Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Marked as Possession

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Many people say they don’t believe in Christianity. But in all my years as a minister, I’ve seldom talked to anybody who rejected Christianity and actually knew what they rejected. If you’re uni...nterested in Christianity, you need to know what it is you’re rejecting. And if you are a Christian, you need to figure out if you’re living consistently. In these first verses of Ephesians, Paul gives an amazing picture of what it means to be a Christian. This passage shows us that being a Christian means three things: 1) truth, 2) hope, and 3) glory. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 16, 2011. Series: A Study of Ephesians: Who is the Church? Scripture: Ephesians 1:11–16. 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Thanks for listening to Gospel in Life. Today, Tim Keller is taking us through a series on the Book of Ephesians, a book that is all about what it means to be Christian and what it means to live in unity with other believers. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelinLife.com and sign up for our email updates. Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. Tonight's scripture comes from Ephesians chapter one, verses 11 through 16. In him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
Starting point is 00:00:55 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who was a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus of your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Starting point is 00:01:27 This is the word of the Lord. So we keep on looking at the book of Ephesians. And the book of Ephesians, as we've said, is about the church. Though we get more directly to the church when we get to chapter two. In these first few verses, Paul is sort of laying the foundation for what he's going to say later.
Starting point is 00:01:49 You'll see a number of themes that he introduces in these early verses we brought back later when we get to talking about the church. But in these first verses, what we actually get is an amazing picture of what it means to be a Christian. How to be a Christian. How to become a Christian, how to live as a Christian, but even more than that, what it means to be a Christian. The reason we've slowed down and why you have such, we're taking it so slowly and just going a few verses at a time. It's incredibly rich and very relevant no matter who you are here tonight. Because by looking at these kinds of verses, if you are, if you think you're a Christian, this
Starting point is 00:02:33 is one of the best ways to figure out whether you really are. And if you are a Christian, this is one of the best ways to figure out if you're really living consistently with who you are. And if you say, oh, I'm not a Christian, I don't think I believe in Christianity, okay, if you have rejected Christianity, this is one of the best ways to be sure you know whether you've rejected something you understand or not. I must say, with all due respect,
Starting point is 00:03:04 in all my years as a minister, I've seldom talked to anybody who's rejected Christianity and who knows what they rejected. Many people say, oh, I don't believe in Christianity when I ask them, well, you tell me what you understand Christianity to be, and almost always they tell me something that I don't even recognize as Christianity.
Starting point is 00:03:23 And therefore, if you are uninterested, if you have essentially walked by and rejected it, you need to know what it is you're rejecting. And so no matter who we are here tonight, it's great because this passage will show us what it means to be a Christian and here we learn it means three things. And those three things are, it means truth, hope, and glory. Truth, hope, and glory. First, it means truth. See verse 13? A wonderful little definition of how to become a Christian. It says, you were included in Christ when? When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. So, becoming a Christian, Christianity doesn't start by you doing something, it comes by hearing something. And what is
Starting point is 00:04:16 it that you hear? You hear a word, a message, a body of content. And what are we told about that body of content or message? Two things. It's truth. It's gospel. First of all, notice it's truth. When I got to New York City in the late 80s, high theory, it was called, or postmodernism was at its height. And postmodernism is now seen as rather passe, as a matter of fact in London one of the great museums of the world, Victoria and Albert
Starting point is 00:04:58 Museum in London, is now showing the first comprehensive retrospective of postmodernism 1970 to 1990. Now when you say we're looking back at postmodernism that means that the elite opinion is that it's over. And it's amazing that it'd be over. Edward Dox, who's a prominent British writer, has written a fairly recent article called Postmodernism is Dead. It's by the way based on this retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum. You can get it online. There's three things in there that are pretty amazing in this article. First he says, number one, he defines postmodernism and he says this, postmodernism was the idea of deprivileging any one meaning. It was the idea that all discourses are equally valid. Postmodernism was the idea that no matter what you claim,
Starting point is 00:05:59 your claim is no better than anybody else's claim. All claims, all discourses are equally valid. There is no truth. It's all relative. The second thing he said was the reason people embraced postmodernism was to fight oppression. And he goes on, quote, because once you are in the business of challenging the dominant discourse, you are also in the business of giving hitherto marginalized and subordinate groups their voice. And from here it is possible to redress the miserable injustices which we have hitherto either ignored or taken for granted as in some way acceptable. So postmodernism meant there's no truth.
Starting point is 00:06:38 It's all relative. And the reason many people embrace this was that was a way to overcome oppression. People saying I have the truth and therefore they feel like I can oppress you. But the third thing he says is this, he says over time though a new difficulty was created because postmodernism attacks everything. Therefore a mood of confusion and uncertainty began to grow and flourish until, in recent years, it became ubiquitous. If we, and this is still him speaking, if we deprivilege all positions, we can assert no position.
Starting point is 00:07:16 And so, in effect, an aggressive postmodernism becomes in the real world indistinguishable from an odd species of inert conservatism. Hear what he's saying? He says the problem is if you attack everything and nobody's got the truth, that means you can't fight oppression. He says if you deprivilege all positions,
Starting point is 00:07:40 you can assert no position. The same thing was said years ago by G.K. Chesterton, a Catholic writer who said this, the problem with doubting everything and saying everything's relative, he says the modern rebel is a skeptic, but the fact that he doubts everything gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything
Starting point is 00:08:01 because all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind. By rebelling against everything, you lose your right to rebel against anything. And then Chesterton says there's a kind of thought that stops thought. That's the only kind of thought that should be stopped. Now here's what's amazing about what Edward Dock said and here's what's amazing. What they're actually saying is we thought the idea that there was no truth would be liberating but it's not.
Starting point is 00:08:32 In the end it means you can't object to anything. You can't say anything is wrong. And so it's over. Now I don't know what that means for modern society because the idea that all truth is relative is so embedded now and yet what we're being told is you can't live without truth. You can't do without truth. Well, Christianity's always said that.
Starting point is 00:08:54 The gospel is truth, but the truth of Christianity is the gospel. And you know what the word gospel means? The word gospel means an announcement of something that's happened. It's the announcement of something that's happened in history. There's a lot that the Bible says about how you ought to live.
Starting point is 00:09:16 But what the Bible says about how you ought to live is based on what the Bible says about what has happened in history. Other religions start by saying, here's how God wants you to live, and if you live in this way, then you'll be saved. But Christianity starts by saying, not here's what you must do in order to be saved,
Starting point is 00:09:38 but here's what God has done in history to save you. The gospel is not good advice on what you should do, it's good news about what has been done. Do you see the difference? And therefore, what it means is the historic happenings, the things that the Bible says have happened, have been done for you. Is that, those are the basis for anything else
Starting point is 00:10:02 the Bible says about how do you ought to live. Now, again, when New Yorkers, so many times New Yorkers reject Christianity, but they reject it by assuming it's something that it's not. So I've often talked to people who say, well, I can't believe in Christianity. I say, why? And in New York, very often they say, because what the Bible says about sex and gender is regressive. And I say, okay, let me ask you a question. If because you think what the Bible says
Starting point is 00:10:34 about sex and gender is regressive, does that mean Jesus couldn't have been risen from the dead, couldn't have been raised from the dead? And they say, what? What are you talking about? I'm not talking about that. And I'm saying, are you talking about? I'm not talking about that and I'm saying but you need to you can't go to what the Bible says about ethics and
Starting point is 00:10:50 Say I don't like that and reject Christianity if Jesus was not risen from the dead You don't have to believe anything the Bible says about sex and gender But if Jesus was risen from the dead then you have to deal with everything the Bible says about how to live But you don't go to what the Bible says about how to live to decide whether Christianity is right or wrong You have to go and see what the Bible says about Jesus Have you have you checked out the claim the evidence for the resurrection have you checked out the claims of Jesus to be the son Of God have you checked out his character? Have you looked at him until you've looked at that? You haven't checked Christianity out at all.
Starting point is 00:11:26 To say, oh, I don't like the things that the Bible says about how to live, without looking at that, means that you're treating Christianity as if it's like every other religion, and it's not. It's not primarily advice on what you should do, it's primarily a gospel announcement of what has been done, and you need to look and see the claim of what has been done, and then you really are taking hold of what has been done. And you need to look and see the claim of what has been done. And then you really are taking hold of what Christianity is. To be a Christian means truth. It means to believe the truth. It means to hear the truth. And that truth is the gospel.
Starting point is 00:11:59 That's what makes you a Christian. Point one, secondly, being a Christian means hope. Verse 12, you see it, we who were the first to hope in Christ, and all of verse 14, which we're gonna unpack in a minute, where it talks about our inheritance being guaranteed. Christianity gives you a hope, and the word hope in the Bible means something
Starting point is 00:12:25 much stronger than what the word hope means in English. In English, the word hope means hope so. It means I'm not sure, but I hope it's true. In the Bible, the word hope is something much stronger. The biblical definition of hope is a life shaping certainty about your future. A life shaping certainty about your future. A life shaping certainty about your future. Human beings are unavoidably hope based creatures.
Starting point is 00:12:52 And that means how you live in the present is inevitably shaped by what you believe about your future. You can't avoid that. Now I've never been able to find a better illustration of that. I keep looking, but I can't, of this than this. Imagine putting two guys in the same room and asking them to do something for a whole day. And they're in the same room. The conditions are the same. They're terrible. It's hot in there. It's stuffy in there. People are yelling at them all day and they
Starting point is 00:13:25 both have the same task to do and they have to do it all day. But before they start, you whisper into the ear of one guy, at the end of the day we will pay you $50. And then you go over to the next person and you whisper into his ear, at the end of the day we will pay you $1 million. I can guarantee you that those two guys are doing the very same task, the very same number of hours, in the very same circumstances, they are going to be processing their circumstances in a very different way, in very different ways.
Starting point is 00:13:55 One guy is going to be saying, I don't need this, I don't need this, forget this. And the other guy is going to be going, this is all right, you know, okay, fine, it's hot, it's stuffy, they're yelling, doesn't matter. Why? Because their different futures determines that they will process the present differently. Now, here's two people in New York City walking down the street. One person is a secular person. A person who says, well, I don't know if there's a God or not, but I have no belief in an afterlife, and I believe when you die, you're wrought. There's no heaven, there's no hell. When you die, you're wrought. And not only that, eventually the sun will burn up and burn out
Starting point is 00:14:42 and everything will go up in smoke. And the other person says, I'm a Christian and I believe that when I die I'll go to be with God forever and at the end of time God will come to earth and he is going to put everything right and defeat all evil. Now those are two people who have two absolutely different futures that they believe in. And even though the secular person,
Starting point is 00:15:07 as I'll show you in one second, will almost never think out the implications of what that future means for how they live now. And even though Christians also, largely out of laziness, will not think out the implications of what that future should mean for how they live now. Inevitably, because we are hope-based creatures, those two different futures will affect how you live. And they will either slowly but surely brighten and strengthen your life or they will darken and weaken you. Inevitably, Somerset Maugham, the author of
Starting point is 00:15:49 weaken you. Inevitably. Somerset Maugham, the author of human bondage, he was a British novelist very well known for that particular novel. In his autobiography he said this, he was a secular man but he thought out the implications and he said this, he said, if one puts aside the existence of God and survival after life as too doubtful, in other words, if you decide, well, we really don't know if there's a God or any life after death. If one puts aside the existence of God and survival after life as too doubtful, then if death ends all, if I have neither to hope Then, if death ends all, if I have neither to hope for good, or to fear evil after death, I must ask myself what I am here for, and how in these circumstances I must conduct myself. The answer is plain, but so unpalatable that most will not face it.
Starting point is 00:16:48 And that answer is, there is no meaning for life, and thus life has no meaning. And in Mom's book of human bondage, there is a particular character that probably represents him. His name is Philip Carey. And at one point, Philip Carey is sitting on a park bench in the London park, and this is what it says. He had an epiphany, sitting on a park bench in the London park. And this is what it says. He had an epiphany.
Starting point is 00:17:08 Here's what it says in the book. He says, there was no meaning in life, and man by living served no end. Life was insignificant and death without consequence. Philip exalted. It seemed to him that at last the burden of any responsibility was taken from him and for the first time he was utterly free. So he realized if we're here by accident and if afterwards there's neither good or bad that happens to me, I can live any way I want.
Starting point is 00:17:38 There is no meaning in life, there is no right and wrong, any way I want. Now, what Mom is saying, some of the things that Mom is saying is that anybody who says, as far as I know, there is no future after death and there is no future after history, this life is all there is, that's all there is. He says most people will not think out the implications of that. They'll live as if people have value,
Starting point is 00:17:58 as if life has meaning, as if there's a right and wrong, as if there's some things that we ought to live and die for, but the fact is, none of those things are true. He says, but most people will not think it out. They won't think it out. Ah. But you can't help it. Because over the years, it seeps in. What you believe about the future will either sweeten your life or it will sour it. It will brighten your life or it will darken it.
Starting point is 00:18:30 It will make it more and more possible to have poise and buoyancy or it will make it impossible for you to put up with the problems and the difficulties of life and you'll just sink. It's easy to assume that if we understand the gospel and preach it faithfully, we will be shaped by it. But this is not always true. How can we make sure that our lives, churches, and ministries are being shaped by, centered on, and empowered with the gospel?
Starting point is 00:18:57 Tim Keller's book, Shaped by the Gospel, is meant to help congregants, lay leaders, and pastors understand how to make the gospel the center of all ministry. In Shaped by the Gospel, Dr. Keller shows how gospel-centered ministry is more theologically driven than program-driven. As you read, you'll discover how reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the patterns of the gospel lead to renewal in your churches and ministries. This month when you give to Gospel in Life, we'll send you Dr. Keller's book, Shaped by the Gospel, as our thanks for your gift.
Starting point is 00:19:28 Just visit gospelinlife.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give. And thank you for your generosity, which helps us reach more people with Christ's love. But Christians have a hope. And what is that hope? That leads us to our third point, glory. The word glory shows up a lot, but more than anything else, and I just don't have the time
Starting point is 00:19:55 to unpack it all. It's so rich and unbelievably rich, but I want to just unpack the passage, verse 14, and I want to do it backwards. Here's what you're told. If you're a Christian, this is true of you. First, you are God's possession. See that? Now, this word that you are God's possession goes along with another statement, another term that's used a little bit later in verse 18, which you'll come to next week, we'll get there next week, where it says we're God's inheritance. Do you know what this means? What is your inheritance? It's your net worth, it's the bulk of your
Starting point is 00:20:35 wealth, it's your most treasured possession. Imagine you've got an apartment and you've got all your possessions in your apartment, but imagine you've got one thing in your apartment, some family heirloom, some piece of jewelry, some ‑‑ you know, something that you inherited that's worth 10 to 20 times more than everything else that you've got in that apartment. And all of a sudden you hear the fire alarm, uh-oh, you smell smoke, there's a fire. What are you going to do? You got to get out. Very easy. You get your inheritance, you get that heirloom, and you get your laptop and you're fine. You have all your information and you have 95% of your net worth right there and you run out
Starting point is 00:21:19 and you know you won't have any problem buying new furniture if there's a real fire and all that sort of thing. The Bible has the audacity to say that here is God. He owns all the stars, all the galaxies, all the planets, all those worlds, but when he looks at you, he says, this is my inheritance. When he looks at you, you feel wealth, he feels wealthy. When he looks at you, he sees you as more valuable than everything else in the universe put together.
Starting point is 00:21:57 Now look, this has been part of Christianity ever since the beginning, back when no one in any society had ever heard of self-esteem. Now today we talk about self-esteem all the time. How do we help people with low self-esteem in our society? Well, to find out I went to a woman's magazine or two, and I, you know, they smell very interesting. And I just took a couple of articles on how to help people with low self‑esteem.
Starting point is 00:22:31 Here are some of the ‑‑ here's the advice. Okay? I just sort of in summary, think of your talents. Lose weight. Set some goals and reach them, but make sure they're reachable goals. Spend more time doing what you really enjoy doing. Spend more time with people who actually appreciate you. Pat yourself on the back.
Starting point is 00:22:53 Who can argue with that? But what is that to this? That's like a dew drop, and this is the ocean. Here's something a little better to say to yourself. Say, I am the special treasure of God. When the God of the universe looks at me, his heart wells up and he feels wealthy. And the great God of the universe is willing to use all of his omnipotent power to protect me and rescue me no matter what the cost. See, if you don't start taking that sort of thing into your center, if you're a Christian and you don't take that sort of thing down into your center, you're going to be like everybody else. Everybody else around you.
Starting point is 00:23:45 They're scrounging for compliments and for strokes. They're desperate for affirmation. They're longing for acclaim and approval. They're always nervous and always upset. And you don't have to have any of that in your life anymore, not if you understand this. Do you know the glory of what it means to be God's treasured possession? You're like, you're like, remember,
Starting point is 00:24:13 all those old stories about a prince who gets bumped on his head and he's out there, and he's living on the street in poverty because he doesn't know who he is and he doesn't know his own power and he doesn't know his own wealth, and you're just like that and I'm just like that. If we go to bed at night tossing and turning because somebody insulted us, because somebody didn't notice us, because we got slighted, how dare you, if you know
Starting point is 00:24:50 How dare you, if you know this, how dare you nurse grudges and have hurt pride or feel deeply, you know, like I don't think I like myself and people don't appreciate me. Oh my goodness. You're God's possession first. Secondly, you're not only God's possession, but you are looking forward to a future redemption. Notice it says, until the redemption of those who are God's possession. Now what in the world does that mean? Because just a few verses before it says we're redeemed. Remember, I think it's verse seven. In Jesus Christ you have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of your sins. All right. Well well if you've already been redeemed,
Starting point is 00:25:25 past tense, what in the world is he talking about until the redemption of those who are God's possession? And the answer is, the word redemption means freedom from all the consequences of sin. And of course, when you become a Christian, in some ways your redemption is in the past because you're free from the penalty of sin. You're forgiven, you're pardoned.
Starting point is 00:25:46 But you are not free from the presence and the power of sin in your life. But someday you will be. What is this future redemption? Romans eight talks about it. And this is Paul, Saint Paul says this. I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory
Starting point is 00:26:03 that will be revealed in us. Our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we await eagerly our full adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Starting point is 00:26:29 For in this hope we were saved. What is that talking about? Excuse me, here's what it's talking about. As best I can put it, I'm going to be very careful as I say this. On the last day of history, a glory will descend on all people who are in Christ, a glory so perfect, so powerful, and so transforming, that the blast of the beauty will cleanse the whole universe of what's wrong with it.
Starting point is 00:27:03 There will be a glory that comes down on us that is so incredible that just the fallout of the glory and beauty that comes down on us is gonna cleanse the universe and make everything in the world okay. See, it means everything wrong with you will be gone and everything wrong with the world will be gone. All death, all decay, all suffering, all disease,
Starting point is 00:27:27 all imperfection, it'll all be gone. It's the ultimate cock crow. It's the ultimate dawn. It's the ultimate spring. Now, do you know what this means? What have I been doing? What I'm doing is, if you're a Christian, you know about that kind of things in the future,
Starting point is 00:27:55 but I'm trying to make it more concrete, I'm trying to make it more granular, because the more real this hope is to your heart, you know what that means, what kind of life you're gonna be able to live, that future redemption, that absolute future glory that's coming to you. John Newton said,
Starting point is 00:28:15 if you understand your future glory, it will make the best times leaveable and the worst times bearable. The best times leaveable and the worst times bearable. Or somebody put it like this, if you really, really know the future glory that's coming to you, it means you won't have to take pictures. You ever come back from a vacation and say, why didn't I take a picture of that? I'll never get back there again. Don't worry. Oh, but I've always wanted to be that country now. Looks like I'll never get to that country. I've always wanted to
Starting point is 00:28:47 travel there. In light of this, don't you realize that this world and this life, as great as it is, is only the title page of the book of reality? This world and this life, as good as it is, is only the mud room in the mansion of reality. Do you take pictures of the mud room? You don't need to. Oh my word. Fading is the worldlings pleasure. All its boasted pomp and show, solid joys and lasting treasure, none but Zion's children know. And that's not quite all, even though my time's running out. There's one more thing we're told here, and it's amazing.
Starting point is 00:29:37 Not only are we told that you're God's possession. Not only are we told that you can await full redemption in the future, that future glory, but then it says that you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. You know what that word deposit means? It's a word that means first installment. Now you know how powerful this glory is gonna be.
Starting point is 00:30:02 When it's gonna come down on us, it's gonna so beautify and glorify us, it's gonna be so perfect, powerful, and transforming that it will wipe clean the whole world around us of everything wrong with it. But we're not told that we have only a guarantee of that future glory, we have some of it now. The Holy Spirit, when it comes into your life,
Starting point is 00:30:23 when you believe in Jesus Christ, is actually a first installment of that very same glory. And it's in you now. Now I want you to know that all of us underestimate the power of that thing that's come into you. We underestimate the change that it will bring. You know, some people have dramatic conversions, most people don't, but everybody who's been a Christian
Starting point is 00:30:49 for long knows that what comes into your life will revolutionize you. It will revolutionize you. You will think things you never thought before. You will feel things you never felt before. You will have a whole new identity. When you, anybody who comes into Christianity always expects some changes. Nobody has any idea of how great those changes are because nobody
Starting point is 00:31:10 has any idea that the future glory is coming in now. A down payment, a first installment. You have to anticipate, if you're becoming a Christian, you have to anticipate that you will not be able to anticipate how sweeping the changes will be. There's a place where C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity has a, it says it like this, most people when they invite God into their life expect a few changes. And he says, but what actually happens is it's like somebody who's got a little cottage and you ask somebody to come and sort of clean out the gutters and they start to knock down walls.
Starting point is 00:31:51 God is not just here to make a few fine tunings to your cottage, he's coming into your life to turn your cottage into a castle. He's gonna make you into something infinitely greater and more wonderful than you could even imagine before you asked him in. Because the thing that's coming in is not just the Holy Spirit in some kind of general inspirational sense, it's the future glory coming into your life now. Don't underestimate the newness of what we'll bring. Don't underestimate the power of what it will bring. A lot of
Starting point is 00:32:19 you have got things wrong with you and you've given up trying to change them. How dare you? You know, Peter was too soft, and Paul was too hard, and they were very bad, raw material, and yet God turned them both into world changers and history changers, and who knows what he can do with you, and there's not a thing wrong with you. There's no guilt, there's no fear, there's no bad habit. There's nothing wrong with you that this can't change, that this can't overcome.
Starting point is 00:32:52 Do you see what is offered to you? And I wanna just, listen, in closing, let me just say this. This is worth giving up anything to get. There is nothing, there is nothing that you shouldn't be willing to give up in order to get this. This kind of hope, this kind of power, this kind of glory, this kind of future. If there really is a God who serves, this is perfect freedom, his service is perfect freedom. If there really is a God who is a source of all beauty and joy, and it will come into you, it will come into you if you know him.
Starting point is 00:33:31 If there's even a chance that all that is available through Jesus Christ, you should be willing to lose anything in order to get that. I mean, I've constantly heard people say to me, well, I'm interested in becoming a Christian, but it might hurt my career. It might mean not being able to have sex when I want to have sex. Oh my goodness, how in the world could you put that up against this? You will never meet the absolute one if you absolutize anything else but him. You will never meet the supreme one unless you give him in everything a supremacy. It's all or nothing. You have to say, if this is available,
Starting point is 00:34:09 then I am willing to ditch anything else to get it. Are you? When you say, I'm afraid if I become a Christian, I'm afraid it might hurt my career, might mean I won't be able to have sex, you're like a little baby playing in a mud puddle who doesn't know anything better when somebody comes and says, hey, let's go have a, let me take you to the ocean, let me take you to the beach. And you, no, I don't want to lose my mud puddle. Uh-uh, uh-uh. In the end. Now, there's nothing much
Starting point is 00:34:43 about Jesus' cross, is there, in this passage? And therefore, I'm only saying this at the end. How do you know? I'm putting it in the context of the rest of the chapter. How do you know that God really does treasure you? Look at the cross, where the Father and the Son were willing to lose each other for you. That's how you know you're treasured. How do you know you're gonna get this future glory? Look at the manger. Look at on Christmas. Philippians 2 said, Jesus Christ,
Starting point is 00:35:18 though he was equal with the Father, emptied himself of his glory so you could be filled with his glory. Look at Jesus Christ coming down. Look at Christ emptying himself. Look at so you could be filled with his glory. Look at Jesus Christ coming down, look at Christ emptying himself, look at Christ dying on the cross, and then you'll know you're treasured, and then you'll know that that glory is coming. In fact, some of it's in your life now. And then you know you're finally marked as God's possession with the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Thank you Father for helping us
Starting point is 00:35:47 to understand these great truths. We pray that you would breathe some greatness into our lives as we think about what you want us to be living like. We know Lord that we wanna live like this but we can only do that through your help. So we pray that you would help us to do that. Change our lives by your Holy Spirit
Starting point is 00:36:04 in accord with the things we've read here tonight. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. We trust you were encouraged by it and that it gives you a deeper appreciation for God's grace and helps you apply it to your life. You can find more resources from Tim Keller by subscribing to our quarterly journal at gospelinlife.com.
Starting point is 00:36:29 When you subscribe, you'll receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other valuable resources. We also invite you to stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Today's sermon was recorded in 2011. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

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