Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Jesus Our Gift

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

Jesus Christ was not just born. He had an existence before he was born; and therefore, Jesus was not just born—he was given to us. Jesus is the one gift that, if you have it, you have all the other gifts. Jesus is the one gift that, if you reject it, you lose all other gifts. The apostle Paul says that Jesus is the inexpressible gift. By thinking about Jesus as a gift, I think we’ll come to understand more of who he is and how we should relate to him. So let’s look at three essential qualities of a gift: 1) gifts are surprises, 2) gifts can be insulting, and 3) gifts are immensely valuable. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 19, 1993. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Romans 8:32. 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. Who is Jesus? The Bible says he's fully God, the creator of the universe, and at the same time, fully human. Lose one of those, and you lose Christianity. Join us for today's podcast, where Tim Keller explores the person and promises of Jesus Christ. One verse. and a place in the scripture that you usually don't read from on Christmas, but that it's a great Christmas verse.

It's Romans 832. I'm just going to read one verse, and I'll read it twice. It's not printed in the bulletin. Everything else in the Bible is printed in the bulletin, but not Romans 832. And that's where Paul writes, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? That's God's word. It's a Christmas time that we give gifts. In fact, it's the only holiday in which we do all this gift giving. It's the reason why retailers are so happy with Christmas, in a way they're not happy with 4th of July, for example, or Easter. You see, at the other holidays, we don't give gifts.

In fact, even at birthdays and weddings and anniversaries, we all give gifts to one but at Christmas we all give gifts to all. Why do we do that? It's a perfectly, it's a great custom because what it does is it takes and you might say incarnates, it acts out the central event of Christmas. The central event of Christmas is that Jesus Christ was not just born. You know, Jesus is the one great personage who wasn't simply born. The teaching of the scripture, the teaching of the Bible, of course, is that he had an existence before he was born, and therefore Jesus was not just born. He was given to us. He's the gift that Christmas is about. And you see what Paul says, he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? This is the one gift. If you have it, you have all the other gifts. That's what Paul is saying.

This is the one gift. If you reject it, you lose all other gifts. That's what Paul's saying. This is a theme of the Bible. You know, there are some other Christmas passages that talk about this. For example, Isaiah chapter 9, which of course the Messiah, it's one of the text in which the Messiah is based. Four unto us, a child is born. Unto us a son is what? You heard it. Given. It's a gift. John 3.16, God sold over the world that he gave his only begotten son. Here we have Paul saying, God did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. And therefore, as Paul says elsewhere, Jesus Christ is the inexpressible gift. Inexpressible, he says. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.

Now, all I'd like to do tonight is I'd like to, in a sense, meditate on what that means. Jesus has got many names. There's many metaphors used in the Bible to explain who he is because Jesus Christ is really like a diamond. You pick the diamond up a great diamond and you turn it in the light and facet after facet hits your eyes and flashes at you and you can go on and on forever and not see everything. Through every facet of a diamond, you can see the whole.

Every facet shows you every other facet through the one. and then you can turn it, and then you can see that facet through another one. Everyone shows you the whole, only in a different way from another perspective, and to really see the glory of a great stone, you need to keep turning it and turning it. Now, tonight, we'll just take a look at this. I would like to look at Jesus through this idea of him being a gift. What are the qualities of a gift? What is a gift?

What should a gift be? and I'd like to just point out three things, just point out three things that gifts are, and therefore Jesus is, and by thinking about Jesus as a gift, I think we'll come to understand better who he is and how we should relate to him. Now, first of all, now I'm not saying all gifts have these three qualities, but the best gifts do, and therefore what's essential to being a gift has a great deal to do with these three facets, there are these three qualities or traits. Number one, gifts are surprises, a good gift, the best gifts are unexpected. They're a surprise. Now, it doesn't mean that all gifts have to be a surprise,

and some great gifts sometimes are not a surprise, but the power and the delight. The gifeness of the gift is greatly enhanced when it's not, when something that surprises you. And of course, surprise by definition, is something you don't expect. And so the quintessential language, of a person who's just had a great gift. It's just experienced a great gift. The quintessential language is, I didn't expect it, I wasn't even looking for it,

but it's exactly what I need. That's it. I didn't expect it. I wasn't looking for it. It wasn't on my list, but now that I see it, of course, why didn't I want it? Why didn't I ask somebody for it?

It's perfect. Thank you so much. I mean, not only is it great to experience a gift, like that, but it's great to give a gift and have that experience, have the person who you've given the gift to have that experience. I didn't want it, I didn't expect it, I mean, I didn't look for it, I didn't write it down, but now that I see it, it's exactly what I need and exactly what I want. I submit to you that the way you can tell the difference between a Christian, a person who's at a true, transforming experience of Christ, how you can tell that kind of person

from someone who's just a kind of, who's just has formal religion, a person who's just characterized by moral niceness, and not by a transforming experience of Christ, is this very thing. Real Christians, people who have really experienced Christ in a vital way, always feel the same way. There's been a watershed in their life. There's been a place in their experience they can look back to. It could be last week, could be last month, last year, last decade, but you know there was a time in which you thought you knew all about Jesus, you really thought. But when you met him, there is a revolution in your understanding. You might have been raised in church.

You might have gone to Sunday school all of your life and so on. You thought you knew all about it. A Christian is always somebody who's had his or her understanding of Jesus revolutionized because when Jesus actually shows up, when you actually meet him, you say, this is not at all what I expected. This is not at all what I wanted. and yet now that I have it, it's exactly what I needed. Yes. Jesus is a gift. So he always is a surprise. And the way you can tell you've met him is you've been shocked, surprised. Your expectations shattered by him. Has that happened to you? If it has not happened to you, if it's never happened to you, you have not even met him.

You haven't even rejected him because you haven't rejected the real Jesus. Let me just show you. Why? Why? Why? the Bible says, in fact, it was read today in one of the lessons at one of our services. He came to his own, but his own received him not. Many people accepted him, but not many. When he was here on earth, you remember not many, when he called all of his apostles and disciples and followers together to get together after he was gone, they all got together in the upper room, there was only 120 of them. So by and large, he was rejected.

Only a few really received him. Why? The answer is, he did not meet the expectations of people who expected a Messiah. They expected a certain kind of person. He came and he said, I'm the Messiah. Well, they had their expectations, and he didn't meet those expectations. And the reason they missed him was they refused to be surprised. They refused.

They refused to see Jesus is a gift. The Messiah is a gift, and the gift will always surprise you, will shatter your expectations. See, what did they expect? They expected a Messiah, but the Messiah had to be a political leader. The Messiah had to be a person of power, a person with clout, a person who could really get things done. Because, you see, the people, his own, those people said, we're under the thumb, we're under the boot of the Roman oppressor. We need someone who can get something done, who can get the boot off of us. And so along comes Jesus.

They expect the Messiah to say, those people are the problem. Those people are the problem. We're going to do something about it. Instead, the Messiah comes along and says, repent. Jesus comes out and says, repent. He refuses to become political. He refuses actually to, I mean, he's born as a helpless baby to a poor family in a backwater part of the country.

He never gets any kind of the right connections. he never becomes an influential person. He just wanders around, and what does he say? If you read the gospel, you'll see the summarization of everything that he taught while he was on earth was, repent. And everybody said, this is the Messiah, forget it. This couldn't be the Messiah. This is supposed to be the one who's going to save us.

The one who's going to deal with our problems couldn't be. And so the only people that received him were the people, those few who are willing to let their expectations be shared. who are willing to listen to him and say, oh my, this isn't at all what I expected, but he's exactly what I need. Now, let me get real personal at this point. The average person, and plenty of you who are Christians know that you started out this way too. Why did you start coming back to church? I mean, most people I meet in New York who are Christians are people who either never went to church or else spent a lot of time away from it. Why did you ever

start coming? Why'd you ever start seeking again? Why'd you ever start reading and thinking? Because you're looking for the other kind of Messiah. You know, you say my career is stalled and I need someone with power who can sort of break up the logjam. Or here I am kind of lonely and I need a relationship or I've got problems and I need someone who will come in and do something for me. There's problems in my life. There's people who have abused me, people who have oppressed me, people who have kept me down, I haven't gotten promoted. I've got needs. I've got some, I need a God who will come into my life and deal with those things. You're just like the people in that day that rejected him. They were looking for a Messiah with power with clout. But here's what's so unexpected about the Messiah.

Here's what so unexpected about him. Here's what shatters us. We all think our problems are due to the people out there. They're the ones, see. The haves say the have-nots are the problem. They're unproductive and they're lawless and they're dragging us down. And the have-nots say the problem are the halves, you know, they open doors for each other and get each other into the right clubs and the right boardrooms and they won't share the power, they won't share the wealth, we're going to get it from them anyway. So everybody thinks there's somebody else. Our problems is someone would deal with that group or those outside forces. Then things would be okay. But the real Messiah always comes and says, repent, which means the problems are not out there. They're in here.

Your primary problem says the real Messiah is you. not them, you. That the reason they rejected him the first time was they expected the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to say, they're the problem. But the real Messiah came along and said, repent, you're the problem. Some years ago, G.K. Chesterton, you know, the great man of letters, couldn't resist writing into a particular prominent newspaper in Britain in the early part of the century that was actually running a kind of series of essays.

and editorials, they were asking various prominent people to answer the question, what's wrong with the world today? The problem with the world is, and then they would write an essay. And each week, some prominent person would say, the problem of the world is this. The problem with the world is this. The problem with the world is this. It's a great idea for a series, by the way. You know, Bill Moyers will come up with it eventually, I think. You get a bunch of very, very important people and say, the problem with the world is this. G.K. Chesterton couldn't resist. He wrote in, he was a Christian, and he wrote in a very short letter. And he says, dear, you know, times, the problem with the world is me. Signed sincerely, G.K.

Chesterton. And anyone who's met the real Messiah feels the same way. Everyone who's met the real Messiah knows that's the case. The real problem with your life and the real problem with the world is the selfishness in your own heart. It's the self-centeredness in your own heart. It's the flaws of your own heart. It's the self-deception of your own heart. It's your sin. Now, if there's anybody here who says, I want anything to do with that kind of talk, that's primitive and obscene, you know, that's old-fashioned. Fine, you haven't met Jesus. That's all. This is not what I'm saying. The real Messiah always comes through and shocks you. And the difference between moral nice people and real Christians. Christians are people who have met

the real Jesus, and he has revolutionized their understanding. He is not what they expected. If you today don't think that repentance is the thing you most need in your life, repentance. If you don't know that, you haven't received the gift. Because a Christian is someone who says, repent. Now years later, we say, I never thought of it. I never asked for it. It wasn't the gift I wanted, but now I see it's exactly what I need. Has that ever happened to you? Has there ever been this kind of change in your consciousness about the Messiah? Have you seen that?

See, if not, you haven't met him. That's all I'm trying to say. And by the way, it may mean that you haven't even reject the real one. Because the real Jesus Christ, no one is, if you have a kind of casual, ho-hum relationship to Jesus, if you say, well, I like a lot of things he says, but it's hard to know all about what he said. If you have a casual relationship to him, if you read the Bible, you'll see that no one ever did,

and no one who ever met the real Jesus had a casual reaction. They either loved him and threw down their lives and did anything for him and followed him, or else they hated him and tried to kill him, or they were scared of death and they wanted to run away from him, and if you are not afraid of him or hate him or love him from your heart, you have never met the real one anyway. You've never really seen what he claims.

you've never really seen what he does. He's a surprise, because he's a gift. He's the inexpressible gift. Has he surprised you? Secondly, and I'll be a little more brief on this, but I think it's fair to say, not all gifts are like this. But I think we need at least touch on it.

Secondly, in certain context, gifts can be insulting. We said gifts are always surprising. Sometimes gifts are insulting. Well, it depends on the gift. you know. I'll tell you, let me give you a great example of where it might happen. You're going to get your paycheck, and your employer has your paycheck, let's say. It says, yes, here it is. Here's what we usually, you know, we always pay you every month or every two weeks. But I want you to know

that this particular pay period, this is a gift. Here, Merry Christmas. And you know, that would be an insult. It would be an absolute insult. Because here you're you, you're you thought you were working, and if your employer says, Merry Christmas, this is a gift, what is she saying? What is he saying? I'll tell you what they're saying. Your employer is trying to say, you didn't deserve this. Therefore, it's a gift. Now, gifts can be insulting. Let me say, and let me suggest to you, that the gift of Jesus Christ is not only a surprise, but it's always an insult. Always. Because you see, most people feel like they're trying their very best. If you're a

type, there's plenty of different folks that say, you know, if I ask them, do you believe in heaven? Yes. They say, well, why, do you think you're going to get there? You say, well, I'm trying. Well, how are you trying? Well, I'm trying to be good. I'm trying to live a good life. I'm trying to get there. I think I'm doing as well as many, many people, in fact, maybe doing better than most. Even if you're not religious, you have the same basic attitude. You say, I know that there's some kind of spiritual reality, and I'm doing my best to honor it. I'm doing my best to reach it. I'm trying to be a loving person. I'm trying to be a good and kind and decent person. I'm trying my very best. The heart of the gospel is that that you are mistaken, that you are

self-deceived, that the only way anyone can reach God, the only way anyone can ever reach eternal life, the only way anyone can ever connect with God is if it's a complete and sheer and utter gift. You may know the story of the prodigal son, but it's not just about a wayward younger brother. In fact, Jesus tells this story to speak both to those who run from God and to those who try to earn his love by being good. In his book, The Prodigal God, Tim Keller shows how this well-known story reveals the heart of the gospel, a message of hope for both the rebellious younger brother and the

judgmental older brother and an invitation for all to experience God's prodigal, extravagant grace. Whether you're a Christian or you're still exploring faith, the prodigal God will help you see your relationship with Christ in a whole new way. The prodigal God is our thank you for your gift this month to help Gospel in Life share the hope and joy of Christ's gracious and relentless love with people all over the world. 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. No one earns it, no one deserves it. I tell you, I don't know why, because I'm not much of a confronter, really. But I used to spend a lot of time in my first church back in Virginia.

We had a lot of elderly people in the town, like a lot of small towns, a lot of elderly people in our church. And I went to see a lot of people on their deathbeds. And what amazed me, how often they would say they would be willing to say they were scared and I would say what are you anxious about and so often so often those folks would say I don't know I don't know I've tried my best I've tried my best to be a good mother I've tried my best best to be a good father I've tried my best you know what they're saying is I don't know if I'm ready to die I'm anxious about it I think I've tried my best I think I've tried my best to be good and I don't like to confront people but I to say back then, I said, well, no wonder you're anxious. No one's ever done their best. And neither

of you. And that usually opened up into this whole theme. The Christian message, the heart of the Christian message is salvation, whatever you want to call it, eternal life, whatever you want to call it, spiritual reality, connection with God, connection with the divine, must be a gift from God to you. It cannot be an attainment from you toward him. Impossible. That's the essence. And that is where Christianity diverges from every other religion. Every other religion. It says, you've never done your best. No wonder you're anxious and you'll always be anxious until you see the giftness of Jesus Christ. He's a gift. We talked about it this morning, you know, under a different heading, but it's good to mention it again. People, so many people, are irritated with the only wayness of Christianity.

they're irritated by the fact that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. And so people feel like, oh, that sounds too exclusive. And so people usually respond by saying something like this. Well, they said, yeah, that's how you Christians believe I know. But I believe that anyone who is good and anyone who is moral and anyone who is diligent and anyone who is loving can reach God. That sounds very, open-minded, but not at all. It's very exclusive anyway. It's tremendously exclusive. What about those of us who are not good? What about those of us who are not able? What about those of us who are not disciplined? What about those of us who are not wonderful and loving? And that's an awful

lot of us. What about those of us who are a mess? You know, it sounds so wonderful to say, yes, you Christians say, all you have to do is you have to receive Christ and then you connect with God. I believe that all good people can connect with God. Fine. What about those of us who are not? Doggone it, that's exclusive to say that. What about us failures? You successes, you know, you people who know how to pull yourselves together emotionally, you people who have got wonderful records of being kind and good fathers and good mothers and good citizens. Fine. What about the rest of us? You've cut us off because you don't believe that God and eternal life is a gift. Every religion and every philosophy says

here's how to reach God, go do it. And Christianity stands completely apart and says, no, it must be a gift. So you have these verses like this, just to give you some examples. You have 1st Corinthians 130. But of Him, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption? Boy, all those big words. You know what he's saying? That's Paul talking. It says, but of him, are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made of God unto us to be wisdom and righteousness? Are you wise? See, what it means to be a Christian? Are you redeemed?

Are you righteous? What does it mean to be a Christian? It means when you unite to Christ, you're righteous in Him. He is your righteousness. He is your performance. He is your record. Thank God. We've finally got a religion that's not so exclusive that it's only for the good people.

Thank God we've got a religion that's based on gift. And because it's based on gift, it's for anybody and anyone. Do you see? Jesus is a gift, but don't you understand? You've got to let yourself be insulted properly or you can't receive the gift. What if your employer was standing there and saying, yes, here's your money, but let me just tell you, considering the way you've been working the last month, this is nothing but a gift. Merry Christmas.

What could you do? I know what a lot of you would do. He would say, if that's how you feel about it, I don't want your bleeding charity. And that is how people walk away from Christianity all the time. That's how people walk away from Christ all the time. You can't receive Jesus Christ unless you're willing to admit that you need him. You can't receive it unless you're willing to admit that you're not going to be able to reach it,

that you're not going to be able to be loving enough, that morality and goodness is not enough that you're never going to be able to find God on your own. Don't you see? You've got to let yourself be insulted before you can receive it. It has to be done. It's got to be done. You know, if you say, that's too easy. That's just too easy. You're telling me, years ago, years ago again, I remember in virtually a shack, a very, very, very poor, small, run-down shack in one of the worst parts of the little town where I was a pastor, and I sat down with a woman and tried to, I was a brand new minister to, and I tried to explain to her the gifeness of the gospel. And she listened to me, and she said, let me get this

straight. She says, if I lead a very good life, try my best, all my life, to be good and to be nice, and to do my best. And I tried to explain to her. I said, give me a break. Nobody does Well, she said, let me give you. If I do my best, and I never feel that I really need Jesus Christ as my Savior, I'll be cut off. But you're trying to tell me that some serial killer, you know, before he goes into the gas chamber, if from his heart, really from his heart, he admits that there's no way he can reach God, and he reaches out and takes hold by faith of Jesus Christ, he will receive, you know, he will be ushered in, he will come into the family, he'll connect with God. I said, that's right. She says, that's the most ridiculous, religion I've ever heard. She says, what do you think I am? Uh-huh. See? Walking away from your employer, God is there saying, you see your salary, this is a gift. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. If you refuse to take the check because your employer, in this case, God says, this is a gift. If you say, keep your bleeding charity, You'll be cut off forever.

Yeah. Why? Because you see, what if your employer's right? What makes you think that in your pride, she's wrong? In fact, what if you find that that's just the way you are and that every employer is going to feel the same way about you? Eventually, don't you see, what if she's right? What if God is right?

What if even the best of us are not trying our best? What if the best of us are selfish? What if the best of us, even when we do good deeds or doing them for ourselves? What if all of us really are trying to live our own lives, trying to be our own bosses, trying to be masters of our own fates and captain of our own soul? And therefore all deserve to be cut off unless we receive the free gift. Jesus Christ died on the cross.

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life in our place so that the just requirements of God, the righteousness is fulfilled and therefore we can receive it as a gift if somebody says you know this is all very very very very doctrinal i don't believe any of this stuff i don't need but you do you do you yourself are trying to earn your way into something you've all got your own righteousness everyone in this room some of us get our righteousness we get our sense of self-worth our self-image out of our accomplishments career some out of relationships some about out of our control over our bodies, some over how we look. There's all kinds of ways, but nobody can live

without finding something that is your righteousness. And yet, Paul says, before God, your righteousness is a filthy rag. Only in Christ, are you made unto God righteousness and wisdom and sanctification and redemption. Do you understand that Jesus is a gift? He's an insulting gift. Now lastly, we said, Jesus is a gift. That means he's a surprise. Has he surprised you? Jesus is a gift, and that means actually he's insulting, because you've got to see that what he offers is a gift. It's not something you can earn. But thirdly, lastly, Jesus Christ is immensely valuable.

All gifts, really great gifts. You look at them, you know, the best gifts are the gifts that you look at and you say, I never, ever would have bought this for myself. In fact, the best gifts are the ones in which you realize, I never, ever could have bought this for myself. I couldn't have afforded this. This is wonderful, you say. Those are the best gifts.

They're surprising, but they're also tremendously valuable. And you look at them and the joy just wells up. The more you're able to appreciate, the more you're able to see the value of it. What have you got in Jesus? You've got God with us. You have Emmanuel as you were singing. You know, I wonder, think of it this way. The first person to ever ask for God to be with him, to really be with him,

was Moses. The first person to ask for Emmanuel, which is the Hebrew word that means God with us. Jesus Christ is God come to be with us. Come near. Now, the first person to ever ask for that was Moses. Moses. And he said, I don't want to lead the people into the promised land unless you come with us, unless you be with us. Now, what did God do? I want your presence, said Moses. Now, you know, modern people have no idea how valuable the presence of God is, because we've trivialized it. So you can't understand what a valuable gift it is. Because Moses said, I want your presence, I want your face, I want to be with you. Now, what did God say to Moses? Did he say, of course, sure. Why? I'm always close to anyone. You know, was God a sort of warm, fuzzy? Did God, like E.T.,

did he come around Moses and hug him and then say, you know, put his finger on his forehead and I'll be right here. I'll always be with you. You know, no. What did God say to Moses? He says, I can't come with you. It'll kill you. I can't be with you. It will kill you. See, Moses understood the value of what we got at Christmas. Moses asked for the presence of God. Now, modern people can't understand why God would say such a thing. They can't understand it because they have no concept of the magic. of God. No concept of all. People who have really gotten close to God have begun to move in.

They begin to realize how traumatic the presence of God is. His hugeness makes us feel little. His purity makes us feel dirty. His permanence makes us feel temporary. His depth makes us feel shallow. And the closer we get to him, the more we see what a towering tower of purity and power he is, the more traumatized we are. You know, some weeks ago, we talked about this, when human beings even get near moral, human moral excellence, relative, imperfect, human moral excellence were threatened. You know, I told you about a couple weeks ago, a Christian cop who stopped taking bribes. About a Christian businessman, it started to actually report his income on his taxes,

about a Christian woman who was in a government agency, and she started to really work very, very hard in her department, and around her and around the businessman and around the cop, people got unbelievably threatened. Do you know how bad you're going to make us look? When we even get close to human moral excellence, imperfect human moral excellence were traumatized, what do you think it's like to actually dwell in the presence of the perfectly thrice holy God? Holy, holy, holy. see moses understood what he was asking for and moses understood why god says it would kill you you can't

do you understand this and now let's shift forward to christmas and suddenly you know what was what's given to us at christmas a baby you know up until if you go through the bible up until christmas the first christmas what you have whenever god appears visibly they're called theophonies Whenever God appears visibly, it's an incredibly intimidating form. He appears as a smoking furnace to Abraham. He appears as a burning tree, a blazing tree to Moses. He appears as a tornado to Job. He appears as a pillar of fire to the children of Israel.

He appears as Shikina brightness, glory coming down to the temple so nobody could even stand up. Intimidating, you see. But suddenly he appears as an intimidating. infant. An infant. You know, there is nothing more accessible than an infant. One of the great things about having an infant of your own is they're totally open to you, absolutely open. You can always hug, you can always kiss. As soon as they get to be two, three, four, barriers start to go up. They become their own persons, you know, and that's all very right. But for the purposes of the illustration, an infant is absolutely the most accessible thing possible. So accessible, so

intimate, so completely open to you. God, this is what Christmas is about. The gift. God, this God, the holy God, this God, with all of his boundless glory, beauty beyond bearing, with unassailable majesty, this God has become an infant. How is that possible? He became vulnerable so he could die on the cross so the barriers between us could come down so that we could actually have access to God. We could have him come into our life. We could come into his presence. You can have God with us. You sang Emmanuel tonight. You talk about God with us. You sing about it, you know, in the Christmas carols. Do you know the value of this gift? If Moses was here, and he heard us singing about Emmanuel, and then if he heard or if he read in

2 Corinthians 3 where Paul says, we are not like Moses. We are not like Moses. Before Moses had to put a veil over his face, but in Christ the veil is taken away. For God made his light to shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And Moses would be jumping up and saying, do you people understand the light of the knowledge of the glory of God? God with us, the presence of God. Do you understand the value of the gift? Are you filling your mind with the value of the gift? If you're bored tonight and you're a Christian, if you're having trouble with self-control tonight and you're a Christian, if you're discouraged tonight and you're a Christian, you have

lost the sense of the value of the glorious thing that lives inside of you. Because Jesus Christ broke the barrier, when you receive Christ, you receive Christ, he comes in, his nature, his power, his life comes in, his very presence comes in, and slurs to slowly transform you. Have you lost sight of that? Jesus Christ is the most valuable gift of all, something you never could have afforded yourself. Do you know Jesus as the gift? Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, that you are a God who enables us and allows us to come into your presence as a gift. we pray that you would help us see that we can trust you.

For if you did not spare your own son, how should we fail to trust you for everything else? You're going to give us anything we need. So we pray, Lord, that you will help us to see that in Jesus Christ we have all the gifts we need. And I pray that the words that we looked at tonight and the teaching and the truths that we looked at tonight would be applied by your spirit to every person here individually.

that no one would leave without having a deeper understanding and a desire to drink deep, to look even more deeply into the wonders of this inexpressible gift, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helped you apply the gospel to your life and share it with others. For more helpful resources from Tim Keller, visit gospel and life.com. There, you can subscribe to the Gospel and Life quarterly journal.

When you do, you will also receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other great gospel-centered resources. Again, it's all at gospel and life.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 1993. 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.