Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Jesus, Our King

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

No place gives us a loftier and more penetrating view of who Jesus is than Colossians 1, which tells us that Jesus is a king.  This passage tells us Jesus is the king of all kings. One paragraph tells us about the kingship of Christ that is. The other paragraph tells us about the kingship of Christ that can be. He is king of the cosmos, but he needs to be, and he can be, king of your personal life.  Let’s take a look at both these aspects: 1) that Christ is cosmic king, and 2) that Christ must be your personal king. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 10, 1995. Series: Matthew 9. Scripture: Colossians 1:9-17. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel and Life. Does it seem like God is working very slowly in your life? Or do you feel like He may have forgotten His promises altogether? Today Tim Keller is preaching on the incredible hope that the Christmas story brings. The birth of Jesus shows us that God never forgets His promises, and that when they come true, they are greater than we ever could have imagined. I did you enjoy that? When the church was younger there was a lot more chaos, you know, and some of you have been around, I know, getting nostalgic for it and we thought we would plan

some for you this morning and reminds me of old days. Would you please, however, look at Reminds me of old days. Would you please, however, look at a passage that talks about the whole issue of chaos and the cosmos and its Colossians chapter 1 verse 9 to 17 on which our teaching is based today Teaching is is found in the first chapter of Colossians and let me read it to you for this reason Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit and every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being

strengthen with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. This is God's Word.

Now, it's Advent and it's Advent for centuries. The church has always taken a few weeks before Christmas to look right at who Jesus is, straight at Jesus. And we've been looking, or we are looking for the first, for these four weeks before Christmas at Colossians chapter one, which is probably the loftiest, if not, at least no places, gives us a loftier, more penetrating view of who Jesus is. Now, Paul tells us here that Jesus is a king. Notice in verse 13 and 12, it says that a Christian is someone who's been transferred into the kingdom of his son.

In verse 16, we're told that he was the creator of all thrones and authorities, which means he's the king of all kings. He's the Lord of all thrones and authorities, which means he's the king of all kings. He's the Lord of all lords. But what's interesting about this passage is, and I'm glad it's broken into two paragraphs. One paragraph tells us about the kingship of Christ that is. The other tells us about the kingship of Christ that can be. The one is the cosmic kingship of Christ. The other is the personal kingship of Christ. The other is the personal kingship of Christ.

He is King of the cosmos, but he needs to be, he can be, King of your personal life. There's the kingship of the cosmos that's mentioned, and what Paul really does is he says, because Christ is King of the cosmos, therefore, he should be, your personal king as well.

Now let's take a look at both these aspects for a moment. First of all, let's see what he says about the fact that Christ is Cosmic King. And it's a very deep subject, but we will only take a look at it briefly. And then we will turn around and see what Paul says, says, therefore since Christ is the Cosmic King, therefore he must be your personal

king and see what that means and see how that works out. First of all, look at what he says about Jesus being the cosmic king. We must live in his kingdom cosmically. And we're told here in verse 16 and 17, first of all, we're told he is before all things. This is profound. Eastern religion see God as really emanating from the world. God is the world, the spirit of the world, in and around the world. The biblical religion sees Jesus Christ,

sees God as having existed before the world, existing apart from the world, being transcendent over the world. And secondly, he is before all things. and secondly, for by him all things were created verse 16, and therefore in him all things hold together, in him all things hold together. Now what's that? This means Christians have seen for centuries that the universe has both a physical and a moral structure. There's a physical and a moral order. Things are holding together.

Why? Because of him. Now, this is tremendously profound. And the philosophical and cultural and sociological ramifications are so great. And let me just pick out two tiny examples of how this is the case. In him, all things hold together. All physical and moral order instruction structure are in the universe because of him. For example, number one, this is what explains why there's a physical order here. Recently, and I don't don't ask me how this happened,

but for some reason I ended up reading what David Hume and Bertrand Russell, David Hume, was a famous philosopher who was an agnostic, Bertrand Russell, the famous philosopher of the 20th century, David Hume in the 18th century. He was an atheist, and both of them did not believe in a creator god, but the thing that puzzled them, and they

admitted it puzzled them, was the orderliness of the universe, the uniformity of nature, the fact that in the universe things hold together. Now, when I say that, and without knowing much more about what that means, it's very natural for people to say, orderliness and nature. My goodness, nature seems very random, it seems capricious. Many people say there's disasters, there's avalanches, our family got to finally drive through Yellowstone Park this last summer, and we looked at all

the ravages of the forest fires, and nature doesn't seem at all early, it seems very capricious. And what human Russell would say to you is if you were saying that they say, you don't understand, we're talking about something more fundamental. In fact, the zasters prove it. There's an orderliness in nature. There's a uniformity of nature in that. If you freeze at a particular temperature, you always freeze at a particular temperature. If you burn up at a particular temperature,

if there is a forest fire, we know that one day, 200 degrees Fahrenheit means it's hot. up at a particular time, you know, if there is a forest fire, we know that one day, 200 degrees Fahrenheit means it's hot. The next day, it's not cold, it's still hot. If you shoot somebody with a bullet one day, and all other factors are equal, if it kills them one day, it will kill them the next day. Science is based on the idea of uniformity of nature. If I weigh a rock today, it's two pounds. I know it won't be 200 pounds tomorrow. uniformity of nature means that the future, we know, will be like the past. That's the only reason we can get up out of

bed in the morning. The reason you can fly an airplane is aerodynamics are going to be same to Mars today. You see, hydrodynamics are going to be the same to Mars today. That's the uniformity of nature. And here's the reason why Hume and Russell consider to the real problem. Here's what they said. They said, if the universe is the result of an accidental collision of molecules, why would there be order? And David Hume was interesting. David Hume said, there's no way that the orderliness of the universe proves God. He didn't believe it proved God, but he says, I'll tell you one thing.

The orderliness of the universe is so inexplicable, you certainly can't disprove God. Nobody can be sure there is no God when you've got this. Now, without getting in into more detail, here's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, David Hume is confused because he's got a theory of the universe that doesn't fit with the facts, but he's not going to chuck his theory so he stays confused. In other words, he sees things hold together, but in who? In what?

He doesn't see any reason for it. Russell and Hume said it's a real problem for atheism that the universe is so orderly, and that what Paul is saying is, Christians have said, the Christians don't have a problem with that. Things are holding together because of him. Not only that, let me give you another example. There's a moral order to the world because of him. Modern secular people say that there is no creator God, and therefore there is only the visible,

not the invisible. Verse 16 says, because there's no creator God and therefore there is only the visible, not the invisible. Verse 16 says, because there's a creator God, Jesus Christ, created both the visible and the invisible. Now, modern secular people say, no, that's not true. There is no supernatural. Modern secular people say, there's no supernatural, there's no, there's no eternity. There's only the visible, not the invisible. There's only the physical, not the spiritual. There's only the body, there's no soul. Now, if you want to believe that, you have a real problem with Christmas. I gave you an example in the, in your bullet under the reflection.

You give you an example of somebody who decided he still wanted to have Christmas and still believe that. Believe that there is only visible, not invisible. There's only the spiritual, not the, there's only the physical, not the soul. See, if you believe that everything has a natural cause, this is what you get with Christmas. This is Garrison Keeler. He says, what is Christmas? Excite me. Why is Christmas so wonderfully? He says, it's conditioning. Although you may decide that instead of Christmas carols, you will hold hands with each other and breathe in unison. He says, in other words, no matter even if you decide, I don't believe in God or I don't

believe in the Christmas story. He says, well, Christmas still lives deep in the cockles of your heart, but especially in your neocorked text, because it's stored as millions of neuron impulses. And it's also in your ammo, I wish I knew what that was. Am I gone? Yeah, the spell checker didn't know what it was either Am I gala the section of your brain that gives emotional meaning to memories It's the amygdala that sends tears to your eyes when you smell the saffon cookies that your grandma used to make Or sing silent night. Christmas, therefore, is light's food song with people you like to be with.

You need no more. What Kieler is trying to say is, look, it's conditioning. Because of years of this experience, now when you get into the presence of light, song, food, people you like, certain kinds of songs, your neocortex, you know, sends out Chemicals which make you feel good now. What is he saying? If there's no creator God and if all you have is divisible Then love and joy are nothing but chemical reactions I'll tell you here's the reason why that's actually almost a hypocritical thing. My wife and I love Garrison Kieler.

We've followed him for years. We've always enjoyed his stuff. And we therefore know enough about him to know that he rails against cruelty and prejudice. But here's the problem. If love and joy, if there's only the visible and love and joy is just a chemical reaction, then so is cruelty and prejudice of chemical reaction. And you are feeling that love and joy is better than cruelty and prejudice is also chemical reaction. And nothing but a chemical reaction.

Not just that here's love and here's hatred in there both chemical reactions, but you're feeling that one is better than the other is a chemical reaction. And therefore you have no cause to complain. But we do sense that there is a moral order. We do sense that there is a moral order. We do sense that there is a dominion of darkness and a dominion of light. We say there are some things that

are definitely wrong and some things that are definitely right. That can't be if there's only the visible. It can only be if there's something besides the physical, besides the natural. And so here's what Paul is saying about Mr. Kieler, just like he would say about Mr. Hume. He says, you know, Garrison Kieler sees the Marl order. He knows that some things are right and wrong. In other words, he sees things hold together, but he doesn't know in home. It's a little scarier to say about a man who's alive. I know then David Hume, but and I don't know enough of back eras and Kieler to be sure about this. but I guess to say people who say these things, people like this, they don't, they see the moral order, but they don't know where it came from. And Christian, there's no problem, because it's in him that

everything holds together. It's in him that why we have science. We have no science that there wasn't for him. We have no ability to make moral distinctions at all if it wasn't for him. He is the cosmic king. And the order that you see is because of him. That's why Christians don't have this tension. They don't live in the same kind of, with the same incredible tension. They know the reason they feel good at Christmas is not because of your neocortex, but the same reason Mary felt good at Christmas. My soul does magnify my spirit, hath rejoiced. Why? For he that is mighty, hath done to me great things. Holy is his name. Now, Paul, however, does not leave it that way. You have to remember that, though, there's great theology in all these books of the New Testament,

great theology in Romans and 1 Corinthians the New Testament, great theology in Romans and 1 Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and all that, their letters. Paul never brings theology out except to use it as a pastor. And what's so intriguing is that there's even a hint in this very term we're looking at that this is more than a cosmic theological abstraction.

He says, in him, all things hold together. And the word he uses here is extremely unusual. It's an unusual word to use in this particular way, because the word hold together is a word that was very, very popular amongst the stoics. You know who the stoics were? That was a party of people that believed the most important thing was to be strong.

And under pressure, don't fall apart. Don't fall apart. Hold together, keep a step up or live. And Paul uses that as a way of talking about the universe. And I think what he's doing is clearly what he's actually trying to show you in the paragraph verse 9 to 13, and that is this. Just as Jesus Christ, because He exists, because He's the Lord, in Him and under His kingship, things hold together.

He says in the same way, look at your life. Is your life a cosmos or a chaos? You see, the universe is a cosmos, not a chaos, because of him, because it's under his lordship, because he's before all things and he's holding everything together because he's the king of kings and lord of lord. Look at yourself, your own life. Is your life a cosmos or a chaotic? Is Because he's before all things, and he's holding everything together, because he's the king of kings and Lord of lords. Look at yourself, your own life. Is your life a cause most or as a chaotic? Is it falling apart?

Here's what Paul is saying, to the degree that you have your life under the kingship of Christ, to that degree, your life will hold together. And to the degree that you are not under his lordship and not under his mastery and not under His obedience to that degree your life will fall apart. As you probably know, the end of the year is an important time for ministries like ours, and it's your generosity that allows us to continue to grow and share the gospel with more people. When I've spoken to others about the potential for gospel in life to reach more people, they're encouraged that the good news of the gospel is going forward. Please join me in praying that God would move through the resources of gospel in life to transform the hearts and minds of more people all over the world in the coming year.

Your support is vital to our ministry, and I ask you to prayerfully consider whether God is calling you to make a year-end gift to gospel in life. To make a gift, go to gospelandlife.com slash give. Again, that's gospelandlife.com slash give. Thank you for your generous support because the gospel truly changes everything everywhere. Now, somebody says, wait a minute. I don't like this. Are you trying to tell me, look, one of my best friends is dying of cancer?

And I just lost my job. My life is falling apart. Here's what makes your life fall apart, not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Cancer is coming to your life. You lost your job. Will you fall apart or won't you fall apart? It's what you do, Paul says,

is completely dependent on how much under the kingship of Christ you are. How are you going to react? You're going to fall apart? You're going to come in him, all things hold together. In him, you hold together. And if you're not holding together, you need to get into him. That's what he's saying.

That's the reason why he uses such an unusual word, a word that really means hold yourself together for the cosmos because Jesus says, because he's Paul is saying, just as Jesus holds the cosmos together with his Lordship, he'll hold you together with his Lordship. Well, how can that be? And see, what's interesting is all of verse 9 to turn to weight. I'm over here on Garrison Kieler, let me get back to Paul. All of verse 9 to 13 is a prayer for the Colossians, but if you look carefully, you will see it is a handbook. It is a blueprint for how to bring yourself

more into the kingship of Christ. Look, he says, this is what I'm praying for you. I am praying that God would fill you with all the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of a Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, that you may have great

endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father. What did He say? He is saying, there's a process. Being a Christian is a process of understanding what the will of the King is, with greater and greater understanding. In order to get under His Lordship, you have a process all of your life. You'll learn more and more what He wants. What does the Bible teach?

How does it apply to this part of my life? What he wants? That is subject to degrees. It takes time to learn those things. And then he says, as you do that, as you walk more and more pleasing to the one who is showing you more and more his will, you will grow.

And there will be endurance and there will be patience and there will be power. What is he saying? He is saying your life comes together the more you are under the kingship of Christ. While somebody says, all right, how does that happen? How do I do that? And the answer is twofold. This paragraph tells us first of all how you enter that kingship and then secondly how you grow in it, how you enter under the kingship and how you grow in it. And it is critical to see how you enter the kingship before you can even possibly grow into it. And the way you enter is right here, giving thanks to the father, verse 12, who has qualified

you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he's rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now there's a word right in the middle here that actually has been laying on my heart for the last three days, in all my years of studying Colossians I never knew what it meant. I've never seen it before. It's blunt, it's brilliant, it's radical, and it's utterly counterintuitive. It's this word qualified. It says, he has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints

of the kingdom of light. Let me tell you what this word means. Qualified. Go back, if you go back into the gospels, there's a place where John the Baptist makes a statement. Make a reminder who John the Baptist is. John the Baptist, Jesus says, was the greatest human being ever born in the history of the race up to the time, that of that, up to that point in history.

Do you know that? You know the place where Jesus says, what did you go out to see when you saw John the Baptist a prophet, yay, I'm saying greater than a prophet? There has never been anyone born of a woman greater than he. That's quite a statement. Jesus is saying up to now, there has never been anybody of greater character

and nobility and compassion and wisdom in the whole history of human race up to now than John the Baptist. It amazes me the place in the book of Mark where we're told that Herod, even though John the Baptist continually told Herod he was an adulterer, that he had married his brother's wife, that he was wrong, it says, Herod was confused when he heard this, but he loved to listen. Here's a preacher that Herod was, here's a preacher telling Herod that he's a sinner, that he's an adulterer, and yet Herod couldn't stop listening to him.

There's a man of attractive character. There is a man of great wisdom. There's a man of unbelievable force of character and greatness. The greatest man who ever lived up to that time. And what does he say about Jesus? He says, one is coming and I am not worthy to untie his shoe latch it. Now, your reason he even said that was because in those days it was considered so disgusting and so demeaning to have to untie somebody shoes and wash their feet and change shoes. It was considered so mean-yles, so demeaning and so disgusting that the rabbis wrote that if you had a

Hebrew slave you must not insist on the Hebrew slave doing that. You must not make them an entire shoe latch it. That is too demeaning even for a slave. And when John the Baptist said this, he was saying the greatest man who ever lived up to that time, he says, I the greatest man who ever lived after that time, he says, I want you to know how I relate to the one who's about to come. I am not only not worthy, I'm not only, I'm just a slave, I'm not worthy to be a slave,

I am less than less than a slave before him. I am not worthy to look at him, I'm not worthy to be in his presence, I'm not worthy to relate to him at all. This is Paul saying, the Lord God has made you worthy. He'd worthyed you. He's made you worthy of the kingdom of light. He has given you a worthiness that John the Baptist knew he didn't have in himself.

I have heard over the years, I've read in the New York Times some established churchmen who said, nobody can ever be sure. Nobody can ever be sure whether you're going to have it. Nobody can ever be sure that you're worthy enough. And here's Paul coming and saying, if you're a Christian, you've been made worthy, you've been qualified. See what I mean by saying it's counterintuitive? If you look, it doesn't say you obey to get qualified, it says you get qualified and then you come in under the kingdom. It's counterintuitive. God is not standing at the top of a stairway,

looking down at us and saying, you can do it, come on up and you'll be qualified. God has come down the stairway and in some way he's qualified as well. Somebody says, how in the world could that be? And in some way he's qualified as well. Somebody says how in the world could that be? And the answer is in him look he has rescued us from the Dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the sun He loves in whom we have redemption listen The word redemption is often translated in ransom because that's the word Apollutron A ransom. Do you know what a ransom is?

It's an exchange for a prisoner. It's giving something in exchange to get someone out of prison, to get someone out of bondage, to get someone out of slavery, to get somebody out. And we're told that that redemption is in him, the Son whom he loves. And what that means is we're not worthy. That's what John the Baptist said. If John the Baptist is not worthy, you're not worthy. But Jesus Christ came in exchange place. Jesus Christ took our unworthiness upon himself. Now look, does that mean he literally became rebellious and disobedient? No, he stood in the place of the unworthy one and he got what the unworthiness is due. He got what is due unworthiness. When Jesus took on, so he exchanged, when Jesus took on our unworthiness, it didn't mean he became a disobedient person.

It means he stood in the place of a disobedient person, and he got that which was due to an unworthy person. And when you become a Christian, it's been exchanged. That's what redemption means. He now has become your worthyness. It means not that you've become good. In fact, if you look up further, remember, see what it says in verse 10 9, 10, 11, 12, Paul is hoping that we would be worthy. See, in our cells we're not worthy. In our cells we're trying to live a more worthy life, but in him,

we're qualified, we're worthy. It's right here. It's all through the Bible, but right here, in him, It's right here. It's all through the Bible, but right here. In Him, you're qualified. Outside of Him, you're still working to be more and more worthy of what He's done for you. And what did He have to do in order to become your worthiness? Fairly simple. And yet very profound.

Verse 17 says, in Him all things hold together. You know what that means? It means when you get away from the kingship of Christ, you fall apart. When you get closer to the kingship of Christ, you come together. I've been told that little fish and the little little critters that that are at the very bottom of the deepest parts of the sea, they live down there, five miles down, under enormous pressure. If you try to get one of those little critters and you try to bring those creatures up out of the water, or even up to the top, where the water pressure is less,

or whether the atmosphere, the atmospheric pressure is less, you know what happens to them? They blow apart. Because they're not fit. You bring them away from the place where they really were designed to be and they blow apart. When you take someone away from the kingship of Christ, you blow up. You fall apart spiritually. You fall apart socially. You fall apart physically, you see that in Adam and Eve. In Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve got life, the gift of life, and it was incredible, but the owners may not only have one role in it, don't eat that tree.

When at Christmas, you're going to get a whole lot of different contraptions, and they're all going to have owners' manuals with them, and the owners' manuals are going to have 68 things and say, if you don't do these things, your contraption will blow up. Well God gave Adam an Eve life and it came with an owner's manal, there was only one rule in it, don't eat that tree, but it really wasn't about who determines your diet, it was about who determines. The only rule of life God says is either you can be the thing that determines, you can determine what's right and wrong, you can determine your meaning in life or you can be the thing that determines, you can determine what's right and wrong,

you can determine your meaning in life or you can let me determine it. If I can determine it, you will come together because I and my Lordship is the environment for you. And if you decide to be your own doing your own self-determination, you will blow up. Jesus Christ on the cross blew apart. You can see it physically, he was broken, he was bleeding, but you can see it spiritually when he says, my God, my God, why is not forsaken me? The thing that amazes me every time I read Genesis 15,

is there is a place where God says to Abraham, cut some pieces of animal. And back in those days, the way you made a note was you walk between pieces of an animal and you said, if I don't obey the promise I'm making today, may I be blown to pieces? May I be as this animal? And God came to Abraham and Abraham said,

how do I know you're going to bless me and bless my seed in the future? And God says, cut the animals up. And God walked between the pieces. And what was he saying? He was saying, if I don't bless you, may I be blown to pieces? And in Jesus Christ, he did to bless Abraham to bless us. He had to come apart and on the cross away from God, in him all things have come together apart from God, everything falls apart and Jesus did. And as a result of that, he became your worthiness. You are qualified. Now, if you're qualified, therefore, if you take a look in the little passage that Paul says he's praying for them, he's praying that they might lead a life worthy, he's praying that they might grow in knowledge, that they might come more and more into the kingship. Do you see the word obedience in there?

Do you see it? It's not there. What do you see the word obedience in there? Do you see it? It's not there. What do you see? That you might please him in every way. Now here's the point. If a person says, would you please bring me breakfast and bed? There's two ways you can do it.

If you're indifferent to that person, then his or her pleasure is the expense of your pleasure. You know, you're off doing something and you're doing your thing. And this person says, you get me breakfast and bed, that would make me happy. Well, if you're doing something else and that person wants something, if that person is someone you're indifferent to or someone that you're just obligated to, then his or her happiness is at the expense of yours. That's compliance.

That's knuckle-ing under. But what if you love that person? What if you admire that person? What if your heart is totally bound up with that person? What if there is so much admiration and desire for that person that his or her pleasure is yours? When that person is unhappy, you're unhappy. When that person is happy, you're happy. In which case, if you're doing something and the person says it would make me happy,

they get me breakfast and bed, you drop it. Why? Because that person's happiness is your happiness. And you know what that means? That's the pleasure of giving pleasure. If you know that you're qualified for the kingdom of God, if you know that Jesus Christ came apart so you could come together, if you know that he completely blew apart so that you could come together, then your heart will go out to him and obedience will become pleasing

Him. And doing for Him and sacrificing for Him is no sacrifice at all really. If you are indifferent to somebody, then their happiness is at the expense of your happiness, and if you're in love with somebody, their happiness is your happiness. And Paul says, if you know how you enter, if you knew what he did for you, if you think of religion is simply trying real hard to be a good person, and I have to obey God otherwise he'll reject me, then his happiness is the expense of your happiness, and it'll be a drudgery. But if you understand that he's qualified you, he made you worthy. You come together because he blew apart. If you know that, then here's what happens. Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, since we have seen his beauty, are

joined apart no more. That's the gospel. That's Christianity. Your life will come together as you will bay him, as you come more under this lurchship which he built you for, but that will only happen if you see that he's qualified you and compliance and obedience has really become pleasing him. On Christmas, the angels did not sing. Here's a course of action by which you can reach the Nirvana. That's not good news. Nobody sings in praise of that. They didn't come and say,

now unto you is given this day a course of behavior. Instead it says unto you is born this day a savior for unto us a child is born. Undo us, a son is given, and the govern will be upon its shoulders. And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, King, Prince of peace. The peace comes because he's a king. Let's pray. Father, if I life is a cosmos, it's because of your kingship. If our life is a chaos, it's because we have to come in under it more. Would you show us how to come in under the kingship of Christ?

By seeing what he did, how he blew apart so we might come together, so that our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, now become the same. That's what we want. That's Christianity. And for so many of us, we don't even know what we're talking about when we talk about obedience because we don't know the pleasure of giving pleasure. I pray that you would help us all to know that. I pray that the people here who think of Christianity as a course of action first might see that first of all it's being qualified by the one who took our unorganized upon himself and for those of us who are here whose lives are experiencing disorder

Help us to see that we need to Recharge our sense of love for what he's done for us and then Find ways to more and more please him, and see our lives come together under his lordship. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you have a deeper understanding of God's word. You can find more resources from Tim Keller at gospelonlife.com.

Just subscribe to the Gospel On Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotional and other resources. Again, it's all at gospelonlife.com. This month's sermons were recorded from 1994 to 1997. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. you