Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Rejoicing in Tribulation

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

When do you ordinarily say that God is good? When the circumstances of your life are going well for you. But Habakkuk says it’s possible to face disaster and still have a life of sustained joy in the midst of it. Habakkuk has learned that the great Babylonian Empire is going to crush his country. It’s an absolute social disaster. What does it mean, then, to rejoice in your suffering? Not for your suffering, but in your suffering?  We’re going to learn four things about rejoicing in suffering: 1) what it is, 2) when it happens, 3) how it’s done, and 4) why it’s possible. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 7, 2009. Series: Living by Faith in Troubled Times. Scripture: Habakkuk 3:1-19. 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 in Life. The Bible isn't a series of disconnected stories, each one a little moral for how to live. On the contrary, it's actually primarily a single story, an account of how the world was made and ruined, how it was rescued through Jesus Christ, and how someday it's going to be remade into a new heavens and new earth. Today on Gospel in Life, Tim Keller is teaching on this central storyline of the Bible and what that means for our lives today. The scripture on which the sermon is based tonight comes from the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3, verses 1 through 19.

Chapter three, verses one through 19. A prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet on Shiginath. Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in all of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day. In our time, make them known. In wrath, remember mercy. God came from Teaman, the holy one from Mount Peran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth.

His splendor was like the sunrise, raised, flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him, pestilence followed his steps. He stood and shook the earth. He looked and made the nation's tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. I saw the tents of cushion and distress,

the dwellings of Midian in anguish. Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord, was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? You uncovered your bow. You called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw you and writhed. Torrance of water swept by. The deep roared and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moons stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you stood through the earth and in anger you thrashed the nations. You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness. You stripped him from head to foot.

With his own spear, you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. I heard and my heart pounded. My lips quivered at the sound, decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity

to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go on the heights. This is the word of the Lord. This little book of Habakkuk, we're looking at for a number of weeks because it tells us how to handle evil times. Whether those are a society-wide evil times or just your own personal evil times, whether those are society-wide evil times or just your own personal evil times.

We've seen that Habakkuk has learned that the great Babylonian empire is going to crush his country, and the very, the description at the very end, where it says there's no figs, no grapes, no olives, no fields, producing food, no sheep, no cattle, that is a starvation level social collapse. It's like Europe right after World War II, in which not only millions of people had were killed in the violence, there were also millions of people that starved to death in the winter, and in the winter times right afterwards. It's an absolute social disaster, and Habakkuk sees it.

At the very end, he comes to face it with poise, with patience. In fact, he says it's possible to face that kind of disaster and still have a life of sustained joy in the midst of it. In 1851, an English missionary named Alan Gardner was shipwrecked with a number of other people on a little remote uninhabited island off the tip of South America, bottom tip there. And they all died one at a time. He was the last one to be alive before he died.

But they found a journal. He kept a journal. And they found his journal next to his body. In the last entry of the journal, cited Psalm 34 verse 10, young lions do lack and suffer hunger. Here's a man dying of hunger. Psalm 34 verse 10, young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

Shall not lack any good thing. And the very last thing he wrote in his journal was this, I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God. Here's a man dying of starvation. Here's a man far from home. His body's broken. All of his hopes are dashed. And his last words are, I am overwhelmed with a sense

of the goodness of God. Now let's think about that for a second. How do you and I ordinarily come to the conclusion that God is good? When do you say God is good? You know when you say God is good? When things are going well for you. When your fig trees are blossoming.

When the money's there, when the health is there, when things are going the way you want. And when the circumstances of your life are doing well, then you say, oh, God is good. But wait a minute. This man found a way to contact, to access the goodness and love of God apart from life circumstances, because everything in his life had gone wrong. Yet, he was in contact with the goodness of God. He was overwhelmed with a sense of it.

So you and I infer the goodness of God from good things happening in our lives. Then we feel like God is good, but he came into direct contact with it. And he knew the goodness and love of God in spite of life circumstances, and as a result he could face with poise anything that happened. Now, how do you do that? Anybody in their right mind would pay a million dollars to find out. And guess what? You're not going to have to.

You just have to listen to this Bible exposition. Because here, Habakkuk has learned to do it too. He's doing it. He says, though, the fig tree in other words, in spite of nothing going right, I can rejoice in the Lord. It's possible. What does it mean to rejoice in your suffering? Not for your suffering, but in your suffering. We're going to learn four things about rejoicing and suffering, four things here. What it is, when it happens, how it's done, and why it's possible. Okay, first of all, what it is. You know what it is?

Verse 19, likens rejoicing in your suffering to walking shorefootedly on the mountain tops. So after he says, I'm rejoicing in my suffering, then verse 19, the sovereign Lord of my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. Now, what's he talking about? Why does that, that's the metaphor. To rejoicing your suffering is like walking shorefootedly on the mountain tops.

Here's what the image is getting across. To go up high on the mountain is very dangerous. It's dangerous enough just walking here on level ground. But to climb mountains is incredibly dangerous. One little slip and you're gone. So to go up there is very dangerous. But if you're able to navigate it, if you're able to walk shortfootedly, if you're able to navigate it, if you're able to walk

sure footedly, if you're able to be up there and live up there, now in ancient times it was the safest place you could possibly be. The people who inhabited the high ground could not be attacked. You can't attack going up a mountain. You can't attack people going uphill. Not only that, the people who are on the heights could see for miles in all directions, so they could see what was happening, not only hours, but days ahead, they had the vantage point. And therefore, what we're being told here is, walking on the heights is way more dangerous than walking down here. And yet, if you're able to pull it off, it's way more safe, it's more wonderful.

Whoever possesses the heights in ancient times control the neighborhood. Now, this is saying that when suffering comes to you and it will come to you, when disappointments and failures and hard times come to you, and they will, it's pushing you up to the height spiritually. What does that mean? This is what it means. I've seen people go through suffering, you've seen people go through suffering, and some of them get softer and more tender, and others get harder. Some get more empathetic and

compassionate, and others get more cynical and bitter. Some get more humble, and others get more arrogant. You know, there's nothing that can make you more arrogant than suffering, because suffering can make you feel like, oh, nobody understands what I'm going through, makes you feel so noble, makes you feel so self-righteous. Some people get more humbled by suffering. Other people get more arrogant. Some people get more like Alan Gardner, able to face anything, and Other people get more arrogant. Some people get more like Alan Gardner,

able to face anything and other people get more fragile. Some people get more sweet and others get more, others get perpetually sour. In other words, suffering will make you either a far better or a far worse person than you were before. Suffering will either make you fall farther than you ever have fallen before and destroy you actually spiritually and emotionally, or it will put you on the heights. In fact, it actually says literally in verse 19, he makes me to go on my heights, Heights of character, closeness to God,

vantage, able to see things. I once talked to a man who was dying, and I was his pastor, he was dying, and he wasn't that old, so he was leaving his family behind. But I remember once he said to me, the closeness to God that I've gotten, the reality of God in prayer, the sense of his presence, the sense of his love, the understanding of my own heart, the beauty I see in prayer, the vantage point I've gotten. In other

words, he had been raised to the heights by his suffering. He says, I don't know how to say this, but I wouldn't give this up. I wouldn't trade it in even for more years. He says, I don't want to die. I don't want to leave my family, but I will not give this up. Even if somebody said, well, you can live till you're 75 and give that up. He said, never in a minute. What had happened to him. He was pushed to the heights by a suffering.

Your suffering is either going to lift you to the heights or it's going to destroy you. So you have to learn how to rejoice in suffering and if you do learn how to rejoice in suffering, it's going to It's like walking on the mountain tops. Now secondly the second thing we learn here is not just what it is, what it is, is walking sure footily on the mountaintops. When does it happen? And the answer is, it happens concurrently with sorrow and grief. Rejoicing the Lord doesn't come after sorrow and grief. Rejoicing the Lord doesn't come after sorrow and grief. It happens during sorrow and grief. This is extremely important to see. Look at verse 16. It's all there.

Verse 16 is Habakkuk's response to everything he's been seeing. All through chapter 1, 2, and 3, he's been seeing what God's going to do and how, you know, everything. And in verse 16 it says, here's his response. I heard in my heart pounded, now, can I just give you a little insight in Hebrew? It doesn't say heart. It says, my bowels trembled. Okay, don't think about that too long, but you get the picture, all right? It says, my bowels trembled, my lips quivered at the sound. That means he's crying. And then he says, yet, I will wait patiently for the day of calamity.

I will rejoice in the Lord. And about a month ago, when we were looking at this subject of waiting for the Lord, I think I may have said, that this Hebrew word that's translated weight-patiently is a word that means deep peace and repose. So in the Hebrew, verse 16 is really startling. What he's saying is, I am just, I'm so filled with sorrow, I'm weeping uncontrolledly, I can't stand on my own two feet and I'm filled with peace.

Now we have trouble with that because we think you can either rejoice or you can be in deep sorrow but you couldn't possibly rejoice in your sorrow and the answer is yes you can. At least the joy in the Lord happens concurrently, it happens within the sorrow. There's a very great danger that a lot of people, it's a very great danger that a lot of people think that rejoicing the Lord is a kind of stiff upper lip, stoicism. Don't let it get to you. A lot of people feel like if I'm leaping uncontrollably in it, if I'm just filled with grief in sorrow, it's a lack of faith.

That's not what you see in the Bible. You know, Job, chapter 1, remember? All those horrible things happen to Job. And what does it say? Job arose. He tore his garments. He fell on the ground and cried out. And then it says, in all these things,

Job sinned not. I'm afraid there's a number of Christian churches that would look at Job doing that and say, what a lack of faith. The Bible says he didn't do anything wrong. Why? Because rejoicing and suffering happens within sorrow. Here's how it works.

It's not either I'm happy in the Lord or I'm filled with grief in sorrow. Oh no, the grief and sorrow enhances the joy, drives you more into God like that man who is dying. Just like when it gets colder outside, it kicks the furnace higher, right? And therefore, the sorrow and the grief drive you into God, show you the resources you never had, enhance the joy, and then the enhanced joy, enable you to actually feel the grief. Feel the grief, see, there's a tendency for us to say,

oh, I'm afraid of the grief, I'm afraid of the sorrow, I don't want to feel that way. I want to rejoice in the Lord, but look at Jesus. Perfect, right? Perfect. He goes around crying all the time, he's always weeping, always sorrowing, always weeping. You know why? Because he's perfect.

Because when you're not all absorbed in yourself, you can feel the sadness of the world. And therefore, what you actually have here, and not only here, a lot of other places, I could quote them, I won't take the time to do it. The joy of the Lord happens inside the sorrow. It doesn't replace the sorrow. It doesn't come after the sorrow. It doesn't come after the uncontrollable weeping. The weeping drives you into the joy, enhances the joy, then the joy enables you to actually feel your grief without it sinking you. In other words, you're finally emotionally healthy. That's how it works. Looking for a new way to deepen your faith

and understanding of Christianity this summer? If you are, we'd like you to consider the new city, Catechism devotional. Based on the historic Catechisms of the Christian Church, this devotional offers 52 weeks of thought provoking questions and answers that explore the foundational beliefs of the Christian Church. This devotional offers 52 weeks of thought-provoking questions and answers that explore the foundational beliefs of the faith. Each week includes a scripture passage, a prayer, and a brief meditation

that will challenge and inspire you. Commentaries are written by contemporary pastors such as John Piper, Timothy Keller, and Kevin DeYoung, as well as historical figures such as Augustine, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. The new City Catechism devotional is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the hope of Christ's love with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

So that's what it is. Secondly, that's what it happens. It happens concurrently. Now number three, how do you do it? Now that we've shown you that this rejoicing in the Lord doesn't happen after the weeping and the heart pounding and the lips quivering and the knees buckling. It happens during it. Then you begin to realize that rejoicing the Lord is not just a feeling that comes if you hold on long enough. Rejoicing in the Lord is a discipline. It's something you do.

And if you want to know what that is, I'll suggest there's three parts to it. And if you want to know what that is, I'll suggest there's three parts to it. It's repeating, remembering, and rejoicing proper. Repeating, remembering, and rejoicing proper. Repeating. Notice what he says. Verse 18, the famous verse, I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will rejoice in God my, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Now something happened there that happens so often in the Bible, it's such a deep pattern in the Bible that if that you get used to it and those of us who read the Bible for years just get so used to it, we don't even notice it but I want you to notice it. What happened in that verse? He repeated himself, huh? It says, I will rejoice in the Lord, and then he comes right back and says, I will be joyful and God my Savior. And I say, why did he say it twice?

Is this a man in horrible need of an editor? You know, ever read strunk white, William Strunk, E.B. Why is it? Oh, mint needless words. Oh, mint needless words. You say, good editor, say, oh, no, wait, you just said that. You don't have to say it again.

But the Bible never says anything once. Never. The Bible constantly repeats itself. And if you look carefully, it's saying the same thing, but a little differently. And by saying, I will rejoice in the Lord. And then saying, I will be joyful in God my Savior. It's a little different.

And therefore, you understand it better by having it said twice. And it goes a little deeper and therefore you understand it better by having it said twice and it goes a little deeper into you and your understanding is a little bit richer. This is a deep pattern in the Bible. Repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. Why four gospels? Why wasn't one enough?

They're covering the same territory. By the time you get to the third gospel, you say, yeah, I know he rose in the third day. I know he ate on his disciples the night before he died. Why do I have to learn about this four times? And the answer is because every time it's the same and yet every time it's different and it goes in deeper and your understanding is better and it's over and over and over. Pharaoh, God warns Pharaoh, you know, sends them two dreams. Joseph gets two dreams about the future.

The miracles, so many of the miracles are repeated. Jesus feeds the 4,000, Jesus feeds the 5,000. You know, I've seen so many skeptical critics and say, well, it's pretty obvious that that's the same thing. And the gospel is just basically have a two contradictory kind of botched versions, you know, accounts of the very same thing. Because Jesus would, if Jesus fed the 4,000, he wouldn't come right back and feed the 5,000, which shows that he's a people who have never read the Bible.

Nothing happens in the Bible once. Everything is happening over and over and over again. Why? Michael Wilcock, one of the old British Bible commentators, puts it perfectly like this. Wilcock, first of all, he quotes Psalm 6,211, which says, once God has spoken, but twice I have heard it. And then he says, God teaches us by this method of repetition through scripture with good reason. The human mind is incurably centrifugal for ever flying off at a tangent.

It must be brought back to the great central choose of the gospel over and over. Made, our minds must be made literally to concentrate. Now, here's the point. Jesus Christ on the cross, in the moment of his greatest agony, how in the world did he have the presence of mind and soul to shape his response to the most, to searing pain by quoting the Bible? How could he shape his pain by quoting the Bible. How could he shape his response by quoting the Bible?

Psalm 22 verse one, my God, my God, why has that forsaken me? The only way Jesus Christ would have been capable of that was because he drilled the Bible into his heart. Over and over and over. You meditate on it, over and over again. You worship, you take a over again. You worship. You take a text and you study yourself.

Then you take your text and talk about with your friend. Then you take a text and you study it in your small group. Then you take a text and you hear a Tim where somebody else preaching about it. And every time you get it goes a little deeper, it goes a little deeper. And that's the only way you're going to change. It's the only way you're going to be able to handle suffering

or even crucifixion. Repetition, the discipline of repeating, of going over, that's the first part, repeating, secondly, remembering. The main thing that Habakkuk does in chapter 3, which is actually amazing, is all of the chapter is basically a recapitulation of the Exodus. All of it is a recounting of the Exodus. The pestilence and the plagues, that's how they got, he got them out of Egypt. The shaking of the ground, that's Mount Sinai. The trampling of the sea, that's the crossing of the Red Sea. What he's doing is he's going back to the gospel because the Exodus was the gospel,

at least the gospel in the form was the gospel, at least the gospel in the form that Habakkuk had, because the children of Israel were in slavery and in bondage, and they didn't have the power to get themselves out, but God came and he miraculously intervened and he entered history and he brought them out and they were saved not by what they did but by what what he did. That's the gospel. And here's what Habakkuk is doing.

He is telling himself and he's reminding himself and he's remembering and remembering and remembering the gospel until he gets to verse 16 and he says, okay, now I've got peace. You see this all through the Bible. Psalm 42. The Psalmist says, why art thou cast down O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God. Who's he talking to? Talking to God? It's not a prayer. Is he talking to his listeners? No, it's not a sermon. Who's he talking to? Psalm 103, very famous Psalm. Praise the Lord, O my soul. praise the Lord, oh my soul, bless the Lord of my soul, and do not forget all his benefits.

Who's he talking to? My soul, who's he talking to? He's remembering what he is saying is, I've got to connect what I know about God and what he's done in the past to my present. My favorite example of this is in Luke chapter 8. That's one of the accounts in the Gospels of the famous story of Jesus stilling the storm. Jesus is on a boat with his disciples and a terrible storm comes up.

And the disciples are panicked. And they go to Jesus and they say, Master, don't you care that we're perishing? We're going to die. Don't you even care? And Jesus stills the storm. And then he turns to them and he says, and I love the way he says it in Luke chapter 8, where is your faith?

Notice he doesn't say, you poor guys, you need more faith. We'll pray for you. He says, where is your faith? You know what he's doing? He's saying, you know who I am. You've seen what I've done. You've got the faith. Get it out. It should be here. Where is it? You're not remembering. You know, remembering is actually, rather, if you think about it, the word is actually a rather grizzly metaphor. What's your

remember, your hand, your finger, your arm, your leg, and it's been cut off. And now you're putting it back. You're reconnecting it. You're sewing it back on. And what remembering is this, Jesus is saying, you know who I am, but you're not connecting it to the storm. You know who I am, but you're not connecting it to your heart in the storm. There is no reason for you to panic, because you're not remembering.

And see, rejoicing in tribulation says, instead of you looking at the storm, instead of looking at the waves, instead of looking at the circumstances, you go back to the gospel, you go back to the Exodus, you go back to what God has done, you know who he is,

you know what he's done. What does it mean if he was raised Jesus from the dead? What does that mean to me now? And you're repeating, and you're remembering, but not only that, you're rejoicing. Now, see, this word rejoicing, please think about this. This can't simply refer to feeling. In Philippians chapter four, Paul says,

rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, very famous phrase. And you look at that and you say, how in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, very famous phrase. And you look at that and you say, how in the rejoice in the Lord always, how can Paul command apostolically that we always feel happy? And you know what, you can't command that we always feel happy.

And therefore, he's not commanding you to always feel happy. He's talking to you about a discipline. Whatever rejoicing is, it can't just be to feel happy. But the word rejoicing shows us it's not just a mental thing. It's not just you about a discipline. Whatever rejoicing is it can't just be to feel happy. But the word rejoicing shows us it's not just a mental thing. It's not just a stoic thing. It's not just, okay, I'm going to think about what I should do. I'm just going to do the right thing.

Now, it's more than that. Rejoicing means to treasure. It means to savor. Rejoicing means to take something that has happened and to say, what should this mean to me? How should I feel about this? Look at what he's done. Look at how he is.

Wait a minute. You're adoring. That's not the same as thinking. You're appreciating. You're adoring. That's not the same as thinking. You're appreciating, you're valuing, you're praising. And that gets us into the secret. Habakkuk looked at the Exodus, which was the gospel as far as he knew it. And that's what got him to the place where he said, even on fall and down, even on tremble like a leaf, I've got a deep peace, I can rejoice in my suffering.

But we have a leg up because we've got a perspective on the Exodus that he didn't have. What is that perspective? In Luke chapter 10, Jesus sent out his disciples and he gave them the power to heal people and the cast out demons. And they went out and they got all kinds of great things happening and they came back and they said, wow, Lord, even the demons are subject to our name and they were really excited. You know, they were famous already. They had power. They look at all the things they were accomplishing. And Jesus has the audacity to say, rejoice not that the demons are subject to your name. Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to your name, but rejoice that

your names are written, and it's a word for engraved in heaven. Now, here's what he's saying about that. Back in those days, in fact, even today, to have your name engraved in stone or engraved in metal? It meant you'd accomplish something. It means an award. It means something big. You accomplished something. It means you are significant. You're valuable. You've done something. And here's what Jesus is saying. Don't you dare look out at the things you're accomplishing in the world. Don't you look and say, I made law partner, therefore I'm somebody. You know, I got into that school, therefore I'm somebody. Look at my grades, I'm somebody. Look at the money I've made. I'm somebody. I've got a name. No, he's a

stop rejoicing in that. Stop savoring that. Stop doting on that. See, stop fondling that in your mind, your accomplishments, because when your circumstances change, you'll be destroyed. You'll fall down off the mountain. Because when things go wrong, if your heart is rejoicing and fondling those things, and that's how you feel like you've got a self and you've got an identity that'll all be going, no, he says, I want you to rejoice in this, that your names are past tense, already engraved, already written in heaven. You're already accepted. Your place is already there.

You're already loved. Now, how in the world can he make such a claim? Here's how. In Luke 9, did you know that Jesus met Moses? In Luke 9, Jesus goes to the top of a mountain. He's on the heights. And on those heights, with his disciples, suddenly he began to shine, glorious, he became. It was the transfiguration.

And Moses and Elijah appeared, and Luke 9 verse 31 says something that no English translation quite knows what to do with. It says that being able to talk to Jesus about, most translations say his departure or his going forth or something. But in the Greek, it literally says that Moses and Jesus were talking about his Exodus. Jesus' Exodus that he was about to accomplish. Can you imagine, here's Moses showing up and saying, I pulled off a great Exodus. Oh, you should have been there, but the Exodus you're about to pull off is the ultimate one.

What is he talking about? Here's what he's talking about. Moses risked his life to liberate the children of Israel from political and social bondage. But Jesus, the ultimate Moses gave his life in order to liberate not just from us, not just from political and social bondage, but from evil and sin and death itself. See the first Moses risked his life to liberate his people, but the ultimate Moses gave his life, not only that, the first Moses slew a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts so that children of Israel could be forgiven and they could be liberated. But the ultimate Moses was the Lamb. It was his blood that he gave so that we could be forgiven so that we could be liberated

from sin and evil and death. And the first Moses engraved the names, engraved the names of the children of Israel on precious stones, on sapphires and rubies and diamonds, on precious stones, and put them on the breastplate of the high priest, his brother Aaron, so his brother Aaron, when he was ministering in the tabernacle, had the names of the children of Israel engraved over his heart. his heart. But the ultimate Moses, Jesus Christ, is the high priest. And he stands before the Father if you believe in him. And we're told that everything in the Old Testament about the Tabernacle of the Temple all is a kind of copy of what's happening in the heavenly places. And Jesus Christ, if you believe on him, because he gave his life, because he was the lamb.

Jesus Christ right now stands before the Father as it were, and your name is over his heart. And when the Father looks at your name, he sees a diamond, he sees a ruby, he sees an absolute beauty. Because Jesus Christ was the ultimate Moses who gave his life, didn't just risk his life, who shed his blood, didn't just shed the lamb's blood. You can absolutely know that right now your names are written in heaven, if you believe in him. Now, use that. See, when Jesus says, don't rejoice in the fact that you've made partner or that you've

made money or that you've made it into the school you want. He says, stop doing that, stop fondling that. Stop doting on that, stop being comforting your soul with that. Here's what I want you to think about. When you get discouraged, okay, you've lost money, but your names are written in heaven. That's real wealth. Think about that until you're okay. And if somebody rejects you and you've lost some friendship or you've lost some reputation, but your names are written in heaven, that's real approval, that's real love. Think about that. What Jesus is saying is, rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice that I'm the ultimate Moses. Think about what I have done and live on a plane of who you are in Christ and

fondle that and treasure that and dream about that. See, until you can handle anything. That's how it's possible. Jonathan Edwards, his very first sermon, age 18, was called Christian Happiness. And his thesis was, Christians should be happy. He must have been having a good life at the time. And his three points were this, Christians should be happy. Why? A, because our bad things will turn out for good, Romans 8, 28. Our good things like our adoption and our justification and our union with Christ, our bad things will turn out for good, our good things can never be taken away

from us and the best things are yet to come. And at the end of the sermon, he said this, if you know this, if you know that your name's written in heaven, if you know your good things can never be taken away from you, he says this. Therefore, you may now look down upon the whole army of worldly afflictions and suffering, and you can consider with joy that however great they are, and however numerous, even though they might join all their forces together against you and put on their most rufal and dreadful habits, forms and appearances, and spend all their strength,

vigor, and violence against you, they cannot do you any real hurt or mischief, and it will all be in vain. You may triumph over them all if you know these things." Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you that it's possible for us to rejoice not for but in our suffering. Because your son, Jesus Christ, led the ultimate Exodus. And if Habakkuk was able to remember the Exodus and then say, I've got deep peace in spite of my sorrow and I can rejoice in suffering.

Wow, when we look at the great Exodus and the ultimate Moses and we see what he has accomplished for us and that our names are written in heaven, we can rejoice in that and we will. Help us now to take that into our hearts so that when suffering happens, it'll just push us to the heights to pray in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to today's teaching. We recognize that many of you will want to respond

to the news of Tim's passing. If you would like to know more about how to share your condolences or to share a story of how Tim's writing or teaching helped you or if you just want to know how you can pray, please visit gospelandlife.com slash remembering. This month's sermons were recorded in 1996 and 2009. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017,

while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. as a material in church.