Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - I Came to Set the Earth on Fire

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

Sometimes when you read Jesus’ teachings, you feel like you’ve gotten on a horse that’s much too big and much too fast for you. When you read what Jesus says in Luke 12, you have nothing but lightning and blood, but in the center of this teaching is the most wonderful thing a human heart can hear. In this text, we learn two things: we learn about the divisiveness of Jesus caused by his self-centered teaching, and we learn about the agony of Jesus caused by his self-denying love. It may be surprising to many of you to see what he says, but you don’t know the real Jesus unless you understand his divisiveness and the constant agony and pressure under which he labored every minute of his ministry. Let’s look now at these two things: 1) the divisiveness of Jesus, and 2) the agony of Jesus. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 17, 1993. Series: Hard Sayings of Jesus (1993). Scripture: Luke 12:49-53. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. Jesus was a great teacher, but he had a lot of things to say that were challenging or difficult to understand. In the Bible, we see a number of places where his disciples say, Jesus, this is a hard saying. Today Tim Keller is preaching through one of the hard sayings of Jesus and how we can rest in the fact that while Jesus' teachings aren't always comfortable, He is always good. And Jesus said, I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.

But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on, there will be five and one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother in law against daughter in law and daughter and law against mother and law.

And this is God's word. There's not anything gentle about this text, but there's a lot in it that's so wonderful. Sometimes when you read some of Jesus' teaching like this, you feel like you've gotten on a horse that's much too big and much too fast for your little hands and feet, and yet off it goes galloping away with you. When you read what Jesus says here, you have nothing but lightning and blood. But in the center of this teaching is the most wonderful thing that a human heart can hear. He's not safe, but he's good. There's two things we learn about Jesus from this text.

Now, mention them now and then we'll elaborate. First of all, we learn the divisiveness of Jesus. And secondly, we learn about the agony of Jesus. And you don't know the real Jesus unless you know about both of them. We learn about the divisiveness of Jesus caused by His self-centered teaching. And we also learn about the agony of Jesus caused by his self-denying love. And you don't know the real Jesus until you know about these two things. They're not popular.

In the popular mind, they're not there when they think of Jesus. It may be surprising to many of you to see what he says, but you don't know unless you understand his divisiveness and the constant agony and enormous pressure and stress under which he labored every minute of his ministry. First, his divisiveness, he says, and this is a great text to preach on right after Christmas when everybody had been hearing what the Bible says that Jesus came to bring what? Peace on earth. And here's Jesus saying, think not that I have come to bring peace on earth.

Rather I have come to bring division. People will be at each other's throats because of me. I have come to polarize people. Why does he say that? And the answer is, and you can actually see it right here, but you see it also in the New Testament, what polarizes and divides people is the self-centered nature of his teaching. I will not back away. I mean, somebody afterwards will come up and say,

I think it's unfair to call Jesus self-centered. I didn't call Jesus self-centered. Please come up and see me afterwards, but don't ask, don't say that. I'm not saying his self-centered. I'm saying his teaching is self-centered. In fact, that's one of the things that was so difficult to understand about Jesus. Jesus teaching is self-centered because he was so different from all the other great teachers of the world's religions. The contrast is amazing. Look at all the other great teachers.

All they say is they're all self-effacing. Jesus is self-advancing. They're always saying, don't look to me, don't look to me. I am not the truth. I am not the truth. And Jesus is constantly saying, look to me, look to me. I am the truth. I am the truth. If you take a look at the kinds of things Jesus says, the other great founders and the other great prophets are always saying,

I am not the truth, there's the truth. Follow that. And Jesus is always saying, what you think of me matters. The other men, the other great founders of religions are always saying, what you think of me doesn't matter. And that's actually true, not just of the founders of other religions. It's true of all the great prophets religions, it's true of all the great prophets of all the religions, of all the great preachers and all the great teachers, including

the Christian religion. You know, my great hero, George Whitfield, he've heard me talk about him, he's an 18th century evangelist, one of his favorite things to say was let the name of Whitfield perish. I don't care if when I am dead, nobody ever remembers me again if you'll just all give yourselves to my Savior. I mean, that's the way all great teachers were. All they ever said was, I don't matter at all. And Jesus continually said, what you think of me,

matters completely. Your entire destiny, your entire life, depends on what you think of me. The contrast cannot be stronger. All through the New Testament, every other great man has ever said, every other great teacher has ever said, what you think of me matters nothing, if long as you believe this Jesus says, what you think of me matters everything. At the end of the sermon on the mount, he says, on the last day, many people will come, thinking they're ready to get into the kingdom of heaven.

And if Jesus Christ looks at you and says, I don't know you, you can't enter. Jesus says, whoever believes in me will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe in me is condemned already. Jesus is constantly saying, who do you say I am? Now think about this for a second. See, you're used to this in Jesus, even whether you've come to church a lot or not, you're used to this idea that Jesus has made these claims.

I want you to realize how ridiculous this is in a human being. How far would your friendships get with a person? How far would your romances get with a person? If after you've been, every time you sit down to have coffee with them, after five minutes, he says, but enough talk about you. Let's talk about me. What do you think of me? Don't you think I'm great? You know, if you don't love me, more than anyone else in the whole world, your life is

not going to amount to hillabings. And what do you say? You say, boy, let's get together again. What do you say? You know, women, do the women go home saying, boy, I hope you ask me out again. You know, it takes all the pressure off me. I never have to talk to them about myself.

You know, I don't have to share anything. Just talks about himself at the time. This is exactly the way Jesus was, and yet, now here's what's so interesting. You read his teaching, and you see how inveterately he talked about himself. That's exactly the way he talked. The rich young ruler, remember two weeks ago

we talked about the rich young ruler comes and says, what must I do it to inherit eternal life? And what does Jesus say? talked about, the rich young ruler comes and says, how, what must I do it to inherit eternal life? And what does Jesus say? He says, sell everything you have and follow me. I should be more important, as long as I'm more important than every scent of your wealth you can get into heaven. He says, not with nicodemus, nicodemus wants to talk

about theology, nicodemus is a theologian, and Jesus says, but enough talk about you. You have to believe in me or your dead. Jesus is constantly saying, if your eye keeps you from me, if your hand keeps you from me, pluck it out, cut it off. It's not worth it. Eat me, drink me.

I should be your meat and your drink. I should be the thing that makes you even want to get up in the morning. What do you think of me? Now here's what's odd. There have been people in the history of the world who have said similar things. You've never heard of any of them. There have been other teachers who have come along and said, you have to believe in me, or you're not going to heaven.

You have to love me more than anyone else. You have to follow me rather than your fathers and mothers. I have to be more important than anything else in the world to you. What you think of me determines your entire destiny. There are other people in the history of the world who have said that, and who have come along and tried to start religions on the basis of that, you've never heard of any of them. Why? Because all but a few tiny, few number of completely pathological and dysfunctional people laugh

at anyone who talks like that. But in this case, nobody laughed. How do we, nobody laughed. How do we know nobody laughed? Because we know about Him today. It's proof. The reason that people didn't laugh was we're told that the prostitutes and the lepers, which were the aides, the people with aides of the time, and the children and the poor love to be around him. He loved being with them

and they loved being with him. Now you see, by the way, the religious leaders and the stars and the celebrities didn't like him very much. Now I think most of you realize that if you're full of phoniness and pretense, if you're full of arrogance and show, if you're full of image and PR, if you're a phony, you can very often do very well with powerful people and celebrities. But you see the prostitutes and the people with AIDS and the broken and the poor, they can spot a phony in an instant. They will have nothing to do with you. They don't want anything to do with pretense. And these are. They will have nothing to do with you.

They don't want anything to do with pretence. And these are the very people who flock to Jesus' feet. Jesus was a perfect counselor. How can you reconcile that? Because when you do have people that continually talk about themselves the way Jesus talked, they are never attractive people. They are never attractive people. They're never great counselors.

People don't want to come to them and talk about their problems. But Jesus combined his self-centered teaching with this pristine, incredible, humbled, compassionate, moral character. And as a result, we have a unique person in the history of the world. All of the other great religious teachers

fall into one of two categories. Either they had great lives without great claims, and all you could do was admire. Now, I'll say this twice. I want you to hear the logic of it. Some teachers had great lives without great claims. They were people of tremendous character, but they never talked about themselves.

They always said, I don't matter, what you believe about me doesn't matter. Great lives without great claims, and all you have to do is admire them. Great claims without a great life, and you laugh at them. And all great religious teachers throughout history have always fallen into one or two categories. Great lies without great claims and you can just admire. Great claims without a great life and you can just laugh, but Jesus combined them. So you can't just admire them and you can't just laugh at them. You either have to decide who he said he is or you have to hate and fear him.

And that's the reason why he polarizes people. Great life without great claims, all you could do is respect them. Great claims without great life, you could laugh at them. Jesus, because he combined the two, creates a firestorm in the conscience of anyone who met him. Because you suddenly realized, oh my God,

oh my God, oh my God, or a liar, and that's the only alternative you've got. Somebody says, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. How do you even know Jesus claimed all these things? Wasn't the Bible just written by His admirers? No, you can look, the Bible was written by His worshipers.

And that's the point. You haven't done anything to get rid of the argument. The point is, what was it that those people saw? What was it that happened in that little corner of the universe that got thousands of monotheistic Jews to believe that this man was the son of God? The fact that the Bible was written is the problem. What got them to say that?

And the answer is that the alternative explanations for Jesus' great claims and grace life, great life, were even more far-fetched than his explanation for his own phenomenon, and that is that he was the Son of God from heaven. He divides. He polarizes. I do not come to bring peace. I come to bring a sword. That's the reason why I divide people.

Nobody can be neutral about me. Nobody. Nobody can be neutral about me, nobody, nobody can be casual about me, nobody. Anyone in this room who's neutral or casual, you haven't seen Jesus yet. You're responding to figment of your imagination, you're responding to something that you have concocted in your mind for your own safety. Please see this text text shatters that.

You have to absolutely hate this man and the very idea of him and the religion that has been built up around him or you have to give yourself to him completely and utterly. The first thing we learn about Jesus is his divisiveness. The second thing we learn about Jesus, and this is the one I want to dwell on a little bit at greater length, is the agony. Jesus says, I came to set the earth on fire. I came to bring fire on the earth, and oh, that it were kindled but I have a baptism to undergo and how

constrained how distressed I am until it's completed. What is he talking about? At this point if you have the eyes to see it you're going to get a chance it's a rare chance to look into the inner psychological life of Jesus. You're going to get a chance, it's a rare chance to look into the inner psychological life of Jesus. You're going to see his inner life and you'll see something that people very often miss. There was something on the horizon of his life that he looked at, and he says, until it's over, I am constantly, he says here in this translation, distressed, I am Sunecomi, and it's a word that means to be under attack, to be besieged like a city which is surrounded by a huge army,

is being bombarded, is about to be crushed. Jesus says, I come to bring fire and I wish I could, but before I can, I have to undergo a baptism and the very thought of that baptism and the very prospect of it fills me with a holy dread. Makes me feel crushed to the ground. Does Jesus know something about living with stress? You bet. What is he talking about here?

What is this agony he says? He carries around with them all the time. Here's what it is. First, he says, we have to look at every one of these little phrases. First, he says, I come to bring fire to the earth. Now, what's that? Now, there's a number of things that the word fire can mean in the Bible, but I'm almost positive.

It means what it usually means in the Old Testament. And that is, I come to judge the earth. I come to bring God's judgment, the cleansing fire of his judging wrath. Now, you know, sometimes the word fire can't even refer to the Holy Spirit occasionally. Talks about that, you know, when in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples in the upper room, there were tongues of fire over their heads, but clearly, and I'm trying to show you this, that's not the context here. When he talks about fire and then says, but I'm undergoing a baptism, that's something

that the prospect of which just fills me with dread. And then the context he goes on to talk about division and polarization, I'm sorry, we're not talking about the fact that he comes to bring the Holy Spirit. You don't say, I come to bring the Holy Spirit and what agony I'm in about it and how this is going to divide everybody. That's not what he's talking about. In the Old Testament, fire is the way that judgment day is described. Give you a couple of examples. For example, in Isaiah 66, the prophet says, See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like the whirlwind,

for with fire and soared, the Lord will execute judgment upon all. Second, Thessalonians 1 says, The Lord Jesus will be revealed in a blazing fire, and many will be shut out from the presence of the Lord, and from the majesty of his power. In chapter 3 of Luke, John the Baptist makes a fascinating statement. He says, the one coming after me, the Messiah,

will baptize you with a Holy Spirit and with fire. Traditionally, many people have thought that that meant that Jesus Christ, when you believe in him, will baptize you with a Holy Spirit and many people have thought that that meant that Jesus Christ, when you believe in Him, will baptize with a Holy Spirit, and many people have thought when He says, and with fire, it means that the Holy Spirit is being represented as fire, and so God, if you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will come into your life like fire. I doubt it. And many other commentators don't think that's what John the Baptist is talking about

there either, because the very next verse he explains what he means. See in Luke chapter 316, John the Baptist said, someone is coming to baptize you with a Holy Spirit and with fire. But then in verse 17 he says, and his fork is in his hand, to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff is burned with unquenchable fire. What does that mean? It says, in the last day, the great judge of all the earth will come up like a farmer with a winnowing fork.

What does a farmer do with the fork? He puts the fork into the wheat, he lifts it up and he shakes the wheat, and the part that's valuable that's good that's edible stays on the fork, and the part that's valuable, that's good, that's edible, stays on the fork. And the part that's the chaff, the husks, and all the other part that are not good eat, falls to the ground. The judge is dividing people. The judge is polarizing people. And then the chaff is burned.

Which on the Baptist is saying is, judgment day is about to come. The ax is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree that does not have fruit is coming down. The fork is in his hand. He is here to divide. Look at your hearts. Look at your works.

Make sure that on that day you find that you're not burned with unquenchable fire. John the Baptist was a very charming person. But you see, what fire means is fire cleanses. The two reasons as formidable as this may seem, the two reasons that the Bible talks about God's judgment as fire is because fire does two things. Number one, fire cleanses lasting things.

Now the reason you don't, for example, the reason we at our house are because we have three boys, our tablecloths last one meal usually and then we have to cleanse them. We don't cleanse them with fire. We don't cleanse our tablecloths with fire. Because tablecloths aren't going to last a thousand years, two thousand years. You cleanse gold with fire. You cleanse steel with fire. Things that last need fire because fire is the ultimate solvent.

Fire divides. Fire, unless you're an expert, if I pick up a piece of ore, I can't tell what part of the ore is valuable and what part of it's not valuable and draws. When I put it through the fire, the fire reveals what is valuable and what is not. The Bible talks about fire coming to the earth to cleanse everything. The earth is full of evil, it's full of misery, it's full of decay, it's full of wickedness and oppression. Someday Jesus will appear on the earth and He will cleanse all the universe with fire and when He's done, there will be nothing left but the precious. There will be no sorrow left, there

will be no evil left, there will be no injustice left, there will be no death and decay left, we'll be in a bright, stainless new heavens and new earth. Now when Jesus says, I come to bring the to set fire on the earth, he knows he's talking about something severe, but also something wonderful. The way it cleans metal is severe and yet that's what it takes. Whenever you have to cleanse something at last, you don't cleanse a tablecloth with fire, you cleanse metal with fire. How much more will it take a fire to cleanse the universe and to cleanse the human race? Now as intimidating as this is,

and Jesus Christ was an extremely sensitive, tender-hearted man, he says, oh, that it were kindled. He says, I can't wait. And the reason he says that is because anyone who's thoughtful yearns for judgment, even Kevin Costner made field of dreams, someone interviewed him and in the interview, Kevin Costner says, I don't really believe in an afterlife, I don't really believe in heaven and hell, I don't even believe that right will necessarily triumph. But I know this, all human beings have an almost primal need for judgment.

And he is right. What he means is, and you know, Kevin Costner is not a philosopher. But what he's trying to say there is this, you stop and think for two minutes and you will realize, you will come to realize that you can't face life if you don't believe someday the evil and the injustice isn't going to be rectified. Think about it for a minute. Do all villains get it in the end? Do all victims get vindication?

Think about it. Does crime really never pay? Ha. There's a place in Revelation 6. There's a vision in Revelation 6 where John the Apostle looks up and he sees underneath the altar. He sees, I only just quoted for you. He says, then I saw, under the heavenly altar, the souls of those who had been slain because of their testimony, and they called out an allowed voice, how long sovereign Lord holy and true until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood. And each was given a white robe and told to wait a little longer. Think about all of the innocent blood that's been shed. Think about all the widows blood that's been shed.

Think about all the widows and orphans that have been ground into the mud. Think of the genocide. Think of all the oppression and the injustice. Costner is right. What if there's no afterlife? What if there's no bigger world? What if there's no eternity? What if there's no bigger world, what if there's no eternity, what if there's no judgment day? Not only.

Not only does that mean we'll never be able to overcome injustice, but we can't even identify it. Because you see, unless there is a standard, an eternal standard by which everybody is judged, who's to say what's right and wrong? If I walk on you to get, reach my goals, who are you to say that that's wrong? I'm gonna get this quote some, I read this quote some week, I didn't bring it with me. Aldous Huxley, who died in 1963,

who was a kind of philosopher. Aldous Huxley said, I wanted the universe to be without meaning. He said, when I studied whether the universe had meaning or not, whether it was a heaven or hell, I have to get this, I'm going to put it in the bulletin because it's such a revealing statement. He says, when I looked at the question of whether the universe had meaning and whether it was an afterlife in a judgment day, he says, I did not come at it as an intellectual exercise. He says, I wanted the universe to be meaningless

because I wanted to be able to live the way I wanted. He says to declare the universe meaningless was the only way I could be liberated sexually and politically. Then he goes on to say, there's a price to pay. Because if you believe that there's no judgment, that all things are meaningless so I can live

any way I want, then I have to live with a despair. Then I have to realize that my sense of right and wrong is a complete whim. It's totally subjective. It's just my opinion. The good, die young, nice guys finish last. The villains will oppress people to the end of time, and after it's all done, none of it will be repaid. And all the socks they say, I had a choose. Either I could believe in judgment, and then I would be crushed under a load of guilt,

all my life, or I could not believe in judgment that I could live as I want, but live in existential despair, all of my life. And those were the only two alternatives. I chose freedom, you said, liberation. And frankly, that is the problem. If there's no judgment, what hope is there for the world. But if there is a judgment, what hope is there for me? Let me say that again. If there's no judgment day, there is no hope, what hope is there for the world? Why even work for justice?

How do you know what justice is? You're gonna be crushed and when it's all done, no one will ever address it or even remember you. If there is no judgment day, what hope is there for the world? But if there is a judgment day, what hope is there for you and me?

Because we know that we've failed, we know that we haven't lived up to standards. We know we haven't even lived up to the standards for other people. Should we go around always oppressed, always guilty, or should we be liberated and hopeless? For many in our culture today, biblical Christianity is a dangerous idea, challenging some of their deepest beliefs. In her book Confronting Christianity, 12 hard questions for the world's largest religion. Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin explores the hard questions that keep many people from considering faith in Christ. Tackling issues, including gender and sexuality, science and faith, and the problem of suffering,

McLaughlin shows that what seems like roadblocks to faith in Jesus can be consigned posts to a relationship with him. Confronting Christianity is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give.

There's a third way. It's right here. If Jesus Christ had never come along, if Jesus Christ hadn't brought in this message, that's the only alternative you would have had. And I know a lot of you have been going back and forth between the two. You know, you're not...

I know a lot of you, and I know that you know that those are the only two alternatives. And many of you have had, you know, five years in the one and five years in the other. Then you go back. There's a third way. And here's the reason why. Jesus says, I come to bring fire,

oh, that it were kindled, but first, there's a baptism I must undergo, and how constrained I am until it's completed. What is this baptism? You know, in Mark chapter 8, James and John are walking along with Jesus and they say, Lord, when you come into your kingdom, could we be vice presidents? Could we be your top lieutenants? You know, could we be in your cabinet?

And Jesus looks at them and says, will you be able to be baptized with a baptism that I am going to receive or to drink the cup that I'm going to drink? And that's the key. Because in the Garden of Gisemony, just before Jesus is going to the cross, Jesus is very upset about the cup. He says, the Father, Father, I don't think I can handle it. Let this cup pass from me. Now that's a clear, clear one. In the Old Testament, the cup is the wrath of God, the fire of God. And therefore we see that the fire and the baptism and the cup are all the same thing. When Jesus says I've got a baptism undergo,

He's not talking about His water baptism. He's already been baptized by John the Baptist. What is He talking about? The cup, the fire. And what He's saying astonishingly is this. I am going to come to bring fire on the earth, but before I can, the fire has to fall into my heart. Jonathan Edwards, in a great, great sermon,

called Christ Agony, talks about how in the garden, the Father in a sense comes to Jesus. It's the night before he's going to receive the cup. All of his ministry life, and he even says it right here, the very thought of that moment in which the wrath of God, the fire of God, the cleansing, devouring fire of God's wrath on sin and evil is going to fall into his heart. He so upset just thinking about it, and in the Garden of Gisemini, he begins to sweat blood.

If even the prospect of this baptism was enough to get the eternal Son of God scared out of his mind. If even the prospect of this experience was enough to get him down on his knees begging God to let him off the hook, if even the prospect of this baptism pushed blood out of his pores, which is that medical people say is a sign of a severe shock. What must the experience of it have been? Jonathan Edwards in his sermon says, in the garden, his agony was caused, Christ's agony was caused, listen, it's a long quote, I'll be slow but listen. His agony was caused by a vivid, bright, fool and immediate view of the wrath of God. He had a near-view of that furnace of wrath into which he was about to be cast and he felt what the

prophet Nehum said, who can stand before his indignation, who can abide the fierceness of his anger or his fury which is poured out like fire? And God the Father as it were put the cup down before his son, which was more vastly terrible than Nebuchadnezzar's furnace and he said, my son, here is the cup. Smell it. See it. If you drink it, you will be utterly destroyed. But if you drink it, you will be utterly destroyed. But if you don't, they will perish.

Will you do it? Will you be cast into it? And how natural it would have been if Jesus had said, why should I, who am infinitely greater than all the angels of heaven? Why should I leave my glory, my love, and take this burning agony into my soul for these who will never repay me, in fact, who do not even love me enough to stay awake with me in the hour of my greatest need?" But instead, he said, I will take the cup.

I will be baptized with the fire. I have a baptism to undergo. And how distressed, how straight and how beaten into the ground I am until it is finished. It is finished. Now friends, what did we learn here? How time will we learn? You and I need to run to him, not at a sphere of that fire. No, because this is the love that you've been looking for all of

your life. Here is a love for you that endured the very fire of God. The fire of God, think of what it can burn up. It can burn up almost anything. It couldn't burn up Jesus' love for you. Look at what it's already endured. That means it will be there for you. If you give yourself to Him, His love for you cannot fail. Oh, you say, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this. Look what it's already endured for you. Tell me you're going to wear it out.

This is what you've always looked for. Marriage isn't going to give it to you. Great relationships, professional success, international acclaim. So a lot of you haven't experienced any of those things. And therefore, you don't believe it yet. I tell you you don't believe it yet. I tell you you don't believe it. How unfortunate that so many people have got to get to the apex of success, so they realize this is still not what I wanted.

Don't do that. Don't go through all that. You don't need to. Flea to the Savior. Not out of fear of the fire, out of amazement, that He loved you so much to take the fire that you deserved. You know, there's a lot of ways to talk about what it means to become a Christian. Here's one. To look at God and to say, Father, one of the reasons that I have had such a miserable life is because I have been preparing to stand in my own name before the judgment seat.

And now I see that I could never do that. I could never stand the cleansing fire that will reveal my motives. My motives are sick. My motives are selfish. I could never, ever stand up before your evaluation. But Jesus has. And Jesus has taken my punishment. And I rest in him so that on the judgment day, the fire will swirl around me, like it's swirled around Shadrach,

Meshach, and a bednago in the Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, but didn't even sing them why. Because you see, when you make Jesus your Savior, then your judgment's fallen into his heart. It's all gone. There's no more for you. This is what you've been looking for. Somebody who loves you like this,

someone who's taken this agony into his soul, someone who lived under this, all the time for you. Now, do you realize how different you would be if you believe this? Oh, I know some of you say, well, I do believe this.

I've been a Christian for a while now. I believe this. Sure you do. Why do you have trouble forgiving people? I'll tell you why we have trouble. You know why we have trouble forgiving people? We believe that Jesus is the judge, and he deserves to be the judge

because he's the judge who was judged. He deserves to be able to bring fire on the earth because he said that anyone who believes in me will be exempt from that fire because I've taken it for you. Do you believe he's the judge? Then why are you bitter? When you're bitter, you're sitting there saying,

oh, well, I wish that person would finally get this, finally get that, you don't believe in judgment. If you were able to apply this doctrine to your heart, it'd be complete freedom to forgive. You never have to worry. You never, they can't control you anymore through your anger against them. Jesus is not gonna let anybody get away with anything.

That person you're so mad at, either Jesus will pay the debt or that person will pay the debt. Everything will be square. There's a judgment day. You don't have to be the judge. You are unqualified for the job. And emotionally, you will be put through the ringer. Emotionally, you'll be devastated until you stop

trying to be the judge. Or secondly, look at those of you who walk around with low self-esteem, look at you who walk around punishing yourself, flagellating yourself for all the bad things that you've done. You know what you're doing? You're trying to be the judge. No wonder you've got so many problems. No wonder you're crushed, because you may believe intellectually that Jesus is the judge.

You may believe intellectually that he received your punishment for you, but you have not emotionally and psychologically appropriated it, or you would realize that there's no anger left. There's no fire left for you at all fell into the heart of the one who's your savior. If you believe in him. Lastly, if you believe this doctrine, not only can you forgive, not only can you walk around with your head held high, but lastly, you'll fight City Hall. I don't necessarily mean this City Hall, though maybe we should, I don't know. But I mean, you see, Christians never worry about

whether it's practical to do good. They never have to worry about it. There's always a possibility that if we try to do the good thing, someone will show up in the middle of the night and shoot us through the head. Oh, well. I'm not trying to trivialize suffering. I'm trying to show you that a Christian knows that in the end, all accounts will be squared. The people under the altar say, oh Lord, when will things be set right?

And they say, what does God say? A little while. It won't be long. Everything will be made right. No one will get away with anything. All accounts will be squared. Every evil, every act of injustice will be restored, will be redressed. At all, Christians therefore do not worry about whether it's practical to do good. Christians are the ones who do not, they don't get idealistic when they're kids, and then after a while they get cynical because boy,

it really costs a lot to do the right thing, doesn't it? So what? It doesn't cost anything in the light of eternity. On the other hand, maybe you don't know that Jesus is your savior because maybe you've taken the oldest Huxley approach. I want sexual liberation, I want political liberation, I want to feel that I have the right to make my own decisions

about what I do. Most people, and I hope you are, but most people are not as consistent as oldest Huxley. Huxley had the integrity to admit that, therefore, his life was absolutely pointless. And there was no way to even discuss right and wrong. That's the price he paid. Are you willing to pay that price? I doubt it. Most people are not. Are you willing to see that you're unqualified

for the job of judge? But that he is eminently qualified because he has said, I'll take the cup. He said to the Father, though you slay me, I will trust you for their sake. I come to bring fire on the earth, and oh, that we're kindled. I have a baptism to undergo. And how it presses me until it's completed. Why, Lord Savior, why would you do this to yourself for you?

For you. Let's pray. Our Father, I simply ask that you would enable those here who believe in the doctrine of the last judgment to appropriate it and make them by their appropriation. People who have freedom from guilt, who have boldness, who have a joy, who are no longer cynics, or pragmatists, but rather fight for the right, are forgiving people, people full of freedom and love. And I pray, Lord, if there's anyone here who's afraid of coming to you and giving themselves to you out of fear that they will be crushed, show them that your son has paid for it all. Show them

that there's free acceptance in the gospel. Show them that as they receive you, they can be adopted into your family. They can be hidden in you. They can be received and accepted in love by you. Our Father, we thank You that Your Son, Jesus Christ, was the judge who was judged. We thank You that He took the fire. We thank You for these things. We ask that You would actually just burn these truths into our heart with the fire of your spirit.

And we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching from Dr. Keller. If you were encouraged by this podcast, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel and Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people access resources like this podcast. Just visit gospelandlife.com slash partner to learn more. This month's sermons were recorded in 1993 and 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017. Well, Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

with senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.