Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Certainty of the Spirit

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

Romans 8 tells us it’s possible for us to experience God because of the work of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the chapter, we get to the heart of the Holy Spirit’s job: to assure us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. If this is the main job of the Holy Spirit, it means that your main problem tonight is that you’re not persuaded. At every level, the Spirit works to convince us. And we need to hear the Spirit’s arguments because there will always be 1) the inside problem, and 2) the outside problem. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 13, 1997. Series: Lessons in Drawing Near. Scripture: Romans 8:31-39. 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 and Life. Who is God to you? Is he a boss, a concept, a cypher? Is it possible to really know and experience him? Today on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller continues to explore how Christians can practically experience God in their lives. Romans chapter 8. Now, we're coming to the end of Romans and for the sake of time and focus, I'm going to be reading from verse 31 to 39,

which is the very, very end. Definitely the beginning of the last part of the chapter. Romans 8, 31 to 39. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with, graciously give us all things? He will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen.

In his God who justifies, who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written for your sakes, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No.

In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is God's Word. Now, you know what we've been doing in these evening services, as we've been asking, how can we experience God?

How can God be more than just a cipher, more than just a concept, more than just a doctrine, more than even just a sort of a law giver, more than just a boss? How can we know Him? How can we experience Him? And back in the fall, we looked at people who had, we looked at lives of people who had close encounters with God. And then in a winter time, we really looked at the more practical side, the disciplines of how we actually can go about experiencing and knowing God. We looked at the disciplines of prayer and of fellowship and of repentance and so forth in the Psalms. All we've been doing lately, and now

we've finished tonight, we have looked for a while at Romans 8. The reason we've looked at Romans 8 is because Romans 8 tells us how it's possible for us to experience God. It's possible because of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes in. And because the Holy Spirit comes in, and the first part of this chapter, chapter is all about the Spirit, Spirit 17 times as mentioned in the first few verses, over and over and over again, because of the work of Holy Spirit, we can know God, we can have a sense of God on the heart, we can experience Him. But what's the main thing Holy Spirit's job is to do? What is the main thing Holy Spirit does?

And if you notice, somebody may have noticed it. Why would a chapter all about the Spirit? Why would a chapter have the Spirit mentioned in every verse, and suddenly we get to the end of the chapter? And what we have is no mention at all. See, verse 31, all the way to verse 39, the Spirit has receded. It's not there. Why would a chapter, starting off talking about the spirit,

over and over and over again, finish like this? Now, you know, the way it finishes, when I was a brand new Christian almost, in my Christian fellowship on the college campus, we used to sing this, Romans 8, verse 38. We sang it in the King James, the authorized version. So I remember it differently. It's for I am persuaded that neither death nor life,

nor angels, nor principalities, or powers, or things present, or things to come, nor height, nor death, nor any other creature, nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I memorized that. It meant a lot to me. I had no idea what it meant.

No idea at all. And yet why would this incredible climax, all about the, why would this assurance, I am persuaded, I am convinced, I am assured, nothing, what will bring a charge, nothing? These are all rhetorical questions. Who will condemn nothing? What will separate us nothing?

See, nothing. Now why would a chapter on the work of Holy Spirit rhetorical questions, who will condemn nothing? What will separate us nothing, see? Nothing. Now why would a chapter on the work of Holy Spirit end like this, only if this is the work of Holy Spirit? This is the main thing that this is what the Holy Spirit's job is. This is the heart of experience with God. This is the heart of what the Holy Spirit's job is to do. This is what he does to assure us that nothing can separate you from the love of God. This is the heart of what the Holy Spirit's job is to do. This is what he does.

To assure us that nothing can separate you from the love of God. And if that's true, if this is the main job of the Holy Spirit, it means that's your main problem tonight. That's your main problem, period, that you need to see all of your problems whether they're ethical or sociological or psychological, you don't believe this. You don't know this. You're not persuaded. That's what this is all about. See, we've been looking at the ministry, the Holy Spirit. You remember some of the things we said? We said that there's at least three very specific ministries, the Holy Spirit is said to have in the book of Romans, or Romans 8.

We said in the beginning, he quickens us, he gives us the new birth. How? He shows us that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In other words, he assures us. He assures us of his love for us. And that's actually how in the beginning we become Christians. I mean, if you say, and I've heard this many times, I've seen this many times, people say, I need work, the spirit of God in my life, or I need something in my life, I need God in my life.

So they come to church and they begin to really work hard. They really give themselves. They're gonna live like Christ. They're gonna obey Christ, and they're gonna study what Jesus said. That's not a Christian. You know why? It's nothing but anxiety.

It's nothing but insecurity. It's just, you know, I'm really going to get religious now. There's no rest. And you're not quickened until we saw this in the very beginning. You're not quick, and the Holy Spirit hasn't even begun your new life in Christ until you realize there's no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. That's the first thing. And the second thing we saw was that was that the Spirit shows us more than just that we're pardoned, more than just that we're forgiven, but that we're adopted. That's so much more.

I mean, it's one thing to let a person, you know, let somebody off a death row. You're pardoned. Well, that's wonderful. But boy, it's something completely different to adopt somebody. I mean, the pardon is wonderful. It is. It's all negative. You're free from all the negative. You're free from liability.

You're free from condemnation. But there's no positive in that. The Holy Spirit doesn't just quicken us by showing us there's no condemnation. Then the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. That means the Holy Spirit begins to really teach us how to live like Christians, because the Holy Spirit shows us that we can reach out to the Father as the Father, Abba Father.

We look at that. We can reach out. We can trust that He loves us and cares for us. We can start acting like adopted children instead of like frightened slaves and orphans. But then we said there's a third, a higher, in a sense, ministry of the Holy Spirit. We saw that in Romans 8, 16. And that's where it says, the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we're His children. You see, that's different.

The Holy Spirit we're told in verse 15 helps us testify, helps us our Spirit testifies that we're His children, helps us cry out a father, but sometimes the Holy Spirit comes alongside and gives us an extra added assurance. Now we talked about that last week and we're not going to go back into it. But do you see what's going on at every level, bringing you into the kingdom, growing you through the kingdom, anointing you with power for ministry. It's always essentially the same thing. It's always a assurance. It's assurance. Now, we mentioned this great thing last week.

You know, I even read this, if I remember Richard Sibb's an old Purit and put it this way about the witness of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit. He says, sometimes our spirits cannot stand in trials. Therefore, sometimes the immediate testimony of the Spirit is necessary. It comes in. It comes in saying, I am disalvation.

Our hearts are stirred up. They're comforted with joy and expressible. Sometimes it's so clear and strong, we question nothing. This witness weighs and overpowers the soul, hence rises what Peter says, joy, unspeakable, and full of glory. It's a ravishing joy. Now we talked about that. And a lot of people said, wow, that's mysterious.

What is that? Here's what it is. It's right here. You know what this is? You know what Paul's doing here at the end? When Paul just sort of takes off, you see, what shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? See? He who did not spare his own son.

How shall he not, along with him, freely give us all things. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? What is he doing? What's he talking about? Paul is repeating what he's heard. Paul is repeating what he's heard. In Romans 8, 16, we're told the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit, and the word bears witness is the word martyra, which means a legal testimony. What Paul is remembered, these are the things of the spirit tell you. These are the arguments of the spirit. And you need this.

Oh, you need this. If you don't think you need it tonight, if you don't think you need these words tonight, these are the words of the spirit. Paul is taking dictation virtually. These are the things that Paul, how could Paul deal with the things he's dealt with? Look at this.

It says, it says, who will separate from the love of Christ? Show seven things, trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Now why does he make that list? Go read the book of Acts, huh? Go read the life of Paul. He's had every one of them. Over and over and over again.

See, trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or so. Now how did he handle that? How did he deal with that? He is overwhelming it. He doesn't say, I barely beat them. He says, I am more than a conqueror. He doesn't even say I'm a conqueror.

He say, I barely beat them. More than that, I'm a conqueror. I'm more than a conqueror. What is all this language? This is what the Holy Spirit has shown him. These are the arguments of the Spirit. This is what you need. And if you don't think you need it now, tuck it away.

You will. Absolutely. Let me just for a second. Let me remind you why. Maybe when you first think about becoming a Christian, I know a lot of you are just thinking about it. You're looking at it. Or right after you first become a Christian,

you know what the big question is? The big question is, will this be worth it? Well, I really want to stick with this. Well, I want to stick with God. Well, this really be worth it. Now, you... Wait, it's a little bit... Now, I have to say, one of my favorite authors put it this way.

If you sit down with little boy who's about six years old and he's never been away from his mud puddle, that's the only water he's ever seen in his whole life, a mud puddle. And you talk to him about wanting to go to take him for a week at the ocean, a week at the beach. And he says, what's an ocean? Well, it's a lot of water. You mean it's a very big mud puddle?

Well, yeah. But it's not muddy. And it's so big, you can't say the answer. And he's going to say, I don't know. Can I have as much fun there as I have here? I mean, the trouble is the child's imagination. There's just no, you have to say, you've got to come and see. I can't explain it to you. You've got to come and see. The imagination is so truncated that there's competition. I mean, you have to have a total

failure of imagination to wonder about whether I can pick up from my mud puddles and go to the ocean, whether it be worth it, he can't imagine the ocean. Now, this is what happens in the beginning. When you're just before you become a Christian, right after you become a Christian, the big question is, will this be worth it? I don't know. If you have come a Christian, I won't be able to sleep with anybody I want to. I might have to give a lot of my money away. I don't know. Is this going to be worth it?

Is this going to be worth it? Yeah, millions and millions of people have given their lives for these things. Willingly torn to pieces by lions, singing hymns as they do it, saying, that I steadfast love is better than life, you think that what they experienced was any better than what you're experiencing now. You're worried that what's going to come to you might be not as good as what you have right now in your life. You see, when you're sitting there saying, I don't know if it's going to come to you might be not as good as what you have right now in your life.

You see, when you're sitting there saying, I don't know if it's going to be worth it, that's a complete failure of imagination. And there's really no way, frankly, there's no way to get over it. There's no way. There's just my mother-in-law used to say to us, when we first had our first child,

we were worried to death about my mother-in-law used to say, I'm going to write a book someday, how to raise the first child like the fifth, because she had five. And by the time you get the first child like the fifth, because you had five. By the time you get to the fourth or the fifth, you don't even bother. You hear the kid falling over, crash, crying, you say, they'll be get over it. The first child, they go, and you're running up and you're holding him and you're walking around all night with him.

What's the matter? Should we go to the hospital? Listen, there is no way to raise the fourth child like the fifth. There's no way. I don't care. You can talk to your beloved in the face. You can't know.

You just can't relax until you've experienced three or four other kids. For you to sit there and say, I don't know. Will it be worth it? Will I want to stick with God? Will I want to stick with Him? Or will it be too hard? Will it be too costly? Will it be too costly?

Will it really be worth it? You know all I can say is you like the kid with a mud puddle, you like the parent with the first child. No matter how much I tell you, you're not going to believe it, you're not going to understand it. It's ridiculous for you to say such a thing. And if you finally get into the Christian life, in spite of that, we all have to get over that. We all have to get over that. We all have to get over that incredible lack of information.

If you get into the Christian life and you begin to even skim the service of what he has for you and what he is, and if you even begin to skim the service of your two facetness and your selfishness and your pride, if you begin to get to know even the slightest bit about who you are and the slightest bit about who he is, the real question will be the question that this chapter addresses. The only question that's really really, as time goes on, is to become more mature as the Christian.

As you grow more and more, the only question that really matters, that can never really make any difference. That is, will God stick with you? Will He stick with you? Don't you know how many times this happened? You met a couple, you know how many times this happened? You met a couple, you know, A and B, they're together, and you look at A and A seem so polished and sophisticated and wonderful, and B seem so unappealing and kind of strange and eccentric

and uncicly, and you say, why is A stick with B? What is A C and B? You get to know them, and you find out that A is a mass of insecurities completely relies on all the wisdom and goodness of B. After you've gotten to know them a little while, you start to say, Huh, why does B stick with A? In the beginning, you'll say, Well, I want to stick with God. Well, this will be worth it, but it won't be long before you'll start to say, Why in the world is God putting up with me? The thing you'll be most scared about is, you'll say, In light of the sin in my heart and in light of the sin in my heart,

and in light of the brokenness that I'm experiencing in the world, how can I be sure he's sticking with me? So there always be two things. On the inside, you'll look at your own sin and you'll say, how in the world can he put up with me? And your assurance of his love will be decimated by your sin.

On the other hand, you'll experience terrible things. You'll experience these things, trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword. And you'll say, I'm getting all this. Maybe God is, you know, this assaults your assurance. You'll say, why is all this happening to me? Could God love me?

I mean, the real question is going to come up eventually is, why does it be stick with A? Why does God stick with me? Why will He? Will He? And there's two basic answers here. The Psalms can profoundly shape the way you approach God. Even Jesus relied on the Psalms to face every situation, including death.

In Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional book, The Psalms of Jesus, you'll find daily readings through the Psalms with fresh biblical insight. If you have no devotional life yet, this book is a wonderful way to start. And if you already spend time and study and prayer, reading and praying through every verse of the Psalms can help you discover a new level of intimacy with God. We'll send you Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional as our thanks for your gift to help gospel and life share the love of Jesus with more people. Just visit gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

Two basic answers. The first answer, and actually there's, I'd say there's three basic questions and answers, but the second and the third are specific. The first one is kind of an umbrella. Here's what I mean. The first, remember I told you about the inside problem. What are you gonna deal with the inside problems? How are you gonna deal with the fact that you are chargeable? And here, see, look down here at verse 32, pardon me, verse 33,

who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? Now that's an important question because you will see that you're chargeable. You will see things in your heart. Now I don't have time to go into this, but you know when you first become a Christian you get rid of all the gory sins. Maybe you were a criminal, maybe you were a mugger. That's nice and gory. You become a Christian, you go straight. And you think, wow, I've really changed. Listen, the sins under the sins you bring right into Christianity with you, the real sins.

You know, the fear of people, the self-hatred, the narcissism, the self-absorption, the power lust, all the things that really cause your problems, you bring right into the religion with you, all the really deep things, and they will show up, and they will erupt in your face, and you will say, I can't believe that I'm really this bad. See, it's once you've been in Christianity for five years. When you weren't a Christian, maybe you did mug people. Maybe you weren't in out of prison. But see, after you've become, when you're a Christian, you've been a Christian for five years

and you find that you break a promise or you stab somebody else in the back or you let somebody down, you begin to see underneath, the sins under the sins, they're there. And they will devastate you. But here's what Paul says, who brings a charge against God's elect? And you know what he does?

The answer is, in this case, he looks at the intercession of Christ. He mentions the death. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is the one that condemns? Who can condemn? Christ Jesus died, but then he moves on that.

More than that, who has raised the life and it's the right hand of God interceding for us now. What he's suggesting, what he's saying here is the subject of the very first someone I ever preached at Redeemer. There's always a few around still that might have been here and remember it.

And that's this. The Bible says that Jesus Christ did not just die for you. He's not just the one who died for you and he's not just risen. He's interceding. And the word intercession here means that he is your lawyer. He is your advocate before the Father. Now what would that mean? All I know is this.

When you sin, what does Jesus say to the Father? This is what Paul is trying to get you to think about. He is trying to say no matter what you do, you have to remember that Jesus Christ is interceding for you. What is he doing? Here is this. He is not up there pleading for mercy. He is not pleading for mercy.

You don't need a lawyer to plead for mercy. You don't need a lawyer to plead for mercy. You don't need a lawyer to plead for mercy. If you want to throw yourself in the mercy, of course, I'm guilty. I need to, but please have mercy. I did it. I deserve to be punished, but please have mercy. You don't need a lawyer for that. You can just write the judge a note.

You can get up and you can cry. In fact, you'll do a better job than the lawyer, probably. Now you see, when you want a lawyer, you want a case. A lawyer, you don't want a lawyer just to plead for mercy. You want the lawyer to plead a case. And the Bible tells us this in short. Don't have time to open this whole wonderful doctrine up. But this is the fiery theological logic.

This is how the Holy Spirit works. You need to know these things. You need to study these things, or you will never be able to deal with your heart. The Bible says, Jesus Christ is our advocate and He's standing before the Father and He lives to intercede for us. And what He is doing is He's pointing to His own work. He's pointing to it.

And He's making a case. He is saying, Father, your law demands payment. The wages of sin is death. Well, I have paid. And therefore, since I have paid for this man's sins, since I have paid for this woman's sins, since I have paid for my brother and my sister, I do not ask for mercy. I demand justice. And justice says, acquittal, I have paid for it. If you punish this child, you'll get two payments, that would be unfair. That would be unjust.

I do not ask for, Mercy, I ask for justice. Let me tell you something, God's justice is infallible. Do you realize that if Jesus Christ died for you and he paid for you and he was your substitute and he died the death you should have died and lived the life you should have lived? You know what that means? It means now the laws on your side.

It's not like God's mercy versus the law of demands that you be punished and God's mercy is saying, well, I don't wanna punish him. No, no, the law and the mercy to gather now, if you believe in Jesus, if he's your intercessor, they're both for you. It's not just the mercy of God, because he is merciful and he loves you,

but it's the law of God that demands a quiddle. Paul says, who cares what kind of charge comes against you? Jesus Christ intercedes for you. That's why you've got that wonderful, wonderful John Newton, him, let us wonder, grace and justice, join to point to Mercy's store, when through grace in Christ our trust is, just as smiles and asks no more.

That's an amazing, that's an amazing light. We sing it usually in the morning service. Let us wonder, grace and justice, join to point to Mercy's store, when through grace and Christ our trust is, just as smiles and ask no more, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? As Jesus Christ who is interceding at the right hand of God, what in the world is going to condemn you? Well may the accuser roar of sins that I have done, I know them all in thousands more

Jehovah knoweth none. None. But that's only one, here's another. On the other hand, on the first hand, what do we have? We have when your sins on the inside rise up to choke you and they assault your assurance of God's love. And you say, maybe my sins will separate me from the love of God.

Look at the intercession of Jesus Christ, but here's the other thing. What about the assaults from the outside? The assaults from the outside are these. It says, who shall separate from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword now? And then he says, as it is written for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. That's a quote from Psalm 44 for Paul to show that the people of God in all ages, not just

in the New Testament age, but the Old Testament age, we've always faced these terrible oppositions, these terrible things. One of the worst things that can happen to you, and I know it does, is when you first become a Christian, very often a little thought inserts itself, and it goes like this. Now that I'm a Christian, there are certain things that can't happen to me. You read in the newspaper about a couple, I remember some years ago, some of you still remember this illustration.

There was a couple in Richmond, Virginia, and we read about this years ago, some of you still remember this illustration. There was a couple in Richmond, Virginia. We read about this years ago when Kathy and I were down in that area as pastors, and it was a couple. They lived in a very big home and a big sort of a, I don't know, well, you'll hear what I mean. The wife had her three little children strapped into the back seat of the car, and she got out of the car to get something from the house, for whatever reason the car was in neutral, I guess it was a stick shift and the car rolled back down the hill, rolled backwards down the hill into a lake and all three children drowned.

You know, they're all under the age of six, something like that, under the age of four, something like that. And you read that and most Christians say, well, I'm a Christian. Now things like that can't happen to me. By the way, that young couple was Christian couple. Absolutely they were. And you look at that and you say, well, certain things just can't happen to me.

And what does Paul say? He's saying, don't be ridiculous. Anything bad that can happen to a Christian will happen. And has happened to Christians. Christians aren't exempt. Oh, no, no, no. Well, what are you going to do about it? Because when these things come, you're going to say,

God can't love me. Why is this happening to me? And again, now we can't pull out all the stops on this by any means. In this case, in this case, whenever you feel like it's the outside that is against me, these things are against me. Paul does not look at the intercession of Christ. He looks at the death of Christ. He looks at the suffering of Christ. Because you see

right here, verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of God, trouble making this peril sword, then he says for we're being slaughtered all day long. No, verse 37, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. What is that talking about? It doesn't say through him who loves us, who loves us, and that verb is in the Greek, it's a Greek verb, and it's an heirist tense, which means he's talking about a single past action. He's thinking of the cross, but more than that, look up at the very top in verse 31.

What shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against this? What if everything is against you? Here's the answer. Here's the answer. He who did not spare his own son, but if God is for us, who can be against this? What if everything is against you? Here's the answer. Here's the answer. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? Now this is it.

Listen, do you believe in hell? Do you believe in wrath? Do you believe in justice? Do you believe in the wrath of God? Now some people, this is New York City, some of you are saying, oh, I hate that stuff. I don't know even if I believe in that stuff. Didn't that stuff is kind of primitive?

Look at this word, spare. This word gives me the chills. God spared not his son. He let him have it. He pulled no punches. Jesus Christ on the cross, hell came down. God let them have it. Now Paul says, I want you to think about that.

Here's why I want you to think about that. First of all, when you see Jesus Christ suffering through hell for your sake. What is that going to tell you? First of all, if you're suffering, don't you dare say, well, I guess God doesn't love me. I guess God has no plan for me. Jesus Christ, through whom God did all of His great plan came to earth and had a miserable life.

Jesus had a miserable life. Okay? Don't say that if I'm having a miserable life, A, there can't be any method in it, it can't be a plan in it, B, God can't love me, God loved his son, and God had an incredible redemptive plan for his son, and he had a mess of a life. But more than that, if you believe in hell,

if you believe in wrath of God, then you will know what it cost God to do, what he did. If God was willing to give us his son and if his son was willing to take all that, can you imagine why God would ever withhold anything shorter that from you? It's a little bit like this if you had a dear friend and says, I'm gonna buy you a Mercedes Benz because you mean the world to me and just before your friend delivers that Mercedes Benz, because you mean the world to me. And just before your friend delivers that Mercedes Ben, one of the Mercedes dealers says, by the way, you know, a nice little touch would I like to put a little ribbon on, you know, a little kind of gift

ribbon on the front. That'll be nice little touch, you know. And what if your friend said, well, how much? And the guy said, well, five bucks, five dollars. That's outrageous. Listen, if he's going to spend tens of thousands of dollars or whatever Mercedes-Benz costs right now, I don't even know, but if he's going to spend all that, he's not going to care about the ribbon. And this is what it's for saying. If he spared not his own son, if he was willing to go to hell for you, if he was willing to let his son have everything, have it for you, whatever you're asking for now. It's ten cents compared to what he's already given you and therefore it's not stinginess. It's not musically-ness.

It's certainly not indifference. He must have a good reason for why he's letting you go through what he's going through. Don't you see? If he spared not his son for you, then don't you dare. Every think of him as being an stingy. You see, anything you ask for besides what he's already given you is nothing. And therefore, he would never hold it back, because he's stingy or generous, or he can't handle it.

Oh, no. If God spared not his own son, he will give you anything else you absolutely need. And that's the reason why John Newton can say this incredible verse, everything is needful that he sends. Nothing can be needful that he withholds. Everything that he sends must be necessary. Anything that he's not sending doesn't, couldn't be necessary.

Why? Because he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not also along with him, graciously give us anything else we need, anything. You know, so you look at the suffering of Christ and you say, oh, first of all, I can't say, Lord, if I have an easy life, that's the way I know you love me, because that's not what happened to Jesus. And secondly, I can't say Lord, if I have an easy life, that's the way I know you love me because that's not what happened to Jesus. And secondly, I know this, if you're withholding on me, it can't be because you're mad at

me, it can't be because you hate me, it can't be because you're not generous, it can't be because you're not powerful. I have to close this way. Dear friends, is there anybody here who says, I don't believe in hell and wrath. I believe God loves everybody. I don't think you have to come through Jesus Christ. I'm trying to show you something. I'm trying to show you that psychologically,

if you don't believe in Jesus and if you don't believe in hell, and if you don't believe in wrath and if you don't believe in punishment, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ did all that for you, you've got a very different view of God's love, a very different view of God's love. It costs him nothing. It's an abstraction. It's philosophical. It's sentimental.

It's never going to move you to tears. And you will never be able to deal with trouble or hardship or persecution or fame or nakedness or peril or so. Never. That sense of level never takes you through those things. When through fiery trials, by pathway, shall lie, my strength all sufficient shall be thy supply, it's not going to do that. Why not?

Because you can't sing this hymn. That soul who on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes. That soul the all hell should endeavor to shake. I'll never, never, never, never forsake. You can't sing that. You can't sing it. Why? Because you don't know, Jesus Christ went to hell rather than forsake you. The whole idea, your sense of God's level never bring you through. But this sense of God's love will. Are you persuaded? The job of the Holy Spirit has persuade you.

Do you know what ails you today? The reason you're anxious is you're not living as if you're loved. Do you know that? You don't believe you're loved. That's why you're worried. The reason some of you are bitter is because you're forgetting.

He died for you. You're not living as if you were loved. You're proud. His love will melt you down into humility. His love will melt the anxiety down into peace. If you're feeling guilty and you're flagellating yourself, you're not living love. No matter what your problem is, tonight, no matter what it is, you don't believe this. You're not persuaded.

So go to the Holy Spirit and say, I'm going to read this. I'm going to think about these things. I'm going to study the intercession of Christ. I'm going to understand the death of Christ because that's how you, a Holy Spirit, can show me what I most need to know. Persuade me. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,

nor things present, nor anything to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything, and all creation will be able to separate me. Or you, from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Have you given up fighting that? Stop your butt, stop your ifs, stop your what ifs, stop your butt ifs.

Categorical, are you persuaded? If you're not, the Holy Spirit's whole job is to convince you, he is dedicated to it, cooperate. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for this great and precious promise, and we ask that You would make it possible for us to be persuaded, to be convinced. We thank you that you are so generous that you spared not your son. We thank you. And we pray that you would help us to live as if these things are true. A Holy Spirit, do the convincing, do the persuading.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching from Dr. Keller on Experiencing God. We pray that it challenged you and encouraged you. To find more gospel-centered resources like today's teaching, you can sign up for email updates at gospelandlife.com. This month's sermons were recorded in 1997 and 2013. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Verdema Presbyterian Church.