Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - In the Image of God

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

We’re in a series tracing the single storyline of the whole Bible. So we’re actually looking at the history of the universe.  Today we get to this passage about how God made us in his image and likeness. This immediately brings up a huge and crucial issue or theme of the whole Bible: what it means to be in the image and likeness of God.  We’re going to look at 1) the importance of the image of God, 2) the meaning of the image of God, and 3) the renovation and repair of the image of God in you and me. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 30, 2008. Series: Bible: The Whole Story - Creation and Fall. Scripture: Genesis 1:26-2:3. 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. The Bible isn't a series of disconnected stories, each one a little moral for how to live. On the contrary, it's actually primarily a single story, an account of how the world was made and ruined, how it was rescued through Jesus Christ, and how someday it's going to be remade into a new heavens and new earth. Today on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller is teaching on this central storyline of the Bible, and what that means for our lives today. Scripture reading today is found in page 7 of your bulletin.

Be reading Genesis 1 verses 26 through chapter 2 verse 3. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and

subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food, and to all the beasts of the earth, and all the birds of the air, and all the creatures that move on the ground. Everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening,

and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing. So on the seventh day, He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. This is the word of the Lord.

In a series, we started a couple of weeks ago, and we're going to go all the way up to Easter, minus the couple of Christmas services. We're in a series of sermons in which we're trying to actually get a high level view, a big picture view, a 30,000 foot view of what the whole Bible is about. And we're doing that by tracing the single story line of the whole Bible by beginning

and looking at Genesis 1 to 4, in which we learn how the world was made and ruined. And then by going to Romans 1 to 4, which tells us what God did about it, and then by going to Revelation 18 to 21 to see what is going to be the result, how it's all going to pan out in the end. So we're actually looking at the history of the universe. We're looking at the whole Bible starting with the first four chapters, looking at, in a sense, the middle four chapters, and looking at the last four chapters. We're going to be doing this to get a big picture because very often you miss the forest for the trees when you go very carefully through biblical text

and that's what we're doing. And that's the reason why we get today to this passage about how God made us in His image and likeness. And like a lot of the other sermons in this series, this immediately brings up a huge and crucial issue or theme of the whole Bible. The image of God is actually a theme that begins here and carries through the whole Bible. And so we're gonna give an overview of it. And it's such a big subject that even though you notice the image of God is related to gender,

male and female created he, them. We're actually going to get to that for a couple of weeks. It's also related to work that we are put in this world to rule over, have dominion over in the world. What does that mean? Well, we're going to put that off until next week. We're just going to look at this subject of what it means to be in the image and likeness of God, because it's such a big and crucial subject and we're going to look at it into three headings. The importance of the image of God, the meaning of the image of God,

what that actually is, and the renovation, the repair of the image of God in you and me. The importance of this teaching, the meaning of it, and the renovation of the image of God in us. Now, the important thing is that this is not an archaic doctrine like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. This is crucial for the way in which we are living our lives in the world now. Let me show you. Let me show you four crucial implications.

The Bible says that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. What's that mean? First implication, our self-image. The Bible says, no matter who you are, where you're from, what your record is, it doesn't matter what you've done in your life. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how low you've gone. Every human being made in the image of God reflects God and therefore there is a rock solid, objective, irreducible, glory and significance about you and about every human being that there is. There's a rock solid, objective, irreducible, glory and significance and value and worth about every single human being. Every one of you, every one of us. Now, why is that so crucial in this?

Our culture, I'll tell you why, a few years ago, actually quite a few years ago, a friend of mine who was, he's now a doctor, but at the time he was a resident, and he was at a teaching hospital, and he was doing his rounds under the, you know, under the leadership of a doctor, and he was doing his rounds under the leadership of a doctor and he was one of the students in the residence and they were discussing a case and part of the woman's problem was she was depressed. And my friend, being a believer, as it were, said, well, you know, one of the things that we can do doesn't even take a lot of medicine or anything. We just have to reassure her that she is a valuable, worthwhile human being, that she is dignity, just as a human being. And you know what the doctor said? He said, how do you know that? And so all the young

residents started to titter a little bit thinking, was it joking? He said, we're scientists here. Science doesn't say, He says, we're scientists here. Science doesn't say, science says human beings are more complex, but there's absolutely no scientific basis for saying you have dignity and value and worth. Come on, he says. Let's not push your quasi, your quasi-religious and your religious views on this person. And he's right, by the way, there is absolutely no scientific basis for saying human beings have rights and dignity and value. Bertrand Russell said, we are the product of causes that had no prevision of the end they were achieving.

The hopes, fears, loves, and beliefs of our minds are just the outcome of the accidental collocation of atoms. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., famous chief justice, major intellectual, early 20th century United States, he wrote this, and he's talking scientifically. He says scientifically, I see no reason for attributing to a man a significant different in kind from that which belongs to a baboon or a grain of sand.

Scientifically, we're more complex, but significant. You know, nature kills us off like everybody else. And you know, you see the conundrum, because in this secular society, all the therapists will tell you, oh, you're so valuable, you've got such dignity and worth, you're valuable human being. And yet, the philosophy of secularism has no basis for that at all. So G.K. Chesterton, Sardonic Lee puts it like this. He says, as a politician, the secular person will cry out

that all war is a waste of life. And then as a philosopher admit that all life is a waste of time. The secular person goes first to a political meeting where he complains that the natives are being treated as if they were beasts. And then he goes to a scientific meeting where he proves that all human beings actually are beasts. See Christianity, because of the doctrine of the image of God,

can say to people, grounded in reality, grounded in ultimate reality. God doesn't make junk. You're in the image of God. It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, it doesn't matter how low you've gone, you're valuable to him, you're valuable, period. Self-image. Secondly, the implication of the image of God just for the way in which you treat people that simply cross your path. When I, a little bit of confession here, when I first started coming up to New York to kind of look at, you know, just look at life here, like most people who've never lived in New York, it was kind of appalling. You know, people in your face, up your nose practically, you know,

subway everything. And you know, there's a lot of people out there who, you know, smell bad according to you. And you know, the dress in ways that you find appalling and they act in ways you just find disdainful. But you know you get in your car most places and you stay away from all those kinds of people. You know let people in your car that you like basically and you can't do that in a subway car and you know it's just so people intensive and there was a man when I was doing this a friend of mine at Philadelphia gave me a fascinating little bit of theological argument. He says, you know, the city is the place

where there's more people than plants. And the country is the place where there's more plants than people. And since God loves people more than plants, he's God loves the city more than the country. And you know, we laugh. And if you've been around Redeemer at all, you've heard me say that because it was an epiphany for me,

because what here's what the guy was saying. In fact, he went on. He says, I want you to be true to your own theology here. In Atlanta, there's 6,000 people per square mile living inside the city limits. In Philadelphia, there's 12,000 people per square mile living in the city limits. In Manhattan, there's 60,000 people per square mile living in the city limits. That's not counting how many people here on a work day. There's more image of God per square inch here than anywhere in North America. How can God's love not be more intensely focused on this place?

And he said, oh, what? But listen, James chapter 3 verse 9 says, with the same tongue, we praise God and we curse human beings who are made in the image of God. To disdain, to curse, to yell at, to say, get lost. That's to someone in the image of God. According to James chapter 3 verse 9, he's bad theology. And of course, in his famous passage in the weight of glory, the famous sermon by C.S. Lewis, he says this, there are no ordinary people.

See, he's thinking about the image of God. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, civilizations, they're mortal because they're going to end. And their life is to ours is the life of a nat. It is immortals with whom we joke, work. It is immortals that we marry, snub and exploit. Every one, someday, will be an immortal horror or an everlasting splendor. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn, we must play, but our mariment must be of the kind which exists between people who have from the outset taken each other seriously. And then he says, the weight of your neighbor's

glory is a burden you should put on your back every day and only humility will carry it. Now this is what this means. Every person that comes across your path, you need to treat with a sacredness, a reverence, a respect, a concern for their individuality, a kindness, never writing people out. There should not be a get lost about your spirit or even your looks. But of course there is, because we don't practice the image of God, we don't believe it, we don't understand it, We don't take it in. It's a radical doctrine.

We must treat everyone with grace, everyone with gentleness, everyone with respect, with reverence. Do you? So the implications for your own self-image, the implications for how you treat just the person that comes across your path. Thirdly, let's get bigger here. The implications for civil rights. Where did that idea come from?

The idea that every human being have certain rights regardless of race, regardless of national origin, regardless of class, it rights that you cannot trample upon is an individual. Where did that idea come from? Some people say, it's a Western idea. Well, I guess, but you know what? If you look at the roots of Western thought,

which is the Greeks, Aristotle said, some races are born to be slaves. Aristotle, that's Western thought. So where did this idea of human rights come from? And Brian Tierney, who is a great medieval scholar at Cornell, now, Cornell University, now retired. Brian Terney, in the last 20 years, has essentially proved in his great books,

their academic books, go ahead, you wanna go out there and buy his wonderful $80, you know, 100 page academic books, that's fine. But in those books, you're gonna see, he essentially proves that the idea of human rights came from the Bible and got into European jurisprudence and European cultural institutions through the church. Because, for example, here's Genesis 9 accounting for the life of his fellow man, for in the

image of God has God made man. What did God just say there? I'm going to hold you accountable for the life of your fellow human being. Why? Because it's against my rules? That's not what he actually says. I made human beings in my image. There is an inherent worth in them.

It doesn't matter what the law of the land says. It doesn't matter. Law shmah. I made every human being in the image of God, and therefore they have rights. And that's where that idea came from. And that's the reason why we believe it today. And if you want to even go press further,

what about the modern civil rights movement? Where did Martin Luther King Jr. get his inspiration? There's a book coming out next year, an academic book, called Martin Luther King Jr. and the Image of God. And it's all about the fact that that was a huge basis for why he did what he did. And one of his sermons, the American dream, he says this. You see, he said, the founding fathers

were influenced by the Bible. The concept of the Imago Day, the image of God, is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected an ability to have fellowship with God. And this gives every human being a uniqueness, a worth, and it gives dignity. And we must never forget this as a nation. There are no gradations in the image of God. Every man from a treble white to a base black is significant on God's keyboard precisely because every man is made in the image of God. See, Stevie Wonder didn't come up with that idea. It was Martin Luther King, Jr. And where do you get that idea?

See, the idea of civil rights, the idea of human rights, comes from the Amago Day, the image of God. But let's press one more thing, and it's a big thing, as you will see very soon. What happens in a society that God is idea of human rights from a belief in the image of God that all people are creating the image of God. What happens to that society when as a society as a whole, it loses the idea of God. You see, what happens when you have a secular society in which most

of the cultural elites say, well, we don't believe in God anymore. And therefore, we don't believe human beings were made in the image of God. We just evolved. They're very complex organisms. Now, how do you ground human rights in the worth of the individual human being? What is that worth consistent of? What makes a human being worthy of rights now that you don't believe in the image of God anymore?

And you realize that there is a huge problem right now in the philosophy, you might say, in the upper reaches of the academic world of the Western nations, Western culture. Because here's the question, if we don't believe in the image of God, this idea, what makes human beings worthy of rights and therefore protection? And here's what they're all saying. They're saying, well, if you don't believe in the image of God, then we have to ground human rights in what they call capacities. You understand that?

The reason a human being deserves protection rights is because human beings have the capacity, they have the capacity to reason. They have self-consciousness, they have the capacity to make moral choices. They know right from wrong. They have the capacity for what some professors call preferences. Because they have reason and they have the ability to make choices and they have preferences, they are moral agents and therefore they are capable or they are worthy of protection. They have rights.

But there's a huge problem with this whole approach. This secular approach to rights. It's huge. Nicholas Wolderstorce's new book on justice brings this out. Peter Singer at Princeton University, a prominent philosopher and ethicist, shows the problem. And here's how he argues. He says, he believes that's right. Human rights are grounded in capacities. And that's why Peter Singer says,

I believe the Supreme Court was right when it said abortion was all right. Now, what was the reason that Supreme Court said abortion was okay? Because, everybody gets so quiet here, because the life in the womb doesn't have capacities. They can't make choices. They can't reason, they have

right for them, they can't live apart from the mother, they don't have capacities. And therefore they don't have rights. And here's what Peter Singer says, yes, he agrees with that. But if that's true, let's keep something in mind. Born infants don't have those capacities either. They can't reason. They have no preferences yet. They can't make moral choices, and neither can seen how old people, and neither can very mentally handicapped human beings,

and therefore none of them, if you believe abortions all right, then you really can't protect the rights of any of these other people because the rights are based on capacities. Now, you realize how many people are furious at Peter Singer? They are furious. And every so often, there's a big article in the New York Times about somebody who just

fullminates against them. You know why they're furious? Because he's right. He's right. If you don't believe in the image of God, what are you going to ground human rights in? You ground it in capacities. If you can't protect the unborn, you can't protect the newly born, you can't protect the mentally handicapped, you can't protect the unborn, you can't protect the newly born, you can't protect the mentally handicapped, you can't protect old people. It's a fact. It's logical. Looking for a new way to deepen your faith and understanding of Christianity this summer? If you are, we'd like you to consider the new city

Catechism devotional based on the historic catechisms of the Christian Church, this devotional offers 52 weeks of thought provoking questions and answers that explore the foundational beliefs of the faith. Each week includes a scripture passage, a prayer, and a brief meditation that will challenge and inspire you. Commentaries are written by contemporary pastors, such as John Piper, Timothy Keller, and Kevin DeYoung,

as well as historical figures such as Augustine, Timothy Keller, and Kevin DeYoung, as well as historical figures such as Augustine, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. The new city catechism devotional is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the hope of Christ's love with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching

If you go back to the beginning of the Christian church Here's what you saw they came into a Greco-Roman world that also grounded the idea of rights on capacities Aristotle said that some races were too emotional They couldn't reason because they didn't have the capacity for higher reason. They deserve to be slaves. And in the Greco-Roman world, you had slavery, you had terrible poverty, you had lots of abortion, it was very dangerous then, but it still happened. You had infanticized, it was perfectly legal, especially girl babies,

died of exposure, and you took the elderly and sick poor people and just let them die. And that was all legal, and it was not all the time, but the Christians came along and they believed in the Amago Day. And because they believed in the image of God from the beginning, they were champions, first of all, they were totally against abortion from the beginning. Because if you believe in the image of God, you have to be. You have to be. You have to be. You know, if human life is good, the nascent human life has got to be good, but they were also

against infant and fantasized. They were not one issue people. They cared for the poor. They cared for women. They didn't make widows. At that time, most people said, if you're a widow, you got to remarry. And the Christian said, not if you don't want to, we'll support you. They were champions of women. They were champions of orphans. They were champions of the week. They were champions of the poor.

And they were against abortion. And they put the rest of the culture to shame because of their belief in the sanctity of life. So eventually, the whole Western world adopted the idea of the image of God. Because when you believe in the image of God, the circle of protected life expands. But if you don't believe in the image of God, you only believe in capacity. There's some other trumped-up approach to why we believe in human rights. The circle will continually contract. It gets smaller and smaller, and fewer and fewer people will be protected.

You see how incredible, crucial, important the image of God teaching is. And by the way, one more thing before moving on, I took most of my time on my first point, don't be afraid. But remember all year we've been talking about what would redeem her, look like as a community, Here's what it looked like. What if we took the image of God seriously? First of all, regardless of what the law of the land says, we would know abortion except to save the life of a mother is a violation of the image of God.

Number one, number two, the women who have had abortions and the men who have helped them have abortions would not feel like scum. Because James 3.9 says, you don't disdain, you don't demonize, you don't curse, you offer grace to everybody. So we believe in the image of God. We'd say abortion is wrong, and we wouldn't make people who've had abortions feel terrible.

Like scum or something. And we wouldn't be single issue people who would be for all of the poor, and all of the week, and all the marginal. And we would be a very unusual community, wouldn't we? So let's be that. But here's a question. Why in general, is there so much violence and injustice?

Why is the image of God constantly being trampled? Why do we have terrorism? Why do we have genocide? Why do we have still slavery? Why do we have poverty? Why do we have injustice? Why? Why do we have still slavery? Why do we have poverty? Why do we have injustice? Why? Why do we even curse each other?

James 3.9. Even that's a violation of the image of God, disdaining and screaming at each other and exploiting each other, manipulating each other in relationships and just using people just because they have connections and not really caring about them, all of that. Why do we do that?

The Bible says because the image of God is broken in you and me, because it's broken. That's the reason why we don't honor it in others. Because the image of God is broken in us. We don't honor it in the people next to us. So what does that mean? Well, let's take a look for a minute at what it means to be in the image of God. Look, then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds

of the air over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground. Now, look carefully what this means. What does it mean to be in the image of something? It means two things, reflection and representation. If I take a canvas and I paint your picture on it, is it a good reflection? Is it an accurate reflection of what you look like? Fine. If first of all, I create an accurate reflection of you,

then anyone for centuries who wants to know what you look like can go to the painting and it will represent you to them. What God is actually saying here is something like that. He says, I have created you, human beings, to reflect my glory, to reflect my goodness, my love, my character. I have made you like a canvas or like a mirror and you are capable of reflecting my character. I have made you like a canvas or like a mirror, and you are capable of reflecting my character. And if you reflect my character properly,

you will represent me to the whole world. And everything in the world and all life will flourish. So what it means to be made in the image of God means number one, it means to actually face God so that we are accurately reflecting him and his character. And then showing that glory to the world and therefore bringing about life. How does that work?

Let me just give you an illustration, then let's break it down. Here's my favorite illustration. You could, if you wanted to say we're in the image of God, you could say we're like little statues of God, we're like little paintings of God. I don't like that as much, though we could work that, as the illustration of the mirror. Because one time, I actually saw this, I was camping as a kid, and we were in a very, very cold environment.

And I actually saw somebody on a bright winter day take a mirror and put the mirror in such a position that on the one hand it captured the glory of the sun. On the other hand, it focused it on this little pile of tinder and leaves and created a fire so that we could have food and so we could feel warm. And that's exactly what God's talking about in 1st, in Genesis 1, 26, 27, 28, you know that. He's saying, I want you to so reflect my glory that you fill the world with it. I want you to face me so that my character is reproduced in you and then the way in which you treat the world and the way in which you treat the people around you will bring life.

They'll all flourish. Now what does this mean? Let's break it down. Actually, like this. Number one, because we're in the image of God, number one, that means we are relational beings, relational creatures. What do you mean, my relational?

You are your relationships. You were made not to be the original, but to reflect the original. We're given a nature such that we need to be filled with things out there. Got it? We get our who we are, not through our own personal decision, but through our relationships. You are basically the sum total of your relationships. You know what, when you're about 25 and a lot of you are about 25, you like to think, well,

my parents did this and that and I want to be like this and well, I know this and that. But you think you're so cynical. You don't think, for example, you're being affected by the advertising. 25-year-olds think, oh, I see through all that. I'm not affected by my own person. I'm being my own person. And when you're 45 or 55 or 65, you see

that you're pretty much the function of your family and the people you hang out with and the people you grew up with, you are basically the function of your family and the people you hang out with and the people you grew up with, you are basically the product of your relationships because you're in the image of God. People who are made to image others are deeply relational beings. That's the reason why it's the community that changes you

not sitting and listening to sermons, number one, number two. We're also spiritually dependent beings. Let's go back to the idea of a mirror. If we're made to reflect the glory of God, do you know what that means? Mirrors cannot produce their own light. Mirrors can only lighten others

if they are facing the light. And that means as human beings, we will always be dependent on something outside of us to give us our glory. Which, of course, in the Bible means your worth, your significance. The word glory means importance. When we say God is glorious, we mean he's all important. We say, have you seen the glory of God? It means, that's what the Hebrew word means. It means to be important and supremely significant. And when we're told that we are made in the image of God,

that we are made to reflect His glory, what that means is, you cannot generate your own glory. Any more than a mirror can generate its own light. And therefore, you're going to have to get your sense of worth, your value, your sense of beauty, your sense of significance from outside. If you ever sit there and try, good, just try. Just try and say, I don't care what God thinks about me,

I don't even know if there is a God, I don't care what people think about me, I don't care what anyone thinks about me, all that matters is, I think I'm significant. That's like a mirror trying to light itself, it won't work. You don't believe it, you can't believe it. You're made in the image of God, you're made spiritually dependent creatures,

and if you don't look to God, and if you don't face God with your soul, and face His love, if you don't get your beauty, your sense of significance and worth from His love, you're going to have to turn and worship something else because you're made in the image of God. You're going to have to turn to a human being.

You're going to have to turn to a family. You're going to have to turn to your job. You're going to have to turn to human approval. You're going to have to turn to a human being. You're going to have to turn to a family. You're going to have to turn to your job. You're going to have to turn to human approval. You're going to have to turn to professional success. You're going to have to turn to something else. It's going to say, you're OK. You're going to have to get your glory and significance

from something because you were made to. You can't generate yourself. So first, we're deeply relational being. Secondly, we're spiritually dependent beings. They have to worship something to get their sense of significance and value. But thirdly, what this means is depending on whether you are seeking your significance and your value and glory from God,

or whether you're actually trying to get it out of the created order, you will either spread life or bring death. Let me show you what I mean. If you know because you're facing God with your soul and you know you're assured of your value and significance because of your relationship with God, then when you get into marriage, you can just serve that person.

Of course, you love the person. But ultimately, you don't look at that person and say the only reason I know that I'm significant is that you love me. Because you see, if you're actually facing your whole soul toward that person, instead of toward God, if you're trying to get your glory and significance of the fact that this important person loves me, you crush them. Why? Well, you crush them with their expectations. They'll always have to be up. They can never be upset with you. They'll just devastate you. And so you either not tell them the truth at all,

because you cannot tell them the truth, because you don't want to see them unhappy with you. You can't bear their unhappiness, which means you're being a lousy friend, a lousy lover, a lousy spouse, because they need to hear the truth. You won't tell them the truth. You're afraid to tell them the truth, or you'll tell them the truth too much. Because you're going to have to make them perfect. Because they've got to be perfect. Because your life depends on them.

God says, if you reflect my glory, if I am the source of your glory, if you're imaging me, then everywhere you go in life, you'll serve people. Your work will be about the work, not about getting a self-image. If you work, and this is next week, so I can't, I only give you 30 seconds on this, if your job is so that you can get, if you're facing your job rather than God with your soul.

If your job is the way you know, you've got value and significance, you're going to overwork, are you going to lie to keep your job? You're going to be utterly devastated if you have any kind of downturns. Downturns? Because the work isn't about, the work is about you. God says, if you face me, then when you go out into your work, you go out into your relationships, you go out into your parenting, your marriage, your dating, whatever, you serve people instead of use them.

You'll bring life, see? If you are imaging God, if you're facing God, you're getting your value from Him. But if you instead make anything more important than God, anything, your work, your friends, some cause, your achievements, if you center on status or you center on human approval or you center on human approval, or you center on power, that's how you're getting your value, right?

You know what's going wrong? You've broken the image of God in yourself, and therefore you're going to trample on the image of God and others. Well, what can be done? What are we going to do? Well, here's what God has done. Colossians 1.16 says, Jesus Christ is the image of God.

He is the image of the invisible God. It even uses the Greek word icon. He is the icon, the image of the invisible God. John chapter 14, 9, Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You know what that means? Jesus now is the only perfect image of God. You have to look at Jesus if you want to see

the real beauty and glory of God. And in this very interesting verse that I've been thinking about now for about 30 years, in 2 Corinthians 318, Paul says this, Now to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. He's talking about people who are reading the Bible. Moses means the law, you know,

reading the Hebrew scriptures. And he says, there's a kind of person that doesn't know the gospel, doesn't know that Jesus Christ died for them to pay for their sins. And therefore, when they read the Bible, there's a veil over their hearts. But when anyone turns to the Lord, when anyone receives Christ as Savior and Lord, the veil

is taken away. And we who, with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord's glory. Hear this? We are being transformed into his likeness and image from one degree of splendor to the next. What is Paul talking about? I've been thinking about this for years, and I'll just give you my best shot. What is going to take your soul and attract it back? So instead of focusing so much on how you look, how you're doing,

how smart you are, what people think about you, whether somebody's in love with you, instead, see, we're made to image God and get our glory from God, but we're looking to other things. What's gonna attract my heart back? It's not enough, just, well, it's not just a say to myself, oh, I have to make God to center my life. Something has to attract it back. And God said, pardon me, Paul says, St. Paul says,

if you learn how to read the Bible and discern the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you learn to see Jesus and what he's done for your salvation, that transforms you into his likeness. It reflects his glory. In other words, as I gaze on the beauty and glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the only perfect image and representation of him, that fixes me. As I gaze on the image of Christ, that fixes the image in me, so that then I stop trampling on the image and other people. And you say, how does that work? I think it works kind of like this.

people. And you say, how does that work? I think it works kind of like this. Jesus was homeless. Jesus was almost a victim of infanticide. Jesus was poor. When he died, he only had one possession, his cloak, his garment. Jesus was eventually tortured. He was a victim of trumped up charges. He was a victim of injustice. He was lynched. Even though he was the only perfect image of God in the world, he was trampled on. Utterly trampled on. Why? He did it voluntarily to pay the penalty for our sins. And when I see that more than anything else,

I see the beauty and glory of God. I see a holiness so holy that he had to come and die for me. That's how sinful I am. But I see a love, so loving that he was glad to do it for me. And when I see that, I'm gazing. I'm seeing the glory of God in Jesus Christ, the only perfect representation of His glory and beauty. And that begins to turn the soul, my soul, it begins to turn the mirror of my soul back toward Him away from these other

things. That begins to heal the image of God in me. I begin to more and more center on Him. I will be more and more image Him. And the more it heals, the image of God and me, the less I'm trampling on the image of God and other people. Oh, please hear me. You are in the image of God. And everybody sitting around you, all the people you don't know, and even the people you don't like, they're in the image of God too. You're in the image of God, they're in the image of God, like it. Let us pray. Our Father, we pray that you would teach us to think out the implications of the fact that one day in the ancient past you said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, that they might reflect our glory, Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit, into the world and bring life. Now Father, we are not imaging your glory. We are not looking to you for our significance and value. We are facing other things, and as a result, we are bringing death into the world. We pray that you would heal us with the image of your son dying on the cross, which shows us your glory in such a way that we finally have our hearts healed. And as the image of God is healed in us,

we begin to honor it in others. Make us a church filled with people who speak graciously to each other. Make us a church that is so committed to the importance of human life. Make us a church that cares about the week and cares about the marginal and cares about the powerless. Care is about the women and the children and cares about people who are, the world has

cast off. Make us a church in which we love each other and speak graciously to each other regardless of where we're from. Make us a church that understands the image of God because your Son was conformed to our likeness on the cross of sinful flesh, that we might be conformed to His likeness forever and be made glorious as you are glorious. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to today's teaching. We recognize that many of you will want to

respond to the news of Tim's passing. If you would like to know more about how to share your condolences or to share a story of how Tim's writing or teaching helped you or if you just want to know how you can pray, please visit gospelandlife.com slash remembering. This month's sermons were recorded in 1996 and 2009. 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 Redeemer Presbyterian Church. you