Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Life of the Spirit

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

We’re looking at what it means to experience God. The reason we say Christianity is an extremely experiential religion is because the Bible says when we become Christians, we’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit resides in you—as a permanent resident.  As we look at Romans 8, we’re taught 1) who the Holy Spirit is, and 2) what it means that he resides in you. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 16, 1997. Series: Lessons in Drawing Near. Scripture: Romans 8:1-11. 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. Who is God to you? Is he a boss, a concept, a cypher? Is it possible to really know and experience him? Today on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller continues to explore how Christians can practically experience God in their lives. A passage that we're going to be looking at tonight is Romans 8 and we'll be using this to repair ourselves to come to the Lord's table.

Romans 8, 1 to 11. There's nothing better. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering, and so he condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their mind set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mind set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mindset on what the Spirit desires. This mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit of life is life and peace. This sinful man is hostile to God, it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the spirit.

If the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, it is not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you. This is God's Word.

Excuse me. We're looking at Romans 8 bit by bit because Romans 8 is just about the greatest chapter. I think you could certainly argue about John 14 to 16, but at least Romans 8 and that place in John are certainly the two great places. The Bible will talk about the Holy Spirit. And since we've been looking all this year at what it means to actually experience God, and the answer to why Christian say the Christian life is much more than just ethically following guidelines or believing a certain number of doctrines, the reason was that Christianity

is an extremely experiential religion is because the Bible says that when we become Christians we're in dwelt by the Holy Spirit and that comes across over and over again. You see if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, living in you, He who raised Christ in the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you, over and over. Takes up residence. Doesn't say the Spirit is visiting you. He doesn't say the Spirit is, you know, I mean, people come to visit and then they leave. The Spirit resides in you, a permanent residence. Now that's the reason why we're looking at this.

And today, as we've taken a look at these first eleven verses, right away, we understand we're taught a lot about the nature of the Holy Spirit. And then we're immediately we begin to be introduced to the ministries of the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to tell you something about the nature of the Holy Spirit, who he is, what his identity and character is. But then we're going to begin going into three major ministries that the Bible says I think that the Holy Spirit has in our lives. Three. We won't see all three yet. You have to come to the series. But anyway, we'll begin tonight. Anyway, the identity, the character. If you take a look at what the Bible teaches here about the Holy Spirit,

it's some pretty remarkable stuff. The first thing we learn about the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit is not what Cecil B. Demil says, it is. The Holy Spirit is not a green mist that comes from down from the moon and goes along Charlton Heston's by his calves. You remember there's a number of ways of sort of depicting the Holy Spirit and when we think of the Holy Spirit because of the Word, because of the term, Holy Spirit, we immediately think of a ghost. In fact, a lot of us remember the Old English word for spirit, a Holy Spirit was the Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost.

I mean, that's not really helpful. When we think of the Holy Spirit, we think of charges of electricity. We think of gas. I don't know what you think of. But here, first of all, we learn a couple of things. First of all, the Holy Spirit is God. And one of the ways you know that is because if you read verses 9 to 11 carefully, you'll see there's a group of phrases that are used synonymously.

They're used as synonyms interchangeably. And look at this. In verse 9, it says, those control by this sinful nature can't please God. Now, you however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the spirit. If the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ, but of Christ is in you, your body is dead because of the sin, your spirit is alive, and if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in

you, you see, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body through His Spirit who lives in you. Now look, Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Christ, see, Spirit of Him who raised Christ, they're all the same. They're all interchangeable. You know, this isn't the time to go into the Trinity. If somebody says, you always say that.

But anyway, this isn't the time. Well, I haven't found the time. But this isn't the time to go into it, except to know that here you have, that the spirit dwells in you is the same as to say the spirit of Christ dwells in you, the spirit of God dwells in you, and to say Christ dwells in you. It's all the same as to say the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, the Spirit of God dwells in you, and to say Christ dwells in you. It's all the same thing. In other words, whatever the Trinity means,

it means at least this, that the Father that's on the Holy Spirit are so one that when one comes, they all come. And Jesus says this in John 14, when he says the Spirit will come to you, the counselor will come to you, and then he says, my father and I will come to you. He does the same thing there. Jesus and Paul, they don't contradict each other.

Jesus uses these terms interchangeably. Paul uses these terms interchangeably. And so what it's saying is that God Himself comes and lives inside you. There is no other religion to make such a claim. No other religion. As I said, I've often mentioned this, Eastern religions have an understanding of God being the life force of everything, and so some people have more God consciousness, but they're not talking about God the same way. You'd never find Islam saying God comes and lives in you. They say, how could a great God, how could the great transcendent creator of heaven are?

That's the difference. You see, Eastern religious don't believe in God as a creator. They don't believe in God who existed above and before the universe who created the universe. They believe that God is in a sense an emanation of the universe or better yet that the universe is an emanation of God. They're really the same. But if you go to a religion like Islam or Judaism who believe in a transcendent creator, the idea that God would come and live in you, they say it's just nonsense. It's

just ridiculous. It's just incredible. And the Christian says, yes. It's not nonsense, but his reticulous. I haven't stopped laughing, have you? And it is absolutely incredible. And that's what is being said here. The Spirit is God. The Spirit is not just a little force, it's not just a laser beam, it's not an emanation of God, it's not kind of an extension of God, it's God.

And over and over again, it says, God therefore has come to live with you. Now I don't have time to stop too long here, but I have found, and I will let me push this on you. When my grandmother came to live with us, before she died, my mother and father said, things are going to change. And I like my grandmother, fortunately I was rather young and she came to live with us and lived a couple years with us before she died.

On the one hand, it was great because grandmothers can be pretty nice. They can give you things, they can buy you things, and they're really kind of a lot of fun. On the other hand, they're a challenge to have them actually living with you, not just visiting you, but living with you. Things had to change permanently. Noise levels had to change permanently. Noise levels had to change permanently. In the room next to where the family room next to her bedroom, things, you know, there's things that you just couldn't do

after 11 o'clock at night and so on. There was both a new intimacy we had with her, and there was a new challenge. When she comes into live, not just a visit, but live, changes everything. The creator of the universe has come to live with you. The holy one has come to live with you. And that means, unfortunately, but by the way, I think this is especially helpful if you

think of an apartment. Since so many of you don't live in homes, but you live in apartments, when your guest comes, whatever you do, your guest is doing. Whatever your guest is doing, you're doing. Ever notice that? In an apartment. I mean, in a big home, it's a little different. But in an apartment, the fact that matter is whatever you smell, your guest smells. Whatever you're eating, your guest is probably going to be eating.

You see, whatever you're watching, the guest is definitely going to be watching. Frankly, whatever you're reading, your guest will probably be reading. And you say, that's how it is. God has come into your life. And now, what are you subjecting him to? Say, what are you subjecting him to? What you eat, he eats, what you think he thinks. What you read, he reads, he's not watching you from a distance. You're putting him through.

Everything. You pick up a book and you'll read through it. He's right there. He's reading it with you. You see, what are you letting him see? So, I mean, you can push this too far, but have you been melted with the understanding of the glorious person that lives with you. Have you let that on the one hand thrill you and challenge you? Any special person that actually comes and lives with you is both a thrill and the challenge. And that's certainly, that's the way it is with the great God.

The great God has come to live with you. The Holy Spirit's the great God. Now, here's a couple other things. The Holy Spirit, now notice, he's never called the Holy Spirit. The term's not used here, but he definitely is referred to as the Holy Spirit because it says, and this is great in verse 10, if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And I would like you to meditate on that for a minute or two with me, not too long, but

just a minute or two. I don't know about you. Now, here's a place where he says, he's the righteous spirit, he's the Holy Spirit. See, Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin. Now that means that when you become a Christian and you're born again, your body does not stop to cheer rating.

Now that's a pretty important subject. This doesn't mean you can't, but we're not gonna get into this subject, but here it is. It doesn't mean that you cannot pray for healing. It doesn't mean, by the way, that there aren't physical ramifications of holiness. One of the things you'll find very often is that if you're really seeking to obey God in many, many ways, you are not abusing your body the way you were before. There's a lot of ways in which

you can talk about that, But it's saying it doesn't mean that you stop deteriorating, it doesn't mean you stop aging, it doesn't mean you stop picking up diseases, it doesn't mean you're not going to die. But when you have the new birth, the spirit has come into your life and your spirit, your soul, is alive. Why? Because of righteousness. And I've been meditating on this verse ever since I had a preach on this passage at our lunchtime meetings, the bold meetings a couple of months ago, I guess.

And I've been meditating on that because this is exactly the opposite of what most of us think. Here's what I mean. I just remember when Kathy and I had our first church, the only other church we ever had together, there was a, we had a youth group, and of course in a modest size church, we were the youth leaders, of course,

we were the everything. And we let a youth group, we had a group of teenagers, and the teenagers had all grown up in church going homes, and they'd all grown up in a fairly sheltered homes. And the one thing they always grumped about was they said, I wish, I wish, I wish. When I hear the testimonies, this is a Southern town where people are always coming through and giving testimonies, I was this and I was that. But now I'm this and now I'm that I was down in the depths and I was in the gutter

and now the Lord, they hear all these testimonies and they say, gee if only I could get converted later in life. They say, you know, but then you'd have it all. Then you'd have it all. You know, you could have gotten out and done a lot of things, you know, and then have Jesus too, say. And they were very sincere in saying this. I mean, they didn't say quite that, you know, baldly and stupidly as I just put it, but you say they said, we can get out and do all this.

In other words, wouldn't it be great if you could have both righteousness and life? See, they opposed the two. It's all of us two. If you're gonna be really righteous, well, you're not gonna be living that much, but I mean, if you wanna go to heaven, that's the price you gotta pay, see?

And so, but that's not at all what Paul says. Paul says, your spirit's become alive because of righteousness, which means unrighteousness is what's killed you. Unrighteousness is the source of all of your deadness. Unrighteousness is the source of all of your hurt and all of your numbness and all of your hardness, see, and all of your disintegration. what is death? Death, dead things disintegrate, dead things harden, dead things cannot perceive, dead things cannot move. Righteousness wakes you up. Before you just didn't even understand,

I said, God, eternity, things like that, so what? And as soon as righteousness comes in, sin blinds you, righteousness takes away, and you see a whole world out there. You know when Hamlet says, there are more things in heaven and earth or ratio than are dreamt of in your philosophy. When you become a Christian, boy, suddenly you begin to see all kinds of things,

whole new layers. A vegetable has perception, it's alive, but it's a lower form of life than the animal. The vegetable can perceive part of the environment, but not much. Only that which you know can experience basically through touch. Okay? I guess it must have other, some other sensory capacity, but then you get up to animals. Animals are alive, animals, however, are a higher form of life, and they can perceive all kinds of things in the environment

that the plant can't. Human beings are even a higher form of life, and they can perceive all kinds of things in the environment that the plant can't. Human beings are even higher form of life than animals. Why? You said, well, they have five senses. Animals have five senses. Well, do you believe there's such a thing as injustice? Do you believe there's such a thing as wickedness? Do you believe there's such a thing as evil?

Do you believe there's such a thing as oppression? Do you believe there's such a thing as ugliness? Sure you do. You have to. Animals don't see that. Animals can't perceive that. Human beings have a higher. You see, form of life, therefore, they have more perception.

But when you become a Christian, you get bumped up one higher. And those of you who have become Christians, you know this, that when sin takes off the blinders, you begin to see all sorts of things you never thought of before. You begin to understand spiritual realities that before you say, eh, ah, you know. The Psalms can profoundly shape the way you approach God, even Jesus relied on the Psalms to face every situation, including death. In Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional book, The Psalms of Jesus,

you'll find daily readings through the Psalms with fresh biblical insight. If you have no devotional life yet, this book is a wonderful way to start. And if you already spend time and study and prayer, reading and praying through every verse of the Psalms can help you discover a new level of intimacy with God. We'll send you Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional as our thanks for your gift to help gospel and life share the love of Jesus with more people. Just visit gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. In the question and answer time this morning,

I was talking about one of my favorite... It's so basic, it's so undramatic, it's so mundane, it's so good. Favorite examples of really how hard is the live of a Christian life? And this is a 16-year-old girl in my youth group back in Virginia who was homely and didn't have any friends and didn't have any boyfriends mainly. And she was very discouraged. And I, as a kind of dumb 20-something pastor, I tried to encourage her by saying,

how do you have all the important things you're gonna go to heaven. You're adopted by grace. You see, you're righteous in Christ, you have justification, sanctification, adoption, you're just ready, you have all the important things. And of course, you looked at me and some of you have heard this guy who uses at least every year or so

and she said, what good is all that if you're not popular? You see, what good is all that if you don't have boyfriends? You know, Jesus, yeah, but I don't have any dates. Now, that's normal for a 16-year-old to say. Is it not? It's absolutely normal for a 16-year-old to say.

A 16-year-old to say. But the point is, now I know that I happen to know this woman and I was able to marry her off to somebody. By the way, an unbelievably handsome man, something I will never aspire to, that level of physical beauty, and she got him and all that, but you know what, he's a nice thing about it is this. She grew into Christ, and she realizes who cares what he looks like, who cares when I have. See, the fact of the matter is adoption. I mean, I was stupid as it's 20 something pastor

to lay that kind of, the lay pearls before somebody who couldn't experience them at the moment. But the fact of the matter eventually she did grow and she did begin to see, she says, you know what? I'm gonna be old and wrinkled, he's gonna be old and wrinkled. What really lasts? What is meaning in life? What have I really accomplished? She she came to a new order of life. It was unrighteousness

that deadened her. It deadened her. Let me give you another example of this. That deadened her. It's unrighteousness that keeps you dead. One of the things that keeps you from absolutely really understanding. How do I say? Let's go back to her. Let's go back to her. She's paralyzed because she doesn't have boyfriends. What is the work of the Holy Spirit? The work of the Holy Spirit, take a look here at verse 5 and 6.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their mindset on what the nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their mindset on what the spirit desires. The mind is sinful, man is death, but the mind control by the spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It cannot submit to God's law nor can it do so. What is it, the spirit desires?

Jesus told us, Jesus says, when the Spirit comes, he will glorify me. That's in John 14, 15, and 16. When the Spirit comes, he will glorify me. He will take of mine and he will manifest it to you. Jai Packer some years ago said he didn't understand the Holy Spirit's work until one day he was on his way to a service where he was supposed to speak on the Holy Spirit and he says,

I remember walking into a church one winter evening to preach on the words, he shall glorify me, which is what Jesus says, the Holy Spirit's job is. Holy Spirit's job is not to zap you with power. The Holy Spirit's job is not to enable you to do this or that sort of thing, just to give you a kind of naked ability. Suddenly you can speak well. Suddenly you've got courage. It doesn't just automatically, magically, mechanically give you power.

That's not his job. You can become a powerful individual. If first you see what he desires. The word desires is such a word. He doesn't say, it doesn't say, those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mindset on what the Spirit tells you. What the Spirit desires, this is a passion word. The Spirit of God is in love with the Son of God.

The Spirit of God years after the Son of God, just like the Son of God years after the Spirit and the Spirit after the Father and the Son after the Father, they love each other. They are passionate about each other. And this is what Jay Packer says. He says, I remember walking to a church, I was supposed to speak on glorify me, and I saw the building flood lit as I turned a corner. And I realized this was exactly the illustration my message needed. It's about time.

When flood lighting is well done, the flood lights are so placed that you do not see them at all. You are not in fact supposed to see where the light is coming from. What you're supposed to be meant to be to see is just the building on which the flood lights are trained. This perfectly illustrates the spirit's new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden flood light on the Savior. The Spirit's message is never, look at me, seek for me, get more of me. Listen to me, come to me, never.

The Spirit's message is always, look at him. See his glory, listen to him. Isn't he beautiful? Hear his word, go to him and have life, get to know him, taste his gift of joy and peace. The spirit says Packer is the matchmaker, the celestial broker whose role it is to bring us in Christ together and ensure that we stay together. Now the fact of the matter is, for that girl who simply said, what good is all that without, if you don't have boyfriends, she's, there's a deadness there.

And there was a deadness there for quite a while. Why? Because you see, if you've got to have a boyfriend, if you've got to have a guy that likes you, there's a deadness that comes into your life. There's a fear. There's a paralysis. Definitely. It'll be the same thing.

If you feel that way about money, if you feel that way about peers, or if you feel that way about professional acclaim. Until, you see, until the thing that you most desire, that the Spirit turns your mind away from the sinful nature, turns your mind away from everything, but what he, the Spirit, loves the most. When you're in love with Christ, you'll be free. There'll be a tremendous freedom. There'll be'll be free. There'll be a tremendous freedom. There'll be a tremendous strength.

There'll be a tremendous life. You don't care what anybody says. You don't care what anybody's doing. You can face anything. What's going on? It's righteousness, the spirit of righteousness, that's bringing your spirit alive. That's the job of the Spirit.

That is the job of the Spirit. Do you think that righteousness is opposed to life? No, no, no. All your deadness comes from unrighteousness. But if Christ is in you and your body is dead because of sin, your Spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who has raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead

will also give life someday to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who lives in us. There's plenty more to say, but listen, let's go to it like this. Do you know who's living within you? In other words, it's something a lot more wonderful than my grandmother. What are you subjecting him to? What is he seeing? On other words, remember this, he's there permanently.

Didn't have time so much to connect this week's with last week's, but you see, one of the jobs of the Spirit is to show us that there's no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. So he comes in and he comes in permanently. There there's no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. So he comes in, and he comes in permanently. There's no more condemnation. It doesn't say sometimes there's condemnation, and then if you sin, then you become condemned, but then you ask for forgiveness,

and then there's no condemnation, and then you sin, then there is condemnation. You know, last week, we didn't say this, but somebody once called that daisy philosophy, a daisy theology. You know what daisy theology is? He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not. Jesus doesn't do that.

Jesus doesn't love you. Then love you not. Love you. Then love you not. He loves you. And it's because he loves you, because he always loves you, because for you there's no more condemnation, because he's in your life permanently and he's not going to leave. It's so interesting.

You should not be filled with conviction over the sit in your life. You should not be wanting to be righteous because you're afraid, you're so afraid, so afraid that he's going to condemn you. Frankly, you should be convicted because this wonderful person has come into your life permanently. He's never going to leave you. He would die rather than leave you. What in the world could you do to break his love for you when, in the Garden of Gisemite, God came to him and said, I'm going to crush you with all the powers of hell. Do you love him that much? And he said, yes, he says, not my will, but thine be done. If Jesus Christ could take all of hell

that the Father laid on him, if his love for you was that strong, if he valued you that much, what in the world do you think you're gonna do to kick him out? You see, at what point is God, you see, you know, some of you want, Jesus gonna look at you say,

that does it. Well, he ever say that. I mean, in the Garden of Cassemony, the Father poured infinite suffering on him, and he didn't say that, does it. Well, he ever say that. I mean, in the Garden of Gisemini, the father poured infinite suffering on him, and he didn't say that, does it? Okay, the father wasn't able to dissuade him, in a way, if the father wasn't able to make him break his grip and his love for you, then you can't do it.

Therefore, you should be convicted of sin because you are doing things in your life and you're making this beloved person see them and you're pulling them through and you're reading things perhaps that his eyes shouldn't see and you're doing things that are so utterly opposed to his spirit and the spirit that you see when you read the gospels that he had toward people. Am I trying to make you feel guilty? Yeah, I'm trying, I'm trying to make you miserable

with mercy. I'm not trying to make you, see, I'm not trying to make you miserable by saying, he'll get you. I'll say, because he won't get you, because he was willing to be gotten rather than to get you so that he could receive you and have you forever. How can you treat him this way?

He lives within you. Don't grieve the Spirit. Don't grieve the Spirit of Christ. So what we're gonna do now is, when we go to the Lord's table, what I suggest, is you take a look at your life and say, I want to ask your forgiveness for the things that I'm dragging you through,

and that I'm exposing you to, and I want you to your forgiveness for the things that I'm dragging you through and that I'm exposing you to and I want you to come in right now and really clean house. My life is your house and I haven't been keeping it very clean. I mean if you've got a guest, if you've got somebody who lives with you that you really honor, you're always cleaning up. I do it. We've had people staying with us lately. And of course, you come right in and you see stuff over there and you clean it up. Why? Because it's not just your house anymore in a sense, in a sense you're sharing your house.

And you want to honor and you want to please the person. What about your own life? Jesus lives in it. The Spirit of God lives in it. Clean it up. Not because He condemns you, but because He was condemned for you. That's why you should clean it up. Let's pray. Our Father, as we go to your table, really, merely meet with us and help us to, Lord, what really needs to happen to us This is, Lord, what really needs to happen to us is that the flood light needs to come on

and the beauty of Christ needs to outshine the beauty of anything else in our lives. And that's how we will overcome the deadness. We pray that you would make that possible now by your spirit as we protect the Lord's Supper. We ask this now in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching from Dr. Keller on Experiencing God. In Jesus' name, amen. in 1997 and 2013. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to

2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor, Everdeemer, Presbyterian Church.