Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Discipline of Desire 3

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

How do we know what real spiritual experience of God is? And then how do we have it? How do we actually move toward it? The Psalms are a journal—almost a kind of instruction manual from the inside��with people who are experiencing God and explaining and describing it. And Psalm 63 is one of the greatest at showing us these things.  We’re going to look at 1) three marks of spiritual experience, and 2) two very key and different disciplines in order to experience God.  This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 2, 1997. Series: Lessons in Drawing Near. Scripture: Psalm 63. 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.

What is the key to experiencing, really experiencing the presence of God? The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is the key to experiencing God in our lives. In fact, it's the Holy Spirit's job to convince Christians that nothing can separate us from God's love. Today on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller helps us understand the Holy Spirit's transformative role in the life of a Christian. After you listen, we invite you to go online to gospelandlife.com and sign up for our email

updates. When you sign up, you'll start receiving our quarterly newsletter with articles from Dr. Keller as well as other great Gospel-centered resources. Subscribe today at gospelandlife.com. Psalm 63. And I'm going to read it. Read it with me, if you will. Oh, God, you are my God.

Ernestly, I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you in a dry and weary land, where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and be held your power in your glory, because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods, with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night, because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed, they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals, but the king will rejoice in God. All who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be stopped." That's not what it says, but that's what the way I remember it.

The mouths of liars will be silenced, and that's God's word. Psalm 63. What are we doing? Here in the evening services, what we started to do for a couple of months, for January and February, we're looking at what it means to experience God. The very first Sunday night in March, we're going to have an open forum, and right here at this time, and as many of you know, an open forum is not a worship service. It's always some artistic performance

along with a talk or presentation that I do that's largely mainly geared for people who really have trouble believing, don't believe. And that night, we're going to be doing Ralph on Williams' five mystical songs. The five mystical songs are actually pieces of music, but what is set to music are five poems by George Herbert, who was a 17th century poet. And the reason they're called mystical songs is because there's a, they are incredibly intensely personal and experiential. They're almost frighteningly intimate. They're love poems to Jesus. And the thing that it raises and the subject I'm going to raise that night is, is mystical experience of God really possible? Are the mystical Psalms just blowing smoke? Are they just

pretty? And in order to get ready for this, I decided, you know, go and buy some books on spirituality, spiritual experience that are popular out there. And I guess I get ready for this, I decided, you know, go and buy some books on spirituality, spiritual experience that are popular out there. And I guess I would have known this. I go into bookstores all the time, but it wasn't until I started looking that I realized what an unbelievable explosion there is in books on mystical experience, experience, and God. And therefore, we have to have guidelines.

It's very, very important that we do. And therefore, when you go to the Psalms, what we're doing, these couple of weeks, these couple of months, is looking at the Psalms for really two things. How do you know what real spiritual experience of God is? How do we know the marks of authentic experience? How do we know whether we're going down the right path? So how do we recognize Christian experience?

And then how do we have it? What do we do? How do we actually move toward it? What steps are there to take? And this is Psalm 63, which we're gonna, we started looking at before and we're gonna finish up tonight, is great at showing us those things. In fact, what I wanna show is I summarize this,

is that there's three marks of Christian experience in here, and three disciplines. Three marks of real godly desire, and three disciplines in order to enhance it so you can experience God. But now, let me come clean about something. It's hard, I think it's really hard for almost anybody who's ever had these Psalms help them. And this Psalm has helped me a great deal

to talk about them, to preach about them. If you read CS Lewis' biography, Autobiography, excuse me, surprised by joy. He's got a very interesting passage about something that happened to when he was a boy. I don't know, probably nine or ten years old. Of course, he was a genius and that helps, and I don't think most of us would quite have this experience, but it always gives me a certain amount of, it gives me goosebumps.

It gives me, and not just goosebumps, but sort of goose flesh. He says that when he was a boy, he was about 8 or 9. He was paging through a book of Norse myths and poems right right there. He was a mythology book. A lot of us have books of Greek mythology, maybe growing up or Roman mythology or Norse mythology and so on. And he came to a poem and he read it and one line hit him. And the line went like this. He says, the line was, I heard a voice that cried, Baldr the beautiful is dead

is dead. I heard a voice that cried, Baldr the beautiful is dead is dead. And C.S. Lewis says, I knew nothing of Baldr had no idea about the myth behind that and so on. But instantly I was lifted up to huge regions of Northern Sky, and I desired with sickening intensity, something that can't be described, and I suddenly found myself almost immediately falling out of that desire and wishing it were back. And then it goes on and says, now, if you find this episode of no interest, then you need to read this book no further. Because the central story of my life is about nothing else.

And then he intimates, after having invited people not to read, he says, basically, everybody's autobiography is about the same thing. He says, I call what I experienced and what I continue to experience at strange and weird places. I call it joy. I called it joy to distinguish it from pleasure. Joy is a desire for something which even unfulfilled is more desirable than other satisfaction. You hear that? What he's saying is joy is a desire for something so sweet and so strong that even to long

for it, unfulfilled, is sweeter and more satisfying than to have anything else that is fulfilled. You see, the desire for this, unfulfilled, is more satisfying than to desire for anything else fulfilled, to even be thirsty for this, and not get it, is more sweet than to drink anything. It's an amazing statement. And he says, joy is never in our power, but pleasure is. And of course, he goes on and says that it often happened. He says, when he was a little boy, occasionally it happened when he was reading something

called squirrel nutkin, I've never found it. that it often happened. He says, when he was a little boy, occasionally it happened when he was reading something called Squirrel Nuckkin. I've never found it. But he says, very often, when he first would fall in love or when he would first find a friend or when he first started a new job, the joy would come. And then find that the object aroused it, but couldn't fulfill it. That the object that you thought was going to give you joy

was really only going to be able to give you pleasure. And he says, all of his life, he was looking for it. He knew that when he ever found it, whenever he found what it was, that you thought was going to give you joy, was really only going to be able to give you pleasure. And he says all of his life he was looking for, and he knew that when he ever found it, whenever he found what it was, he says he would know at last he found the thing that he was built for. Hasn't anything like that happen to you? See, and the odd thing he said was different things would arouse it, very odd things, a piece of music, a new friend, even the thought of something happening,

or a passage of literature, something like that, the thrill, the longing. He says, frankly, he called it joy even though he says it could have just as easily been called grief, but a certain kind. Now for me, and this is where I want to get sort of personal about this, for me, you know, I guess I wasn't a boy genius, and it didn't happen to me when I was reading anything. And in fact, it didn't even start happening when I started reading the Bible. But I do remember that when I started reading church history, okay, and I'm not necessarily

encouraging you one way or the other to do this, when I started reading church history, I found I would come across passages that were just astounding to me. But more than astoundly, they didn't just surprise me. The same thing would happen. There was, you're lifted up. There's an indescribable intensity and it's gone. For a weird example, for example.

Jonathan Edwards fell in love with his wife to be. When he was about 21, when he was still at Yale. This would have been in 1731, I think, or something like that. No, 1723, I think it was. His wife at the time was just a teenage girl, maybe 14 or 15. He fell in love with her and he wrote something for her and about her that has always done the same thing for me that Balder did for C.S. Lewis. It's called the apostrophe to Sarah Peer Point and

this is what he's wrote. He was clearly falling in love but he was in love with something besides her. He says they say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of the Almighty Being who made and rules the world and that there are certain seasons in which this great being in some other way, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight and that she hardly cares for anything except to meditate on him. She has a strange sweetness in her mind and singular purity in her affections and she is most just and conscientious in all her actions.

She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence in mind, especially after those seasons in which this great God has manifested Himself to her mind. She expects after a while to be received up where he is to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven because she is assured that he loves her so well that he would never remain at a distance from her.

There she will dwell with him and be ravaged with his love and delight forever. She will sometimes go about, I see, from place to place, singing sweetly, and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her. Now, somebody says, well, that's interesting, and that's a little weird, too. But it doesn't do for you, maybe, what it does for me. And when you read Baldur, the beautiful is dead, is dead.

That doesn't do a thing for me, and probably doesn't do a thing for you. What are we talking about? When I read Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon was a Baptist preacher, and one point in one of his sermons, he kind of opened his heart and he said this. He says, some of us know when he always referred to himself in the plural. Some of us know what it is to be too happy to live. At one point, the love of God was made so overwhelmingly experienced, pardon me, the love of God was so overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly experienced by us on one occasion that we almost had to ask God to

stop the delight. If he had not veiled his love and glory a bit, we'd have died for joy. Now, I submit to you that you say, well, that's interesting too. First of my red that, something happened to me. I want that. First of my red about Sarah Peerporn, I fell in love. She's dead. I fell in love, but I'm not sure what I fell in love with. I fell in love with what she was in love with.

I would suspect, and I would suggest, that whether you're a Christian or not, you know something about this. When Lewis was talking about, it was something that, when he wasn't a Christian at all, in fact, when he found George Herbert, he was particularly surprised, because reading George Herbert, even though he did not believe a bit about Jesus Christ,

when he read George Herbert describing Jesus Christ, something grabbed him. And he said, finally, all these roads return to Psalm 16, verse 11, where the psalmist says, in thy face is fullness of joy, and in thy right hands are pleasure forevermore. It's the face of God.

It's the face of God. Whatever the heck that means, that's the face of God. It's the face of God. Whatever the heck that means. That's the place. That's the sweetness. That's the thing. That's the joy. It's not pleasure. It's something way beyond that.

And no matter who you are, experiencing God and knowing what David was talking about in In this sanctuary I have beheld your power and glory. My soul is feasted as on the richest of foods. My soul clings for you. Your right hand upholds me. This is what you want. This is what it's all about. And generally I have found that the Psalms, like Psalm 63, Psalm 27 verse 4, Psalm 84, which do the same thing now to me, which show me what I want,

which just lift me up into northern sky, giving me a sickling intense longing for something. It's very hard to even talk about them, really is. In fact, you know, Lewis believed that the way you develop your friends is you might stand before a painting or listen to a piece of music or read a story or look at a landscape and when you feel it you turn to your friend or whoever's around you and you can see the ones you're feeling it to and they're your friends. Because you see everybody, everybody, everybody who's a human being needs the face of God and the traces of that joy are out there in the world. But everybody's got a sort of a, you might say,

a different thread. There's a different thread through all the experiences of life, some of them aesthetic and so forth. Through all the experiences of life, there's a different thread that runs back to God. And your friends are the ones who basically are on roughly the same threadway, the same path. Now, this passage actually says, as I mentioned,

three things that are signs, and we've actually looked at those, but let me review them. But then there's three disciplines, and that's where I want to end tonight, at least end in Psalm 63. The first three things we take a look at, there's three signs of of real spiritual experience. The first one is in verse one, oh God you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you and a

dry and weary land where there is no water. Now in a sense we've already talked about that. The first of the signs of real spiritual experience is a thirst for real spiritual experience. The first of the sign is the appetite for God we said. And so what we've said is a sense of his absence is really a sign of his presence and working in you. Because he is my God, I seek for you. It doesn't say, David doesn't say, I seek you and therefore you're my God. I seek for you. It doesn't say, David doesn't say, I seek you. And therefore you're my God. He says, because you're my God, because you're in my life. Therefore I seek you.

And the one of the ways you know that you're a real Christian is not just that you know God is absent, but you long for the presence of God. And you're unhappy and you're just satisfied and you're upset. And of course what we've been saying is, that is a wonderful sign. You're unhappiness shows that he's a work in your life. That's the first sign. Now, the second sign is a new sensation, a new sense of God.

It says, in verse two, I have seen you in a sanctuary and be held your power in your glory. Verse five, my soul is satisfied as with the riches of foods with singing lips, my mouth will praise you. The second sign of authentic spiritual experience is that information becomes sensation. Now again, by the way, one of the reasons I'm reviewing this, I went over this last week, but there was a

Super Bowl last week, and many people weren't here. So, and by the way, if I wasn't working last Sunday night, I wouldn't have been here either. But I pulled the evening shift. Now, so therefore, the second sign of spiritual sensation, what does that mean? What it says is, when the psalmist goes and says, I beheld your power and glory in the sanctuary. Now it's possible that David had a revelation. It's possible that there was what the Bible calls a Theophany, a visible manifestation, a burning bush or something, but it's very unlikely. It's much more likely David's talking the way he talks in the Psalm that says, by words,

the words of the law, by law, it's like honey come to my mouth. The Psalmist lapses into discussion of sensation. Why? Because the second mark of authentic spiritual experience is that information, information about God, facts, doctrine, information, becomes sensation. And it's analogous to the difference between knowing that honey is sweet and actually tasting the honey. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means this. Does anybody know that verse that says, if God is for you who can be against you, you know that place? It's in Romans 8. Now,

it's one thing to know that. In fact, you might believe that. You might believe it. You say, of course, I believe the Bible, let's say. Maybe you say, I trust the Bible, I believe it, and I believe that verse. Have you ever tasted that verse? Have you ever feasted that verse on that verse? Has that verse ever blazed out? And here's what I mean. Are you scared about anything? Are you worried about anything right now? Come on, in New York, surely somebody's scared,

somebody's what you are. So some of you are. Now, your soul is hungry for safety. That's why. It's hungry for safety. That's why. It's hungry for safety. That's the reason why you're scared. You don't feel safe. And if I say to you, read that verse, and you read that verse,

and it stays just information, after you've ready to say, that's true, I know that's true. I'm still scared. But if the information, and sometimes, if you're a Christian, sometimes you're reading a passage or you're reflecting on it, or you're hearing it, and sometimes the information becomes sensation. Sometimes it fills your soul. Sometimes it blazes out. Sometimes it becomes so real that the assurance that if God is for you, who can be against you? And you read that and you see that and you're so feast on it.

And it completely fills up that hunger for safety. And even though your circumstances haven't changed a wit, you get up from that truth and you say, I've got nothing to be afraid of. That is what we're talking about. And the second sign of spiritual experience is when you go to the truth about God, it becomes food, it becomes light. Not all the time, but it's there. It often happens.

You get a new sense of God. And unfortunately, this is one of those things which does not translate. If you say, well, explain it more to me. I can keep this, I can't explain it. I can't define it. If you never experienced it, I can describe it and you will know it.

Or you will know that you don't know it. How do you define, this is Jonathan Edwards, how do you define the difference between red and blue for a blind man who's never seen anything you can't? You can describe it, but it's even difficult to do that. And therefore, the second of the signs is a sense of God. You have an appetite for the truth of God, but beyond that, sometimes when you go to the truth of God, it fills you up. Your soul is hungry for safety.

It fills it up. Your soul is hungry for love. You know what, if you're an insecure person and you read the passage where it says, can a mother forget the baby who sucks at her breast? Yay, she may forget, but I will not forget the sea. You are engraved on the palms of my hands. That's in Isaiah 49. Now, do you believe God loves you?

Say, sure. You're still insecure. You're still upset. You're still upset about the criticism that you got. But sometimes the truth fills your soul. Sometimes it blazes out. Sometimes it fills you up. And without one change in the circumstances,

no apologies. You're filled. 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. Now the third of the three signs, the first is an appetite, a sense of his absence, a longing for him. The second of the signs is sometimes the information becomes sensation.

And the third sign is praise. Now actually, if I was going to be precise, okay, why not? I'm at it. Let me be precise. This is the third sign, but it's not a distinctive sign. It's not a unique sign. It's not in a sense of test. What do I mean by that? Well, an appetite for the true God and the truth of God becoming the sensation rather just information are things that only Christians experience. If you experience that, that's a sign that you really believe. A person who's just religious, a person who's just moral, a person who's just spiritual in some vague kind of way,

will not experience that. But the third of the three signs, praise, is a kind of universal. The reason you see it all over the place, you notice again and again, it says, because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live. In your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live. In your name, I will lift up my hands.

And so on the king will rejoice in God. All that stuff on praise is because anything you really love, you have to praise in order to complete the joy of it. But one of the ways in which you know that you don't just believe, but your experiencing God, is that you will praise. In other words, you've experienced this, and this should only take 30 seconds to talk about. If you have just listened to a great piece of music, you can enjoy very well unless you grab somebody else and drag them over and say, listen to this and you plop your CD in. And if they look and say, hmm, that's pretty good, your joy is sort of strangled.

But if the other person says, that's incredible, that is wonderful. Let's play it again, how much of that cost? And you know what, you're not, it's not helping, I mean, in other words, you're not selling the CD, it's gonna help tower, it's not gonna help you, okay? What's going on?

Why do you feel this incredible joy? That's the nature of your joy sensors, the way God made them. You cannot complete your enjoyment of something unless you praise it. And this means, on the one hand, if you want to see this mark in your life, that you're a Christian and that you're experiencing God, when it comes to prayer, your prayers are not just chuck full of petition.

What is petitionary prayer? That's where you say, plus mommy and daddy, in other words, you go down the list and ethyl's bunions and you go down the long list. It is a long, we call it shopping list prayer. I need this and this and this and this. If you only pray with any regularity when you're in trouble. If when you're in trouble you start to pray and when everything's going very well, you know, it doesn't happen much.

Very bad sign. Why? Because you see, that means that your prayer essentially is shoppingless prayer when you don't have anything you're shopping for, you don't go to the store. And when you don't have anything you seem to want, you don't go to pray. And when you're feeling acute, sense of needs, then you go to pray. But you see, if you're having any kind of sensation of God, if you're seeing His power and glory in any way, that prays to something that you always need to do, you will need to do it. It will characterize your life. It will characterize your prayer life.

But the other thing is, if you are someone who's experiencing God, you will not be able to avoid trying to talk to other people about it. In other words, you will find yourself needing to say, can I tell you about Jesus? And if you are, for example, what if, may I just suggest, there's always a number of people at any service who don't know what they believe or know they don't believe, but they've been brought by a friend who does believe. And you're sitting here, I want you to please, please be understanding if that person tries to talk to you about Jesus.

Now, it is inconsistent and wrong if they're rude about it. It is inconsistent and wrong if they are, if they. It is inconsistent and wrong if they are condescending and haughty about it. It's inconsistent and wrong with their Christianity if they're coercive about it or relentless about it. But you have to understand this. The same thing that makes you need to go grab somebody and say, listen how wonderful this piece of music is.

The same thing that when you see Michael Jordan do one of those incredible things and you know it's going to be an instant replay and you run out of the room and you drag even your wife in to see it. What are you saying? You're saying, oh, praise with me. This incredible dunk. And then I will be able to enjoy it. This is, listen, the world rings with praise. You can't be in love without praising. You can't enjoy anything without praising. You certainly can't go to a good game

and root for a team without praising. What do you think you're doing? Why is it so noisy in there? You're praising. You can't help but praise. And then does it make any sense that a person would find Jesus Christ to be the fullness of joy and have them never feel and need to say anything, to say, you know, listen, it's nice that you have your religion, but you shouldn't try to convert anybody else to it.

What you really mean is, you don't really believe it's true. You know, when someone says it's okay for you to have your religion, but don't try to convert anybody ever. What you're really saying is, you can't have your religion. Religion would have to mean, you would enjoy, I mean, if you have a relationship with Christ, you've got to enjoy them as much as you do the New York Giants. When you go to the Giants fans, they're going to be screaming the praises, the few times that they have. Okay. You're not going to begrudge them, because you know that that's the nature of joy, and that is the nature of any kind of relationship. Christian friends, if you are experiencing

God, you will have to praise. Your lives will be characterized by it. Well, somebody says, okay, how do I do it? Now, there is really one very, very key. Actually, I should say, there's two, very key and extremely different disciplines and they are disciplines. I just need to mention the two of them. And as far as the other one, I, somebody's going to say, didn't you in the beginning say they were three of them and, you know, there's a series, we're going into other parts of the Psalms, I'll get to them. Here's what the two disciplines are. One is in verse two.

One is in verse eight. Listen to these disciplines. If you do this, you'll experience God. Oh, no, wait, I'm not guaranteeing tomorrow. Listen to these disciplines. If you do this, you'll experience God. Oh no wait, I'm not guaranteeing tomorrow. I'm not guaranteeing how often these things are sovereign, but this is what the scripture says. First of all, it says, because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you. Now look at that. Why are the lips glorifying? It's not that David says, I'm a Christian, I've got to praise God. It's not like David says, I'm being a bad Christian on that praising God. I will praise God.

He is thinking. There is a logic. He says, because I see something, because I'm thinking something out, therefore my lips praise thee. Now, what is he thinking out? He says, because your love is better than life, that's the key. Now this is one of the places where this wonderful new international version of translation falls down.

I don't know why it does it. There are many Hebrew words for love in the Bible. But the most important one is the one that's in this one right here, which is unpronounceable, at least for me. In Hebrew, it's case said. There's something like that. Case said would be enough. Even back in the old days, centuries ago, translators knew that this word is so unusual that you can't

just translate it love, you need a special word. The Old King James Version, following Miles Coverdale, who is one of the early translators into English, called it loving kindness. That's the reason why some of you might remember from the authorized King James version, he used to be called the authorized version, that this verse went by loving kindness is better than life. That's not a very good translation either. The better translation is steadfast love, because the word case, said, means, unmovable love, unchangeable love,

and therefore unmerited love. It's a word that means pledged love. Right now, if you go to Episcopal Church and you go to a wedding service, you will hear the more modern version of the Episcopal Vows in the Book of Common Worship, the Book of Common Prayer, excuse me, and the more modern version goes like this.

In the name of God, you'll hear him take, you know, when the spouses are the people exchanging vows, they'll say, in the name of God, I blank, take you blank to be my wife, to have and to hold for better for worse, for richer for poor, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until we're parted by death, and then they say, this is my sovereign vow. But in the old way, the old books, at the very end, it would say all those incredible things, for richer for poor, for better for worse. You see, in sickness and in health, and then they would say, and there too, I plight the my troeth. Have you ever heard that? There have been to old, physical services, and there too, I plight the my troeth.

You say, what's that? I'll tell you what it is. Troeth is the old English word for commitment or contract. That's not the word I want to look at. It's the word plight. The old English word for pledge was plight. Well, that's interesting. We still have that word around. What does the word plight mean? Danger. When you commit to somebody to be there no matter what, you put yourself in danger. If you get poor, I get poor. If you get worse, I get worse.

But because I am pledging myself to you unconditionally and therefore I am pledging myself to you to do this regardless of whether you merit on a given day, a merit it or not. Therefore I am now in danger. I am now vulnerable. I am now unprotected. I am now at plight. Plight and pledge is the same thing. Now, you know what? That's the closest that God demands of us to do to anyone else. The only case said that we are really responsible to do, the highest form of it, loyal love, steadfast love, unbudging love, unmo to do, the highest form of it, loyal love,

steadfast love, unbudging love, unmoving love, no matter what the cost, no matter what the sacrifice is in marriage, but you know what, as you all know, even God even marriage there are limits. First of all, it says, till death to us part. The person dies, I'm not bound the rest of my life. And as we also know, without trying to get into it, the Bible even says that there are certain limits. There are grounds for divorce.

There are things the other person can do that will nullify the contract. That they're so bad that you do not have to stay with them. And that's in the scripture too. Let's not get into that. But here's what I'm trying to say. It's not that way with God. David looks at this, and David has no idea

completely what it means. And if he is lifted to the heavens by this, how much more should we? He sees God saying whether you're, God knows, we will always be getting poor, not richer. We will always be getting sicker, not healthy. We will always be getting worse, not better. And God says, no matter what happens,

no matter what happens, I plight thee my troeth. I pledge to bless you no matter what it takes. David probably knew about the past event that illuminates this word, because he probably knew about the fact that Abraham had one day, a member years ago in Genesis 15, he said, God, how do I know you'll bless me? And God said, cut an animal in half, several animals, and then God appeared as a smoking pot

and went between the pieces and said, I will bless you. And by doing that, in that ancient, Semitic culture, what he was saying was, if I do not bless you, may I be cut up as these animals, I will bless you even if it means me having to die. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will love you no matter what. I will love you unconditionally. I will love you despite anything that you do, even if it means me having to pay the price. And David knew that, but he doesn't know what we know. Now, David says, when I see that I am loved to the uttermost,

when I see the miracle of grace, when I see that God has not given me love that I merit, but love that's unmerited and complete, when I see that, he says, I meditate. Now this is the discipline. He says, that is he says, I meditate. Now, this is the discipline. He says, that is better than anything in life. That's better than life itself. If I have that, I don't need to live. And I'll tell you what causes praise. And I'll tell you what causes an experience of God.

Sit down tomorrow morning and get out the thing that you're most concerned about. It could be something you're worried about. It could be something you're mad at. it could be something you're mad at, it could be somebody, it could be some situation. What David did, you should do, he looks at that and he thinks about this, he says, nice steadfast love is better than that. And then he looks at the next thing

and he says, I steadfast love is better than this, it's better than this, it's better than this, it's better than that and he thinks about why it's better than this. And he thinks about how it's better than this, and he thinks about how it's better than this, and he says, if I have steadfast love, why am I moaning after this? Why am I panting after this? Why am I cowering before this?

The next thing you know, he's praising God. The next thing you know, he's sensing God. This is what we do every week here. You preach the gospel to yourself. You take out the unmerited favor of God, and you say, I've got something in that that's better than anything else. And the reason that I'm not excited, and the reason I'm not happy, the reason I'm not confident, the reason I'm not enjoying, the reason I'm bored, the reason I'm afraid,

the reason I'm bitter is because I don't see that. And you meditate on that. And so your lips glorify. Sometimes that takes 30 days. Sometimes that takes 30 months. sometimes that takes 30 months, sometimes it takes 30 minutes, sometimes it takes 30 seconds. I didn't tell you when. I just said that they're connected. Because he's thinking.

Because I said fast love is better than life. Now one more. The other discipline is exactly the opposite. The one discipline is to meditate on the grace of God and see it particularly and specifically as better than the thing that's bothering you right now. And in a sense, assaulting every obstacle in your life with the grace of God and meditating on it until you find

you'll be whole as power and glory. But the other discipline is my soul clings to you. And I'm gonna read you something, and then we're gonna be done. My soul clings to you. See in verse eight, you know what that Hebrew word is? That's the Hebrew word. Believe it or not, in Genesis 2.24 where it says,

a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave, cling to his wife. That word is not what it looks like. I know there's a whole book written some years ago called the pursuit of God, and it was based on this verse because in the old translations it says, I follow hard after you. And it seems like clinging means I'm praying.

That's not what it means. Cleave means to make a promise and stick to it. Cleave means to obey. Cleave means to keep on obeying. Cleve means the exact opposite of seeking experience of God and seeking to have your feelings and senses filled up with them. This is the discipline of saying, I'm going to obey him

no matter what my feelings are. Now they go together. Because don't you see, the only reason you would ever obey disobey would be if there's something better than his steadfast love. You would never, ever, ever. If you understand that his steadfast love is better than life, there would be nothing that would be better than him, and therefore, there would never be any conditions to your

obedience. They go together, but it's not one, too. It's both-and. It's not first this than this. In other words, on the one hand, you have this passion for him, but on the other hand, you have, I put my foot down and I'm going to obey him unconditionally the way he died for me.

And I'm going to obey him no matter what my feelings. Let me just read you this one piece. I saw, you know, the Jane Eyre movies, there's about five of them. And I just saw Orson Wells as Mr. Rochester and Joan Fontaine as Plain Jane. And you see Mr. Rochester comes to her and she finds out that they were falling in love and she finds out he's married. But that his wife is somewhere else and I don't

want to get into that because I'm afraid if I tell you the extenuating circumstances it'll ruin the point. Because the point is he says come live with me I can't marry you but we love each other what happens let me just read it and then we're done this is clinging this is putting your foot down this is saying I obey I don't care and this is the other side of experiencing God he makes the offer he says I can't marry you I want you to live with me. A pause. Why are you silent, Jane?

I was experiencing an ordeal. A hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals, terrible moment, full of struggle, blackness and burning, not a human being that ever lived could wish to be loved more than I. And him who thus loved me now, I absolutely worshipped. But I must renounce love. I must renounce the idol.

One drear word comprise my intolerable duty, I said, depart. Jane, you understand what I want of you? Just this promise. Just say, I will be yours, Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester, I will not be yours. Another silence. Jane, Jane, do you mean to go one way in the world and to let me go another?

I do. Jane, and he bent towards and embraced me. Do you mean it now? I do. Now he softly kissed my forehead and my cheek. And now I do. How Jane is as bitter, this is wicked. How can it be wicked to love me?

It would not be wicked to love you, but it would be wicked to obey you. A wild look raised in his brows. One instant, Jane, give one glance to my horrible life when you are gone. All happiness will be turned away with you. What then is left? What shall I do, Jane? Where do I turn for a companion? Where do I turn for some hope? Do as I do, I said. Trust in God, believe in heaven, and hope to meet again there. Then you will not yield? No. Then you can then me to live, wretched, and hope to meet again there. Then you will not yield? No.

Then you can then meet a live wretched and a die a cursed? No, I advise you to live sinless and die tranquil. Then you snatch love and innocence from me. You fling me back on lust for a passion, vice for an occupation. Mr. Rochester, she said, I know more, assign this fate to you than I grasp at it for myself. We were born to strive and endure. You as well as I do so.

You will forget me before I forget you. Jane, you make me a liar by such language. You sully my honor. I declare I will not change. You tell me to my face, I will change soon. And what a distortion in your judgment. What a perversity in your ideas is proved by your very conduct. It's better to drive a fellow creature to despair than to transgress one little human law. No man being injured by the breach, for you have neither relatives nor acquaintances

whom you need a fear to offend by living with me." Here's the end. She thought, well, this was true. And while he spoke my very conscience and reasoned turn trader against me and charged me with crime in resisting him, they spoke as loud as feeling. And that clamored wildly, oh, comply, they said, think of his misery, think of his danger, think of his ill state when left alone. Oh, sooth him, save him, love him, tell him you love him and will be happy. Think of his danger. Think of his ill state when left alone.

Oh, sooth him, save him, love him, tell him you love him, and will be his, who in the world cares for you? And who will be injured by what you do? Still, undominable was my reply. I care. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsastained I am, the more I will reject. I will respect myself, and I will keep the law of God.

I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane and not mad as I am now. Laws and principles were not for times when there is no temptation. They are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise and mutiny against their rigor. Strangent are they, in violet, they shall be. If that my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth, so I have always believed, and if I cannot believe it now it's because I'm insane, quite insane, and with my veins running fire, my heart beating faster than I can count, it's throbs. Preconceived

opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by. There I plant my food. I did. What does it mean to cleave? On the one hand you should be so passionate, you should be after experience, you should be after feeling, you should say, I want to feel him, I want to know him, and on the other hand you should say, I'm going to obey him, I don't care how I feel. I don't care how much feeling and reason even in conscience rise up and say, Oh, comply. Those two together instead of where you are, which is stuck on in the middle, not passionately wanting his love and experiencing it. Your heart is hard on the other hand.

Your conditional and your obedience. No wonder. You don't know what the Psalmist said, and I don't either. Like we should, and thy face is fullness of joy, and thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. Let's pray.

Father, you have said, seek thy face. Thy face we seek. Help us to all find it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Gospel in Life and Dr. Keller's Teaching on the Holy Spirit. You can get more content like today's teaching when you connect with Gospel in Life on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter. 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 Vardema Presbyterian Church. you