Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - It Is the Lord!

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

We’re looking at the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.  After his resurrection, Jesus is still teaching his disciples—and us—preparing us to go out into the world and represent him. And in John 21, he teaches the disciples four things that should be true of us if we’re Christians. Another way to put it is four marks the Christian church ought to have in the world. And those four marks are 1) supernatural unity, 2) new identity, 3) continuous intimacy, and 4) comprehensive certainty. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 23, 2017. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Doubters and Deniers. Scripture: John 21:1-14. 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 the Gospel in Life podcast. This month we've put together a special set of sermons from the nearly three decades that Tim Keller preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. While this month's sermons cover a variety of scripture passages and topics, each message points to one central truth. The gospel can change every aspect of your life. After you listen to today's teaching, we invite you to go online to GospelInLife.com and sign up for our email updates.

When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly journal and other valuable gospel-centered resources. Subscribe today at GospelInLife.com. Come. A reading from John chapter 21 verses one through 14. Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee. It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, also known as Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee,

and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the the shore but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus he called out to them friends haven't you any fish no they answered he said throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some when they did they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment

around him, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from the shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you have just caught.

So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153. But even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

The word of the Lord. after he was raised from the dead. The word of the Lord. So for a couple of weeks we're looking at these post resurrection appearances of Jesus. All year we've been looking at the night before he died, John chapter 13 to 17, where he's training them, his disciples, to be ready to go out into the world to represent him.

And we've been going through that training ourselves, and we're gonna go back to it and finish John 17. But for a couple weeks here around Easter, we're looking at the teaching he did after his resurrection because he's still teaching them. He's still preparing his disciples and us to go out in the world and represent them. And this time, we see four things.

This passage, it's a lovely passage, and by the way, next week, we see how Jesus deals with Peter's denials, his threefold denials. But the first half of this chapter, we see Peter and the disciples meeting Jesus for the first time, and we're actually being taught. Jesus is always teaching. And he's teaching them four things,

well, he's teaching us four things that should be true of us if we're Christians. Or another way to put it is four marks of the church, four marks that the Christian church ought to have in the world. And those four marks are supernatural unity, a new identity, continuous intimacy, and comprehensive certainty.

Four marks, let's take a look. First of all, look at the first couple of verses. I love the simplicity of it. You can miss it, you can just go right by it. And I also love what the period is. It says Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, two other disciples were together. Period.

It doesn't say they were together to do something, or they gathered to do something, or some event, or it says they were just together. Period. And notice when Peter says, I want to go fish, the others don't say oh, we want to go fish too. No, they just say we want to go with you. They don't say they want to go fish. He wants to go fish. But they want to be with you. What's going on here? If

you go back through the book, you'll see all these characters and they're very different They are they have different in temperament different in outlook. They're always getting on each other's nerves. They're always arguing in fact, you can even go back to Through John chapter 20 and 21 and you look at Mary John Thomas and Peter and they're so different you know Mary was a feeler and John was a feeler and John was a thinker and Thomas wanted sensory experience. I want to feel, I want to actually touch him with my hands. So Mary was an existentialist and John was a rationalist

and Thomas was an empiricist. And those of you with a philosophy degree should be very impressed right now with me. I say, wow, I can't believe he knows what those terms mean. Actually, I don't. However, I'm trying to get across the fact that these people were very different, extremely different and they did not get along until now. Now they all have a living center.

They've met the risen Christ and now they're together. They want to be together. They will be together. They've got a living center that unites them because they've all seen the risen Christ. When that happens, it doesn't matter how different everybody else is, they're your brothers or your sisters. Look, I guess human beings have always been this way.

We've always looked out there in the world and we've seen some people that we really can't stand. We think the world's worst because they're there. Those people. And by the way, don't tell me I'm wrong because I go on the internet and that's all everybody does is talking about those people. That's the only thing you talk about.

Those people, those people. Guess what? When you go to the church, the church is filled with those people. That's the only thing you talk about. Those people. Those people. Guess what? When you go to the church, the church is filled with those people. And guess what? You're those people to somebody else. Okay? You're those people to some other those people. Experience of the risen Christ takes all that away. Now they're together. They are together. And the experience of Jesus Christ, a true encounter with Jesus Christ, brings about a supernatural unity, or another way to put it is, you get along with people that outside in the world, apart from Jesus, you would never give the time of day to. Now are you experiencing that? Now let me go a little further. The other thing we see as you go through John chapter 20 and 21 is because these people

are so different, Jesus meets them at their point of need. So he does give John, if you remember, John sees the grave clothes, he gives John, who's a rationalist, lots of evidence to think about. And he gives Thomas a sensory experience. He says, here I am, here's my wounds, take a look, feel them. But with Mary, if you remember, I just love it,

when he meets Mary, you know how he reveals himself to Mary? He doesn't say, he says, Mary. He just looks at her and just says her name. He meets everyone at their point of need, but you know what that means? Because they're such different in temperament, every person brings out something in Jesus that the other people do not.

Which means it's only together. See, it's not just that Jesus, knowing Jesus means that you, suddenly now, have all kinds of brothers and sisters you never otherwise would have been with. But being with them shows you Jesus in a way that you would never know all by yourself. Do you see that?

Without Jesus, you would never know these people. But without these people, you will never know Jesus. They, I'm basing that on a famous place, I won't even, I've quoted it so many times over the years, I won't even read it to you again, but those of you old timers say, yeah, I won't even, I've quoted it so many times over the years that I won't even read it to you again, but those of you old timers say, yeah, I know this one by heart,

but there's a place where C.S. Lewis in his book on friendship is talking about the fact that he, his name was Jack, they called him Jack, and J.R. R. Tolkien, they called him Ronald, and Charles Williams, these three authors, very famous authors, were all dear friends with each other, and then Charles died, so it was Jack and Ronald and Charles Williams, these three authors, very famous authors, were all dear friends with each other. And then Charles died, so it was Jack and Ronald and Charles. And when Charles died, Jack thought, well, that's terrible,

but at least in a sense had more of Ronald. Then he realized that there was a part of Ronald that only Charles brought out that he had lost forever. The way he puts it in the book is he says, in each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole person into activity.

And in other words, what he's saying is, actually Charles and I, just Charles and Jack, knew Ronald in a way that Jack just can't. Now if that's true of human beings, just a regular human being, how much more true would that be of Jesus Christ? And what this means is, in fact, look, I'm more like John, I'm more the rational,

or didn't you know that? But when I even read about how Jesus treats Mary, it shows me something I wouldn't see otherwise. You will never know the multi-dimensional glory and beauty of your Savior unless you know Him in community. You need a whole pile of other people who also know Jesus well, who are different than you, and you've got to know them to know him.

Which means it does not work. The busy New York thing, the busy New York Christian thing is I'm very busy with my career and I come to church and you're lucky that I'm even coming to church. But I'm sorry, that's not good enough. You come into church having a kind of, you and God experience, even if it's a good service or something like that, you have to be, you have to join.

You have to be a member of a church. You've got to commit yourself to brothers and sisters. You have to. Without knowing Jesus, you would never know these people. Without knowing these people very, very well, you will never know Jesus. At least you will not know the full, the multi-dimensional beauty and glory of your Savior. See, this is all the supernatural unity that we have in Jesus Christ. And I

think it's right to ask, do we have that? Do you have that? Are you practicing that? Are you experiencing that? Do we experience that here? So that's only point one. Wow. You know, we could close in prayer right now, isn't it? Wasn't that inspiring enough for you? But let's go on. It's amazing. The Bible's amazing. So number two, the new identity. The heart of this passage is the change in Peter. One of the great contrasts in the entire Bible

is the difference between Peter in Luke chapter five and Peter in John chapter 21. And it's almost as if, you know, I know they're written by two different authors, but it's pretty astounding. It's almost as if Jesus sets it up to show us a couple things, and here's why. If you go to Luke chapter five and John chapter 21,

there are five, six, seven ways in which they are identical. In fact, I'll give you the names. I'll give you the list. In both Luke five and John chapter 21, the disciples are in a boat. Also, they're in a boat fishing. Also, they fish all night. Also, they fish all night and they catch nothing.

Like that's four things in which they're like. Also, Jesus says, throw the nets in one more time. And in both, they also then have this enormous, miraculous catch of fish through the power of Jesus Christ. So in both those places, they're absolutely the same. But in Luke chapter five, what is Peter's response? He says, depart from me. He's scared.

He's in awe. But it's not, it's numinous awe, it's dread. He's dreading the presence of me. He says, depart from me, I am a sinful man. You make me feel sinful, you make me feel weak, you make me feel small. I don't want to be here. So in Luke chapter five, all this happens,

and he just wants to get away from Jesus. In John chapter 21, the same thing happens, and now what is he doing? The exact opposite. He get away from Jesus. In John chapter one and the same thing happens and now what is he doing? The exact opposite. He's running for Jesus. Like a madman, like a crazy man. He jumps into the water, he's not waiting for the boat. And he's waiting, swimming, whatever.

Trying to get as close to Jesus as possible, as fast as he can. Complete opposites. Well, we're obviously supposed to learn something from this. What? Well, one thing we learn is Jesus is, if you ever encounter Jesus, it's never a vitamin supplement. What I mean by that is, if you meet Jesus Christ, you cannot

meet Jesus Christ and then just get a kind of pick up supplement energy inspiration for the life you're already living. If you meet Jesus Christ, you'll live a whole nother life. Jesus is not a vitamin supplement. He's not just a booster to help you along, just to help you do better at the life you're already living. He gives you a whole new life. He's completely changed.

New creation, Paul says. Secondly, the only cogent, I'm using the word carefully, the only cogent response to Jesus Christ is an extreme one. Because in Luke chapter five, he's just scared, frightened, dreading. In John chapter 21. He's rushing and running toward him, but they're both, what, they're both,

here's the one thing that never happened. Never, nobody ever said, gee, how did he do that thing with the fish? That's interesting. Let's go talk to him about that. No, nobody ever did anything like that. Because when you begin to realize the claim, when you begin to realize who he is or who he claims to be,

the only cogent responses are either to say, I want nothing to, you know, anger and fear, I want nothing to do, or run toward him and give yourself to him. See, look at the claim. What's the claim? It's almost on every page of the gospels, New Testament. Jesus Christ is the creator God of the universe

who's come to earth to give himself for us so that we can live for him. And that's a totalitarian claim. Because you either have to run away screaming in anger and fear from it, or you have to run away screaming in anger and fear from it or you have to run toward him with joy and love and tears and fall down at his feet and say, I'm yours. And nothing in the middle makes any sense. And by the way, if you are in the middle, I know some of you must be, because most people

are, then you're not listening, you're not seeing, you don't really know who he is. Maybe you were raised in it, maybe your parents are Christians and now you kind of have to go to church. I don't know what it is, but the point is unless you are running away from him or you're running toward him, you actually don't really know who he is. You haven't really come to grips yet with him.

But here's the main thing that I think we're supposed to learn and some of you might actually remember the second heading for the sermon. That is, Peter is showing the results of the fact he has a new identity. So there's two kind of ways to get a self-image. The one way, I guess we could call it an achieved self-image. You get the self-image by trying your best to live in a certain way and you convince yourself you're a good person. I mean most of our self-image

most our self-worth is based on the idea that you know what I'm actually a fairly good person. I'm a pretty good person. I think we mentioned a couple weeks ago that psychologists have actually found that even murderers and rapists have to work it out so that they say well well, I'm not really a bad person. Because everybody is achieving a self-image through, you know, it could be hard work, it could be your morals, it could be a religious, you know, self-image. I mean, in other words, you could say,

look, I go to church and I try to live like Jesus Christ. In other words, everybody is ordinarily trying to build their self-image on the idea that they're a good person. But the gospel is very different. You see, if you have your self-image based on something you've achieved, like I've tried very hard to live a good life,

then when you come into a situation where you feel helpless, flawed, you just say, depart from me. We cannot be in the presence of anything that threatens that self image of ourselves as a good person. But see, the gospel teaches that Jesus Christ did not come as an example, but as a savior.

He came to live the perfect life you should have lived and die the death you should have died for your imperfect life. And when you believe in him, you're accepted by God. He looks at you and he loves you and he loves you unconditionally, which means you have not a achieved identity, but a received identity.

Not a fragile identity that blows up when you actually see that you've done something wrong where you feel you're kinda helpless, but an achieved identity which is absolutely unconditional and which is solid, it can't change. It doesn't go up and down depending on your performance. So you see, the achieved identity, the normal identity, I'm a pretty good person,

is based on the idea that you're a good person, but the gospel is based on the idea that you're not a good person, but you're saved by grace. The gospel is based on that idea. So what happens when you come into a situation that shows you you're really a lot weaker, a lot more insufficient, a lot more flawed than you thought? Well, you see, if you have the old kind of identity,

you just melt down and you run. But if you have a gospel identity, it actually just drives you more into down and you run. But if you have a gospel identity, it actually just drives you more into the love of God. It makes you say, I always knew that I was flawed, and that makes your grace all the more wonderful, all the more beautiful, all the more precious to me. Peter, you can see, has a new identity.

At this point, how much does Peter understand the doctrine of justification by faith? How much does he understand the fact that Christ is standing before the Father? He doesn't really understand this stuff, but he's just got a smidgen of an idea that he's saved by grace, and that's all it took. His identity's different.

He responds differently. He's not upset or freaked out by the knowledge of his being a weak and flawed person. It just drives him more into Jesus' love. There's a hymn we sing that explains what happened to Peter, he's not cowering down, he's rising up and running. You know that hymn? It goes like this, if I remember. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears.

The bleeding sacrifice in thy behalf appears. Before the throne my surety stands. Before the throne my surety stands before the throne my surety stands His name is written on my name is written on his hands God has worked through Tim Keller's teaching to help countless people discover Christ's Redemptive love and grow in their faith as they learn how the gospel is the key to every aspect of life This month we're featuring a brand new book by author Matt Smethurst titled, Tim Keller on the Christian Life. In it, he distills biblical insights from Tim Keller's nearly 50 years of sermons,

books, and conference messages, including each of the sermons we've highlighted on the podcast this month. The book explores foundational theological themes from Tim Keller's work, like grace, idolatry, justice, prayer, suffering, and more. It's a resource that we hope will help you apply the gospel more richly to your everyday life. We'll send you a copy as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the good news of Christ's love with people all over the world. Just visit gospelonlife.com slash give to request your copy. That's gospelonlife.com slash give to request your copy. That's gospelonlife.com slash give.

Now, here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. I mean, Peter doesn't know any of that theology yet, and yet he's got the new identity, so he runs. Third, not only are we supposed to be characterized by supernatural unity and by this new identity, but also what I mentioned before is a kind of intimacy with Jesus.

It's not, we're not just supposed to believe in him in some abstract way. We're supposed to have intimate communion with him. Now that gets across, the text gets that across, that that should be the life of a believer, should be part of your life. A couple of ways, one of them is the meal, which we'll get back to, but I'll just say right here,

when Jesus says, eat with me, some of you have heard this, if you've heard Bible preaching before, when you go through the Bible, in the ancient times, to invite someone to eat with you meant even more than it does today. Today, if you invite somebody to eat with you, it's still a friendly gesture.

But in ancient times, it was a pledge. It was really a way of saying, I want you to be my friend. And so by Jesus saying, come and eat, he's not just saying come and eat, what he's actually saying is, look, I want fellowship with you. I don't want you just to believe in me. I don't want you just saying come and eat. What he's actually saying is look, I want fellowship with you. I don't want you just to believe in me. I don't want you just even to obey me.

I want to know you. I want you to know me. But actually, many people who've studied this passage over the years notice something. And there's an assurance that that's possible for you and me. See, we say well of course they had fellowship. They actually saw him.

They saw the risen Christ. But a number of people have pointed out that one of the reasons perhaps that this miracle was repeated, Jesus does it in Luke five, but then he actually does it here in John 21. Why? What's the difference?

Well, it seems like it's the same, except there's one difference. We already mentioned the one, that's Peter's response, but there was another difference, and what's that? In Luke five, Jesus is in the boat. But here, see verse four, Jesus is on the shore. And it's almost as if Jesus wants you and me to know that don't think that just because,

don't think that the reason why these great things happen in the disciples' life was because he was physically present. Because guess what? Even if I'm not physically present, I can still work in your lives. I can, the power, my power can still do the same thing. Remember what Thomas said? He said, you, I mean, pardon me,

what Jesus said to Thomas, he said, you have seen and believe, but I say blessed are those who have not seen and believed. And so it's Jesus' way of trying to say, it's very possible to still have fellowship with me even though I'm not physically present. I think actually this connects to one of the most puzzling things about these narratives,

these resurrection narratives, is the fact that when Mary sees Jesus risen from the dead, she reaches out to touch him and he says, don't touch me, I'm ascending to my father. But when he appears to Thomas, he says, touch me. Go ahead, just touch me. And you read that and you say, what? What's the problem? What's the issue here? You know, why would he say to Mary, don just touch me. And you read that and you say, what? What's the problem?

What's the issue here? You know, why would he say to Mary, don't touch me? I'm a saint to my father. Why would he say to Thomas, do touch me? Well, it's not because it was a holy thing, like, oh, you can't touch me because I'm resurrected. Obviously, or wouldn't have said to Thomas, put your hand in here.

However, here's probably what happened. The word for touch, when it says in John 20 that Mary touched Jesus, it's actually a word that means gripped like a vice. And you can just imagine how we love this, I think, when you read it. Here's Mary realizes it's Jesus and she grabs him and she says, Lord, Rabbi, you know, Ramoni.

You know, and she grabs him as if she's saying, I lost you once, I'm never, ever, ever losing you again. And when Jesus says don't touch me, he's saying, he's saying you don't have to hold on to me like this. And when he says I'm going to the Father, I believe this is his teaching, he's saying, Mary, I understand that you never want to lose me again, but as long as I'm here physically on earth,

we can't, you know, sometimes I won't be with you, but if you let me go to the Father, and I send the Holy Spirit, and which mediates my presence, don't you realize I can always be in your life? You can always have me in your heart. You can, my love can be, can flood your life. You can always have me in your heart. My love can flood your heart. My presence, you can know my presence all the time,

all the time, anywhere, anytime. Let me go and you'll have more of me than you have right now. You know, Jesus is saying, you've actually literally got my flesh in your hands, but I can tell you, let me go to the Father and you'll have me even better than you have me now. And see, that's a promise to all of us, is it not?

Listen, let me just ask you, do you have that intimacy? Do you have that intimacy? Do you just say your prayers? Or sometimes when you pray, does the burdens come off? Sometimes when you pray, do you know his love and his joy and presence I mean not all the time of course on but ever Sit ever have you taken this gift do we have the supernatural unity?

He says the church should have and he promises do we have the new identity? that incredibly solid non fragile Identity that can take the rough knocks of life? Do we have that? That he promises? And do we have this intimacy that he promises? Now lastly, the third, fourth mark of the church should be, I hope, it can be a, what I called a comprehensive certainty, and I call it comprehensive because there's more than one kind. First of all, one of the reasons that Jesus is appearing

here is to give the apostles mental certainty that he's really raised from the dead. Take a look here at the last verse. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. See, John's keeping a record, and what he's saying is Jesus appeared over and over and over again to the apostles to give them absolute mental certainty

that he was really raised from the dead, it wasn't a hallucination, it wasn't an illusion, that he had really been raised from the dead, that therefore the cross had really atoned for sin. Now, don't forget, the apostles got the royal treatment. They had multiple actual eye witness experiences of the risen Christ. And that was because they were the very first preachers,

they were the very first evangelists, they were the apostles. And they were sent out with a Christian message, and they had to be absolutely certain. Why? Because they were the very first ones, they were going out and every one of them except one were gonna die

preaching the gospel. Every single one of them. He was sending these guys to their death. And they were gonna go out in the world, no one had ever heard the Christian message. So it was gonna be strange to everyone. So of course they got the royal treatment. They had to have the absolute mental certainty.

They had to see him. So you say, great, that's them. But what about us? We haven't had actual eyewitness experiences of the risen Christ. Do we have any mental certainty? Is it possible? And the answer is yes. No, it's not the royal treatment, but absolutely. Remember I said, Jesus actually said to Thomas, you have seen and believed, blessed are those who have not seen and believed. So it's very possible. So how do we get mental certainty? Well, one of the ways,

I'm not saying this is all you need, but one of the ways is this very account. This very account. The gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, if you read them carefully and you reflectively and you think about it, they themselves, because I know I've been doing this for 45 years, they themselves start to create

that mental certainty because they're evidence, they are evidence, they are exhibit A that this actually happened. You say, well, what do you mean? Well, scholars will tell you that if you compare the gospel accounts to fiction that was contemporary to the Gospel accounts. So you go back to the ancient world and you look at how the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews wrote fiction. That when they wrote fiction, so when the

Greeks and the Romans wrote epics and sagas about Hercules or heroes or things like that, they were fiction. And when they wrote fiction, how did that fiction compare to this? And the answer is this is radically different. You have to keep in mind that ancient times, fiction, ancient fiction did not include

the genre of the novel. The modern novel is actually novel, that is to say it's the modern novel. The point is it was a new idea, the idea of realistic fiction I'll explain in a minute. So for example, let's take a look at the reasons why this is not fiction, why this has all the earmarks of a historical document.

So look at verse 7. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him for he had taken it off and jumped into the water. Pretty interesting. What is it telling us? It's telling us that Peter actually, when he was fishing, he had his coat off. And when he saw it was Jesus and he wanted to run, he learned around, he saw he had his coat on,

and he did not, it took time to put that coat on, to wrap it around himself. So what he did was he just picked up the coat, and he tied it around his waist, and he jumped. Now why do we need to know that? How does that help? What is the, come on, English, see, I already impressed the philosophers,

the philosophy, okay, you English majors, what's the narrative purpose? How does this move the narrative along? How does this develop character? How does this help us? In what way is this helpful? It's not. Okay, it's not, we don't need to know it.

Take a look at verse, the next, verse eight. Here it says, the other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, and then it adds, they were not far from shore, 100 yards. Why do we need to know that? But then the best part is, when they drag the net out, so Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore, it was full of large fish, 153.

Why do we need another 153 fish? Now, when I say there's no such thing as a modern novel back in those days, here's what you do not see. You don't see the story of Hercules going like this. Hercules walked to the door. Sweat was pouring down his face. The floorboards creaked as he walked. I mean, that's not how fiction was done.

Fiction was high. It was, you never put in these kinds of extraneous details that had no narrative or didactic purpose, but they're all filled through here. Why are they here? And the answer is they would only be here if they happened. This is eyewitness testimony. That is to say, people remembered it. You know, maybe when John was writing this up, he consulted another apostle or something like that and he says, how many fish were there? Oh yeah, 153. That's it. So then it goes.

And so what scholars will tell you is, this is not a legend. By the way, there are skeptical scholars who are absolutely, they'll still tell you, and they're the main ones that the media quotes, they'll still tell you that the New Testament are basically legends. They were legends, they were written long after, they were legends about Jesus Christ.

So they have to tie themselves in knots figuring out what does 153 represent? Because in ancient fiction you wouldn't put 153 unless it was symbolic. Maybe they say there were 153 churches at the time that John wrote. I mean they're tying themselves in a knot. Why is it there?

Because it just happened. This is a historical document. It was written within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses or it couldn't have been written. And it shows that hundreds of people really did see Jesus Christ raised from the dead. They testified to it, they wrote it down, they went out and lived their lives

and they died for their faith. Does that prove it? No, but it is really strong historical evidence. And it helps us toward mental certainty. But that, look, let's finish here. We actually don't just need, I told you we needed comprehensive certainty. We don't just need mental, intellectual, rational certainty that Christianity is true. We need a spiritual certainty that Jesus Christ has really, really, is really offering us

this. These gifts are so wonderful, supernatural unity, new identity, intimacy, and it's only natural for us to say, how is this possible? How is this possible? How do we know these things are really there for us? I think the answer is this meal on the beach. This meal on the beach. This meal on the beach.

When Jesus Christ cooks them this meal, he's actually, if you know the whole Bible, he's saying something about himself that is incredibly powerful. In 1 Kings 19, back in the Old Testament, in 1 Kings 19, Elijah the prophet is not just depressed, he's suicidal. He's just had this dramatic confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel,

and now he's running for his life because Ahab and Jezebel are trying to kill him, and he runs to some place, and he sits down, and he looks up kill him, and he runs to someplace, and he sits down, and he looks up to God, and he says, take away my life. He's suicidal, I mean, he's deeply depressed. And then he falls asleep. And the angel of the Lord comes.

Now, the angel of the Lord is one of the most strange and enigmatic figures in all the Bible. The angel of the Lord, whenever the angel of the Lord shows one of the most strange and enigmatic figures in all the Bible. The angel of the Lord, whenever the angel of the Lord shows up, the language about the angel is so strange. So for example, when the angel of the Lord appears in the burning bush, you might remember to Moses, at some verse it says the angel of the Lord appeared in the bush, and then a couple verses later

it says the Lord appeared in the bush. The angel of the Lord often speaks for God but then other times speaks as if the angel Lord is God. So there's a strange person who's sort of speaks for God and yet at the same time is God. Whoever this is, a very majestic person and shows up in front of Elijah who's now fallen asleep and just asked for God to kill him. So what does the angel of the Lord do? Boy, I love it, this is in 1 Kings 19.

Does he say, wake up, get on your feet? Does he get Elijah by the throat and say, you know, pull yourself together, man, let's go. Or does he say, behold my glory, abase yourself before my majesty. Or does he say, behold my glory, abase yourself before my majesty? What does he do? Do you know what he does?

Here's what has happened. First Kings 19. Then Elijah lay down under the bush and fell asleep. An angel touched him and said, get up and eat. And Elijah looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. By the way, you know how good baking bread smells? The angel of the Lord, this is the angel of the Lord.

And all the angel does is, he touches him. And he says, get up and eat. And he cooked a meal for him. Now by the way, this affirms every mother in the world. Sometimes the best thing to do is say, you're tired, you're upset, no lecture, no sermon. By the way, this is also something mothers need to remember. No sermon, no lecture.

I don't know why you're not laughing at that. But let's just. Here's something to eat. Bedside manner. This is the angel of the Lord, and all he does is cook something for Elijah. And then Elijah eats and drinks and lays down and falls asleep again.

He's that exhausted. And the angel of the Lord comes back, touches him and says, you still need to get up and eat for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and ate and drank, strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights till he reached Whore of the Mountain of God. This majestic angel shows up to this suicidal person

and realizes, I guess, that the main thing Elijah needs is not a sermon, not an exhortation, not a pep talk. He doesn't need to be smacked, and he doesn't need smelling salts. He just needs someone to touch him, to cook for him. I mean, here's the angel of the Lord. He says, hey, get up, I just made you something to eat. Who is this?

What kind of majestic divine figure would have this kind of servant heart, this kind of humility? Well, I think you know that many, many, you can see this coming, can't you? Many, many, it's not just me, many other theologians and commentators have said, who would this ancient person be who sometimes seems to be God and other times seems to be from God? And of course, the answer is that the angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate manifestation

of Jesus Christ. And here's the proof. He shows up on the beach, and he says, here comes the disciples, instead of saying, abase yourself before my majesty, I am the risen one. Here's what he says is, hey, I made you breakfast. I mean, the humility of this man, but it's not just that.

This isn't just a gentle touch. Jesus Christ, this is who he is. This is the meaning of life, by the way. Jesus says, who is greater, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? I am among you as one who serves. Who's greater, the guest of honor or the busboy? I've come as a busboy.

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many, that's what Jesus says. But you see, the only reason why he can make this meal for them is because the night before he died, he took bread and broke it and said, take eat, this is my body. How can you know these gifts are there for you? How can you know that intimacy is there for you? How can you know that intimacy

is there, that unity is there, that identity is there? Look what he did. He will give you what you need. He loves to give you things and he's sold out to give them to you. He's laid himself out. He died to give them to you. He's done everything to give them to you. He's that kind of savior. He loves you that much. He's that tender. He's that kind. Those things are there for you. Don't say, how do I know these gifts are there for you? They're there for you. Are you using them? Are you picking them up? Do we as Redeemer, are we realizing them in our midst? Come and eat, let us pray. Our Father, how grateful we are

that your Son, so even in ancient times, your Son has always been so tender, such a servant, willing to break his own body so that we can eat, willing to serve, willing to cook for us. Oh my. And Father, therefore we know that ultimately these great things that you have prepared for us, they are there for us.

We just need to pick them up. Give us both the rational certainty, the emotional intimacy, the social unity, the psychological identity, all the things that you have said are there for us in Jesus Christ if we take him by faith. So let these things be realized in our midst, individually and corporately,

we pray through Jesus in His name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you apply the wisdom of God's Word to your life. For more resources from Tim Keller, visit GospelinLife.com. There you can also subscribe to the Gospel in Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other helpful resources. Again, it's all at GospelinLife.com. You

can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Today's sermon was recorded in 2017. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.