god if you have no awe of god it is evil and bitter for you if there is no awe of god in your thinking there can be no wonder or awe before the idea of love love is nothing it's just neurochemistry as soon as you think of the idea of good and bad do you believe there's some things that are really wrong have you seen things

Have you heard of things? Have you read of things that you say that's really wrong? Not if there's no God. That's just a social construction. That's nothing but culture. No, don't you see? Nothing matters. There is nothing awesome. There is nothing wonderful unless God is wonderful. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you have no awe of me, you will have no awe of anything. You won't have any awe of yourself. The doctrine of sin, they say, is pessimistic. If you're kidding me? If you don't have have the doctrine of sin, there's despair, there's nothing else. Don't consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake me and have no awe of me.

All your personal problems come because God is not central in your life. All of our intellectual problems come because God is not central in our thinking. And here lastly, dear friends, Christian friends, I want you to think about this. All of your self-control problems are coming because God is not central. You say, how could that be? Well, it's pretty simple. Are you having trouble with worry? Are you having trouble with self-pity? Are you having trouble with guilt? Whatever you're having trouble with, just see it in these terms. When you worry, you are more in awe of the power of some factor than you are in the power of God. When you're guilty, you're more in awe of the power of your sin,

than you are in the magnitude of his grace, the power of his grace. When you're in self-pity, you're more in awe of some great benefit which you've lost than you are in his mercies. When you are sure that everything is going wrong in your life, you're more in awe of your own wisdom than you are of his wisdom at the moment. And therefore, do you know what you need? That's the reason why the psalmist says the fear of the Lord is clean. There's nothing that cleans you out like this.

You don't, when you sit down, you don't just study your Bible just to get a little knowledge. When you come to church, I hope you're not just coming to get wisdom. You need to see God. The fear of the Lord. You need to actually say, oh, Holy Spirit, open my eyes so I see the awesomeness. Because, you know, your worries are gone when you see him is more awesome than any factor in your life. Your guilt is gone. When you see his grace is more awesome than any sin in your life.

Your self-pity is gone. When you see his mercies is more awesome than any missing factor in your life. Your anger is gone. you see, God's wisdom is more awesome than any of your wisdom and any your little agendas for your life. You need more than anything else to see him. Say, oh, Holy Spirit, magnify him. Let his glories be known. You need to wrestle until you see him, until you feel him.

It's possible. The Bible says you can have access to him. You need that. Whatever your problem is tonight, today. Whatever your problem is this week. Whatever your problem is, it can be cleaned with the fear of the Lord. no matter how defiled you are can be cleaned

if you go to him and you say it has been evil and bitter for me I've denied you and I've denied your centrality do you know what he'll say he'll say of course I'll have you of course I'll have you

and if you don't do that if you come out of this saying well i'm so wicked and i'm so evil and i'm so bad that why would god have me here's the one thing that you're not in awe enough about his grace up in verse six and over and over and over again throughout the whole passage he says nobody says where is the lord who brought us up out of egypt you know what he's saying he's saying think about me you know why you don't obey me you know you you're why you don't make me central, you don't trust my love, you don't trust my grace. He says, remember the Exodus.

Think about it for a minute. Remember the fact, I didn't give you the law in Egypt and then said, now if you obey that, I'll bring you out. I brought you out first, and then I gave you the law. Later, I'm a God of grace. So why in the world are you afraid to make me central? I know why, he says. You feel like you'll lose your freedom.

You'll lose your joy. You see, you won't be free. you won't have your options. If I obey and make God central, I will be limited in some way. God says, why don't you say, where is that gracious God who brought us up? Where is that gracious God

who operates by grace? And that's the reason why, here I say to you, unless you are ultimately in awe of his grace, not just in awe, you can't say, I should stop sinning or God will get me. You should say, I should stop sinning because here's the gracious God. who brought me out, who brought me up.

So if you go to him and say, my life is evil and bitter because I've been living in denial that I'm a sinner and I've been living, especially in denial of your centrality and greatness, what will God say?

I am the one who brought you up. I am a gracious God. Of course I'll take you back. I sent my son to live your life and to die your death. That's how I bring people up out of Egypt now. That's how I bring people out without the law, but strictly through grace.

That's why I bring you up and put your sins away because Christ fulfilled the law. Consider and realize it is evil and bitter for you if you are not in awe of my grace and mercy. So, this is the solution to all your problems personally. This is the solution to our society's problems. This is the solution.

God says, this is what's wrong with you. It's not the economy stupid. It's sin, and it's the best news. I can give you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that it's now possible for us to know what's really been available to be known for thousands of years, but people continually turn away from it.

They continually deny it. We realize, Father, that we have to cut through our own force field of denial to see your greatness and your reality. We pray, Father, that you would show us your love and your grace so that we will trust ourselves to put you first. We ask, Father, that you would show us how we can solve our individual problems by seeking your fear and seeking your awe and seeing your awesomeness. Apply these truths to our lives.

Through your Holy Spirit, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's Word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 1995. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017,

while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. You know,