Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Loving Deeply

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 21, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. 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. How can you become the kind of person whose character deepens during hardship? The Apostle Peter tells us it's a supernatural work of God that reshapes the heart. Today, Tim Keller shows us how only a reborn, renewed heart can love others well and face suffering with hope, courage, and joy. Tonight we celebrate the Lord's Supper, so we try to concentrate our teaching time, try to make a little bit shorter, and also try to focus on just one, one subject, one idea. I love the Lord's Supper evenings. I only do it once a month. What I like about it, of course, is I like to have time to process the truth. I like to be able to take the truth that I'm hearing. And by the way, I hear it too. You might be surprised at that. But very often the sermon I wrote in the sermon that happens are not at all the same.

and sometimes I sit down and I say, hmm, that is true. I wish I'd thought of it. And when you do that, you need time to process it. So tonight I'm going to give you some truth out of First Peter. We've been going through the book all year, all fall, that we can take and process in God's presence when we go to the table. Now, we've been going through the book of First Peter,

and we're going to read the same passage we read last week, and it's printed in your bulletin. It's First Peter, chapter, chapter one verses 22 to chapter two verse three read along with me if you can now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers love one another deeply from the heart for you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of god for all men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of the Lord stands forever, and this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. This is God's word. Now we began to look at this passage last week.

This is a sandwich passage, because on the one hand, it starts off. by saying, having purified yourselves by obeying the truth. And it ends saying, like newborn babes, grow up into your salvation. It's actually trying to say what's in the very center, chapter 2, verse 1 and 2. It's an exhortation to love one another. Peter is writing to Christians, and he's saying, love one another. But he starts by saying, having purified yourself by obedience of the truth, having been born again, and then he says, love one another. Because you've been born again, because you're growing, because you're growing in supernatural maturity, because you're having your very insides purified by connecting with the truth and bringing it into your heart,

love one another. In fact, as soon as he says love one another, read yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind, then he goes back and starts talking again, about Christian growth. He says, like newborn babes, crave the pure spiritual milk and so on. Now, what is he saying? I would like to just take this one point. There's actually a tremendous amount of material that he gives us here about the dynamics for Christian growth. How do you grow in holiness? How can you grow in supernatural maturity? How can you move from where you are right now in a practical way to being more and more like Christ? How can you have your your character? character honed by him. Well, it's all here. But tonight I'm just going to show you one part of

Christian growth, one essential sign of Christian growth, one necessary measure of Christian growth. Love one another deeply. I'd like to point out two basic principles and then two practical principles that are all here in the text. Two basic principles about this, love one another deeply. and two practical principles. First, the two basic principles. Number one, we learn here that loving other Christians as if they were family, that's what it's saying. It says love one another deeply, love from the heart, you see.

It says you have purified yourselves by the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers. Loving other Christians as if they're members of your family is something so hard. hard that he has to surround it with all this other stuff. You see, he doesn't just say love one another. He says, you will not be able to do it unless you're born again, and even so you won't be able to do it unless you're growing rapidly. Why else would he do this? Why doesn't he just come right out and say what he's really trying to say? Rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, you know, love one another deeply. He can't say it. He says, because you're purifying yourself, because you're obeying the truth because you're seeing yourself grow in grace, because you've been born again of

the imperishable seed, because you have this supernatural power in you, and because you're growing rapidly, love one another. The first principle is this. It is an illusion to think that you can just hold up the Christian ethic of love to the world, you know, the sermon on the Mount, the golden rule, turn the other cheek, just hold it up, and the world will be a better place. My friends, the Christian ethic of love is something that you are utterly incapable of doing. When the Bible says love one another as brothers and sisters, when the Bible says love one another as Christ has loved you, it is asking you for something that's so radical and so deep and so difficult

and so far reaching that you not only have to be born again from above to do it, but even that's not enough. You've got to be growing up into that salvation, or there's no way you can do it. So, you know, put it this way. Loving other people, loving Christians as brothers and sisters is such a deep and total thing and such a difficult thing that you have to be born again by the Spirit and growing rapidly or you're not going to be capable of it. And it's so silly, therefore, for people to think that what preaching is or what the church's job is is just to sort of tell people to love one another. I've heard this many times. I've heard it directly and indirectly. The church's job is not to preach to people and tell them to believe this.

or that, not to tell people to get converted and so on. The church's job is just to call the world to love and to follow the model in the examples of Jesus Christ. Now, there's nothing wrong with doing that. And the more people hear about Jesus' model of relationships, the better. But don't you see what's going on here? We are absolutely incapable of loving as Jesus loved us. not only are people who do not are not born again by imperishable seed incapable of it, but even those of us who born of imperishable seed aren't capable of it unless we're in a rapid growth pattern. Let me put it this way. When people persecute you, when people violate you, when they abuse you, what do you do?

Let me give you three possibilities, and pretty much the only three. One is you can go get them and hate them. You know, you can seek justice, you can seek to have the wrong redress, you know, you go after them, and you do it with a vengeful spirit in your heart, wanting to see them get their comeuppance, wanting to see them fall. That's the first possibility. The second possibility is that you don't go after them. You just sort of, you stuff it. You clam up. You don't do it. You don't do anything about it, but you sit and stew and you hate them. So one view, you know, option one, go get them and hate him. Option two, don't go get him and hate him. And then there's option three. Go get him and love them. Redress the wrong.

Go after justice. Make sure that justice is done. And do it without one ounce of vengefulness in your heart. And with nothing but desire to see the persons come to repentance and understand the truth and nothing but love in your heart. Which of those three do you think is the easiest? Listen, friends, if you leave anybody to tradition, to common sense or their own impulses, they will always go number one or number two.

You conflict lovers go after number one. Go get them and hate them. You conflict haters and avoiders. You stuff it down and you don't get them and you hate them. But the Christian ethic is utterly counterintuitive. It is utterly the opposite. of anything that you would ever even have thought of. It's against common sense.

It's against your impulse. It's against tradition. People don't believe it's possible. When people come to me, I say, what does the Bible teach I should do when I'm persecuted? I say it's simple. You want to not go get them and hate him. The Bible says, reverse that.

You've got to go get him and love them. And what do people say? Impossible. That's ridiculous, they say. Of course. That's what the Bible says you're supposed to do. That's what turn the other cheek means. You see, turn the other cheek does not mean that you let people walk all over you.

Absolutely not. Paul didn't. He appealed to Caesar. Jesus didn't. He protested when he was struck. Hey, this is illegal, he said. The Bible always says you uphold justice for the sake of justice, but you let God be the judge. You give over the ultimate judgment of that person's character to God. And you go after justice without any vengefulness in your heart. You forgive.

And somebody says, how in the world can be, how can they have to be done? It's impossible. That's my first point. That's the first principle. The first principle is it's impossible to do this. You've not only got to be born again from above, you've got to be growing like crazy. The call to love your brothers and sisters,

to love one another as Christ has loved you, is so hard. It's so silly to think all we have to do is hold up the ethic of love, love your neighbor to the world, and it'll become a better place. You must be born again. The life of God has got to be running through you like lightning. You never do it otherwise.

This is probably, well, it's probably the reason why in 1, John, chapter 2, verse 7 and 8, people have always wondered why John says this. He says, children, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment you had from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you. He who's in the light, and yet hates his brother, is in darkness. Now, people have always wondered why it is that John says, I'm writing a new commandment to you. And then he's, an old commandment, it's not a new one. It's something you've always known. And then the very next sentence, he says, I'm writing a new commandment to you,

love one another. People have always wondered what he was saying. And the real answer, probably is that in a sense everybody knows we're supposed to love. There's every, every religion, every sacred book in the world says love one another. And so there's a certain sense in which it's old, but when you become a Christian, real love becomes a new possibility. There's a real possibility now, but only with supernatural help. So the first principle is, it's impossible to love. That's the reason why he has to keep saying, unless you're purifying yourself, unless you're growing unless you're craving spiritual milk by like newborn babes. They can't do it. The first. Second principle. It almost seems like the reverse, but the second

principle is, on the one hand, this loving spirit is only possible with the new birth and with supernatural growth. But on the other hand, it's absolutely necessary to prove that you really are a Christian. See, on the one hand, where we're saying this spirit of love is only possible with spiritual growth. But on the other hand, it's inevitable with spiritual growth. As hard as it is, it's inevitable and therefore it is maybe

the acid test to tell whether or not you really understand the gospel. In the book of 1st John, from which I've already quoted, from which I've already quoted, John tells us that if you want to know you're a Christian, there's three tests. There's a doctrinal test.

There's a moral test and there's a social test. The doctrinal test is you have to believe that Jesus is the one who he said he was, that he's the son of God and he came and you have to believe in the doctrines of the message of Jesus. Then secondly, you have to show that you have committed yourself to him by leading a godly life. But then thirdly, it says, as I already read to you, he that says he's in the light and yet hateth his brother is in the darkness. Now, right here it says in verse 22, now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the

truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers. Now, there's a cause-effect chain there. Obeying the truth, it says now that you've purified by obedience unto love, you see what the chain is? Obedience and taking the gospel in to your heart. Purifies your soul unto the love of brothers and sisters. So the point is, here's how you know you've grasped the gospel. Here's how you know you've purified your heart with the gospel. You love other Christians without deceit, without hypocrisy, without envy, and without slander of any kind. That's how you know. You see, let me put it a couple ways.

It's possible. The reason love is the acid test of whether or not you really believe the gospel is it's very possible to have both doctrinal purity and moral scrupulosity for other motivations and out of other forces besides the gospel. It's quite possible. You see, to be moral out of tradition, out of nostalgia, out of loyalty to your family, out of temperament, out of, you know, fastidiousness of conscience. There's all kinds of ways in which you could look at a person who's very moral. And a person could say, well, that proves that person's a Christian.

That person really understands the message of Christianity. And what Peter's saying here, and what the Bible says is, no. A loving spirit is a far better acid test of whether you understand the gospel than moral scrupulosity. Put it another way, if you are a demanding person, if you are a critical person, if you are a cold person, if you are a distant person, if you're not a very approachable person, you better look hard to see whether or not you've actually purified your soul by taking in the gospel. It doesn't look good. This is the acid test. You see, it's very, very possible to be in deep denial about the gospel.

How do you know that you really believe you're a sinner saved by grace? How do you know that? If you don't believe it, if you believe that you're saved by your performance, if you believe that you're saved by your good deeds, if you may say, theoretically, on the test, you may say, I know I'm saved by grace, not by works. I understand all that. I've gone to Redeemer.

I've listened to the sermons. I know what justification by faith is, that I'm saved and accepted, not by my works, not by my performance, but only by sheer mercy of God and by what Jesus did on the cross. You may, tonight, you may say, I know that. If I give you a test, you might say, I know that. And yet you still may be in denial. You still may actually be a person who believes you're basically saved by your performance and your good works.

Well, how can I know that? It's simple. if you are in that position, you will break down into one of two kinds of patterns. The first one is you will either be, you will either be smug and self-assured, demanding, cold, imperious, and a critical person, wondering why it is that other people can't be as faithful as you. When you see Christians, Christian brothers and sisters being stupid, being foolish, doing the wrong thing, hurting you or hurting other people, you absolutely reject them. You're cold to them. Or, On the other hand, if you don't believe you're a sinner saying by grace, instead of being sort of cold and imperious and smug and demanding, you can become defensive and nervous and insecure and easily slighted. In either case, you're not relentlessly forgiving, relentlessly warm, relentlessly open, relentlessly approachable, relentlessly gracious, relentlessly vulnerable. and that's the only way you know you're really a sinner's sake by grace. Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? And how do we handle it in a way that won't destroy us,

but could actually make us stronger, wiser, and more hopeful? All month long on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller is teaching from the book of First Peter and looking at how Peter encouraged early believers who were facing intense suffering in pain. In his book, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, Dr. Keller takes a deeper look at it. how with God's help we can face life's most intense challenges and confront the hard questions

on suffering. Through deep pastoral insight and real life stories, Dr. Keller explores how we can face pain and suffering in our own lives. This month, walking with God through pain and suffering is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the message of Christ's love and compassion with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. Don't you see? Are you? Do you find yourself forgiving? Do you find yourself being positive to people who are criticizing you? Do you find yourself being able to to affirm people even as they're harming you? Do you find yourself being able to continue to pull for the success of people who have wronged you and

harmed you? Do you find yourself being a gracious, open, and vulnerable in your dealings with people and in your manner and in your face and your tone of voice and in your comments that people want to come and tell you about their problems? Or are you peevish? Are you touchy? Are you sensitive to criticism? Are you always feeling that people are slighting you? Are you cold? Are you smug? Are you self-righteous? My friends, this is the way you know that you believe the gospel. having purified your soul by obedience to the truth unto love of other Christians as brothers and sisters loving them without malice or all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of any kind. This is such a searching test. This is the test. Oh, I'm not saying doctrine isn't important.

You can't be a Christian unless you believe in the basic doctrines. And I'm not saying that morality isn't important because you can't be a Christian unless, as we talked about it, we spent three or four weeks on this last month. Holiness, unless you're living a life of holiness. But your doctrinal purity and your life of moral fastidiousness and accuracy might have non-gospel roots. So what is the acid test? Do you love one another? You know, here's why. Take a look at the gospel. The gospel's got two parts. It's got the part that says you're a sinner. And it's got the part that says you're loved and accepted. Don't you see how that changes you? See, do you believe you're a sinner? Then no matter how mad you get with people, you know you're a sinner, you know you tend to see things in a selfish

way, you know that you may be wrong, you know that you're limited, your perspective's limited, you remember what a fool you were five years ago and ten years ago, how many mistakes you made, you know that's because you're a sinner, and you know that figure, you say, well, if I was a full ten years ago, I mean, from my vantage point now, I means that ten years from now, I'll think of myself as a fool now. I better be careful about what I say. I better not be so sure about that this person is wrong me or that person is wrong me. Do you believe you're a sinner? Well, you're very careful not to write people off, not to be sure that you can nurse grudges, not to be sure that you're right and the other people are wrong. Do you believe you're a sinner? Not only that, you realize,

you see, anybody who believes the gospel knows that the difference between a very respectable person and a street drug pusher is really a small difference. We've talked about this before. We're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. We're all lost. Do you believe that? Then that changes utterly your attitude toward people. You never can look down on anybody. You never can be sure that you're always right and the other people are wrong. Don't you see that? That's the reason why there's always this forgiveness and there's this sincerity and this openness and this lack of deceit. and this lack of slander and gossip and backbiting, it's got to be there. Do you believe you're a sinner? Well, you can't live that way. But then as the other half of the gospel, do you believe you're loved?

Do you believe you're accepted? Do you believe you've been forgiven infinitely? Yeah, it's obvious. First, John says this. To love your Christian sister or brother is a more telling test than orthodoxy, though, of course, you must have the truth to be born again. And it's a more telling test, the mechanical correctness, though, of course, you've got to live a holy life. there are people like the rich young ruler who have always been moral all these things I have done since my youth but he is a loveless person

are you it's a test see the second principle is you've got to see this kind of spirit of love growing in you you've got to see it otherwise there's no real evidence that you understand the gospel you just may be a Pharisee

because Pharisees are either very proud or they're very, very inferior. They either have superiority complexes or inferiority complexes. They either cold and imperious or they're nervous and defensive. But in each case, you can't love. In each case, you can't open. Examine yourselves. Now, there's two practical principles we need to apply before we're done.

We said, number one, that this kind of love is absolutely impossible without God's help. And a lot of help. You've got to be in a growth pattern. And then secondly, we said, this kind of love is absolutely necessary. It's an outgrowth of believing the gospel, and it's absolutely necessary as a test. All right. Then somebody says, okay, it's the important that I do it. How do I do it?

There's actually two guidelines here by which you can judge yourself and also by which you can guide yourself. And the two tests are, number one, verse 22, now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brethren, love one another deeply. Just look at those two words. Christian love is sincere love and Christian love is deep love. Let me just tell you what that is to give you something to think about as you go before the Lord. Sincere love means Christian love is always truthful. Christian love is never just tolerance. This is a very dangerous move in our society that equates love with tolerance. So if you love me, you cannot tell me I'm sinning. If you love me, you cannot make any kind of negative comments about the what I'm doing.

That's not tolerance. But boy, I'll tell you something. If that's how you define love, that will fly absolutely in the face of not only the Bible, but really common sense. You know, if you see somebody killing him or herself through some kind of behavior through the way he or she is working or the way he and she is eating or something like that, for you to say, this is wrong, you're killing yourself, you've got to stop eating like this, You've got to stop living like this.

Is that a lack of love? Of course not. Love has got to be sincere. It's got to be sincere. And there's a tension here, tremendous tension between truth and love. A tremendous tension. And many times you feel it. I love this person and I should tell them the truth.

But if I tell her the truth, it's going to hurt her. What do you do? Well, just keep this in mind and then move on to deep love. But for a moment, sincere love, not just sincere, but sincere love. not just love, but sincere love, means on the one hand, we better not be cowards. Oh, how many times have you chickened out

and not said something truthful to somebody you love? And you know what you always tell yourself? You know where your cowardice lies? In a certain kind of deception, you say, I couldn't do that because it would hurt her so much. Give me a break. You can't do it because it'll hurt you so much. You have to realize that it's terribly selfish,

in many cases for you to not tell somebody the truth. Because, and you're saying, a little to hurt her so much. What you mean is you're not going to be able to handle. You don't want to have her complaining. You don't want to have her saying that you're being judgmental. You, you're thinking of you. You're not thinking of her.

You're thinking of you. Being a coward. We can't take the flack. We can't take the guilt that'll come from the person saying, why do you make me, why did you say this? Very often, when we unmask our cowardice, as a form of selfishness, not kindness and not love, it helps. But on the other hand, I said it's not sincere, it's love.

It's not just love. It's sincere love. On the other hand, the motivation for telling people the truth is always their need. They need the truth. And therefore, if you tell somebody the truth and you don't tell them in a way, you don't tell them out of time, you don't tell them in a context, you don't tell them in a form that they can hear. you just tell him, well, I told them the truth. That's not sincere. Love, that's just sincere. That's not what we're talking about. You see, on the one hand, watch out, are you a coward? Is that the reason why your love isn't sincere? Are there people who you should be loving by telling the truth and you're not doing it and you're justifying it by saying, oh, well, that'll hurt the person when actually what you're really saying is it'll hurt me? But on the other hand, are you willing to make sure that the person,

Here's the truth in the right way. You know, when you wash a kitchen floor, one way you'll see all the dirt on the floor. One way to deal with the dirt is just that you pick up the bucket with all the soap in it and the water, and just throw it on the floor. That's the way. The whole bucket, that'll move the dirt around.

And then it'll make quite a mess. It'll move the dirt around, but in the end it'll be even worse because the dirt will be kind of washed over in the corner and so on. The way to get the floor clean is to bring the water out onto the floor or in stages, then bring it back in and, you know, rinse it out and then bring it back in. And eventually you might use the entire bucket, and that's the way to deal with the dirt. That's how you're supposed to tell people the truth in a way, in a form, in a context, at a time that they can hear it because you tell them the truth out of love because they need it.

And you don't tell them the truth in a way that they don't even get it. Sincere love. Have you got a love that's sincere in your relationships? then secondly, deep love. This word deep, it says, now that you've purified yourself by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brother and love one another deeply from the heart, love one another deeply. This word deep is an awfully interesting Greek word. The more I studied, I realized what it really means is to be stretched to the limit. It's actually a distance running word. It's used to describe Jesus in the garden, you know, just about at the end of his tether.

And the word to love one another deeply really means to love one another strenuously. And what does that mean? It's very much like running. One of the weird things about physical exercise is that the more you do it, in general, the more strength you feel. But in the short run, you feel like you want to die. I mean, that's what exercise is all about. It's so odd that the very thing that gives you overall more energy and more strength and more power in the long run, in the short run, drains you. Same thing with love.

You know, the ironic thing is, if you don't exercise, you actually, if you don't drain yourself through exercise, the lack of exercise will drain you. have you ever been in bed recuperating from a sickness he had to be in bed for an entire week has that ever happened then you get up and you haven't even been moving around and you can't believe how weak you are it's so ironic only by draining yourself through exercise are you not drained during the rest of your life and if you don't drain yourself through exercise you are drained it's very odd love is the same way love is strenuous Christian love doesn't give up on people it's very much like running a race you stick with it you want to give up one more lap, you don't give up on people. Paul says love never gives up. There's a difference

between the way Christians relate to each other. Are there Christians that you've given up on? Oh look, oh look, I know at a certain point you're telling somebody to the truth and they won't hear it. Then you have to back off in that sense. I understand that. Sometimes people are draining you and you've got to conserve yourself, just like a forest. You know, you can't just cut all the trees down. You've got to cut enough trees down. You've got to plant enough trees so the forest continues to give. out wood. In the same way, you can't just let somebody cut your entire forest down. You can't let somebody drain you to the ground so you've got nothing for that person or anybody else. There's times in which you have to pull back, absolutely. But in the long run, you do not give up on people.

You don't write anybody off. You don't say to another Christian brother or sister, forget you. You have to love strenuously. You have to stick with it. You have to keep up on the race. Strenuous. Or another aspect, of course, is it says you're supposed to put away all malice and slander. You know what that means? means you have to forgive. There's nothing more strenuous than forgiving. If somebody, if I give you my radio and you break it and I say, I forgive you, what have I done? I absorb the cost. I don't make you pay. I pay. And if somebody wrongs you and you say, I forgive, you know what that means? You can either exact the price out of that person, you can be cold of that person, you can avoid that person.

You know, when she's coming down this aisle, you go back out that aisle. You can root for that person to lose, to fail, to get comeuppance. You can stick little pins in the person in your own heart. That's exacting the price. That's making her pay for the radio. Or you can say, I forgive you. Which means you absorb the cost. You pull for that person.

You're cordial to that person. You refuse to replay the tapes of what she did to you in your heart. That's strenuous. You absorb the cost. That's strenuous. and I tell you something there's people here saying that's too hard for me well it's just like exercise

if you don't exercise if you will lay in bed because you say oh it's too much effort the less you do the less you'll be able to do the less you exercise the less you'll be able to exercise the less you love the less you'll be able to love the more you go all the way the more you keep with people and you stick with people and you love people

and you forgive people and the more strenuous you are in your love the more power you're going to have in your life. Is your love sincere? Is your love deep? Are you a kind of truth-telling person? You know, their sincerity, but there's no depth. Or are you a very feeling person, but there's no truth?

We're going to the Lord's table. Jesus says, if you've got something against your brother or sister, leave your gift at the altar and make it right. But I think that's got to mean is, if you know you've given up, on people. If you know you're not loving your Christian brother, sister, deeply. If you know you're not loving them strenuously, you're not forgiving, you're giving up on them, you're avoiding them. Look at the gospel and you'll be able to forgive. Purify your soul through taking them the truth and you'll be able to do it tonight and don't take the cup and take the bread unless you're willing to do that. Mark chapter 11, I think it says, if you stand praying and you find that you have anything against

anyone forgiven. It's strenuous, but the power will come. The more you do it, the more you can do it. Let's pray. Father, we pray that at Redeemer, we will be characterized by both sincere and deep love. And we pray that you'll help us to make strides toward that tonight as you purify us unto the love of our brothers and sisters as we take your truth in and as we meet you over the table. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you apply the gospel to your life and share it with others.

For more helpful resources from Tim Keller, visit gospelonlife.com. There, you can subscribe to The Life in the Gospel Quarterly Journal. When you do, you will also receive free articles, sermons, devotals, and other great gospel-centered resources. Again, it's all at gospelonlife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook and Facebook. Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 1993.

The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.