Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Furious Love of Jesus

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

There is absolutely no better place anywhere in the Bible that depicts Jesus as Immanuel, as God with us, as God truly with us in our condition as this passage. We’re going to see who Jesus is and what he came to do. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 8, 1996. Series: The Real Jesus Part 2; His Life. Scripture: John 11:32-44. 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.

Jesus was the most influential man to ever walk the earth. Is it possible to really know him? And how does he change our relationship with our Heavenly Father, our relationships with family and friends, and our approach to our work and service to others? Find out today on Gospel and Life as Tim Keller looks at the life of Jesus. John chapter 11 verses 32 to 44. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he

was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him, he asked? Come and see, Lord, they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him, but some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. There was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord said Martha, the sister of the dead man.

By this time there's a bad odor, he's been there for four days. Then Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me.

When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. This is God's Word. Now I know that this event, if it's ever looked at in a church service, is always brought out at Easter, right? Near Easter, because it's about the resurrection.

So why are we looking at it now as we're approaching Christmas? And the reason is because I believe, and I'd like to show you, that there is absolutely no better place anywhere in the Bible, that depicts Jesus as a manual, as God with us, truly with us in our condition, God in the flesh. The first part of the story, which we didn't have read, is more familiar, at least it's the part that is more often read because of a very famous statement in it. Let's just recount it. In the beginning of chapter 11 of John, we read about the sickness of Lazarus. Now Lazarus, Mary and Martha, were a brother and two sisters, they lived together and Jesus

loved them. In fact, the language that is used of Jesus loving them is the intimacy is really unparalleled. There's nobody outside of Peter, James, and John that is ever spoken of in these terms when it comes to the relationship with God, with relationship with Christ. And so there's this intimate bond and in the very beginning of the chapter, word is sent to Jesus whose far away,

that Lazarus is sick. And he comes, but by the time he comes, to Jesus whose far away that Lazarus is sick. And he comes, but by the time he comes, Lazarus is dead. But when he first comes, Martha and Mary arise and Martha runs out first. And when Martha comes out to see Jesus, she says to him, she says, Lord, if you had been there, my brother, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. In other words, Martha says exactly the same thing that Mary says. Now that's up a little earlier in the chapter. She runs out and

says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. I know he'll rise on the last day, but now he's gone. And Jesus responds to her with some of the most famous words in the New Testament. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes in me will never die. And so that's very, very famous. And now he moves in and he meets Mary,

the second of the bereaved sisters. Mary falls at his feet and says the very same thing, word for word that Martha said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And his response to her is completely different than it was to Martha. And that's where we're starting. That's where we're picking up this passage. That's the thing that very often is missed and that's the significant thing. One commentator said that this contrast

between what Jesus Christ does here, that Jesus response to Mary proves this commentator says, and I've been thinking about it. It seems like an overstatement at first, but I've been thinking about it. I think he's right. He says, this proves that this is not a work of fiction. No human writer could have made this up.

This is beyond the intuition. This is beyond the imagination. This is beyond the expectation of any human being. Because what Jesus Christ does here with Mary is utterly at loggerheads with what he's just on with Martha and what he's just about to do. What he's going to do? Look, with Martha, now same question, utterly different responses, seconds apart.

With Martha, he speaks with Mary, he's speechless. All he does is say, where is he? With Martha, he teaches about his triumph, his bold and confident. With Mary, he's weak, he's deeply troubled, he breaks down. With Martha, he actually confronts the flow of her heart. You know, she's sinking and what does Jesus say? He says, oh, I know he'll die. He'll rise in the last day, but, you know, he's gone now

and what is Jesus, he confronts her. He says, I am the resurrection in the life. You don't need to wait till the last day. I'm here, lift up. See, he confronts the flow of Martha's heart, but with Mary, he completely enters into the flow of her heart. What do you see? Mary sits down and says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Mary saw her weeping, and we're going to look in a second at all these words, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him?

He asked, come and see Lord, they replied, and Jesus wept. He doesn't say a thing. It's completely different. Instead of the powerful, absolutely in control, Lord of Might, which you see just seconds before, now you have a week and trembling Jesus, who through love for this family, his love for this family is so strong

that it actually kind of sucks them under, pulls them right into the devastation. He's speechless. He's got absolutely nothing to say. Now, no fiction writer would have posited something like this because first of all, this is completely at loggerheads with what he's just shown to Martha. But not only that, it seems to make no sense in light of the fact that he knows within just a few seconds, he's going to turn that funeral into a feast. He's going to turn that funeral inside out.

He's going to bring incredible joy. So why in the world when he just said to Martha? I am the resurrection the life. Do you know who's here? Lift up he confronts why when he comes to Mary doesn't he say Mary just wait half faith Your sorrow will be turned to joy not at all He breaks down and the words as we're going to see in a second are really actually in some ways stronger than you'd ever think. Why? Why does this happen? Why does John show us this? Why does this story go this way? I'll tell you. John is showing us to us for two reasons. Number one, he wrote this because it happened. Why else would he have written it?

But secondly, he shows it to us because it shows us who Jesus is. It shows us who he is and what he did, who he is and what he came to do. Now look, first of all, here's what it shows. It shows us who he is. He's the God-man. He's not just God, he's not just human. He is not just flesh, he's not just human. He is not just flesh, he is not just deity. See?

He is God in the flesh, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail the incarnate, the carnal deity. And you see it. Here's why. If you listen, if you raised in a liberal church. The liberal church loves to talk about the humanity of Christ, but it boxed it as trouble with the full deity of Christ, the full majesty of Christ. It boxed at the cosmic centrality of Christ. It doesn't want to talk about his centrality, it doesn't want to talk about what it means of his really God, but if you are raised in a conservative church, they love to talk

about the divinity of Christ. But they have not come to grips, they have trouble come into grips with the full humanity of Christ. They don't seem to be able to relate to how patient he is with sinners, how he sits and eats with them, how sympathetic he is, with broken people, hurting people, sinful people. They can't get into that. And I'll tell you why. Because a liberal Christ is a human Christ without deity and a conservative Christ is a divine Christ without real humanity. And we have neither here because we have both. And this, that's the reason why this startles everybody. What he does with Martha and Mary startles everybody. Because first of all, you see him in control. And that's what concert is like to see.

And then we see him weeping and not being able to come up with any answers. And that's what liberals like to see. And he is both. And that's the reason why no fixed writer would come up because everybody's something. You're either conservative or liberal or somewhere in between. And this isn't anywhere on this spectrum. This liberal or somewhere in between and this is anywhere on the spectrum. This isn't an in between Jesus. You see, both and they are not in loggerheads because if he is not absolutely divine, he

wouldn't have been able to truly become human and if he wasn't absolutely human. You see, then his divinity wasn't great enough to make him human. On the other hand, if he wasn't absolutely divine, then his humanity is not all that amazing because his feeling isn't voluntary, his weakness isn't voluntary. Are you following me? You see, if he's just like all of us, if he's stuck in this vulnerability, just like all of us, so what? We're vulnerable, we're weak, we have trouble with answers, but he did it voluntarily. He didn't have to be that

way. That shows how great he is. His greatness is shown by his weakness. His meekness and weakness is shown by his greatness. They go together and having just said something that really gets into the very heart of the grandest mystery of the universe, the thing into which angels long to look. I would like to say that as we see this, this is what's so great about the Bible, it's not written as a theology textbook. If you have trouble philosophically with the idea of the incarnation, if there's anybody

here who says, I don't believe that God could become really human. If there's anybody here who says, I don't believe that something totally, infinitely powerful could also become at the same time, totally and infinitely weak. If you say philosophically, I can't believe that. Religiously, I can't believe that. And it would be very, I would imagine a number of you are like that because there's no other religion or philosophy in the world that believes as possible. We don't have to avail ourselves of philosophy. I want to prove something to you very personally. You may not believe in the God-man, but the God-man is exactly what you need in your moment of greatest trouble because Jesus Christ gives us a ministry of truth and a ministry of tears, and a ministry of truth without tears or tears without truth does not help you

a bit. You've got to have both. He comes to Martha and he gives her a ministry of truth. He comes and he says, I'm the resurrection of the life. Now, how can he do that? Because of his highness. Because he is so high, he knows there's a truth. He knows there's a hope.

He knows there's eternity. He knows that there is a solution for evil. He knows it. He's able to come in and say, there's a truth. There is hope. He knows it because he's so high. Because he's got, he can say that. Because of his highness.

But then he comes to Mary and he gives her not a ministry of truth, but a ministry of tears. And he enters into her feelings and he weeps with her. And he's able to do that because of his loneliness. If he was only high, he couldn't do tears. If he was only high, he couldn't do tears. If he was only low, he couldn't do truth. And here's what's so interesting. We'll never be healed unless we have someone of infinite highness and infinite loneliness

and you can see it in your own life. A ministry of truth without tears, a ministry of tears without truth, they never work. If somebody comes to me with truth and not tears, I won't listen to them. Truth without tears. Again, that's sort of what comes out of what I'd call the conservative mindset. Here's the answer. Don't you see the answer? Buck up. And we don't listen because truth without tears doesn't work, but I'll tell you something. Then there's the liberal approach. Tears without truth. Tears without truth says, you know what?

Who knows what there are no answers. Who's to say there's a God? Who's to say everything is for what we know everybody has to work these things out, but we weep with you in the face of evil. And let me tell you something. Truth about tears doesn't work, but tears without truth not only doesn't work, tears without truth aren't valid. There's something disingenuous about it because when you say, who's just, there's no answers, but then you say, this is evil, let's weep about it, where do you get that from? Who's to say that that's evil? Listen, if there is no truth, if there's no God,

if there's no eternity, death is absolutely natural, even though you feel it's different. What's so upsetting about it? Who's to say that this is evil? Who dares complain about it? People who say there's no answers, and then they say, let's weep with the people against evil. You're talking out of two sides of your mouth.

Tears without truth, truth without tears won't work work you need someone of infinite highness and infinite loadness You don't believe in the God man and yet there is a cavity in your heart that's shaped for him and it won't be filled by anything else Where did that cavity come from? Because this is the one you seek You need someone like him. Nothing else will heal you, but one of infinite, high-ness, infinite loneliness, nothing will help you but the incarnate God. Nothing will heal you.

But this... Everybody thinks they know the Christmas story. Yet, while there are many Christian references all around us during this season, how closely have you examined what really happened that first Christmas night? In his book Hidden Christmas, Tim Keller takes you on an illuminating journey into the surprising background of the Nativity story to help you better understand the redeeming power of God's grace. Hidden Christmas is our thanks for your gift to help Gospel and Life reach more people

with the amazing love of Christ. Request your copy of Hidden Christmas today when you give at gospel and life.com slash give. That's gospel and life.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. And before I move on that, so you see this, why get this out on Easter day? I mean, it's a great thing for Easter day, but what a great time for Christmas is a great time because this shows us. He is a manual and it shows us who he is. But before we move to who he what he does, let's apply this for a minute.

I'm afraid to leave. I'm afraid at the end, I'll run out of time. Let me apply this to your lives. Some of us have a kind of conservative bent and some of us have a kind of liberal bent naturally, our temperaments. If you have a conservative bent, you love answers and you're not good with tears. People come to you with their problems and you kind of, you're fixers, you're a fixer. And that's me to some degree. I'm a bit of a fixer. People sit down with their problems and I say, well, here's the analysis. There's three things that are wrong and you have to do six things to change it. And people say, oh, and then at the very top, they don't come back. And you know what's funny? They don't do what they know.

It's right, it didn't help. See, fixers, fixers are not like Jesus. That's truth without tears. Watch out, are you a fixer? Are you good on answers, but not at weeping and entering in? Do you like to spot Bible versus the people? On the other hand, some of you are feelers, not fixers. It's very, very natural for you to enter in and you're very, very sympathetic and you

hate answers and you hate to confront and you never do. Now, I want you to know that if you're a feeler or a fixer, which is what you're going to be one or the other because of your temperament, you're not like Jesus. And the way you know that you're really going to help people and the way you know that Jesus is actually being recreated in you. The way you know you have a living faith in him that he is being formed in you is that you will find that you're able to do both. And you will specially find that the thing that doesn't come natural to you, whether it be answers or whether it be tears, will start to happen. And maybe you'll actually get to the place when you actually realize that's Amartha needs

the truth now and tears later and a Mary needs the tears now and the truth later and you'll actually know the difference between Mary's and Martha's. That great place in Handel's Messiah where we sing wonderful counselor. The mighty God here he is. All right, but now this also tells us what he came to do because here's what's interesting. The weeping of Jesus, I think, tells us who he is, Here's what's interesting. The weeping of Jesus, I think, tells us who he is. But the rage of Jesus tells us what he came to do. And you say, what rage? Now, afterwards, when I do the question and answer time, I'm sure somebody's going to bring this up. And I'm always afraid of making people distrust any particular Bible translation. So when I say this, but let me say this, that there is a word here in verse 33 and 38

that has been a quandary for translators for years now. And then the NIV translation, which we usually put in because it's about the best one going, it did not solve the quandary. And here's what it is. It's this word in verse 33, it says, when Jesus saw her weeping and all them weeping, In verse 33, it says, when Jesus saw her weeping and all them weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit. Then down in verse 38, it says, Jesus once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. Now, here's the problem with this word. This word means, and everybody who knows anything about Greek, you know, not to be a great Greek scholar, everybody knows, this word means to snort or bella with anger, and it

usually is used for animals. It's talking about a kind of primordial rage. And the transitor's gonna know what to do with it. The only other place that the word is used in the New Testament, though, is very common in ancient Greek. The only other place in the New Testament it's used is in Mark 14, verse 5, when the woman takes this enormously expensive perfume and annoys Jesus' feet with it and everybody comes at her and it says,

what does it say there, it says that they rebuked her harshly, that's what the NIV translation has to do, it can't avoid it, they bellowed at her, but they don't want to say it about Jesus. And again, you know why. I think the reason why is they figured this would just raise more questions. People would read this into how could this be? How could this Jesus fill with grief? Why would he at the same time be quaking with rage? For those of you who are Fisionados of translations, one modern translation that gets this has

the guts to put it this way is Eugene Peterson's book the message. That's actually his translation of the New Testament. And what he says down here, as he says, when Jesus saw them weeping, he became deeply angry. And in verse 28, it really says, quaking with rage, he approached the tomb. He approached the tomb. In his grief, there was a towering anger because Jesus Christ did not approach the tomb of Lazarus, sniveling with weakness, but He approached as a champion approaches the foe. What made him so angry? Well, let me go, I'm going to have to do two tiny little digressions. First of all, one of the things that always comes up is if Jesus Christ knew he was about to get Lazarus out of the grave, why was he weeping?

What was he really weeping? Well, it says he began to weep when he saw everybody else weeping, but he knew he was going to turn their weeping into joy. And therefore, if he's only thinking of Lazarus and Mary and Martha, that could not sustain the emotion. Could it? He couldn't only be thinking of them. And here's where his God-manness comes together again. Because he's man, and he loves these people, he sees the havoc of death from the inside. And he feels it. And he sees its devastation. And there's the tears, but because he's God, he can look through. And here's what I think he knows. He's interrupting his funeral. He's able to interrupt this funeral and turn it into joy, but he's looking throughout history and he's seeing all kinds of funerals that he will not interrupt. He's not going to be able to show up at every funeral, and he doesn't just see Mary and Martha weeping.

He sees all, he sees, have you ever wept at a coffin? And if you haven't yet, if you've never wept despondently at a coffin, if you haven't wept like Mary and Martha weeping at a coffin, you will. And he's seen it. Someday either I will weep at Kathy's coffin or Kathy will weep at my coffin. And you know what we're gonna have to do? We're gonna have to get out verse 36. Which says they looked at him and they said look at him weeping, behold, see how he loved him. And I realized he can't just be weeping about Lazarus, he can't, he can't just be weeping about Mary and Martha. He can't knowing that he's going to do this miracle, which is to show forth his eventual defeat of death and show his glory, knowing that that wouldn't sustain enough all that emotion in that weeping. He's thinking about all of us. He's seeing, if I ever have to weep at Kathy's coffin off to look at verse 36 and I have

to read that, not as behold how he loves Lazarus, behold how he loves me, behold how he loves her. He's weeping because he sees us. And fortunately, because he loves us, he's not just weeping. I don't need just a God who weeps at the grave. I don't need a God who only weeps. Remember, I don't just need tears, but I don't need less than tears, but I need more than tears.

He comes after death. What does he mad at? And in one second we get to the application I'll show there's two things he's not mad at. He's not mad at them. He wouldn't be mad at them weeping. Of course not. He's not mad at their grief. And he's not mad at himself. He's mad at death. And he approaches death in a rage because he's about to do a battle. And you say, well, where's the battle? I thought he approached death on the cross.

Wasn't that where the big battle? Yes and no. Because you know, and I don't know why I didn't think about this, but I didn't put it in there. But verse 45 to 53, I didn't want to print too much in there and make the text look too long. Immediately, immediately after this is over. You know what it says? In verse 45 it says, many of the people who saw Jesus do this, went home and told the Pharisees.

And the Pharisees held a big council, the Sanhedrin. And in verse 53 of this chapter, it says, verse 53, it says, from that day on, they plotted to take his life. Jesus knew if he raises Lazarus, if he does this tremendous action, he's forcing the hands of his enemies. And therefore, Jesus knew this, if I bring Lazarus out, I'll bury myself. The only way for me to interrupt his funeral is to cause my funeral. The only way to spring him out of death is to sign my own death warrant. Literally, historically, John says that's exactly what happened. Jesus comes up knowing this is the beginning. Because he's not just looking at Lazarus.

Remember, we said he couldn't just be looking at Lazarus. He wouldn't be crying the way he is. He wouldn't be crying the way he is. He wouldn't be angry the way he's looking at us. And he knows the only way he's going to interrupt any of our funerals is if he causes his own. And now he begins it. And in a sense, he's probably having a dialogue with death. And death says, you touch me and I'll touch you.

You bring Lazarus out and I'll bury you. And Jesus has come on. He's bellowing with rage out of love. Furious love. You raise a child, try to get that child everything, and you find out someone is trying to seduce that child into taking drugs, you get mad. If you have done this great work of art and you put it up on a wall or something and you find someone coming and defacing something you might have spent months on, maybe years on, you get mad. Anger is a sign of love. The more love, the more anger when what you love is threatened. And Jesus, because of His love for us, saying not just Mary and Martha weeping at a coffin,

but all of us weeping at coffins. It doesn't just weep. Gets mad. And He moves out. And when He says, Lazarus come out, He's signing His own death warrant and he knows it. I can only raise you if I sink. I can only raise you out if I am buried. And I'll tell you something.

Just as the imminent resurrection did not get rid of the pain of grief, of Lazarus. So the fact that Jesus knew he was going to be raised could not possibly overcome What he knew he was going to have to go through Death with its inextrable jaws were going to close on him and he walked right in Now what does this mean this shows us if you've been here for a few weeks at every wedding He's thinking of his own wedding remember At every wedding he's thinking of his own wedding. He? At every wedding, he's thinking of his own wedding. He's saying, how am I going to die to provide the wine for my wedding day? But at every funeral,

he's thinking of his own funeral. You know why? Because everywhere he goes, he's thinking of you and me. He's here to do one thing and one thing only. He's here to die for us. and one thing only. He's here to die for us. See how he loves you. Now, application here at the end is really rather profound. We don't have time to delve in as much as possible. But here's how you should deal with suffering. Now, here's how you should deal with evil. Here's how you should deal with the brokenness around you and in you. Jesus Christ gets mad at death and he goes after it Jesus Christ gets mad at death and he goes after it He gets mad at evil and he goes after it. He goes to the tomb bellowing tears. Yes, sympathy. Yes, but angry He goes after it and the two things he does not get mad at or if just about is

Significant for us is the two the thing he does get mad the two things first of all he does not get mad at them weeping He does not get mad at all of them breaking up. And that means that the first thing you must not do when you confront evil and suffering in your life, in your life and in the people around you, is become a stoic. Jesus does not get mad at them. In fact, the word for weeping in verse 33 is not,

you know, the word for weeping there is wailing out loud. He's not mad at them. Now listen, there's a whole lot of forms of stoicism. Eastern philosophy says death is an illusion because individuality is an illusion. Therefore, when death comes and suffering comes, it's an illusion. Have poise, be at peace, don't let it get you down Jesus will have none of that

Jesus really does Jesus alone Has the right to say what Dylan Thomas said do not go gentle into that night rage rage at the dying of the light See Jesus really he got none of that, but I'll tell you something else. He will also have none of another kind of stoicism, I'll call it conservative Christian stoicism. I'm having problems in my life, well, I just, I quote Bible versus to myself and say, well, you know, it would be a lack of faith

to break down and cry. I'm very strong, I have faith. You don't understand anything about faith. You must have faith in your confidence. What is faith? Faith is trust in his grace. Not in your ability to keep it up. Jesus does not get mad at the ones who are wailing. And therefore, a stomach approach to suffering is a pad answer to say, well, this is natural.

There must be a reason for everything. You know, this is, I'm not going to let it get to me. That's a pad answer. That's not the way Jesus approaches suffering. He's weeping and he's phoenix rage. He doesn't do that. He's not mad at them. But he's not mad at him. Now listen, when you confront evil and suffering, or maybe let's be real, let's be really. If somebody close to you dies, do you get mad at God? Do you say, why didn't God just snap his fingers and keep that from happening? He could have done it. Jesus Christ says He's God. Jesus

Christ over and over and over again is conscious of the fact He's God, but when Jesus Christ goes to the grave of His friend, He gets mad at death and He's not mad at Himself. What does that mean? Now tell you what it means. There's volumes of theology and the fact that he's mad at That death and not at himself. This means that death is not his design. This means that death is not something that he did not create a world like this, but He could snap his fingers and get rid of suffering and death We just said that suffering and death is not his design. He didn't invent it. Where'd it come from?

It came from sin, the Bible says. It comes from rebellion. It comes from the decay and the cosmic structure that comes because we've rebelled against God as our rightful master. The fact that he's mad at death shows that he did not come up with death. But do you see, is he powerful enough to snap his finger and get a rid of death and suffering in the world, of course he is? And if you want him to do that fine, but then we will go with it.

The only way our sin has created a world in which the more you love the more you suffer Hear me honest If you want to avoid love see us list said it pardon me if you want to avoid having your heart broken see us Lewis said this years ago. It's very easy. Don't love anything The more you love the more you get involved with people then their hurts hurt you the more you love the more you get involved with people, then their hurts hurt you. The more you love, the more you will suffer. The more you love God, the more you will suffer. If you obey God, you will suffer. If you tell the truth, instead of avoiding suffering by lying, I mean, there's a hundred

ways. We live in a world now where if you want to be loving, you suffer. And the proof of that is the most loving person who ever came into the world suffered the most. But he was not mad at himself because God didn't bring that about. Rather, this. If God was only holy, all he had to do was snap his finger and get rid of all the evil and suffering, he gets rid of all of us. But if he is going to destroy evil and suffering without destroying us, he has to come into

the world and he has to actually suffer himself. When you get, when you suffer and then you say, I'm mad at God, who's he going to be mad at? He's got farm work right that he mad at us and we do have mad at him. But he's not mad at us or himself. He's mad at death. He forgives us and he knows. The only way to save us, as if he gets involved with suffering, if he dies on the cross and if through a process of sacrifice and suffering,

he redeems us. Jesus Christ has not just said to our suffering because if he did that he'd be saying to us, even Jesus cannot love without suffering and you won't be able to either. Suffering will make you loving, loving will make you suffering. That's the name of the game. But if you actually do, as Lewis said, see, as Lewis says, if you don't want your heart to be broken, put it in a little casket. Don't let it, don't let it love anything. But in that casket, it won't be broken. It'll become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

The only place in the whole universe where you can be safe from suffering is hell. Because only down there is your heart so hard that you don't love anything. And then of course, you don't feel anybody else's pain. You feel something far worse, you feel unredemptive suffering, suffering that destroys. If you love God and if you love people and in the process you suffer, you will be redeeming them and you will be redeeming, you'll be part of the redemptive work of God in your life because that's how it works now. And you know how you can make sure that that's work of God in your life, because that's how it works now.

And you know how you can make sure that that's what happens in your life when you suffer? Don't be mad at yourself. He's forgiven you. And when you suffer, don't be mad at him because why? He entered in. This wasn't his idea. But now, now, because he forgives you and because He's for you, we Christians need to be just as mad at all suffering. We must not be stoic, but we must not be

into spare, huh? You're stoic. That's a pad answer to say, oh, it's okay. And it's also a pad answer to say, give up, God is evil, God did it. Instead, we move out and we should be just as mad at Jesus at suffering. He was mad. We should be mad at poverty. That's why we're doing the diagonal offering. We should be mad at disease. We should be mad at these things, but we should minister in both truth and tears. And then we will participate.

How shall we escape if we neglect so greatest elevation? Let us pray. Our Father, we have to end now, but we pray that You will continue to teach us out of this text and out of this truth and out of this reality. We thank You, Lord, that sin and death was not your idea, but you are absolutely now in control.

You have become, you are in control through the weakness and suffering of Jesus Christ, through which He infallibly now, infallibly, destroys death and suffering without destroying us. Lord, the more I think about this, the more amazed I get, the more clear it becomes, and yet the more mysterious it becomes to. I pray, Lord, that everybody here who hears this might see that your son is the God-man, might believe in him,

so that we might all hear in this room and everyone hearing this message might also find that as we put our faith in him, he becomes our resurrection and we receive a relationship with you that nothing can destroy, not even death. I pray, Lord, that we might have the truth of Jesus and the tears of Jesus change us more and more

into the image of your son in whose name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it equips you to know more about God's word. You can find more resources from Tim Keller at gospelonlife.com. Just subscribe to the Gospel On Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotional and other resources. Again, it's all at gospelonlife.com.

This month's sermons were recorded in 1996 and 1997. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel On Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.