Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Passionate Grace

Episode Date: October 16, 2026

A lot of people think that to say Christians have a changed relationship to the truth means that Christians become honest. It’s not less than that. Technical, ethical honesty is one thing. But we’re talking about something more and deeper. In Ephesians 4:15, Paul says, “speaking the truth in love.” But what Paul actually says in Greek is, “truthing in love.” He turns a noun into a verb. It’s an awkward phrase. And it harkens to a place where Jesus speaks of his followers as people who are of the truth, sort of made of truth, swimming in truth. It means a supernaturally changed heart is a heart that has an attitude and relationship to truth that no other kinds of hearts have. What are we talking about? In this great passage, we see 1) the problem of truth, 2) the encounter we have to have with truth, and 3) something about the practice of truth. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 3, 2002. Series: Practical Grace; How the Gospel Transforms Character. Scripture: Ephesians 4:15-25. 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. What does true Christian character look like and how is it formed? We often assume that becoming more disciplined, generous, or patient is simply a matter of trying harder. But even our best efforts can be driven by pride or a desire for approval. Today, Tim Keller explains how true Christian character only grows out of our acceptance of God's grace and how we live differently when the truth of the gospel transforms us from within. The scripture reading this morning is Ephesians 4, verses 15 to 25. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the head that is Christ.

From him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost to all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more.

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self,

created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body, love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth this is god's word we're looking at in a series of a series of passages that we're looking at in a series of teachings we're doing we're looking at the difference between a morally restrained heart and a supernaturally changed heart the basic idea the basic principles that in first corinthians 13

where Paul says, it's possible to be completely ethical in your behavior, to be completely morally virtuous in your behavior, but to do it out of a heart that's filled with fear, pride, and a desire for power over others, a heart that's not really changed that its root. So what we're doing is we're looking at what are the marks of a heart, of a life that flows out of a heart that's been changed at its very core.

and today we come to this trait, which is a little hard, as I'm going to show you here in a second, to even summarize in any one English word. A supernatural heart has its relationship to the truth changed. It has a changed relationship to the truth. If you go to any place in the New Testament that describes the marks of a supernaturally changed heart, you get at this. In Galatians 5, where the fruit of the Spirit are listed. It talks about one of the fruit of the Spirit being faithfulness, and a good way to translate that is the word integrity. In Colossians 3, which is a parallel passage to the one that we just read, it says, do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self and put on the new. In 1st Corinthians 13, and we actually read that at the very bottom,

I'm a little section out of 1 Corinthians 13. It says that the mark of a heart's been changed by the supernatural love of God, is that it rejoices with the truth. And maybe the most interesting example of how we're trying to talk about something that goes deeper than what we have an English word for is this very passage, especially verse 15. See, a lot of people right now, you're already saying, so what you mean is a person who's a true Christian or has this change in the life is an honest person. Well, yeah, not less than that, but I'm talking about something.

something more than that. As we're going to see, technical honesty and ethical honesty is one thing. This is deeper, not less than that, but more than that. Because in verse 15, it says instead, speaking the truth in love, and all commentators know that there's something very weird about this phrase, the word truth is a noun in Greek as it is in English. But Paul does not say, actually speaking the truth in love. Literally, he says, instead, truiting in love. He turns the noun into a verb. It's awkward, it's odd, and it's very rare. Well, he means speaking the truth in love, doesn't he? Well, no, he means something more than that. He means he's talking about something more than ethical honesty. There's a place where Jesus Christ speaks of his followers as people who are

of the truth, sort of made of truth, swimming in truth. Truth is your very very element. We're talking about something really different, really different. So what is this? I'm saying that the supernaturally changed heart is a heart that is changed in its attitude toward truth, and it has an attitude and relationship to truth that no other kinds of hearts have. So what are we talking about? Let's notice in this great passage, which you know, of course, has a lot in it with the word truth, has a lot to teach us about truth. We see here the problem of truth, the encounter we have to have with truth and something about the practice of truth. The problem, the encounter, and the practice. First, right off the bat, we see that there is a

problem here. The average person in New York City gets the willies to even use the word the truth. The very concept of the truth is something that frightens the average New Yorker, and there's good reasons for it. Now, let me give you a quote that I think summarizes the average New Yorker's understanding of this. It's actually remarks by former President Bill Clinton at University of Georgetown in November 7th.

He's talking about the terrorist attacks. And he said this. He says, they, talking about the terrorists, they believe that because they have the truth, because they have the truth, you either have to share that truth or you're a legitimate target. They think they have the truth.

But we don't believe you can have the truth. We think every individual counts, and that life is therefore a pilgrimage. Now listen carefully, and the reason I quoted that was because it's just a great summary, I think, with the average New Yorker believes. And I would like to show you that in one way it's very right and another way it's very wrong. And it also sheds light on our passage. So let me show you how it's very wrong first. what's wrong is the average person and this this uh the average person in new york and this quote shows

thinks that the problem we have in the world is the concept of truth the very idea that somebody can take hold of the truth notice that what it really says is the second part of that quote said we are the kind of people i think he's talking about you know enlightened people you know like you know like us we believe that nobody really has the truth you shouldn't Nobody's got the truth. Nobody knows what the truth is. There is no truth for everybody. We believe that every individual counts.

But now listen, that itself is an expression of a very powerful belief system. The idea that moral truth is peculiar to every individual, and then what really counts is the freedom and the individual rights, the freedom and the rights of the individual. That that's what really counts. That is an extremely specific Western, system of belief. It comes down to us from the Enlightenment. And to say, well, you know, we don't believe, you know, that anybody has the truth, and they do, that's the problem. The problem is

they have this concept of the truth. We don't have a concept of that. And yet, that itself is a truth. It's a system of beliefs. That is being told, you need to adopt ours, and then you'll be civilized like us. Now, this is the reason why Jacques Barzun, who teaches at, or used to teach, he's retired, very prominent historian at Columbia University. Recently he wrote this. He said, quote, truth as a goal and as a guide cannot be dispensed with. The all-doubting skeptic only pretends to do without truth. A society, however pluralist, needs some beliefs in common

and will not trust them unless they are labeled as truth. Fascinating. And what he is saying is that truth as an intellectual and as a cultural concept actually is inevitable. You can't do without it. It's impossible to leave it. Do you see that? For example, what he's saying is like this. To say it is narrow to believe that there's such a thing as truth for everyone. Okay? It's narrow to believe that there's such a thing as truth for everyone is a belief that everybody you think has to adopt or they're narrow. What is that? See, what Barzun is saying is if you say, well, you know, if you say, you know, it's wrong to ever say anybody's got

the truth, you are saying, you're making a universal claim. And you're saying you ought to adopt my take on reality instead of yours. So what Barzone is saying is absolutely right. To think that the real problem is the concept of truth is wrong. You can't avoid the concept of truth. You can't avoid truth claims. You can't avoid making them and thinking other people ought to adopt yours. It's impossible. He says, skeptics who think they're doing without truth really aren't. But there's another way in which that quote, in which this common understanding is right,

the problem in the world today is not the concept of truth. We can't do without that. The problem in the world today, in fact, I see it's even a bigger problem. The problem with the world today is the relationship we have to the truth, the way we use the truth. you notice, and this is very typical and right, it says their problem is they think they have the truth. And what that kind of statement is getting at is this idea that you can possess the truth,

that you can control the truth, that it's yours, it's you own it. You have power over it. You can now deploy it. And there you're getting at the issue. The problem in the world today is not the concept of truth. You are not solving anything to say, well, we don't believe there is such thing as truth. That is a system of beliefs. And you're imposing on other people.

You're saying, if you're going to be civilized like us, you have to, you can't get away. Barzan's right. But the real problem is your attitude toward your relationship to your truth. That's the problem. Now, nobody puts it better than Foucault. And in one of his books, he puts it like this. Truth is a thing of this world. It is produced only by virtue.

of multiple forms of constraint, and it induces the regular effects of power. Each society has its regime of truth, and its politics of truth, namely, each society names the types of discourse it accepts, the means by which statements are sanctioned is false, and the status of those who are charged with saying what counts is true. Now Foucault is right, and here's what he's right about. He says, the minute a person takes hold of something that we think, that's the way it is, that's true. Immediately, you start using it in the way that gets power of other people. You begin to sanction others. You put yourself in a position above others.

You begin to exclude others. You say, I've got the truth and you don't. And, you know, an ironic, this connection between truth and power, which is so immediate, so automatic, It's ironic proof of what Foucault says and the other postmodern thinkers say is how they themselves use that. You know, the claim that all truth is constructed. The claim that there are no truth claims

itself is used like this. You think there's such a thing as truth? You're a fundamentalist and a potential terrorist. What's going on? They're just proven their own point. to say all truth claims are a power trip is a power trip. All truth claims exclude certain people is a way of excluding people who don't agree with you. And you can see it in the academy, you can see it in colleges, you can see it in the way faculty hire one other,

you can see it in the way people talk in the media. In other words, they're right. Automatically, whatever the self thinks is true immediately becomes a power trip. They're right. and Paul sees it. In the beginning of this passage, you see the word instead at the top? I've done many things wrong this last week, but the only one I'm going to tell you about, the only one I have time to tell you about, is that I forgot, I really should have started with

verse 14. This passage starts better with verse 14, and here's what Paul has just said in verse 14, which he then gives you the counterpoint to in verse 15 with the word instead. In verse 14, Paul says this, do not any longer be infants tossed around back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. He says, don't be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown about here and there by the wind, every wind of teaching and the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming instead. Now, now what is he talking about? Here's what's so interesting. That word

teaching? He says, there are men coming to you with teaching. And the word teaching is the word for doctrine. It doesn't even say false doctrine, actually. And here's what Paul saying. There are men coming to you with doctrine. They're coming to teach you, but they want to keep you infants. They want to keep you dependent on them. They want to accrue power. They're scheming. They're cunning. They're trying to accrue power through their teaching. In other words, Paul is utterly aware of the fact that truth automatically becomes a regime. The truth claims automatically have a politics to them. He recognized that. He says, here's people who are coming, and they are coming to you with doctrine. They're with their truth claims, but they're doing it to keep you infants. They're doing it to keep you

dependent. They're doing to get control over you and to accrue power. So what does he say? Instead, Now we're at verse 15, finally. In verse 15, he gives a solution. But what does he say? Notice what he doesn't say. Paul does not say, these guys are setting up a regime of truth over you. Truth claims almost always lead to a regime of truth,

excluding and positioning and hierarchy. Instead, let's get rid of truth claims. Is that what he says? He says, does he say, let's set up a hermeneutic of suspicion? Does he say, let us distrust all universalizing discourse? he say all universal claims, all truth claims, anybody who thinks that they claim, make a claim for everybody, we just get rid of all of them? No, Paul doesn't say that because, as we've seen, you can't. The problem is not the concept of truth. You can't avoid the concept of truth.

Right? As C.S. Lewis says someplace, if you can explain away every single truth claim, you've explained away your own explanation. To see through everything, to see through a window is fine because you can see the garden afterwards, but if you could actually see through everything, you'd be blind. To see through everything is not to see. To explain away every truth claim, which you can't do, would be to explain away that. It'd be to explain away your explanation. It's impossible. So Paul doesn't say, well, let's get away from truth claims. No, what he says is this. Speaking the truth in love. And this, now we see how radical this is, in light of modern rightful thinking about the inevitability of truth claims with power,

in light of all that, here's what Paul is saying. He says, in general, truth claims lead to making people infants, control, and power. But I know a truth that makes the bearers into servants, makes the bearers into lovers. I know a truth that the bearers of which have to serve and love others not control them. I know a truth. Look at this. He says, from him the whole body, speaking the truth in love, we will grow up. That's a contrast to verse 14. He says, I know a truth that doesn't make us infants, but grows us up. I know a truth that when you give it to somebody doesn't make them more dependent on you, but less. I know a truth that doesn't disempower them, but empowers them. I know a truth that doesn't control them, but liberates them. And I know a truth

that inevitably forces in a sense. the bearers to empower rather than disempower to love, to speak the truth in love. There's a kind of truth that can only be spoken in love. There's a kind of truth that automatically leads to love. What is this? Okay.

Do you see what Paul's saying? Paul is saying the problem in the world today is not that some people think they have the truth and some people don't. Everybody thinks they have the truth. Get over it. The problem is the relationship of yourself to the truth you hold.

and how you treat others with it. And the postmodernists are absolutely right in saying it inevitably leads to power unless something pretty radical happens. And Paul's going to tell you what has to happen. What has to happen in the heart to cut that connection? And there's three things. You have to have an encounter with truth, and there's three things here,

that utterly change yourself, the self's relationship to truth. You have to have an experience of the truth. You have to discover the core, core of all truth, and you have to have yourself rearranged by the truth. How would your life change if you no longer had to prove yourself to anyone? We often live as though our value depends on our accomplishments, the opinions of others, or whether we're meeting our own expectations, leaving us trapped in a cycle of trying to measure up. In his short book, The Freedom of Self-Forgatfulness, based on a sermon from 1st Corinthians

3, Tim Keller explains how the gospel offers a completely different foundation. for our identity, one that's free from insecurity and pride, and that allows us to rest in God's complete acceptance. This month, as thanks for your gift to help Gospel and Life spread the transforming love of Christ with more people, will send you two English copies of the freedom of self-forgetfulness and one Spanish copy that you can share with a Spanish speaker in your life. Request your copies today at gospelonlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching. Let's go through those three things.

Number one, you have to have an experience of the truth. If you're really going to ever get over this propensity to use the truth against people hitting them over the head with it. Now, what do you mean experience? Let's look at the verses rather closely. Interestingly here, it says, it talks in verse 17 about people who are futile in their thinking. And then in verse 18, it says, They are darkened in their understanding, separated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that's in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Ignorance, spiritual ignorance, ignorance of God, due to the hardness of their heart. Now look, carefully, it doesn't say their hearts are hard because they're ignorant. It says they're ignorant because their hearts are hard. It doesn't say they're separated from God because they don't know the truth. They're hard-hearted because they don't know the truth. says they don't know the truth because they don't want to see the truth. They're hard-hearted. Now, Friedrich Nietzsche put this perfectly. Nietzsche in his book, Beyond Good and Evil, says the idea of objective human beings who are just disinterested seekers in truth

is nuts. It's crazy. It's a fiction. And boy, nobody can put it the way Nietzsche put it. Let me just show you. This is exactly what Paul's talking about here. He says, in our natural our natural situation, the human heart is too insecure to ever handle the truth. There is a natural hatred, a fear of the truth. Nietzsche put it so vividly. I'm going to read it to you and you'll hear. He says, I'll have to just find it. Okay.

He says, I have done that, says my memory. I cannot have done that, says my pride. Eventually my memory gives in. pretty poignant i have done that says my memory that's truth trying to get in i could not have done that it says my pride i could not have done that it doesn't take long for memory is revised huh memory is memory by the way this everybody knows this happens culturally he's saying it it happens culturally because it happens psychologically in other words as jack nicholson once put it you can't handle the truth and if Jack Nicholson and Friedrich Nietzsche and St. Paul all agree on something, it must be true.

It's got to be true. And here's why. What are they all saying? They're saying the natural human heart can't handle the truth. The natural human heart is hard toward the truth. The natural human heart can't take it. So what does Paul say? Look carefully.

What he says is nobody has ever begun to understand the truth unless, first they wake up. Because down in verse 20, it says, you, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him. Now look carefully. The translation has to put it this way. There's no preposition of after heard in the original Greek. And this is what Paul is saying. He says, remember how you came to know Christ. Remember how you came not just to know about him but know him, have a personal relationship. Remember how you got converted, he's saying. He says, you heard him

while you were being taught. Now, what do you mean heard him? These are the Ephesians. These are Christians in Asia Minor. This is 30 or 40 years after Jesus lived and died. Jesus never went to Asia Minor. What are we talking about? And here's what Paul's saying.

He says, yeah, the missionaries came. Yeah, the evangelists came, the preachers came, and they taught you. but you heard him. Every person who has moved from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus, every person who's moved from a hard heart to a soft heart, every person who's actually had a personal encounter with God, knows what we're talking about here.

Information became sensation. Stuff you had heard before, stuff you may have always believed even, suddenly becomes real to your heart. Now what do I mean when I say information to sensation? I'm just being radically biblical. Because the Bible insists on saying the difference between a person who is generally religious and a real Christian is someone, religious people have information they believe,

a Christian is someone for whom much of that information has become real to the heart. It says, for example, Psalm 34, taste and see that the Lord is good. Why is the Psalm is saying that? Don't they know the Lord is good? They might know the Lord is good, but they haven't tasted that the Lord is good. What does that mean? You know it intellectually, but it hasn't affected you. It hasn't come in.

It hasn't changed you. It isn't something that now is more real to you when things are bad. See, a person who says, I know the Lord is good, intellectually only, and then things go bad. And you say, I'm ready, I'm just sinking. Well, don't you know the Lord is good? Yeah, but it doesn't help. Because it hasn't become sensation. To taste that the Lord is good means it becomes a good.

means it becomes real to your heart. Or Ephesians 1 says, I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened so that you might know the hope and love of God. Well, don't they know the hope and love of God? What is Paul praying for? He's praying that the information will become sensation. And here's how this changes your attitude toward truth. He is saying, look at verse 20, he is saying, everybody who actually has become a real Christian, everyone who's moved from knowing about Christ to knowing Christ, has moved from hearing about Christ to hearing Christ, to actually hearing his word, hearing his voice,

things that you always may have known, things you may have always believed become real, they become galvanized and they become electrifying, they become real to your heart. And Paul says, if that hasn't happened, you're not a real Christian, but don't you see how that would radically change your attitude toward truth right away?

If you believe certain things, as a result of this, how are you going to treat people who don't? You see, if you believe you got to your truth by deduction or by induction or by induction or by teaching or by hard work and you say, I've come to believe in this or this or this and you talk to other people and they don't believe it, you automatically begin to feel superior, you automatically get angry, automatically begin to exercise power. Why? Because you say, why does the matter with you? Why don't you see this? You're the enemy. But what if this has dawned on you? What if this has come to you?

See? What if you, what if the voice of Christ came through? And for years and years you've been believing, and now suddenly you see and you taste and you sense and you hear. How do you treat somebody who hasn't seen and tasted it and sense? Do you say, what's the matter with you? If you say that, if you begin to use power as you bear that truth, you have not experienced the truth.

You might know it intellectually. You might have, you might, you know, you might believe it. You might have worked it out, but you haven't experienced it. My friend, you haven't experienced it. Or right away, that begins to change power relations as you bear the truth. So the first thing is you have to experience the truth. Second thing is you have to discover the core of all truth. Now, the second thing that changes the way in which you bear truth in the world is this.

You know, there's a lot of truths. You know, for example, what if I told you, did you know that, water boils at different temperatures at different altitudes? I guess that would mean that water would boil a little, take a little longer up here than down there, I suppose technically would. And you say, well, I know that. I read that in physics, textbooks, and so on. Is that a truth? Sure, it's a truth. So there's a whole lot of truth. But Paul says there's a core.

There's a core truth. In fact, there's a truth without which there wouldn't even be the concept of truth, which is another whole sermon, so I won't go into that. is a core truth that you have got to discover. This is the thing that has to come home to your heart. Not truth in general, not propositions, not principles, and what is it? He says, he calls it, this is his term, the truth that is in Jesus. What they experienced that woke them up was not just propositions, not just principles, the truth that is in Jesus. And every commentator points out that when Paul switches from the word from Christ, notice, to Jesus, He doesn't use the word Jesus that often.

And every commentator says, every one that I looked at, says this is a deliberate change. Paul is talking about the historic story of Jesus Christ coming to earth, living for us, dying for us, being raised. In other words, he is saying, and this is very, very important, a story, this gospel story,

is what comes into the center of your heart, and that's what becomes real. And that's what comes upon you. And that changes you in a very different way. Here's what I mean. Think about how a story, well, every good adventure, by the way, we talked about this about four weeks ago, but it applies again. Every great adventure story, every great epic, goes like this.

Some ordinary person sort of walking along, having an ordinary life, and suddenly they're taken to another dimension or taken to another planet or taken to another, or taken to another time or maybe just take into a faraway land or something like that and suddenly they're involved in this incredible story this adventure story and the adventure story has certain things in it great heroes horrible villains you know cosmic conflicts and in the very end victory snatched out of the jaws of defeat and after the story's over they come home back to their ordinary life but they're different they're different their character's been changed why is their character been changed? Why are they braver than they used to be and tenderer than they used to be and

wiser than they used to be? Why? Here's why. Because as they're going through every day now in their ordinary life, they're remembering the story they were in. So for example, no longer are they scared of anything. Why? Why aren't they scared of anything? Because in the story, they saw greater evil and they faced it down. In daily life, they're not tempted by anything. Why? Why? because in the story, see, they saw greater beauty than anything here, any celebrity or sex or money or anything here,

nothing here can hold a candle to what they saw there, you see? No evil can hold a candle to what they saw there. Why be scared of it? No beauty can hold a candle to what they saw there, so why be tempted by it? But most of all, they don't waver. Why? And here's why.

In every good story, somebody dies to save the others. In every adventure story, somebody gives their life. ever noticed that? Somebody gives their life. And when you're done, when you come back from the story, you say, I am not going to ever forget what he or she did. I'm not going to forget it. And I'm going to be true and I'm going to live without wavering. See? And that makes them great. That's how a story makes it great. Now, how do you make a person honest? There's two ways to do it.

The one is you sit the kids down, you sit the person down, you say, now I'm going to teach you the moral principle, the abstract moral principle of honesty. Let me show you why you need to be honest. Number one, class. First, the reason you should be honest is because if you're not honest, bad things will happen. You'll get caught. People will catch up with you. God will get you. The police will get you. You don't want to tell a lie. The teacher will get you. You don't want to tell a lie. And they say, all right. The second reason you don't want to tell lie, because you don't want to be like those horrible people who are liars. You're better than that. Has more self-respect. So what are you doing? by ratcheting up more and more anxiety

and by ratcheting up more and more superiority, you make the class technically honest. By increasing in the heart of their hearts, the things that are making the world of bad place, you make them technically honest. It's very easy to morally restrain a heart by ratcheting up and jury-rigging the natural fear and pride. You don't want to lie, do you?

Why? Because you don't want to be afraid. You know, you're afraid, see? You don't want to lie, do you? Why? Because you're proud. But the story of Jesus comes into the center of your life and changes your character, not through a principle, through a story. The principle, you can turn Christianity into a set of principles.

Now, class, I don't want you to lie. Why? Because Jesus didn't tell a lie. Don't you want to be like Jesus? You don't want to be like those people who aren't like Jesus. Oh, no. You don't want to be like non-Christians. Oh, no. And besides that, the other reason why you don't want to lie is you don't want God to come get you, do you? What are you going to say to God on Judgment Day?

No. This is a Christian way to enhance anxiety, enhance superiority, and bring them to the place through moral principles to technical honesty. Or you can decimate the fear and the pride. Because you see, here's what's so weird. Fear and pride, yeah, you can jury rig them so to keep people from doing a lot of lying. but I want you to know that the reason you ever do lie is out of fear and pride. Why do you lie? You're afraid somebody's going to catch you. You're afraid of losing people's approval. Or pride you want to exploit people. But the story of Jesus Christ decimates the real

roots of dishonesty. It doesn't jury rig the roots so that you're technically honest in many, many situations. It decimates them. Why? Because at the end of the story, the truth that is in Christ, Jesus, at the end of the story, Jesus stood before Pilate. And Pilate said, you know, I don't want to have to kill you. Help me here. Compromise. You know? Compromise. And what does Jesus Christ say? I came to bear witness of the truth. Says Pilate. What is truth?

If you're going to be one of these stupid idealists, you're going to die. What does Jesus say? I came to bear witness of the truth. The word truth shows up like 28. 18 times in the book of John, and only six times in all the rest of the other gospels. The book of John talks a lot about truth, and Jesus is talking, he says, I'm the way, the truth and the life. But at the very end of the story, Jesus says, I am standing for the truth, and he will not compromise, and Pilis says, all right, and kills him. Why? Why do you stand for the truth?

For you. You're in the story. If you're in the story by the power of the Holy Spirit, if this isn't just information, but it's become sensation. If it's you that he was dying for, in spite of the fact that you forsook him and denied him and betrayed him. If it was you that he has appeared after the resurrection, if you're in the story and you see what he did for you, that decimates the fear. Why? It decimates the fear.

Because you don't have to be afraid of the truth because Jesus loves you. He loves you enough to die for you, but it also decimates the pride. Why? Because Jesus had to die for you. you're that bad. So you're humbled enough,

so you're not proud to use truth against people. You don't need to. And you're affirmed enough so that you don't want to use the truth against people. It goes to the root. It rearranges yourself. That's why it says you put off the old

and you put on the new, and in Colossians it adds, therefore don't lie to each other. It doesn't say don't lie to each other because God will get you. Don't lie to each other because you don't want to be like those liars. It says, don't lie to each other because the story of what Jesus Christ has done has come into the center of your heart and

it has to remove the roots. Remove them. That's the reason why it says in 1st Corinthians 13, here's your new relationship to the truth. You rejoice with the truth. If you have, if you lie, you've forgotten the joy. If you lie, the love of Christ that minute is unreal to you. If you lie because I don't want people to make me think I'm bad, you're forgetting how in Jesus Christ's eyes, you're a beauty. If you lie because I really need to have people see that I'm in

the right here, the love and joy of Jesus Christ is unreal to your heart. But if it's real, and if it comes all the way in and it rearranges your life, my friends, you won't just be technically honest. Let me just close like this. You won't just be technically honest. You will be a person of the truth. You'll be made in the truth. What do you mean? For example, let me just give you a few examples of what kind of life you'll leave. First of all, you won't be afraid of the truth about yourself. That means you will be incredibly open to criticism. You're not afraid anymore. This gospel story of Jesus Christ comes in and makes you unafraid of the truth. See, you can handle the truth. So you should be the most open to criticism, are you? There's a person who's not just

technically honest, but is of the truth. See? Rejoicing with the truth. Secondly, you're not just going to be a person of, you know, of openness to criticism. Secondly, of course, you are going to be a person who's remarkably flexible. You're not a person who's always standing on principle, like you've always got to be right. You're not a person who always has to be right. You're not a person who, by the way, flexibility also means if you do not know that you're saved by grace and you think you're saved by being really good, you're going to be the kind of person who hates gray areas. You want to know exactly what the right thing or the wrong thing to do in every situation. is if you can't live with gray areas, think about this.

If you can't live with gray areas, you're not a person of the truth. You're not a person who has had, who really has understood and really experienced the acceptance and love of Christ. Thirdly, you're a person of integrity. You know what a person of integrity is? A person of integrity, the word integer means whole versus a fraction. And a person of integrity, you're the same on Sunday as the rest of the week. You're the same with one group of people as with another.

You're the same in what you say and what you do. You're a whole person. Why? You're not afraid of anything anymore. That's one reason why people are dishonest and can't handle the truth. And yet you don't need to use the truth against people. You won't use the truth against people. You don't have to use the truth against people anymore. You're a person of integrity. You're a person without anxiety.

You're a person with self-honesty. You're a person now passionate and zeal. zealous for the truth, but gracious in the wielding of it. Passionate all the time, because you're not afraid, but gracious all the time, because you've been humbled. Are you a person of integrity? Are you a person who keeps their promises? But there's no reason, there's no reason to break them now, unless they were stupid to start with. And then you're not afraid to break it when you know you were stupid because you're not a person who feels like, well, I can never, I can never say I was wrong. Look at the ease, look at the peace, look at the integrity.

Look what it means to be living a person who's of the truth. Jesus Christ, following the one who said, I am the truth, the way the truth and the life, know the truth, and it will set you free. Let's pray. Father, we ask that during this next couple of moments as we come to your table, you would make the truth real to us again of what your son did

so that we could become people of the truth. People whose relationship to the truth has been utterly changed. People who aren't afraid of it, people who only use it in love. We ask 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 gospelandlife.com. There, you can subscribe to the Life in the Gospel Quarterly Journal. When you do, you will also receive free articles, sermons,

devotionals, and other great gospel-centered resources. Again, it's all at gospelandlife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 2002. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 will Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.