Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Christ Calls Us to Himself

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Here’s my thesis: The reason most people who profess belief in Christianity still don’t live big lives is because they don’t actually understand Christianity. Most people think Christianity is basically like other religions. But Jesus says his message is absolutely different. Everyone who really becomes a Christian has a sense of being awakened. Something radical has to happen. A real Christian is someone who has been called. A real Christian is someone who has had an experience like Matthew. The calling of Matthew shows us that to be called means 1) you sense a power coming in from outside taking charge, 2) you are confronted with a person, not a lot of intellectual ideas, and 3) you rise and follow him. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 10, 1995. Series: Matthew 9. Scripture: Matthew 9:9-13. 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. Does it seem like God is working very slowly in your life? Or do you feel like He may have forgotten His promises altogether? Today Tim Keller is preaching on the incredible hope that the Christmas story brings. The birth of Jesus shows us that God never forgets His promises, and that when they come true, they are greater than we ever could have imagined. The passage on which the teaching is based is printed in your bulletin at the place where you are. And you know, I think what I'm going to do for three weeks, we're going to look

for three weeks. In September, we're going to look at this incident, the calling of Matthew. And actually what I'm going to do is I'm going to read just a little bit beyond what's printed there, but open your bulletin and read with me. But the story of this incident is in chapter 9 of Matthew versus 9 to 17. I'm gonna read you that because every single week,

this week, next week and a following week, we're gonna be looking at all eight of those verses. So let me read it to you. As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me, He told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house,

many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. If I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Then John's disciples came and asked him, how is it that

we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus answered, how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn when he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them and then they will fast. No one shows a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment making the tear worse. Neither do men put new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst. The wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined.

No, they pour new wine into new wine skins and both are preserved. This is the reading of God's Word. My thesis, the reason that most people in churches, the reason that most people who profess belief in Christianity, the reason that most people who profess belief in Christianity, the reason that most people who say they understand Christianity, yet they don't live big lives. Like Hebrews 11, last fall on the morning services, we looked at the heroes of the faith that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11. Big lives, noble lives, greatness of life.

The reason that that's not true for most people who think they understand Christianity, the reason most people don't live at that level is because they don't understand Christianity. This passage is out to make this basic point. Christianity is like nothing else. It's like no other thing. And most people think it's basically like other things. It's like no other thing. And most people think it's basically like other things. It's basically like other religions. It's basically they understand it. They've been taught it for a long time.

They understand it. And the whole point of this passage, is for Jesus to come back and say, no, what I bring to you, my message, is absolutely unique, absolutely unprecedented, absolutely different. It is totally new. And everyone who really has become a Christian, everyone who really is a Christian, has had a sense of being awakened from some kind of sleep.

Where you feel like you thought you knew it and you thought you understood Christianity, but now you see all my word, how radical, how new, how different. And that's the point of this passage. In Colossians 1, chapter 6, Colossians 1, verse 6, Paul writes this, all over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing in you since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in all its truth. Did you hear that? Interesting. He says the gospel began to bear fruit in you on the day that you understood the grace of God and all its truth.

He didn't say on the day that you signed a card. He didn't say on the day that you decided to subscribe. He doesn't even say on the day that you signed a card, he didn't say on the day that you decided to subscribe. He doesn't even say on the day that you got baptized. Baptism, confirmation in the church, these things are not what make you Christian. Something has to happen inside, something has to happen radical. There's a, I came across a story this week. I was reading about an old Welsh pastor lived in the around 1904. And he had been a minister for a long time and there was a certain

deadness about his preaching and he kind of knew it. Everybody else kind of knew it. And he began to come to grips with the question, you know, am I really a Christian? And one day he turned to, he started to figure this out. One day he turned to his wife. His wife, you know, and they both been, obviously, in the church for years.

And they said, he said, darling, are you really saved? And this is the pastor's wife, you're asking. And the pastor's wife said, well, dear, you know I have been confirmed. I'm a member of the church. And he turned and looked at her and he said, yes, I know. And you've been vaccinated too, but are you saved? and he turned and looked at it and he said, yes, I know, and you've been vaccinated too, but are you saved?

And you see what he is saying is Ultimately being confirmed, being baptized has about as much to do. It is much determines and causes being saved, is being vaccinated. Paul says until you get it, until you understand it. If there's not a greatness in your life, it's not like, well, I understand Christianity, but now I just need to get, I need to apply it, I need to work harder. No. That's not what Colossian says. That's not what Jesus is saying here. Look, it means you haven't understood it. In Matthew chapter 13, the famous parable of the Sower. And Jesus tells the story about the Sower who goes out and throws seeds. And some of them fall on four plots of ground.

And one plot of ground, there's no growth. And there's two other plots of ground, there's temporary growth. And on the last plot of ground, there's permanent, full solid growth. And then Jesus goes back and says, let me tell you what this all represents. The seed is the word of God, the message of Christianity. Now, on the first, he says on the first plot of ground, the reason it never grows is because it's rejected.

But on the second and third plots of ground, I'm not trying to go into this now in any detail. There's temporary growth. He says that's because they received the word. But he says on the fourth plot of ground, verse 23 of chapter 13, he says, but the one who received the seed that fell on good ground is the one who hears the word and understands it. That's a pretty radical thing.

What he is saying is, if you're not seeing this amazing growth, if you're not seeing what he says in the parable 10 fold, 50 fold, 100 fold, it's not like you just need to apply it, more little more elbow grease. You know, I understand Christianity, I just have to apply it. No, he says, you don't understand it.

You don't understand it. You know, I can keep on going. And if you take a look at Paul, whenever he prays for Christians, whenever he prays for the Colossians, he prays for the Philippians, he prays for the Ephesians, you look and see what he prays for. He never prays for power. He never says, you know, these people understand, I just give them a little more strength.

He doesn't say, well, you know, they know what to do, but they just don't have the strength to do. It gives them more strength. Never. Colossians 1, 1, 5, he prays that they might understand, and he prays, he says, I pray for the knowledge of God's truth will come to you in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And in Ephesians 3, now he's praying for Christians, verse 18, he says, I pray that you will have power to grasp the height, the width, the breadth, and the depth of the love of Christ.

Now, aren't these Christians, don't they already understand the love of God? He says, well, yeah, they understand the love of God enough to be Christians, but they don't understand the love of God enough to be great Christians. That's what I'm praying for. They don't grasp it.

They don't really understand it. They don't see the ne... The newness of it, the uniqueness of it, the amazing, you should never assume until you're perfect. And that's, you know, most of it, the uniqueness of it, the amazing, you should never assume until you're perfect. And that's, you know, most of you, I guess, the supply's too. You should never assume until you're perfect that you've grasped, that you've understood. Now, in this passage, that's what Jesus is getting at.

He says, I am, my message is absolutely and utterly new. It is absolutely and utterly different. It's different than the religion of the Pharisees. It's different than the religion of the past. It's utterly different. My whole approach, he says, is I don't like righteous people, I only like sinners. And we're going to get into that more next week. But what I'm going to try to show you is this whole passage tells us what a real Christian

is. And what a real Christian is is someone who's been called, someone who's a disciple, someone who has been made utterly new, someone who's called, someone who's a disciple, and someone who's been made utterly new. That's what the passage teaches. And we're just going to take one each week as a way of trying to set up what we're going to do, starting in October and going the rest of the year pretty much, we're going to be looking at the book of James, which I believe are the new wine skins, the new lifestyle. James tells us the new lifestyle into which this newness of life has to be poured.

But first, I have to understand what this newness of life is. What does it mean to be a Christian? A real Christian. A real Christian. A real Christian is someone who's called, someone who's a disciple and someone who's been made utterly new. Now, just tonight, I'd like to spend the time on this subject which often touch on, but here I'd like to look at a little bit more detail. What is a Christian?

A Christian is someone who has had the same experience as Matthew. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the text collector's booth. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Now, you are not a Christian unless you have, like Matthew, experienced a call. You're not a Christian unless you are aware of having been called. Christianity is not something that you take up, it's something that takes you up. I mean, that's a theme that often comes up and I need to lay it out a little more detail tonight. In fact, I would say that this is one of the main ways in which you can tell that you're on the right path.

You have a sense of being worked upon. Christian is somebody who's called. Now, what does that mean? First of all, we have to be very careful not to assume that that means that God always works in the same way in people. If you read a little earlier in the chapter, let me show you what comes right before Matthew 9 verse 9. It says in chapter 9 verse 1, it says Jesus was on a boat and he crossed over and he came to his own town and he went into a home and it says some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a mat. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, take heart, son, your sins are forgiven. At this some of the teeth and then they went on, well, okay, it says, all right, I'll tell you the rest of it. At this some of the teachers of the law

said to themselves, this fellow is blaspheming. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, why do you entertain evil thoughts in your heart? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or get up and walk. But it's just so you know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins and then he's turned to the paralytic, get up, take your mat and go home, and the man got up and went home. And when the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe and they praised God who had given such authority to a man. Now, do you see something? Now, do you see something on the surface? It looks like the way Jesus dealt with the paralytic and the way Jesus dealt with Matthew

were totally different, the paralytic. And we don't know it as much for Mark, but we do know it from some of the other accounts in Matthew and Luke that give us more detail. The paralytic had a bunch of friends. See, it tells us some men brought to him a paralytic. We're told in Matthew and Luke that they were trying to get into the house where Jesus was speaking and there was so many people around that they couldn't get in.

So they went up on the roof and they tore the roof of the house up. I wonder what the owner of the house thought, but they tore the roof of the house up. In Jesus' name, they tore up the roof of the house and they lowered him down. So here's somebody who looks like he's being extremely active doing everything to get to Jesus. Here's Matthew, seemingly that the way Jesus meets Matthew seems to be utterly different, totally different. Here's Matthew at work.

He said, work, just imagine yourself. You're at the desk and people are coming up to you and they're paying you something and you're working in the ledger book and you're saying, okay, Mr. So-and-so, Ms. So-and-so has given this mount and you're crossing names off the ledger. Suddenly, somebody shows up. Follow me. You know, Matthew's not after this. Matthew's not looking for this. Matthew's not praying for this. In Jesus' comes, so you say, well, this looks like Jesus operates in a completely different way.

Well, you know, this tells us we have to be very careful about standardized and Christian experience. We must not do it. It is extremely easy for you to think because I came to Christ in a crisis. Then if somebody else didn't come in a crisis, you wonder. Or if somebody, if you came because you did a lot of study and you kind of moved into it through a sort of intellectual experience, then you mistrust somebody who comes through an emotional experience.

Some people feel like you've got to walk forward in a service when an evangelist makes an invitation, that's the only real way to do it. It's very dangerous, obviously, from these passages to try to standardize that. And yet there's something that is in common. And here's what it is. Number one, to be called means you sense that Jesus is in charge. You sense that you are not actually the one who's in charge of this spiritual pursuit. To be called first characteristic, you sense that there is an outside power that's really in charge. Now somebody says, well I can see that in the story of Matthew. Here's Jesus coming in and calling Matthew right in the

middle of a workday, but that's not the way it seemed to work for the paralytic. Oh yes, look, the paralytic was not after the Jesus he found. You see, the paralytic was after magician. He thought Jesus was going to heal him. So, you know, he comes long down and there he is and he looks up at Jesus and what does Jesus say? Your sins are forgiven. That's not what I asked for.

But you see Jesus is in charge. The paralytic thinks he's in charge. The paralytic thinks he's the one who's seeking Jesus, but actually Paul says in Romans 3, no one seeks God. And anyone who's ever taken a kind of active spiritual search, if you ever find the real God, you will always in an effort. And this is how you know from the Bible that you found the real God. You'll always look back and realize that you were not trying to find the real God.

You had another kind of God in mind. You had a God who would do this and this and this and this. And on that search, God very often used that kind of search to find you, but when every finds you, you're brought up short. To be called is to experience an alien power at work in your life. If you don't have that sensation, if you don't sense that somebody is after you, if you don't sense that something is going on inside, if you don't sense that, eventually, that's not real Christianity. Now look, be careful, I'm not trying to standardize this. Sometimes you

feel it very, very early on. Sometimes you feel it, you almost feel drawn. Other times you think you're in charge and then when you try to get rid of the idea, you know, like I've had people come to me and say, you know, I wish I'd never started reading Christian books. I started it and it really started to make sense and it scared me. So I've been trying to move away from it, but I can't forget some of these truths. Now, you know, once you learn some of the, once you learn some of the Christian faith, it gets very hard to go back if you're a thoughtful person

at all. I remember talking to somebody I forget a couple of years ago who really didn't want to be a Christian. And we're going to get to this in just a minute. A person didn't want to be a Christian because there was some lifestyle issues that he wanted to pursue, that Christianity and the ethical set of Christianity wouldn't allow.

He says, I got a problem though. He got enough into Christianity to realize the intellectual baselessness and arbitrariness of the people that he was hanging out with. And I won't get too much into it, but occasionally you've heard me say this up here. When a person says, I believe that everything is relative. You've heard us do this, but I'll just give you a quick example. If everything is relative, you have no right for moral outrage. You've heard me say this. This is just something the Bible tells you.

The Bible says, you see, if there's a God, you have a basis for this. You look at the book of Ecclesiastes, and it's one of the places where it talks about it. If there's a God, you have a basis for saying, this is right and this is wrong. We were talking a little bit about this in the question and answer time today. You see, there's a lot of people who like to say, I can do whatever I want because all things are relative, all cultures are relative. There is no absolutes, but then the same people who say, all cultures are relatives will say, But then the same people who say all cultures are relatives will say, however, aborting only female Unborn children in China is wrong. Female circumcision in Africa is wrong. Those things are wrong

But then right away you have to say wait a minute. If everything is relative What's wrong with that? What's wrong with oppression? What's wrong with sexism? What's wrong with racism? If everything is relative, some people say, therefore we should be tolerant, but if everything is relative, then is intolerance relative. So why can't I be intolerant of you? Or what basis can you tell me intolerance is wrong? We've done this. That's not just a trick. That shows the arbitrariness, the intellectual incoherence of saying there are no absolutes, there is no God, everything is relative. I just, you know, the other day I just saw Michael J. Fox and I, the secret of my success, and he was saying to

some, you know, as some woman he was saying, you know, I know that I'm right, and she says there is no right and wrong, there's only opinion. And I said, I wish I was Michael J. Fox. I just wish I was there. I would just sit her down and wrong, there's only opinion. And I said, I wish I was Michael J. Foxx. I just wish I was there. I would just sit her down and say, come on. But the point is, I just wanted so bad. But here, this guy was saying, here's the problem. I learned that in Christianity. I don't want to be a Christian.

But now that I'm back out there, I'm in trouble. People tell me why Christianity is wrong, and I don't know, they're wrong. People tell me they show me how they're doing things and why they're making the decisions, and I wanna live the way they live, but I realize the arbitraryness and the inconsistency of what they're doing.

I wish I'd never read this particular book. There's a man who's being called. In fact, to some degree, when a person gets mad at Christianity and sort of obsessed and angry about it and feels like God's after you, I have a lot more hope for you than a person who says, well, of course, I've always been a Christian, you know, I've always come to church, it's sort of comfortable. And, you know, I don't think that I think religion is a private thing and I don't think you should get too excited about it.

And I have a hope, you know, I don't care how many Sunday school-perfect attendance pins that person has got. That person's not called. The person struggling is called. There's a sense of an outside force coming in. Hi, I'm Kathy Keller, and thank you for listening to the Gospel in Life podcast.

My guess is that most people think they know the Christmas story. Every Christmas we see displays on lawns and in front of churches of the baby Jesus, resting in a manger surrounded by Mary, Joseph, the three wise men, and cute farm animals. We hear Christmas carols played everywhere we go, yet despite the abundance of these Christian references throughout our culture, how many people have really examined the hard edges of the biblical story. In Tim's book Hidden Christmas, he provides a moving and intellectually provocative examination of the Nativity story. The book takes you on

a journey into the surprising background of the Nativity, where you see the wonderful message of hope and salvation within the Bible's account of Christ's birth. As you read about the actual event, you'll be confronted with a remarkable redeeming power of God's grace. This month, when you give to gospel and life, we'll send you a copy of Hidden Christmas as our thanks for your gift. To receive your copy, go to gospel and life.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give. And thank you for your generosity. If you're a Christian, you sense that there's something alien coming into your life and it's in charge. That's the first thing you can tell,

first way you can tell that you're called. But here's the second way. Jesus comes and he says, follow me. He doesn't say follow that. He doesn't say follow these. He says follow me. The real Jesus Christ

is always picking a fight and talking about himself. He's always saying, what think you have Christ? Who's son is he? He's always, he's amazing. He shows, you know, when he meets Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, he appears to Paul. Paul has been persecuted in the church. He's been killing Christians.

And what does Jesus say? Saul, Saul, he cries from heaven. Why persecute his style? Me. You know, there is a radical self-centeredness about Jesus. If you look at the things he said, he says, before Abraham was, I am. I am the Father of one.

No man knows the Father, but the Son, and no man knows the Son, but the Father. No man knows the father, but the son, and no man knows the son, but the father. No man knows the father, but the son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal himself. He says, you must love me and hate your father and mother. He says the devotion you should have for me is so much greater than devotion you should have than anybody else, including your father and mother, that your devotion to your father and mother should look like hate compared to you devotion to me. He says, if I tell you to cut off your hand, if I tell you to pluck out your eye, you should do it. Otherwise, if I tell you to cut off

your hand, you should say to me, how far up? And that's all. Look at what he says about himself. Look at what he says about himself. It is radically self-centered. Now, what does that mean? The way you know you're being called is that you are being confronted with the radical self-centeredness of Jesus. And let me be as frank as I possibly can. People will say, when they're investigating Christianity,

I will never be very patient with this question. They say, well, I'm interested in Christianity. What is the Christian view of this? What's the Christian view of that? What's the Christian view of marriage of gender? What's the Christian view of doing this or that? And I know what they're saying is, I'm interested in Christianity,

but I want also to feel that I'm able to, you know, I don't want to be too narrow. You know, I want to be able to live my life. Can Christians go to movies? There are certain kinds of movies. Can they indulge in certain kinds of artistic productions and all that sort of thing. When you ask that question, you're on the wrong scent because the Bible says, oh my, the Holy Spirit says always First first first you've got to decide who is he

Before anything else now let me be logical about this. I remember over the years in New York I've had a number of people say what's the Christian view of homosexuality and What they're saying is, I'm interested in Christianity, but I want to know what you think, the Bible teaches or what your church teaches about homosexuality. In all due respects, who cares? First, you have to ask yourself, is Jesus who he said he is? If he's who he said he is, then he's the authority, and then secondly, you can figure out what he teaches about these issues. But you realize how ridiculous it is to say, I want to know whether I like your view of

the issues. You, is Jesus Christ the Son of God? Is he really, is he this? Is he the creator? Is he the judge? You have to work on that first. Once you settle the situation of authority, then you can ask these other questions. Let me put it to you another way.

If Jesus Christ, I've had people say, you know, I'd like to be a Christian, but some of these strictures about like you can't marry a non-Christian and all these sorts of things. You know what I say? I say, are you kidding? If Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the judge of the earth. And he says, I want all Christians to cut off their right foot and hobble around rest of their lives. What is the only rational response to that? And the only rational response to that is, sure. Of course. Of course. I mean, could you say no, I want to have both my feet, therefore, even though Jesus is who

we said he is, even though he's the son of God, even though he's the judge of all the earth, even though he's the Savior who died for me, I can't come to him. I want both my feet. You're crazy? What's the matter with you? You're not thinking. Jesus said, you're not your misunderstanding, Christianity. It's not a lack of faith, it's a lack of sense. If Jesus Christ says, I want all my Christians,

if he says, I want all my Christian followers to only marry Christians. I mean, a lot of people struggle with that. A great deal. So what? What if he says, I want all Christians, once you become a Christian, once you're baptized, you've got all these celibate. So what? What if he says, I want all Christians, once you become a Christian, once you're baptized, you got all be celibate. So what? What if he says I want you to cut both of your feet off and hobble around on crutches, the rest of you? He said, sure, it's not much. That's nothing. So next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, I have to do that. That's nothing. If I'm going to rule and ring with him forever, if he's really who he said he is, he's got a right to ask for that. He's wise. Don't you see? Jesus has cut off your hand, cut off your right foot, the only rational explanation if he is who he said he is, is how high up. But if he's not, then of course none of this makes any

sense. That's what you have to work on. I'll do respect and I hope nobody thinks I'm beating up here. But who cares what Jesus teaches about marriage? Who cares what he teaches about sexuality? First you have to figure out, is he him? Is he him? Follow me, he says. In other words, I won't deal with you about anything else until you decide

how are you going to deal with me? I'm not going to tell you about anything else. I'm not going to tell you why your life went this way or that way. I'm not going to, you decide who's the authority in your life. Is it you or me? That's the call. Whenever I see people who just love to talk about theological issues or love to argue about creation and evolution or love to talk about, or fascinated with

miracles and healing and so on, no offense. All these things are very interesting and very important. But that's never the first thing. If the Holy Spirit's really after you, if you're really meeting the real Jesus, follow me, me. You have to come to grips with that. You have to figure out who he is and then you have to decide how you are going to relate to him.

And then after that, you figure out what he believes about this and this and this and what he will have us do. You don't say, well, I'll come to Jesus Christ if I like his agenda. You have to say, if he is Jesus Christ, then I have to get with his agenda and his agenda would be life for me because he's my creator and he's my redeemer. Either he is your creator and your redeemer and his agenda, whatever it is his life for you or he's not, and you shouldn't have anything to do with him, but you don't just, you can't read, pencil it.

You can't come to him because you like it follow me have you heard that call have you heard him come after you and say me maybe tonight's the first night maybe tonight for the first time you realize in G Christianities and just kind of getting more religious and adopting a set of ethics, it's coming to grips with who is Lord of my life, who is Savior of my life, me or Him. It's all or nothing. Now the third thing, and this is the last thing, first sign that you're called, is you sense of power coming in from outside and taking charge. The second sign that you're called is that you're confronted with a person, not a lot of intellectual ideas, a person, not a set of ethics that you can decide whether you like or not, a person. The third thing,

the third way you know you're called is that you rise and follow him. And here's why. It's hard to know why Matthew got up. And if you only had this story of Matthew, I'd say it's pretty inexplicable. Probably Matthew knew Jesus and Jesus knew Matthew, by the way. I mean, most commentators say that when Jesus comes to John and James and calls them in John chapter one

in Matthew, in most cases, it seems to be pretty obvious that Jesus is already acquainted with them. So what he's really doing is he's coming and he's calling them into a new career. And it's a radical call. It's not, I mean, it's a little less inexplicable is it not. It's not like Jesus shows up and Matthew's never laid eyes on him.

Has no idea who he is. Says, follow me. This isn't necessarily, you know, Jesus Christ being a resputan, you know, or a shthen galley and he comes in and he says, follow me. And then Matthew gets up and says, yes, master, it's none of that stuff. So if he's not a Rasputin and if he's not a Svengali, and you know, Isaiah 53 said he was not handsome. He was not this towering personage.

He didn't have this incredible charisma. Pilot laughed at him. Oh, so this is Jesus Christ. Pilate laughed at him. Oh, so this is Jesus Christ. I am really quite surprised. You look so small, not a king at all. And that's true to what the Bible tells us. No, that wasn't it. Well, what was it?

Well, the only place that I think we get a hint, when Mary, in John chapter 12, takes this enormously expensive bottle of ointment and perfumant lays it on his feet and just puts it there and starts to wipe her feet with her hair. The other people in the room think this is ridiculous. They say, you know, I believe in respecting Jesus, listening to his lectures, shaking his hand, taking his advice. That's a good idea. This is extravagant. She heard the totalitarian call. She realized that it's all or nothing. She gave herself to him utterly like Matthew did like these others.

And Jesus said, don't scorn her. He turns to the rest and says, don't scorn her. He says, she has bought this and she's putting it toward my burial. It's a cryptic statement, but almost for sure it means Jesus is saying she perceives that I'm going to die for her. Somehow she perceives it. Children very inarticulately, unconsciously can tell that their parents would do anything for them. Would even die for them.

And it's like Mary and Matthew and John, not even knowing what it was, could tell that Jesus Christ was that much for them, that they almost sensed that he had that kind of commitment to them, and if they had that, we have no excuse. Here's the reason why anybody who's really being called does rise and follow. You are willing to lose your life for him

when you realize he lost his life for you. Anybody who's being called by the Holy Spirit at certain point, you will come to grips with that and you will get up. When you see what he did, he had a call. In Hebrews chapter 10, we're told that Jesus Christ answered Jesus' call. And he says, low it is written of me in the book. A body that has prepared for me, I come to do that I will. I delight to do it.

That's in Hebrews chapter 10. It's quoting from the Psalms, Psalm 40, in which it says, this is really Jesus Christ speaking, and I can't get into all that now, but the fact is Hebrews 10 says, Jesus Christ heard a call. God called him, and he says, hear my send me, but you see, what will it cost you to answer the totalitarian call?

Nothing like what it cost him. I want to, Kathy and I have a lot of trouble. Whoa. Huh. Whoa. Have a lot of trouble not crying when we read one chapter in the third volume of Lord of the Rings. It's called, it's the chapters, the Battle of the Pelinar Fields. It's in the famous Tolkien fantasy trilogy. I'll tell you, there's one spot. There's a Hobbit. His name is Mary a Dark, and there's this one spot. There's a

hobbit. His name is Mary-Duck and he's a little guy. That's what hobbits are. And he's in this great battle and his beloved King, his friend and father, has just been cast down by this towering evil general, a kind of a demonic king. And Maryaduk is supposed to defend his king, who's now lying, wounded, and dying, and he's absolutely terrified. It says he was just crawling around in the mud, blind with terror, and he was saying,

I can't you get yourself together. You're supposed to be a king's man, and here you are terrified, and he couldn't get the courage up and the evil demonic king starts to come on to the good king and suddenly a woman stands up in full armor, throws off her helmet. Some of you know this, surely. Her name is Aawen and she stands between the nameless terror and her beloved father and she says touch him and I'll smite thee and of course the evil witch king looks at her and says if you don't get away I will not only kill you but you will die in terrible torment. And what does she say? She draws her sword and says, okay, do what you will.

But if you touch him, I will smite thee. So the demonic king comes down upon her and starts to crush her into the ground. And when Mary a doc, the top, it looks up and sees what she's doing. This is what he says. He suddenly his courage comes up and says, if she is willing to stand there like that, I can do my little thing. And he jumps up and he attacks this towering inferno of evil. And together, the way the story goes together,

A1 and Mary a doc do, slay, the terrible general. What's that mean? I'll tell you what it means. It's very hard for us to read this thing and not cry. Jesus Christ stands between you and destruction. Justice, death. That's what we deserve. Death and destruction, the nameless terror.

And Jesus Christ stands between us. And it's after us. Death is after us. And Jesus says, no, no, you want my brothers and sisters, but I will stand here. And the Bible tells us that down upon him came our punishment. And we are as, even as Christians, we are as cowardly and as blinded with terror in our daily lives as Mary a doc, unless occasionally we look up and we see what he is doing for us. We see what he's done for us and then your courage will come together and you'll start to say,

no, if he's willing to do this, I can do my part. You become a great heart. You will only answer the totalitarian call. You will only say, how high do I cut it off? You will only say that if you see how he was cut utterly off. You know, Jesus says, cut off your hand, pluck out your eye if I asked you, but Jesus was cut off at the waist. Jesus was cut off at the roots. He was cut off from the land of the living. Well, what does that mean?

Do you see what I just told you? Does that affect you, then you will rise and follow him? He lost his life for you. Therefore you will lose your life for him. Are you called? Are you being called? Answer the call. It's irrational not to. It's heartless not to. It's bondage not to. It's stupid not to. Answer the call. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for giving us a picture of what it means to be a Christian.

There's a number of us right now who probably don't even realize we're being called because our lives seem to be in tatters, but it could be that you're trying to teach us that your strength is made perfect in weakness. It could be that you're trying to get us to see our weakness, our need for you. Father, some of us are seeking very hard and we can't seem to find you, but Lord, you will. You will come to us if we say, Lord, show me yourself. Show me yourself. So Father, I pray that the people here who now realize that they're being sought would

answer. And I pray that those of us who have, we know that we belong to you and you belong to us, and yet like the little hoppet in the mud very often, we're very terrified by the things of life, help us to look up and see him answering the call for us, losing his life for us so that we too might lose our lives for him. Give us the courage that comes from seeing his sacrifice, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel and Life podcast. If you were encouraged

by today's teaching, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel and Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the transformative power of Christ's love through this ministry. Just visit gospelandlife.com-partner to learn more. That's gospelandlife.com-partner. This month's sermons were recorded from 1994 to 1997. 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 Brideemer Presbyterian Church.