Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Disciplines of Distress

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

We’re in a series looking at how we experience God. Now we ask, how do you experience God in troubles and distress and difficulties?  There are many texts in the Bible about suffering. Psalm 11 is a short Psalm, and yet we find in it the same principles on how to deal with trouble that we find all through the Scripture. In this psalm, David shows us how to take refuge in God. Psalm 11 shows us that we need to realize: 1) who is ruling the world, 2) all disasters are examinations, 3) only false foundations can be destroyed by circumstances, and 4) we have to seek God’s face. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 16, 1997. Series: Lessons in Drawing Near. Scripture: Psalm 11. 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. If you look in your bullet and you'll find printed Psalm 11, and that's what we're going to look at here tonight, getting ready to meet God over his table.

Psalm 11, it's a short but sweet Psalm. One of the more unfamous psalms you'll find. In the Lord I take refuge, how then can you say to me, flee like a bird to your mountain? For look, the wicked bend their bows, they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord is on His heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of men, His eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence, His soul hates. On the wicked He will reign fiery coals and burning sulfur. A scorching wind will be there lot. For the Lord is righteous. He loves justice and upright men will see His face. This is God's Word. Now, we're looking at a number of Psalms here in the evening service. And our subject is practical principles for experiencing God. And we've looked at the disciplines of desire,

which is how to experience God in prayer. And we look at the disciplines of decision-making, which is how to experience God's presence in guidance and in the choices of daily life. But tonight we're gonna look at what I call, obviously it's there in the bullet and the disciplines of distress. And the subject is how to experience God

in troubles and distress and difficulties. And now there's so many texts in the Bible about suffering. You know, you're probably used to hearing me say, now on our subject tonight, we have before us one of the classic texts of the Bible, one of the most important, one of the most full text passages and all the scripture on this subject. And that's just not true tonight.

What I like about Psalm 11, I remember a day or two before New Year's Day 1995, this song was of great use to me. One of the things I like about this song is that it's just a song and yet in it you've got the same principles on how to deal with trouble that you find all through the scripture, all through. And with a little bit of looking and a little bit of thought and reflection, you can not only see them here, but you begin to realize when if you can see them here, you can see them all through, all through, almost anywhere you look. Let's take a look at this Psalm. It is so short that it's finally one of these places where you really can go through it, verse by verse the way I'd like to. It's the Psalm of David. In verse one, you have what's typical in the Psalms,

and it's also pretty helpful to know this. If you're trying to understand a Psalm, you need to realize that many Psalms are written a little bit like in one sense. They're written like a newspaper article. So if you ever notice a newspaper article has a summary sentence at the beginning, in other words, the first sentence tells you everything it's going to tell you.

And then the rest of the article just elaborates. That's because they want to let you know the whole thing right away. They want to pull you in. So usually the very first sentence is not just an introductory sentence. The first sentence of a good newspaper article is the summary of the whole article. Now, very often, it's psalms do the same thing. And in verse 1 it says, in the Lord I take refuge. And actually it's interesting that the NIV translation tries to soften that because it's a huge

transition. In the Lord I take refuge, how then can you say? That's really not, that's kind of trying to tie the two together really. It says, in the Lord I take refuge, how can you say to me? Because the first verse is just a summary of the whole thing, and now all the rest of the Psalm is just an elaboration. And so the first verse tells us, this Psalm is about how to take refuge in God. When the storms come, when the wind blows, when the difficulties come, how can I flee into

God? How can I go there? Now, verses one, two, and three are in quotes. And the reason they're in quotes is because somebody is talking to David. Something terrible is happening. And we're not really as choldly sure what. Verse two gives us a pretty good idea and most commentators therefore surmise this.

It's verse 2, it says, for, look, the wicked men their bows. They set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright and heart. It's a very vivid image, shooting from the shadows. And what we're talking about here is assassination. David's a king. And what most commentators believe is that this is either from the earlier part of David's career when he had a run for his life and flee into the wilderness because

Saul was after him, the king, or maybe later in his career where Absalom or some other usurper, someone trying to take over the throne, had through subterfuge, undermined the kings, many of their loyal subjects, and now assassination was a possibility at any point. But the important part was that everything's falling apart. The society's falling apart. We can't trust anybody. Anarchy is raining. We can't trust the judges.

We can't trust the army. What are we going to do? So probably this was a very, very literal situation in which Israelite society was falling apart and the counselors of David, the friends of David, King David were coming and saying, they were saying, there's nothing to do. If we call the army, how do we know who side the army is on?

If we call this particular general, that particular lieutenant, we don't even know. We can't go to the judges, we can't go to the elders, we don't know who, everything is falling apart. And what's interesting is in verse one, it says, flee can't go to the judges. We can't go to the elders. We don't know who everything is falling apart. And what's interesting is in verse 1 it says, flea like a bird to your mountain. There's another song which is much more famous. In fact, in a minute we're actually, or a few moments we're going to sing a song based on that song.

Very famous song is Psalm 121, where it says, I lift my eyes to the hills. Winsk. Now this is the old King James translation. I lift my eyes to the hills from Winsk, come with my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. And you know what a lot of commentators say is that it sounds like it's saying I'm looking to the hills to get help and God will give it. But actually the same thing is happening in that verse is happening in this verse. Run to the mountains. There's no hope anywhere else. Everything is fallen apart.

Fly like a bird to the mountain. Just get safe. Find a cave. Get into it, you see. Flea to the hills. Flea to the mountains. The same thing happens here as happens in Psalm 121. David says, I lift my eyes to the hills.

I'm ready to go. But where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made the mountains, the heaven, and the earth. So what's happening here is the counselors are saying, run, there is no hope. You're going to be killed. Everything's falling apart. In verse 3, we have the main voice of despair. And the statement says, when the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous

do? Now, that's the main voice of despair. The foundations are being destroyed. Now, as we said, though, we're not sure exactly and specifically what event this was in David's life. It's either something that we do know about in the history that's recorded for us. It might be some other event that's not even recorded in history.

The biblical history is always very selective. It doesn't tell us everything. But whatever it is, it's almost for sure that the actual foundations for civil society have fallen apart. And if you're a counselor for David, if you're a prime minister, if you're a counselor, the very foundations of civil society falls apart, your life is falling apart.

And as Derek Kiddner, my favorite commentator, he's a Hebrew scholar and he's written a couple little volumes on Psalms that I probably read, I've been studying this particular commentary ever since I got them 20 years ago. I've never stopped using this commentary. Almost every month of my life I've used it, it's just that good. And Derek Kiddner says, really, what's being said is, the foundations of your life are falling apart. You live to be a king, you can't be king.

We live to be your counselors, we can't be counselors, and therefore, what's the use of doing anything? What can the righteous do? what's the use of doing anything? What can the righteous do? What's the use of doing? There's nothing to do. There's nothing to do. There's nothing we can do. What's the use?

Now what Derek Kiddner says is you probably, when you read this, you know, you sit down, you open your Bible and you read Psalm 11, you probably are not going to know the things we just said. You're not going to immediately understand the anarchy, the loss of civil society. What you're going to be struck with is this verse three. And Kittener says probably in the Providence of God, and maybe even in the intention of the author, the exact situation that is happening for the Psalmmist, the author, is vague so that you won't be distracted and you will take the premise

and you will take the dynamic and you'll be able to apply to your own life. And here's the premise. Here's the dynamic. As Kittner says, this is saying is, when the foundations of your life are falling apart, you don't feel like doing anything. Now, let me show you what a test this is.

How do you know what the foundations of your life are? How do you know what you really depend on? How do you know what you really base your whole life on? Here it is, when you don't feel like life means anything anymore, when you don't feel like doing anything, when you say, what's the use of anything at all? When trouble comes and threatens your foundations and your real foundations are shaking, you don't even care about life anymore. One of the things that's interesting about being married, by the way, is that when you're married, the troubles happen to both of you, but you're

two different people. So a trouble will come in and you'll find this, you know this if you are married and you will find it out if you get married the trouble comes and you know You react differently to it as particular trouble a particular problem will come and one of you will have a lot of hope and a lot of strength and the other one will be absolutely sacked Completely drained and that person will say

What's the use and you see the one with hope will say, what's the use? And you see the one with hope will say, well, we can do this, we can do this, we can do this. I mean, there's this and there's that, and we can learn this. And the other person, the other person who's totally saps says, what's the use of doing anything? Life is gray, life is drab, life is meaningless.

There's no use to do anything. And what's really odd, the one with hope and strength and lots of ideas, feels kind of virtuous. He says, sort of says, well, honey, you have to trust the Lord. And that kind of pious babble and that sort of thing. And then on the other hand, then a month later, a year later,

some other trouble will hit. It hit in both of you. It's the same trouble. And the shoes on the other foot. And the one person, the one who was sapped is sort of strong and full of hope, and says, none of those things we can do about it, this is tough.

And then you're the one who is sapped, and you're drained, and you say, what's the use? What's the use of doing anything? I don't want to do anything. Well, now, here's what the commentator says. Here's what Derek Kittner says. How do you know what the real foundation of your life is? When you say, what's the use of doing anything? It's only the troubles of life that will show you what you're made of. Until suffering hits, until difficulty

said, you don't really know what you've based your life on. You don't know what the roots of your personality are. You don't know what makes you tick. Until what makes you tick is being destroyed. You know, see, it's starting to fail, it's being threatened, and then you find life absolutely becomes gray, and you don't want to do a dog-on thing. And you can call it what you want. You can call it depression, and maybe it is. And you might need to treat it that way. I'm not saying that that's not the case, but there's a spiritual root for it. Your foundation's been destroyed. And you say, what's the use of doing anything? So there's the test.

Well, that's suffering, you don't know what's going on. So that's what's happening to these counselors, and that's what happened to all the people around David. And in verse one, two, and three, we have the panic. The foundations, everything is falling apart. I don't feel like doing anything. I have no hope. Life is falling apart, but in verses four, five, six, and seven, David comes. You see the the quotation stop. And it's so striking because the the very air in the atmosphere versus four to seven is so utterly different from one to three. And yet David and his friends are looking at the very air in the atmosphere versus 4 to 7 is so utterly different from 1 to 3. And yet David and his friends are looking at the very same event. The same things.

But David comes with a whole new perspective in verses 4 to 7. A whole different perspective. He says, the Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes the sons of man, His eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence, His soul hates. Now, what's going on here?

David is showing us how to take refuge. See, verse one said, in the Lord I take refuge, then he contrasts that with verses one, the rest of verse one, two, and three, and in verse four to seven, he shows how to do it. He shows how you don't have to flee to the mountains. How to make God your mountain. He shows how you can stand firm.

Number one, let's just say there's four things, okay? Number one, first thing is you have to realize who's ruling the world, the first thing. See, verse three, the foundations are being destroyed. Verse four, no, they're not. God is in His holy temple. And not just God is in His holy temple. Right away when you say holy temple, you think you mean the temple on earth?

No. He sits on His heavenly throne. See the contrast? God is not fleeing. God is not breaking up. God is not falling apart. God is sitting. God is not breaking up, God is not falling apart, God is sitting, God is in residence, God is firm and really what David is saying is, the first thing you have to

remember, no matter how bad everything looks, is that hasn't changed, God is raining. Now there's the most interesting and famous, I think, historic example of this, is Martin Luther and Philip Malankthon. Occasionally you've heard me refer to this famous saying of Martin Luther in passing perhaps, but it's almost like Psalm 11 could have been about Luther and Malankthon. Who were they? Well, Martin Luther, many of you know,

was the author, the leader, and the originator of the Protestant Reformation. And in the 16th century, he made a break with Roman Catholicism, and he began a whole new church. And of course, that was an extremely dangerous job, and his life was literally in danger all the time. And there was all sorts of intrigues, and it was really obviously a very crucial time in history. And his lieutenant was Philip Malankthon, his vice chairman, his right hand guy. But Philip Malankthon was a warrior.

He was smarter in some ways than Luther. He was more of a scholar and Luther was more of a slash and burn type guy in his speaking. And Malankthon was much more nuanced and careful in the way he said things. But he was a warrior. And I'll tell you something, when you read verses, if you know anything about history and I have a certain affection for these two guys, when you read verses one, two, and three,

that's Malangthon and verse four is Luther. And because here's what would happen. Malangthon would come running in saying, oh my gosh, you're going to be arrested and then what happens to the movement? Everything's falling apart. And what Luther used to say to Malanthan, whenever he was just kind of fritzing like this, he would say, let Philip cease to rule the world. Now you can't say anything more profound and it's exactly what David is saying to his

friends. And let me use it on us. Let me use it on us. If you panic, what are you doing? You're saying either God is a villain because he's letting things happen like this or else there's nobody at the steering wheel. Now, the universe, either God is a villain,

well, there's nobody home. You know, the car is going and there's nobody behind the wheel. Because look at what's happening. The foundations are being destroyed. Luther, if you are arrested, the movement's over. And this biblical Christianity that we dream so much about and the purity of the gospel and all this sort of thing, you know what? Luther says, what's Luther say?

He says, let Philipsies to roll the world. Luther says this, when you panic, there's a premise. If you say either, God is a villain or God is not in control, the premise is I and the rightful master of the universe. I know exactly how things have to go. See, it's always good to look at your premises and your pre-suppositions. Every conclusion begins with an assumption and the conclusion that God is a villain or God is out of control assumes you know exactly how things have to go. I am in my holy temple, you say, and the foundations are being destroyed. Well of course, if you're in the holy temple, if you're the one on the throne of the universe,

and what so what Martin Luther comes and says, just remember, look at everything falling apart seemingly. Look at everything falling apart. If God at everything going, falling apart. If God is in His holy temple and where else would He be? And if God is on His heavenly throne, and if there is a God, He has to be on His heavenly throne. And if there is a God, then He has to know more than you. And if you say, no, no, no, He's doing everything wrong, you say, well, then you don't have a God who's smarter than you. What good is that kind of God? You say, and if His God doesn't know better than you, you say, well, then you don't have a God who's smarter than you. What good is that kind of God?

You see, and if it's a God, doesn't know better than you? You see, well, not only what good is that kind of God, really what you're saying is there is no God, and there is no God. Why are you upset? Because that's the way things are. That's randomness. Why are you subordinate to shape about injustice? Who's to say what's unjust?

You can't have it both ways. You see, if there's no God and there's no reason for it even being despair or be upset about injustice or there is a God and he's got to know more than you. And he's got to be in charge. And panic is always premised on the idea that you, you're the ruler of the world. You know the best. You're the rightful king, even if you're not really the king. You're the rightful monarch.

Let Phillips cease to rule the world. You see, the foundations are being destroyed. God is on the throne. First thing you always say, first thing you always do, see how basic this is, oh, basic, secondly. 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 in 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. Secondly, the second thing we see is that all disasters are really examinations. The first thing, if you want to have a refuge in God, is you have to say, look, either there's no God, and then there's no reason for us to be being upset about injustice. There is a God, and He's the rightful monarch, and He's encouraged, and He knows what's best.

And you don't. So, the second thing is, though, the second thing we learn besides that you've got to cease to roll the world. Secondly, you have to learn that all disasters are really examinations. Now, you see, look, it says in verse 5, 4 and 5, it says, he observes the sons of men, his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked in those who love violence, he hates. Now, this is one of these places where just a couple little techniques of Bible study,

I learned a long time ago from some good Bible teachers helped me. What's the negative here? Hates. He hates the wicked. He hates the rebellious. He hates the unjust. He hates the oppressive.

Okay, what's the opposite of hates? Examines. You see this? He says, he examines. But he hates. The word but is a contrast. The word examines is the same word as the word for test. I mean, you know, an examination in chemistry is the same thing as a test in chemistry. Well, what is an examination?

What is a test? What is an examination in test? Well, now, you know, since most of us have experienced these things, we know that teachers have all sorts of bad reasons for giving them. There are some people who are sadistic teachers. There are people who want to prove all sorts of things like how smart they are or how hard they are. I mean, there's all sorts of bad reasons for giving tests. I know I used to be a teacher.

I gave tests for bad reasons too sometimes, but there's a good reasons. And the good reasons, tests are painful, tests are stressful, but without tests, you don't learn. Test show you what you know. They show you what you don't know. They show you where you need to work on things. I mean, for most of us, almost all of us,

if you don't have fair tests, honest tests, hard tests, regular tests, you're not hard tests, regular tests. You're not going to learn the chemistry. You're just not going to learn it. This is not going to happen. And what's so interesting here is, clearly, when David says, yeah, you think the foundations are being destroyed, but here's what's going on. He does not send us these disasters because he hates us.

He sends them because he's examining us. He loves us. Well, where's the word love? You say, I don't see the word love in there. And here's another little interpretive key. Over and over again, you have the word the Lord. You notice how they're in caps? Why? Is that just because our computer just sort of likes to say,

the Lord, you know? Is this, no, is he just trying to put emphasis? Uh-uh. In the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, you have two basic words that refer to God. You have the word Elohim, which is a generic word for God. It means the Creator being, the Almighty being. It's a generic name, but there's another name.

And it's the personal name. And in the burning bush, God revealed that name to Moses, and it's his covenant name. Roughly analogous. Roughlyous, it's to your last name and your first name. If someone is calling you Mr. Jones for example, and you say no, no, no, no, please call me Sam. And what are you doing? You're saying, I want to have a personal relationship.

Let's get off the formal. You know, in some languages like German, you have a formal second personal plural to say you, Z, and then you have, which you always do to people who you're just meeting, but then you have an intimate, second personal plural form for you, do. And if the person invites you in and says, no, let's be friends, let's get off of the formal.

He or she can invite you to start using the personal pronoun. That's what's going on here because you have the word not God, but the word the Lord. And it's emphatically in the sentence. Derek Kiddner, my favorite commentator, says, the word Lord is at the heart of the sentence. It's put up in a place to make it emphasis and it's repeated. The Lord as Lord, as your covenant God, as your Father, as your shepherd. He sends things to test you. These are not punishments.

That's something he might rain on the wicked and the oppressive, but for you, they're tests. They're exams. They're here to show you who you are. Without them, you don't grow. They're painful, they're stressful, but they're they are. Well, what are tests for? I had a brother-in-law who is an educational psychologist

and years ago when I was having to create some tests, he made me read some books, I didn't realize how hard it was to make tests. It's very hard, it takes a tremendous, and those of you who are students know how hard it is to make tests because so many teachers have a lousy test that they give you, you can just tell. They're not testing for the right thing.

You can tell the teacher once you don't know this about the subject and the test really doesn't test for that. But God's tests are perfect. Let me suggest to you that there's two basic kinds of tests. When troubles come, David says, you shouldn't look at them as punishment. They're tests. Let me suggest there's at least two kinds of tests I see in the Bible that God is testing for. When troubles come, you say, okay, great, fine. All right, I believe you. What is he testing for?

Well, there's two kinds of things at least. Number one, I'll call a Jonah test in the second as a Job test. Now, let me tell you what a Jonah test is. Here's Jonah. Jonah has a big storm coming after him. Why is God sending this bad thing into his life? Well, here's the reason. Jonah was a preacher, but he only wanted to preach to his kind of people. He didn't want to preach

to those dirty Ninevites. And when God says, go to Ninevah, Jonah said, and went that way. And he gets in the boat. And what is God doing? Why is the trouble into his Jonah's life? Because God is trying to show Jonah a sin. There is a character flaw, there is a problem, there is a sin, and until Jonah sees it. I mean, sometimes a test is designed to show you you think you know something and you don't. There's a flaw. There's a major flaw.

And sometimes the reason for troubles in your life is God is just trying to grab you by the nape of the next, stick your face in the mirror and say, well, you finally look. Your friends have been trying to tell you about this. Your spouse has been trying to tell you this. Your parents, your siblings. And now I'm trying to tell you this. There is a problem. The reason these things are going wrong

is not necessarily because of this sin, but the reason these things are going wrong is to show you this sin. And sometimes your test is a Jonah test. And sometimes your life has been on hold for a long time, and that is the test, because you just will not see. See what? I don't know.

It could be so many things. Take a look at the Ten Commandments. Take a look. Do you twist the truth? Are you harsh? Are you abrasive? Do you have an area of your life where you're always bitter? I don't know, it can be anything.

But that's a Jonah test. Sometimes God sends these things in. But now there's another kind of test. And it's the Job test. God sends all kinds of troubles in a Job's life. His children die. His money is taken away. His status and influence is gone.

And I didn't realize this, I was comparing Jonah and Job on this. If you read all the first part of Job, the problem with Job in a way, the reason that he spun his wheels for so long was he thought it was a Jonah test. He kept looking for sins. You know, it is so much of the book of Job is Job going through inventory, doing inventory, saying, well, now wait, I do this, right? I do do this right, you know, he's going down this long list, it's incredible. He's, what is it? What is the thing? He's looking for a sin. What's the lesson? And a lot of you are like that. I know, because when you sit down, you say, okay, God's trying to

tell me, what is it? What is it? What's the sin? What's the thing? I'll do it. Show me. But you know what? Jonah was a test and the learning objective for the test is to show you a particular sin. But the Job Test is what I'll call a foundation test. It's not about any one particular lesson. There's not one particular sin. It's got to ask you to look at your very foundations, the very reason you live, the very most important thing in your life. You see Satan came in the beginning of the book of Jobin says, does Job serve God for nothing? And here's what he was saying. He says, you know what? Job is really kind of emeshed in works righteousness. Job is really just being

obedient because you're giving him things. Job is just being obedient and doing all the, he's being real moral because he thinks, he's got you over barrel. He thinks now you owe him things. You just take away all these good things and you'll see that Job has not been serving you. He's been using you to serve him. And you know what?

God allows, see Satan says, I'm going to take everything, I'm going to really destroy him. God allows Satan to destroy him partly. There's an interesting Tony Campolo book. And I remember from years ago, I've never read it, but I just love the title. It says, we have met the enemy, and they are partly right. And you see Satan comes to God and says,

you know a Job does not serve you for nothing. He serves you for himself. Basically, he gets you to serve him. He doesn't serve you. His foundations are his children. His foundations are his status. His foundations are really the good things. He doesn't serve you just for who you are.

You're not his foundation. Those are his foundations. Take those things away and you'll see. And you want to, why does God allow some trouble, not all the trouble because Satan is partly right? Satan is always partly right about that, friends, for everybody in this room. And sometimes God sends a test.

Not to, don't start, stop looking around saying, what is it? Body odor, bad breath, what is the trouble? You know, is it abrasiveness, is it racial prejudice? Show me, what is my sin? What is my sin? And sometimes God is saying, I'm not after one particular sin. I want you to see that I'm God and you're not.

I want you to see that I am worth having, even if you have nothing else. I want you to see that these things are not your salvation. I am your salvation. And that's the reason why sometimes tests are not about anyone little lesson, but they're about the whole foundation, which is the third point. Three things we have seen so far.

First of all, David says, make sure you realize that God's in charge, not you. Secondly, make sure you see that all disasters are really tests. And third thing, just remember this, only false foundations can be destroyed by circumstances. When you say the foundations are being destroyed, no, pseudo foundations can be touched by disasters, but not the foundation. And you see when Malanthan comes in and says, oh my gosh, the Protestant movement might be over. Oh my gosh, what would Luther say? Luther says, maybe it should be.

What is your foundation, the Protestant movement? Have you hitched your start of that? No wonder you're falling apart all the time. The de-foundation, God is in His heaven. God is in His holy temple. You see, that can't be destroyed. Who are you serving? Why are you serving? Why are you serving?

What is your God? What is your foundation? Disasters can only, only knock out the false foundations. Lastly, you want refuge in God. Remember whose boss? Remember who's in charge. Remember your panic comes because of your premise, a false premise, that you are the rightful monarch of the universe. Number two, realize the disasters or tests, the hair not punishments. Number three, though they can be tests, like Jonah tests about your sin, they may be tests about your foundations, just showing you, just moving you over to the place where you serve God for his own sake and delight if who he is and for the greatness of who he is, and then and only then will you really be strong. And lastly, seek his face. The last thing you want to do, if you want to have refuge in God, is you've got to start

to seek his face. Look at the last verse. What is the last thing that David says? What is the last word? What is the final word in taking refuge in God? For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice and the upright will see his face. Now, by the way, probably when David uses the term will,

he's really thinking of the beatific vision. He's thinking about what he writes about in Psalm 16, where he says, 2016, where he says, when I awake, I will behold my form in righteousness. See, he knows that someday he will be perfectly righteous, and he'll be able to see the very face of God. He recognizes that's often the future, but we as Christians know that to some degree you can see God's face now because you're clothed in Christ's righteousness. You know, it's pretty interesting.

The Bible says, everything here is being shaken. Anything, any foundation you build here is going to come down. One of my favorite illustrations is the old lumberjack illustration. Tells about the lumberjack. He looked up and he was about to cut a tree down and he saw a bird making a nest in the tree. And so in mercy, he took the side of his axe and he clobbered that tree and shook it. And a poor little bird, you know, after it had, you know,

kind of cerebral hemorrhage almost, it figured out, I can't do it here. And it moved over to the next tree and started to build the next in the next tree. And the nest, in the next tree. And the lumberjack says, oh no, I'm gonna cut that tree down, too, I have to cut all these trees down. So he went over there and he started to pound on that tree until the bird was shaken

and then she runs over to the next tree and she starts to make a nest and he keeps pounding her and pounding the next tree and relentlessly dogging and harassing this bird until finally it flew up and made its nest in a rock. Can you see? Why does God shake your trees? Because every tree here is coming down, until you make an nest in the rock. Everything here is going to be shaken.

Everything's going to be shaken. And Jesus, you see, at the end of the book of Hebrews, it says, but since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken at the end of Hebrews 11, it's the end of Hebrews 12. Since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us worship God with reverence and awe. Now, you know why we're gonna receive a foundation

a kingdom that cannot be shaken because Jesus Christ was shaken. The reason that everything here is shaking, the reason that we're shaking, my body's falling apart. I get older eventually I die. Relationships fall apart. The physical's falling apart. I get older. Eventually I die. Relationships fall apart. The physical universe falls apart. Everything falls apart.

Why? Under the weight of sin. But on the cross, Jesus Christ was shaken by sin. He was shaken. There was an earthquake. Remember when he died? It was an earthquake. He was shaken.

He received all of that disintegrating power sin so that we could have. He was shaken so we could be unshaken. He was shaken so we could receive the kingdom which could not be shaken. Now what we're gonna do is we're gonna take the Lord's supper, we're gonna pass out the bread, it crumbles, it crumbles, what is that?

That's Jesus Christ having been shaken so you can receive a foundation that cannot be shaken. So as you pick up the bread and you pick up the cup, what you're saying tonight is, Lord, I'm going through a test right now because almost everybody in this room is either in a test or just over a test or about to enter one. That's life. Have you not noticed that?

And in the midst of that, you're going to say, how do I find out what my real foundation is? My real foundation that will not be shaken is the one who was shaken for me, who was crumbled for me, who was broken for me, Jesus Christ. Turn to Him and you will be unshakable too. Let's pray. Our Father, we're going to pray. We're going to come to you and we ask that you would help us to do it and that you would be a reality to us We would we would sense your presence. We would sense your reality and in particular the the life of The life and death of Jesus would be a reality as we take the bread and the cup

So that we might find that we can we can make it through these tests and like G and like David said I'm not gonna flee because I have a kingdom which cannot be shaken. We pray that you dance to this for we ask it in Jesus' state. 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, Everdeemer Presbyterian Church. Presbyterian Church.