Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Indestructible Love

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 14, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 49:8-21. 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. You don't have to look far to see that something's deeply wrong with our world and with us. But is there an answer that gets to the root of why? In today's message, Tim Keller explores the human condition through stories in the Bible, uncovering what scripture says about sin and why it's the only explanation deep enough to face the truth about ourselves. I'm going to read to you from Isaiah chapter 49. I'm going to read verses 8 down to 16. It's in your bulletin.

I'm only going to read to verse 16. This is what the Lord says. In the time of my favor, I will answer you. And in the day of salvation, I will help you. I will keep you, and I will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to re-assign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, come out, and to those in darkness be free. They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the

sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my high high, ways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar, some from the north, from this west, some from the region of Aswan. Shout for joy, O heavens. Rejoice, O earth. Burst into song, O mountains, for the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? though she may forget I will not forget you see I have engraved you on the palms of my hands

your walls are ever before me let's end there this is God's word now if you've been coming over the weeks you know this is the this is the actually end of a series on what the Bible has to say about what's wrong with the human heart what's wrong with the human race what the Bible calls sin and if you're part of this series, you need to know that if you've been following the series, this is the ultimate cure. Well, we actually have here, let me remind you of this when we've been in Isaiah for a while. What we have here is something written to people who are going to face or are facing exile.

The Jews had Jerusalem destroyed. That's the reason why there's discussion about Zion's walls. Zion was the hill on which the temple was built. And therefore, the word Zion came. mean the city of Jerusalem. It sometimes can mean the temple. But the point is that when the Babylonian Empire came and besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it, everything was torn down. The walls of Jerusalem were torn down. The temple was torn down. The people were sent into captivity. And what Isaiah is giving us is a prophecy from the Lord to the people. And here he's asking, here he's answering the

question. And the question is going to be, how can we face this? What are you going to do about this. Now, up to verse 13, and we didn't print all of it in this chapter, we have a typical theological discourse. Isaiah, through Isaiah, God is saying what he's going to do about it. And verses 1 to 8, we start with verse 8, but verses 1 to 8 of chapter 49, talks about the servant, this mysterious figure who's going to come, the servant of the Lord, and what he's going to do is he's going to suffer. And as a result of the suffering, we see in verses 9 to 12, he's going to gather a new people. He's going to create a new community of people from the east and the west, pardon me not from the east, actually, from the, because there's desert over

there, but from the north and the west and the south. And there are going to be people who have been brought out of darkness, people who have been set free. And so because of his sufferings, he's going to create a new community. And then lastly, when you get to verse 13, which is the climax, this enormous theological discourse, we're told here that what God is going to do through the servant and in this group of people is going to be a such power that it's going to actually redeem all of the world. Because when you see here, we see shout for joy, oh heavens, oh earth burst into song, oh, mountains. God is actually going to renew all of creation. Whatever God does is going to be so powerful that all of creation, the heavens and the earth, everything's going to be renewed. Everything's

going to be brought into some kind of blossom. And that's what God is saying he's going to do. it's sweeping. It's huge. It's immense. And it's too sweeping. And it's too huge. And it's too immense. Because verse 14 just hits you between the eyes. If you're reading along, if you're reading through the chapter, and in a way, I can see this in a way that you can't because I didn't print you the whole chapter here. But if you move on through the chapter, here's God talking about, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. And this, of course, it leads to this doxology where he's calling nature to blossom and to praise God. And suddenly verse 14 comes along. And what is verse 14? What is it? The people listening to God respond. And what do they say?

Wow. No. What do they say? Look, I'm still depressed. Here's God saying, oh, look at all the things I'm going to do. And what it says, but Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me. Now, what you have here is God giving this theological discourse to the people, and the people responding by saying this, the realities of my present life are overwhelming such remote, abstract, distant, lofty promises and claims. All your theology, all I know is Zion, Zion's broken down, my life is broken down. How could you let this happen to me? In other words, here's God giving this great theological discourse, and the people say, I'm still depressed. you've forsaken me, you've forgotten me.

I don't even know what you're talking about. All this heavens and earth. I don't know who the servant is. I don't know what's going on here. And therefore what we have is industrial strength despondency. You know, the human heart, it's very hard to make the human heart feel happy and loved. I mean, some of us are worse than others, let's face it. But basically, here, listen, you tell a human heart, you're a disgrace.

You're trash. You're despicable. and you never forget those you never forget statements like that never in your whole life but you tell a human heart you're wonderful you're great I like you

and you need that it fades so fast five minutes later you need to hear it again or you forget it the human heart falls into despondence in spite of claims of love and what does God do

we have here it's very interesting in verse 14 we see someone saying in spite of all these great claims I'm still depressed you don't love me. I don't feel left by you. I don't feel that you're committed to me. And we see how God deals with a despondent heart. And that's pretty instructive. How does God deal with it? How does God deal with a person who's despondent in despair? First of all, let me show you two general principles and then three specific principles.

Two general ways in which God works with a despondent, depressed person. And then three very specific things that he enjoins us to do. first there's two real general principles and they go like this first of all god stops that may not be as easy for you to see unless you're reading the whole chapter but god see on his way he's talking about things and he's actually got he's uh that verses one to 13 is really a wonderful a wonderful there's the structure of this discourse is wonderful and we're not even going to talk about it here tonight because i don't think that's what we're going to dwell on that But he actually talks about three great stages in history of salvation.

He's moving from the cross to a new community to a new creation, from cross to community to new creation. It's really wonderful. And then suddenly he looks down and he says, any questions? I mean, this is like a lecture. I'm going on and say, any questions? And somebody puts up their hand and says, I'm depressed. I'm despondent.

I don't understand what you're talking about. I feel cast out. I feel like it's all over. God stops. Because verse 15, verse 16. in fact, all the rest of the chapter, God stops what he's saying, he changed the subject because they say, you've forgotten me, and everything about the rest of the chapter is about that idea. In other words, God lets himself be interrupted. He stops. And that's very important.

Recently, I have a, when I think about my own pastoral career, I realize that no matter what gender you are, no matter what race you are, no matter what age you are, we're all stupid in our own special way. And when I was a young pastor, I had a tendency not to stop. When someone spoke despondently, there's a tendency to just pour on the theology. So, well, let me finish my lecture. Don't you know? You're justified by faith. You're adopted into the family. You're going to rule and reign. Don't you know your theology? When you're a younger band, when a younger pastor, there's a tendency to just say, well, I can fix this. Let me keep on going with my thing. You know, let me just pour the theology on. But God stops. Now, on the other hand, as I'm becoming an older minister,

as it's obvious, I realize I still don't want to stop, but for different reasons, you know, now when you see somebody despondent in spite of all these great claims, now when you still see somebody say, I know what Christianity teaches,

and I know what the Bible says, and I know all that, I'm still depressed. There's a tendency to look down and say, well, get over it. But, you know, and when you get older, you've seen people get through things,

and you say, come on, you'll survive, this will be all right. You know, what are you wallowing for? People have had much worse problems than you have, and you get through it, and I've been through. So when you're younger, a tendency not to stop and really listen. And when you get old, it is a tendency not to stop and

really listen. I don't know when I'll be a good pastor. I do know this. God is interrupted. He stops. But the other general principle, he stops, but he argues. Because verse 15 and 16 is an argument. Verse 15 and 16 is pugnacious. Verse 15 and 16 is contradicting what there's, what the despondent heart says. And this is a perfect balance, because on the other hand, he's got the compassion to stop, but he argues. Now, if you want a perfect example of this principle, this balance that you've got to have, if you're dealing with your own despondency or somebody else's, the principle is best embodied in Psalm 42, where you have the psalmist who's discouraged, and the psalmist says to himself, he says, why art thou cast down, oh, my soul?

Why art thou cast down, oh, my soul? And why art thou is quieted with him? Now, if you look here, that's the perfect balance, because on the one hand, he's listening to his soul. He's listening to his heart. He's saying, what's the source of your disquiet? What's the source of you're casting down? He's listening to his heart. But on the other hand, he's arguing with his heart. Why are you cast down to my soul?

What are you doing down there? Now, here's the principle I mean. Before we move on in specifics, it's the general principle. If you don't listen to your heart, you'll be in psychological rubble. but if you only listen to your heart you'll be a psychological rebel if you don't listen to your heart by the way almost all of us fall into one of these or the other

one of these mistakes some of us just don't listen we say oh well you deny it you don't you know I'm not upset I'm not angry I'm all right I'm fine and you just stay busy and you don't sit down and listen to your heart you don't listen to find out just how bad is it

and what's the cause of it so a lot of us just well you know we're kind of extroverts you know, so let's get out and do things. You know, I'll just be fine. We don't listen to our heart. On the other hand, some of us do nothing but listen to our heart. We just let our heart go, forsaken, forgotten, forsaken, forgotten. You walk down the street.

I'm forsaken, I'm forgotten. Now, listen, if you only listen to your heart, and you never talk to it, and you never grab whole of it, and you say, this is the truth. You're out of touch with reality, buddy. You have to do that. If you never listen to your heart, and if you only listen to your heart.

But see, what God does is he stops to listen. He takes it very seriously, but he argues. And that's the general principles. However, what's the specific things he does with a despondent heart? And there's three things. And you know what? As I hinted at the beginning, these three things do not just cure a despondent heart.

And this is the cure for a sinful heart. You know, the word forgotten, forsaken. The word forsaken is kind of an external word. It has more to do with, you haven't come through for me. But the word forgotten is more of an internal word, which is, you've rejected me. Forsaken has more to do with out of sight and forgotten, more out of mind.

Forsaken more is, how can you have let these things happen to me? Forgotten is more like, you've rejected me because there's something wrong, isn't there? I'm no good. And, you know, sometimes despondency is made up more of anger than shame, and sometimes is made up more of shame than anger. But they're kissing cousins. They're very, very close. It's very hard to know, you know, which is which.

sometimes. And so when God comes to the despondent, sinful, sick heart, he enjoins three things. He calls us the three things. And they're all here in verse 15 and 16, verse 15, 16A and 16B. Look. Well, I'll just say what the three things are. He says, think of who you, think of who I am, look at what I have done, and practice who you are. think of who I am, look at what I've done, and practice who you are. Now, here are the three. First of all, think of who I am. Who is he? Now, we have here a metaphor that God deliberately chooses to tell us something about who he is.

Verse 15, can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child? She is born. Yay, she may forget, but I will. not forget you. Now, why does God pick a nursing mother to tell us something about himself? This is not sentimental. As a matter of fact, it's not sentimental at all, excuse me, if you think about it, because he's really talking about mothers who sometimes forget. I mean, this isn't sentimentalizing. This is not a way of saying, ah, there's nothing like a mother's love. This is not what's going on here, because there are things like a mother's love. A love between husband and

wife, it certainly is deep, really richer. and certainly more satisfying, I think. But God has chosen this particular kind of human connection to tell us something about himself that's incredible. Well, here's what it is. What is a nursing mother like, or in relationship to enrichment? What is this?

Okay? This is the point. A nursing mother's relationship of love to her child is not that volitional. It's not that conditional. It's not volitional and conditional. You fall in love with somebody. You choose that person.

They choose you. You know, you do something. They do something. If they don't reciprocate, you can't go on. Okay? There's conditions. There's volition. There's choices.

But there's something incredibly powerful and virtually automatic. A mother's love for her child is driven by her very nature. It's driven by her biology. It's hardwired. Let me give you three examples of this. A nursing mother. First of all, a nursing mother's relationship to her child is rigidly regular. I had a laugh, by the way.

Matthew Henry is a Puritan who wrote a commentary at the end of the 1600s, 1690s. You know, Puritans, they were a little straight-laced, were they not? And why would a man know this, except that I understand his wife had 11 children? And therefore, this is what he says in his commentary. A nursing mother, most of all, cannot but be tender of her sucking child, for her own breasts, put her in mind of it if she should forget it. Now here's something, and by the way, for some of you guys, this might come as news for you, unless a nursing mother regularly nurses her child, unless she releases the milk,

unless she is meeting the needs of her child, she's in pain. Her breasts hurt. Listen, yes. Yeah, love between a man and a woman, that might be, you know, people say, well, that's hormones, but boy, this is hormones. You say, well, yeah, hormones are, drive it, but not like this. Every so many hours, you're in pain if you don't meet the needs of this loved one. It is unbelievably regular. And then secondly, it's incredibly tender and

emotional. Because another thing that Matthew Henry and I have learned from talking to nursing mothers is that along with the milk comes tremendous feelings of nurture and emotions. Sometimes the milk brings the feelings. Sometimes the feelings and the thoughts bring the milk. This is part of the biology. It's part of the hormone. It's part of who she is. That as she thinks loving thoughts, the milk comes. And it's a tremendous tenderness. She takes that baby. And she looks at every single thing about it. She looks at every hair. She looks at every eyelash. She's moved by who she is to this enormously detailed and tender care.

And then thirdly, it's not only rigidly regular, it's not unbelievably emotionally tender, but it is utterly unconditional. When you enter into a relationship with a husband or a wife or, you know, you get romantically involved with somebody, there's got to be some reciprocity. The person's got to do something back. I'm sorry. You know, the person never even speaks on your first date. You know, you've had a bad date. But here's a woman that finds herself driven by her very being to lovingly, suddenly, new mothers, this happens, your life stops. Everything in your life stops, and it's completely revolving around this little thing. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And the kid doesn't even burp thank you.

Those burps are not thank you. So you can, you want to imagine it fine. That's just not the case. The child does nothing. The child, there's no conditions. It doesn't matter what the child does. What the child looks like. The child doesn't merit it.

It is utterly, utterly regular. It is utterly tender. And it is completely unconditional. Imagine God to choose this. To talk about how he relates to us. It's not the only image, friends. This is not the only image. Of course, we know there's others to get across the idea.

But do you see the power of this thing? He says, that's how I relate to you. That is one image that I can give you to give you some idea about how strongly, how powerfully, how detailed, and how unconditionally I love you. 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 365-day devotional, The Songs of Jesus, you'll find daily readings through the Psalms with fresh biblical insight.

If you don't have a regular devotional practice, this book is a wonderful way to start. And if you already spend time and study and prayer, then reading and praying through the Psalms can help you bring your deepest emotions and questions before God and discover a new level of intimacy with him. We'll send you Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the love of Jesus with more people. Request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching. Because you see when he says, yay, she may forget. What is he's saying? What he's saying is, yeah, mothers do forget. I mean, nature only goes so far. There are women who buck nature. There are women who don't do it. But what he's trying to say is simply this.

He says, my love for you is not only exactly like a mother's natural love, but it's infinitely greater. But don't you see the real point? He's not just saying, you see a mother's love, mine's more powerful. You see a mother's love, mine's more free and unconditional. You see a mother's love, my love is more detailed. Don't I say in Psalm 56? I know how many tears are going down your cheek. Even a mother doesn't know that.

But he's going beyond that, and he's running to say, I am as driven by my nature to love you as a mother is to love her child. It is utterly natural. And when he says that, there's a number of commentators that have helped me on this and have said, this is astounding. Because if you think about it, especially since, and this is one of the reasons why this sermon came after last week's sermon, last week's sermon tells us something about the nature of God. He is holy.

He's a judge. he's a god we talked about this life he's an angry god he's angry about evil he's a god of tremendous justice and in light of that what would you say if god loves us surely he's bucking his nature if god loves us surely it's wonderful but surely he's bucking it and god says no everything if i would cease to love you i'd cease to be me everything about me everything about my nature leads me to be absolutely, powerfully, unconditionally, tenderly, emotionally, regularly. I hurt. It's hard to believe that he would say, I hurt if I don't meet your needs. How could that be? Well, it's the second. The first thing he says, this is who I am,

but you don't understand how that could be unless you look secondly at, look what I've done. And what has he done? Verse 16, the first clause is what he's saying. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Now, this is the answer to what we just asked. How could, how, I know, some of you were going to the bends. I mean, last week, the whole point was, this is an angry God. And God says he's an angry God. He says, I am a purized than can behold iniquity.

And yet here he says, my very purity, my very, my very nature, has turned me into someone far more powerfully, far more driven to love you than a mother for an infant. How could that be? Here's the answer. Look what he's done. I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Now, what in the world does that mean? Let's break it into two pieces. Engraved palm of the hands. What is this image getting across? Everything. First of all, engraved. Listen, there are some perfectly decent words they could have used, or Isaiah could have used, or God could have used, however they worked this out, which I don't completely understand. Perfectly good words for tattoo. They didn't use them.

It's not what it's saying. It's not saying tattooed. It's not saying written. Engraved. And the word engraved, you said, what is the word? It means exactly what it means in English. It means to get out of a hammer and get out a chisel and to actually cut into something hard. That's weird.

Why? Well, first of all, engraved means two things. First of all, it means permanent. He's put his name, our names, on his hands permanently. They'll never wash off. They'll never wear off. There's two ways. You know, you put something on your hands. Sometimes it washes off. Sometimes it just wears off with a lot of heavy use. Nothing will take our name off his hands. But it's not just permanent. The word engraved also means artistry. He doesn't say he chipped it. Engraved is a work of art. And it gets at

this. What it's getting at is the other place in the Bible that talks about our names being engraved. is back in Exodus 28. In Exodus 28, we're told that the high priest, when he goes before God, into the tabernacle, is wearing an effid, which is a breastplate. And on the breastplate, there are two precious stones. They're in a gold, they're encased in gold, so they're absolutely gorgeous. And on those stones is engraved the names of the children of Israel. And why?

Well, see, this is the connection between the two. in chapter 28 it says why is the high priest doing that it's very simple it says in order to be a perpetual memorial before the lord memorial in other words whenever god minds us this is what xos 28th say whenever god remembers us whenever god thinks of us he looks at our names and he sees a beauty he says an unbelievable beauty now listen just for a second this is something that no other religion, not only know what the religion gives you. This is even something that most of us who raised in Christian churches have never really come to grips with. This is an astonishing statement. Engraved means a work of art. And this is what God is saying. It is possible to be in a

relationship with me so you are not just tolerated by me. So you don't just have access to me so that you don't just every so often you're able to come and get things from me. You don't have just a relationship in which when you die you'll be able to, you know, have blessings in paradise. He is saying, it's possible to be in a relationship with me so that you know that when I look at you, I'm having an aesthetic experience. And you see the link? When a mother looks at a child, because of her very nature, she just drools over the child, literally. And God says, it's possible to be in a relationship with me so that when I see you, I am ravished with your beauty. I can't get over you. I can hardly express the delight. I can hardly

understand. I can't hardly believe it. I'm just, I'm drawn to you. That's the link. We're engraved. It means we are an aesthetic experience. Here's what here's another way to put it. When God, what do you look like? Who are you? When, it's possible to be in a relationship with God so that you know this, that when God looks at you, He sees an absolute beauty. And of course, if God sees you that way, then that's the definitive view. It doesn't matter what your friends say. It doesn't matter what your parents say.

It doesn't matter what the mirror says. It doesn't matter if you put on five pounds. It doesn't matter. None of those things could possibly. This is the ultimate mind. This is the ultimate view. This is the ultimate you. And God says, yes.

It's possible to be in a relationship to me so that you're a work of heart. when you say how could that be and here's the answer it's not you see if you go back to xist 28 it's almost completely inexplicable how in the world could we possibly be something that beautiful yeah I see

we're engraved on these beautiful stones on the high preceptive that's beautiful it's wonderful how how could that possibly be this is ridiculous maybe you'd say but here we see something else here we see our names are engraved on his hands on the palms Now, first of all, the palms of the hands means this is the most visible place. If I would engrave something anywhere else in my body, I might not see it.

But in my palms of my hands, I can't help but see it. Secondly, what this means is it means that absolutely everything he does. The poem is the way you do everything. This is how I move my mic. Here's how I look at my watch. Here's how I turn off the light. I have to use my palms. And when God says, I put your name on the palms of my hand, what he's saying is everything I do.

I'm doing for you. It's like a mother. Everything I do, I'm doing for you. No matter what happens, I'm doing for you. So here's Joseph, and his brothers grab him and throw him into a pit, remember? And they sell him into slavery, to Egypt. And he's down in the pit, we're told, back in the passage in Genesis, and he's crying out to them. And he's crying out to God.

And God seems like he doesn't remember him. doesn't hear him. But you see, later on, Joseph was able to realize, if God had actually answered my prayer as I made it, I'd be dead now. I never would have become Prime Minister of Egypt. I never would have run the Famine Relief Program. I never would have saved all those thousands of people. I wouldn't even have saved my own family's physical life, and I never would have led my own brothers to repentance. And therefore, they would have been spiritually dead. They would have been physically dead. In other words, God, when he seemed to not answer my prayer, was remembering me. Everything that happens. Everything he does is being done for me. It's amazing. But you say, but that's not all. It's not just that it's on the palm of the hands being it's the most visible place. Not palms of the hands means it's the most active place, but it's the most vulnerable place. You see, when somebody says, listen, see, my outstretched palms, this is the transcultural sign of vulnerability.

If someone says, hands up, come out with your hands up, you don't come out like this. They'll shoot you. I mean, hands, palms means, I have no weapon. A palm means, I have to open my palm to shake your hand. A palm means appeal. A palm means welcome. A palm means receive. When my palms are open, I am vulnerable.

Now, here's the question. How in the world, why in the world, would someone engrave the palm? That would be, if you're going to put a chisel, that's just terrible. That must have hurt terribly. It did. Many centuries later, somebody came to another doubter, another despondent person. His name was Thomas. And he said to Thomas, look at the palms of my hands. And when you look at Jesus Christ, look at the palms of his hands to see where your name is, and you will see nail prints. Why? This is the reason why we're a beauty to him.

The reason we're such a beauty to God is because our names have been engraved in something more precious than stones. more precious than diamonds. The sufferings of Jesus, the nails of Jesus, are the tools with which. Our names are engraved on the palms of the hands. And what that means, finally we have an answer to how 15 can be true. Sixteen tells us how 15 can be true.

If Jesus Christ is our high priest, if he stands before the Father's throne, and he says, look at what I have done, look at my suffering. Look how they paid for everything. Look at how I've made a sacrifice. Do you know what that means? Over the years, when I first heard that Jesus Christ was our high priest, and this is in Hebrews chapter 7, in fact the whole book of Hebrews, and it's in 1 John chapter 2, where it says that Jesus Christ, it's just an image, but it's getting a point across. Jesus Christ stands before the throne of God, and he shows the wounds. And he pleads for us. Now, I,

When I first heard about that, I said, well, that's good, but it's not completely comforting. Because how many times will God finally listen to Jesus about me? I mean, you know, I mean, I keep failing, and I keep failing, and I keep failing, and I guess every day, you know, Monday morning, Jesus will come on up there and say, look, Tim did it again. But for my sake, would you please continue to love him? And I see God up there on the throne saying, well, all right. But that's to miss the whole thrust of everything. this whole passage is about. When Jesus Christ stands before the Father's throne now, we know

this. He is not, when he says, love my brothers and sisters. When he pleads for us, he's not demanding, he's not asking for mercy. Do you know that? He's not asking for mercy. He's demanding justice. Okay, give me 60 seconds, will you? Jesus Christ is saying this, thy law oh god demands death for sin i have paid all their debts they trusted in me their debts are paid and therefore for you to get any punishment from them would be to be getting two payments therefore oh god all thy holiness all thy justice not just thy mercy not just thy mercy not just thy love all thy holiness, all their justice, all of your nature demands that you see them as a beauty. Every other religion, and probably most of you who went to churches, Christian churches, believe the same thing.

Every other religion thinks that when it comes to my relationship with God, it's sort of like a set of scales. You've seen the set of scales, right? In old courtrooms, they always have some blind lady or something like that. You know, the blindfold on, with the blindfolds on, with the scales. And what does everybody think? well, I have good deeds and bad deeds. And if I have more good deeds and bad deeds, my good deeds, outweigh my bad deeds, then God will deal with me. And Christianity says, the very holiness of God, the very righteousness of God, compared to which all the mountains of the world

and all the planets of the world are like a piece of dust are on your side now. That's the reason why, if you think I'm exaggerating, 1, verse 8, says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. It doesn't say he's faithful in mercy, Though, of course he is, but he doesn't say that. If he would not forgive him, if he would not continually accept us, those of us who believed in Jesus Christ, he would be unjust. And that means his whole nature is now for us. Let me put it to you in a nutshell. What power could turn the holiness, the righteousness, the wrath of God against evil,

What power could turn all that into mother's milk? What power in the whole universe could change things so that every bit of God's holiness now demands that he loves you like a mother? It's the cross. There's a hymn that goes, What wondrousness, what mysteries in this appointment shine. My breaches of Allah are his. and all his obedience, mine.

That's the gospel. Lay your deadly doing down, down to Jesus' feet. Stand in him and him alone, gloriously complete. And see, if you see what he is and then see what he's done, you can start to live as you really are, because the last part of verse 16 says something very simple. What does it say? He says, thy walls are ever before me.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. the walls are broken. No, they're not. Not in God's mind. God says, I treat you the way you're going to be. I practice toward you, not the way you look right now, but the way you're going to be. And that's what we're supposed to be doing. It's another way to put it. It's simply this. We are supposed to also take what he has done for us and say, look, if this is how he sees me, then that's how I have to see myself. You have to apply this and it will do anything. When you suffer, what are you supposed to say?

Why have you forsaken me? Wait a minute, wait a minute. That word forsaken that's used in verse 14 is also used in Psalm 21, verse 1. It's the very same word Jesus cried on the cross. Jesus Christ is saying, you are not forsaken, I was forsaken. I was forsaken so that even when you're thrown into pits and you cry out and say, please don't sell me into slavery, God will never and never forget you. he'll never forget you because he forgot me

and you must never act as if he has and what that means is no matter what you're suffering you say this can't be punishment it can't be punishment it's all falling into the heart of Jesus it can't be when you feel guilty you have to say this can't bring me into condemnation and when you feel disappointment

when you feel discouraged ultimately discouragement and forsakenness always comes from this discouragement and forsakenness means, I'm sorry, I know this is going to be vivid, but this is, it's the text, all right? When God says, you're going to mothers for something only I can give you. There is a milk that your soul needs. It's everlasting love.

Mother's love can't be everlasting. Even the mothers who are great die, and most mothers aren't great. And whatever you're, if you're discouraged and you say, I'm forsaken, I'm forsaken, because there's something that you've made your mother instead of me. There's something that you say, if I have this, then I'm beautiful. You're only beautiful in me. And that's the reason why. He says, if you apply, see, in a sense, no matter what your situation is, whether it's guilt, whether it's lack of self-control, whether it's suffering, no matter what it is, you apply this. Apply this. This is the health of my soul. Can I just be honest? This is the health

of my soul. Not just that in general, I'm living for Jesus. Not this in general. He forgives me when I fall down, but that every fiber of God's attributes are for me. Therefore, the stars will fall from heaven, but his love for me cannot change. On the basis of that, I have something to stand on. Any other ground is sinking sand in marsh, and it can be the healthier soul, too. Here's one last thing. I did use to have a house in which we had babies, and I just remember this. whenever it was quiet. Oh my gosh, it's quiet. I suddenly realized why. It's because they were

nursing. I mean, it was the only time they ever were. Because they can't, they can't cry when they're nursing. How quiet is your soul? This is what God is saying. If your soul's not quiet, if it's restless, if it's a mess, you don't know what it's like. To know who he is, to see what he's done and to practice who you are now in him. Because when you get a handle on that, you finally got the milk. You're finally your soul's quieted. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask that you would show us how this, how Jesus was destroyed by justice so that now justice is on our side and your love for us is indestructible. Would you please show us how that works out? Would you please show us how we can apply that?

Father, this is strong medicine. It's the most difficult thing for many of us to grab hold on. We try to hold on to it, and we find that we have to beat it into our heads over and over again, and we lose our orientation to it so quickly. Would you, Lord, tonight, by your grace, engrave these truths into our hearts deeper than they've ever been engraved so that we can start to practice who we are, You can really see what you've done.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's Word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com. Today's sermon was recorded. in 1999. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between

1989 and 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.