Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Inside Out Kingdom

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

Christianity is utterly different from religion. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says there are two paths—one that leads to life and one that leads to destruction. And here’s what the scary thing is: both ways have people praying, giving to the poor, obeying God’s law. You can do all that and still be poison, on your way to destruction. Don’t mistake Christianity for religion. Jesus says if you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, there’s a gospel goodness that vastly surpasses religious righteousness. How does it surpass? Gospel goodness 1) brighter, 2) deeper, 3) sweeter, and 4) higher. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 28, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 5:11-20. 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. What does it really mean to live in a way that reflects God's Kingdom? For many of us, the Kingdom can feel like an abstract idea. But in today's teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, Tim Keller shows how Christ offers us practical guidance for living out a compelling vision of a new kind of community shaped by grace. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and give it light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and

praise your Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth until heaven and earth disappear not the smallest letter not the least stroke of a pen will be by any means by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called

great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." This is God's word. We're looking at the Sermon on the Mount because we're going to look for a number of weeks at what it means to live the Christian life. How is the Christian life concretely different when it's lived out? Now last week when we looked at the very first part of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes and the Woes, we saw that the Christian life is based on a very different set of values than that of the world.itudes and the Woes, we saw that Christian life is based on a very different set of values than that of the world. And therefore the first step in understanding the distinctiveness of the Christian life is to notice that Christianity is distinct

from the world and what all that means. We're not going back over that, that was last week. But before you actually get into the specifics of Christian practice in the Sermon on the Mount, there is another distinction that has to be made, or you won't get Christianity, another introductory, general, basic distinction. Because Christianity is not just different from the world, Christianity is also distinct from religion. You see, where it says Pharisees and teachers of the law, in fact, every place it says Pharisees and teachers of the law, in fact, every place it says Pharisees and teachers of the law, it would help a lot if you just put in there religious leaders. And what Jesus is saying is Christianity is different than religion.

Now this is key to understanding Christianity. Something that's a very helpful thing to think about this time of year, Swiss theologian Karl Barth suggested this idea. He said there is an anti-semitic way of speaking about the death of Jesus. Some people out of anti-semitic bias and feelings say the Jews killed Jesus. And Karl Barth says not only is that anti-semitic but it's nonsense. It doesn't help. It's not illuminating. And here's what he means. He says, imagine somebody saying, the Greeks killed Socrates.

Well, you'd say, okay, well, Socrates was Greek. His enemies were Greek. His friends were Greek. Of course, Greeks would be involved in the death of Socrates, but that's not specific enough. It doesn't really tell me who killed Socrates when you say Greeks killed Socrates. In the same way Jesus was a Jew and his friends were Jewish and his enemies were Jewish, so to say, Jews killed Jesus. Of course Jews were involved, but it doesn't really, it's not specific enough. It doesn't really tell us

who killed Jesus. Karl Barth said who did kill Jesus? Religious people killed Jesus. said, who did kill Jesus? Religious people killed Jesus. He says, not only do you see everywhere in the New Testament a hostility by Jesus toward religion. When Jesus gets near people from the world, when Jesus gets near worldly people, he's very patient, very kind. When he gets near religious leaders, he's very sharp. But on the other hand, it's religious people that were the most angry at what Jesus said, over and over and over again. The crowds, the hoi polloi, the common people of the world, they were fascinated with Jesus. Maybe they didn't believe what he said. But the religious people were angry. And one of the main points of the New Testament

is that you're never going to get Christianity unless you see that it is something utterly different than religion. Not only that, it's not just the key to understanding Christianity, it's the key to understanding the whole Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, both in its version we have in Luke, chapter 6, and its version we have in Matthew 5-7, you have, at the very end of the Sermon on Mount, Jesus always ends by saying, now in summary and conclusion, I put before you these two ways. Now, they're very famous statements. He says,

there's two paths. One leads to life, one leads to destruction. There are two trees. One has good fruit, but one has poison fruit. There's two houses. One is built on the rock and one is built on the sand. And what he's saying is here you have two ways, two trees, two houses, two ways of life, and on the surface they look very, very much the same. But one of the ways is poison. It poisons its eaters, it destroys its travelers, it collapses on its residents. Jesus says, choose. Now, what are those two ways? At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, what are the two ways that Jesus is putting in front of us? It's not this tree, this tree.

Not this way, this way. Not this house, this house. What are they? And traditionally, and I have to admit I have done it too as a preacher, traditionally people read that and say, ah, what Jesus is saying is you can either live according to the Sermon on the Mount, you can live according to the law of God, the commandments of God, you can either obey God's laws or you can disobey God's laws. See? Life destruction. Good fruit, bad fruit. You can either live obeying God's laws or you can disobey God's laws. But a commentator changed my whole understanding of the Sermon on the Mount when he said, does it make sense that Jesus Christ would say,

in summary, there are these two ways and they look extremely alike just that one of them has poison fruit, see? Two houses, two ways, two trees. Does it make sense that Jesus would talk about two ways at the conclusion of a sermon and not have talked about those two ways in the sermon? Does it make sense if those two ways that he's putting in front of us, one of which he's enjoining and one of which he's warning us against, does it make sense that those two ways would be good and bad?

People that obey God's law, people who disobey God's law. Because how would those both be two trees that look alike? How would those both be two houses that look alike? And the commentator said, you've got to go back in and you go into the Sermon on the Mount and see if he has, is the Sermon on the Mount how to live? The Christian life simply, is that it? Or is the Sermon on the Mount how to live? The Christian life simply, is that it? Or is the Sermon on the Mount contrasting these two ways? Are the two ways in the sermon?

And they are. But the scary thing is it's not what you think. When you go in there, you're not going to see, Jesus says, here's the people who obey God's law and here's the people who don't. Never. Not true. When you go through the sermon, here's the people who obey God's law and here's the people who don't. Never. Not true. When you go through the sermon, here's what you see. First of all, you'll see him say, and this is a... We're going to get into this as the weeks go on.

But he doesn't say, here's people who pray and here's people who don't pray. No. He says, you pray like this, but you should pray like this. He doesn't say, here's people that give to the poor, and here's people that don't give to the poor. No, he doesn't say that. He says, some people give to the poor like this, but I say give like this. So they say, here's people who obey the Ten Commandments,

and here's people who don't. No, he says, you hear the Ten Commandments, the commandment thou shalt not murder. You obey like this, but I say obey like this. Here's what the scary thing is. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ is contrasting two ways. One is not good and the other bad. They're both good. In that, both groups of people are obeying the God's law.

Both groups of people are following the Ten Commandments. Both groups of people are praying. Both groups of people are giving to the poor. Both groups of people are going to church, you know, worship. Both groups of people are studying the Bible. And yet, one is poison. And you can see it right here in this very text. Look at verse 19. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Look at that. Notice both those groups of people in verse 19 are in the kingdom of heaven.

Some are doing well, some are doing not so well, but they're both in. And then suddenly verse 20, he says, however, there's the religious people, their righteousness, they're not in the kingdom of heaven at all. He says, your righteousness must surpass their righteousness. And what he's saying is not, they're good and you're bad, or you're good and they're bad, but you're both trying to do the same thing. You're both trying to obey God. However, here's what Jesus is saying. Christianity is vastly beyond.

It surpasses religion. It's something utterly different than religion. That's what he's saying. Don't mistake Christianity for religion. Don't mistake Christianity for going to worship and praying and giving to the poor. Don't mistake Christianity for that. You can do all that and be poisoned.

On your way to destruction. House on the sand. That's what he's saying. Now, does that scare you? It should. If it doesn't, I have been a poor communicator in these first few minutes. Because surely, surely, people are there saying, you're kidding, right? I thought Christianity was about you leave the immoral lifestyle and you try to live according to the Bible and the example of Christ and the law of God. Isn't that it? The answer is no. That's part of it. That's involved, clearly.

But that's to miss the point. The key is, Jesus says, if you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, there's a gospel goodness that vastly surpasses religious righteousness. How does it surpass? Well, four ways, and they build on each other. Gospel goodness surpasses religious righteousness in four ways. It's brighter because it's deeper. It's deeper because it's sweeter. It's sweeter because it's higher. Gospel goodness surpasses because it's brighter and deeper and sweeter and higher. Number one, brighter. I mean, literally it says you're the light of the world. Notice there's two groups of people here. There's people whose light, it doesn't say light and darkness.

There's two groups of people doing good deeds. But one is doing it under a bowl. And one's doing it in a way that the world is attracted and is delighted. Therefore, the first difference between gospel goodness and religious righteousness, the first way for you to be able to tell the difference is in this relationship to the world. Christianity is attracted to and attractive to,

hear that? I'm sorry I don't know if I can get this through. Christianity is attracted to, ED at the end, and attractive to, I.V.E. at the end, people who you don't agree with, people who don't live the way you do, people who don't believe what you believe. Christianity is attracted to and attractive to, but religious people are turned off by, you see, and they are very, very, very alienating to people who disagree with them. Here's what I mean. Let's press this. First of all, Christians are attracted. Notice where it says, they're salt. You are the salt of the earth. Now, what is salt? Back in those

days the main thing salt did was a preservative. You didn't put salt into water because water doesn't go bad. You put salt into meat because meat's going bad. It's falling apart unless you put salt in it. And what this is telling us is Christians by the nature of their Christianity, when they see things falling apart, they get in there. And you see somebody emotionally falling apart, you go in, like salt. When you see a neighborhood socially or economically falling apart, you go in. Christians are attracted, deeds of love and mercy, in. They're salt. Religious people, however, they're under a bull. What does that mean? Well, it means that they really want to stick together. They don't like being out there with all those people that however, they're under a bull. What does that mean? Well, it means that they really want to stick together.

They don't like being out there with all those people that differ... They're not at all attracted to neighborhoods that are falling apart. They're not at all attracted to people that are falling apart. They look around and they pull their skirts in. That's the difference between religiousness and Christianity. But not only that, Christians are not just attracted to, but they're attractive to people who disagree with them and who live a very different life and don't believe what they

believe. Because notice, not only do you have the idea of light, beautiful light, but again, salt has another side to it. The other job of salt was not just to be a preservative, it was also to make something taste good. Now I don't know about you, for example, I can't stand corn in the cob without salt on it. But when I have eaten a piece of corn in the cob that I really like, I put it down and

what do I say? Do I say, honey, that was great salt? No, you say that was great corn in the cob. Why? Because the job of salt is not to make you think how great the salt is, but how great the thing is that it's involved with. I mean, let me push this along. What if you're salt in your small group Bible study? Well, if you're salt, people won't go away saying, boy, that person really, really knows

the Bible, had all the answers, showed me up. No, what happens is when you go away from a small group in which you've been assaulted, people don't go away saying how great that person is, they go away saying what a great group. Now this is pretty simple. See, assault makes you feel better about what you are. In other words, Christians make you feel better. Religious people always make you feel condemned, make you feel worse. And you have this place in chapter 7, a little later on in the Sermon on the Mount, that you have a very famous place. Again, you can see right away Jesus contrasting in two ways.

He says, judge not, lest you be judged. He says, you hypocrites, if you don't take a speck out of your brother's eye and miss the plank in your own eye. Now what's all that about? Some people have said, well that means you're not supposed to make moral evaluations. You're not supposed to try to persuade people that your religion is right. That's judging. Now of course that's not true. Why? Because to say you mustn't make moral evaluations is to make a moral evaluation and to say you must not persuade people that your religious point of view is right is to persuade that person that your religious point of view is right, which means it's impossible not to make it moral evaluations. Outerly impossible. As soon as you say let's not do it, you've just done it. You have to do it in order to deny it.

You have to use it in order to even say I'm have to use it in order to even say, I'm not going to do it. What is Jesus saying then? Judging is doing moral evaluations with superiority or, let me press it, Christian is somebody who always sees your own sin as a plank and the sins of other people as specks. Religious people always see their own sins as specks and everybody else's sins as a plank. That's the reason why religious people always make you feel worse. They make you feel condemned. And the reason why Christianity is salt and light.

Now, by the way, quick caveat before we move on. I didn't say Christianity. Beliefs are popular. Oh my goodness, no. I'm not saying that. When I say the gospel goodness is attractive and attracting, I'm saying gospel goodness. I'm not saying the gospel. The gospel is still very repugnant to people. As soon as you open your mouth about what you believe, you'll get some trouble. But here's the difference. If you have gospel goodness in you, you never ever ever act or feel superior to anybody else, especially the people who are different from you. This is the reason, by the way, why your attitude toward New York City is one of the best ways to tell whether you're a Christian or a religious person.

Because when you take a look at New York City, you're going to see two things. First of all, you're going to see some things falling apart. And religious people say, who wants to live in there? Which shows you have no saltiness at all. They're going to say, you know, religious people look around and say, what's wrong with these people? And you see, which of course is, my sin is a speck, your sin is a plank. And not only that, when you take a look around New York City, one of the things you can see right off the bat, you can see them just walking around, you can look at some people and say, here's somebody who does not obey the Ten Commandments. It's not that hard to see.

And Christians aren't turned off by that. And religious people totally are. So the first point is, gospel goodness is brighter. It's attractive. You say, why? Well, let's move on. Because secondly, gospel goodness is deeper. And here attractive. You say, why? Well, let's move on. Because, secondly, gospel goodness is deeper. And here we're not talking about the relationship with the world, we're talking about a relationship with your own heart. When Jesus Christ said in verse 20, I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. When he said that, he knew that everybody must have just been utterly, incredibly

amazed because the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were basically full-time... they did full-time obedience. That was their job. They had divided... you know, they'd worked out the Bible into something like 635 laws and they just... they had the checklist. They had positive laws and they had negative laws, things you had to do, things you were supposed to avoid. And they just spent all day working on it. And when Jesus Christ says, you know, your righteousness has to surpass,

right away people must have said, how could that be? Oh, and the world could be more righteous than the scribes and the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. And actually the answer is kind of weird because you see, it's a little bit like saying here's this river and it's a mile wide. And when Jesus says you have to surpass the river, it doesn't necessarily mean you've got to go that way. Maybe he means you've got to go this way.

Maybe the river is a mile wide but it's only an inch deep. And therefore as soon as he says verse 20, the next few verses immediately show Jesus is answering the questions that he knew would be right in people's minds. What does he mean when he says you have to surpass? Well, in verse 21, 27, 31, 33, 43, in other words, over and over and over again, he says, you've heard that I say. And he goes through the Ten Commandments. You've heard thou shalt not murder.

You've heard thou shalt not commit adultery. You've heard it saidou shalt not murder. You've heard, Thou shalt not commit adultery. You've heard it said, Thou shalt keep thy promises, not lie, keep your oath. He's going through the Ten Commandments. But what is he doing? In every case he says, you're concerned, you religious people are concerned with the external, I'm concerned with the heart. You can have the external and the heart be just like everybody else in the world, but if your heart is a different, is completely new, then you'll have the external too. Are you looking for ways to grow in your faith this summer? Or are you hoping to help new

believers or kids grasp the heart of the Christian faith? For many of us, the summer months can provide more time to deepen our faith and our understanding of what it means to follow Christ. A great resource to start using this summer is the New City Catechism Devotional, God's Truth for our Hearts and Minds. This devotional brings the historic catechisms of the Christian Church to life, offering a question to consider for each week of the year. In the introduction, Tim Keller lays out the case for catechesis, the rich and communal practice of learning and memorizing questions and answers that frame the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. Each week includes a scripture passage,

a prayer, and a brief meditation that will challenge and inspire you. The included commentaries are by contemporary pastors such as John Piper, Tim Keller, and Kevin DeYoung, as well as historical figures such as Augustine, Tim Keller, and Kevin DeYoung, as well as historical figures such as Augustine, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. This month, in addition to the New City Catechism Devotional, we're including a great companion resource, the New City Catechism for Kids, as our thank you for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the hope of Christ's love with people all over the world. So request your copies today at Gospelinlife.com

slash give. That's Gospelinlife.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. Now here's what he does. Let me show you. You know, this sort of thing will make you sink in your pews. He says, okay, let's take a look at murder. You've heard it said, thou shalt not murder. Religious people are concerned about not physically murdering somebody, but I say unto you. He says, if in your heart you have ill will, if you despise them, if you think of people as fools, if you disdain them, if you're indifferent to them, you've killed them.

And then he moves on to sex. He says, you've heard it said, thou shalt not commit adultery. Now, you know, the Christian sex ethic is no sex outside marriage. Well, what is that all about? Well, here's what it's about. Jesus shows you when you have sex outside marriage, what you're doing is you're saying, I want to have physical, external nakedness and vulnerability, but I don't want to give you personal nakedness and vulnerability. In other words, I want, let's be naked physically, but I don't want to actually give myself to

you in every other way. I don't want to get married to you. I don't want to give up my independence. I don't want to give up my options. I don't want to really give my, in other words, I don't want to back up physical nakedness and vulnerability with actual personal complete nakedness and vulnerability. I don't want to do that. And Jesus Christ says, when you ask for physical nakedness and you don't have the integrity

or the guts to back it up with personal, in other words, if you're not willing to put your whole heart there, he says that's lust. And when you do that, even in fantasy, you're stabbing yourself in the heart. Then he goes on to truth. And he says, you never heard it said that if you take an oath, you better stick with the oath. But he says, again, that's all external. In other words, you've signed a contract and if you break the contract, the lawyers will

come after you and this and that sort of thing. He says, I say unto you, let your yes be yes and let your no be no. What does he mean? What he means is, your heart should be so full of integrity that every single thing you say, every yes and every no, should be taken as seriously by you as if you just swore on a stack of Bibles. Because external consequences mean nothing. In other words, he goes on and on and on, all the way through.

When he talks about turning the other cheek, you know, or don't pay back, he says, you may not be paying back physically, but I say unto you, turn the other cheek. What is turn the other cheek? We'll get to that later this spring, but basically what is turn the other cheek? Turn the other cheek means not just you refrain from paying back, but you're still hoping for a relationship. You're still hoping. You're hoping for that person.

You want them someday to kiss you. That's why you turn the other cheek. You don't turn the other cheek in order to get hit. That's another sermon. But see, the whole point of turn the other cheek is Jesus says, don't you dare just refrain from vengeance externally. I don't just ask for that. I say to you, when you look at a person who's wronged you,

no matter how messed up and no matter how vicious they've been, you need to treat them with hope. You need to treat them with forgiveness. If you're going to oppose them, you should never oppose them except in love and goodwill. Now, by the time you get to the end of this whole section, you're kind of like a massive smoking wreckage. You're sitting here like this and you start to say, listen, Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad,

any teacher of ethics, there's never been a teacher who's asked for this. Never. Never a teacher who's wanted to go this deep. You see, in a way, verse 20 is easy. He says, you have to surpass the scribes and the Pharisees and the Jews of the law. He says, you have to surpass the religious people. And what he really means is, I want you to have your heart changed. And religion only worries about the externals. And you have an awful lot of people who are doing the law, you know, they're not committing adultery, they're not killing,

they're not paying back, and they're telling the truth. But they're doing it exactly the way the world does, out of fear and out of pride. It's like, here's a religious person and they say, I tell the truth. And here's a worldly person and they're cheating everywhere and they're lying and, you know, they're doing all this stuff. Ah, the religious person says, I don't lie, I'm not like them. Well now why is that worldly person cheating and lying? A, fear. One of the reasons you lie is you say,

oh my goodness, I might lose my money, I might lose my reputation, fear. The other is pride. You say, ha ha, I'm gonna get them. I'm gonna pull a number on them. Fear and pride lead them to lie. Why does a religious person not lie? Why does a religious person tell the truth? Why? Here's what Jesus says, fear and pride. Either you say, I'm not going to lie because God will get me. Boy, I better not lie. He's going to get a hold of me. He's going to take

me out. And the other possible way, religious people say, I'm not going to lie. Why? Because I'm not like those kinds of people that lie. I'm not a liar. I'm a good person. So out of fear and out of pride, you don't lie. And over here, out of fear and out of pride, they do lie. And Jesus says, what's the difference?

See, one kind of goodness is selfish goodness. Religious goodness is selfish goodness. It's trying to get leverage. It's trying to say, if I lie, if I tell the truth, then God will have to be good to me. If I tell the truth, then I can feel superior to other people. This is the reason why religious goodness is so alienating and this is the reason it's so shallow. Hmm. And that's the reason why, that's the reason why gospel goodness is brighter, because it's deeper. Okay, then why is it so deep?

And here's the answer. Thirdly, because it's sweeter. Gospel goodness has a center of sweetness. There's something that's happened in the center. The good news about the Sermon on the Mount is this. When you read through carefully, you will see that Jesus Christ does not say, try to live like this and then God will be your Father. Oh no. All the way through here, he says, you can live like this if you already know God's your Father. Look at verse 16. He says, why

are you going to be able to let your light shine? Why are you going to have an attitude toward the world that's non-condescending? Why are you going to love people who disagree with you? Why are you going to be light? Why are you going to be bright? Because God's your Father. Or, let me go deeper into the sermon. No, not into my sermon, the sermon on the mount. I'm already very deep into the sermon.

In chapter 6, this is a fascinating place where Jesus says, Don't worry, have no anxiety about anything. And you say, What? What kind of command is that? How can I stop worrying? How can I stop worrying? And if you treat this religiously, of course, you're going to say, I guess I've got to stop worrying.

Oh my goodness, how do I do that? But I've got to. And Jesus says, No, no, no, wait guess I got to stop worrying. Oh my goodness, how do I do that? But I got to. And Jesus says, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. He says, have not anxiety about these things. Don't you see God taking care of the birds? Don't you see God taking care of the lilies of the field? Don't you know that your heavenly father, if he cares for them,

don't you know how much more valuable you are than them? Now here's what Jesus is showing us. The Sermon on the Mount is impossible unless you know you're valuable. It assumes it. And the difference between religion and Christianity is this. Religion obeys the law of God unto value, trying to get value. In chapter 6 it says the reason you give to the poor is so people will honor you. In chapter 6 it says the reason that you pray is to get God to listen to you for your many words. See, a religious person is trying to get

value. A religious person is saying, if I do all these good things then God will have to listen to me and then people will honor me. You are trying to get value and that's the reason why you're alienating. That's the reason why deep inside you're filled with fear and pride. But gospel is obeying God's law out of value. Not unto, not seeking value, but because you know. That's amazing. In other words, unless there's a center of sweetness, unless there's this incredible inner sweetness, unless there's this incredible

inner sweetness, a knowledge that you are of incredible value to him, there's nothing he would do, you know, there's nothing he would not do in order to hold on to you and keep you. He's a father, not a boss. If you are an employee and you're good, you've got a boss. And if you're bad and you disobey the laws, you're fired. But if you're a child and you've got a father or a mother, and you're good, you've got a father or a mother. And you're bad, you've got a grumpy father or mother, but you've got a father or mother.

In fact, oh fathers and mothers, you know something, don't you? And that is, this is something very weird. That if you've got three children, like I do, and one of them is being disobedient, so often the disobedient one has your heart the most. Why? It's the nature of parenthood. And when Jesus comes along and says, the secret of the difference between gospel goodness and religious righteousness is that you have God as a Father. That happens before you can obey. It's not something you obey in order to get, it's something you obey because of. When you know God as your Father, when

you have that center of sweetness, it changes everything. See, religious people, for example, never do anything unless it's about them. Why do you help a little old lady across the street? It's not about her, it's about you. Maybe God will answer your prayers and you'll feel like a pretty good person. See? Why do you help the poor? It's not about the poor, it's about you. It's the reason why very often the religious people's help of the poor is so condescending and so ineffective, because it's filled with superiority. Why does the religious person pray? It's about you. It's not for him. That's the reason why your prayers are filled with petition and very little adoration and repentance.

Therefore, you see, you're brighter. It's brighter because it's deeper, it's deeper because it's sweeter, and it's sweeter why? Finally, how do you become a child of God? How is it possible that you could know that He's your Father? See, somebody out here is saying, well, wait a minute, isn't God the Father of everybody? God is the Father of all people. And what Jesus is saying is, well, yes, in one sense, but not in the sense I'm talking about. Because he

says knowing God as your Father is the heart of what makes you a Christian rather than a religious person. And not being sure about God's love and not being sure of who you are and not being sure is the heart of religiosity. And using goodness really is about you. It's not about the people around you or God. It's leverage goodness. I do it to get leverage. It's manipulative goodness. I do it in order to get people and God to do the things I want. That's the difference. And therefore, how am I going to get this inner sweetness? And the answer is in verse 17, which is the secret to the whole thing.

Because gospel goodness has a higher view of the law of God than any other kind of goodness. You see, Jesus Christ, I'm sure, when he gets to this verse, he says, I bet you all are thinking, because I'm talking about God as if he's your Father, that you can be sure of his love and acceptance. No matter who you are, no matter what you are, I'm sure you think I have a low view of the law. I have a low view of the law. I have a higher view of the law than you do." He says, Christianity has a higher view of the law than religion.

Why? Well, there's two kinds of religion. I'll give you one kind. First of all, it's what I'll call liberal religion. And liberal religion says, basically, you know, God loves everybody and you just try your best. Is that going to give you that inner sense of sweetness? Is that going to make you absolutely and totally sure that God loves you utterly? Is that going

to give you a say? Are you going to be amazed at what God's done in order to love you? No, because God's just sentimental. See, that's liberal religion. On the other hand, you've got conservative religion, and conservative religion says, here's the rules, do it. Conservative religion knows you're a sinner, doesn't really know you're loved. And liberal religion knows you're loved, but it doesn't cost God anything to love you. But Jesus Christ comes along and says, I do not come to abolish the law, that's against liberal religion, I come to fulfill it.

And that's against liberal religion. I come to fulfill it. And that's against conservative religion. Why? What Jesus Christ, what does he mean when he says, I come to fulfill it? Well, look at the Sermon on the Mount. First of all, he's the only one who ever lived the Sermon on the Mount. Go through the Sermon on the Mount and you're amazed at the beauty of the character. Well, it's Jesus.

Jesus is the only person who ever lived like this. But not only that, he didn't just fulfill most of the sermons of the mount, he fulfilled the Beatitudes. And here's how he fulfilled them. Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. But Jesus Christ, though he was merciful, did not obtain mercy. He was condemned. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And Jesus Christ, who was pure in heart, did not see God, but rather had God turn his face away from him on this cross. That's why he cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou turned thy face away? Jesus says, The meek will inherit the earth.

Well, he was perfectly meek, absolutely meek, but he was disenfranchised. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Well, nobody hungered and thirst after righteousness like Jesus Christ, except he wasn't fulfilled. He was emptied out. He said, I thirst. Why? Here's why. He, though he was meek, lost his inheritance so you, though you're not meek, can get it. He, though he

was pure in heart, didn't see God, so you and I, who are not pure in heart, can. He, though he was merciful, obtained no mercy so that you and I, who are not merciful, can." Jesus Christ says, I have fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount. I have utterly fulfilled it. And therefore when you believe in me, not only does everything that you deserve come on to me, but everything I've done comes on to you. Which means that when God looks at you, Christian friends, brother, sister, he sees someone as beautiful as someone who's doing the Sermon on the Mount every day. Absolutely every day.

That is high. That's a higher view of the law. Jesus Christ says, I take the law more seriously than any religious person. Because there are other religious people who say, do your best, and I say, no, you've got to be perfect. Absolutely perfect. I've been perfect for you. And that's the reason why you've got that great hymn by John Newton, I'll say it twice, some of you have heard it ten times before, where John Newton says, to see the law by Christ fulfilled and hear his pardoning voice transforms a slave into a child and duty into choice. To see the law by Christ fulfilled and hear his pardoning voice transforms a slave into a child and duty into choice. Now, practical, two or

three things and then we're done. First of all, what does this mean? First thing, have you seen all over New York, you know, you go by the phone booths and the bus stops and have all the ads and there's this ad, this beautiful model in undergarments and it says, inner beauty only goes so far. Now, I'm going to say something just to get your attention, and so you can write it down and say, I heard a Presbyterian minister say this. That's a damned lie. Damned D-A-M-N-E-D.

It is. Absolutely. It's making fun of the values of the Kingdom of God. You're never going to have the upside-down kingdom, where instead of looking for power and looking for success and looking for approval, you live a life of sacrifice, unless you have the inside-out kingdom. Which says, what really matters is who I am to Jesus and who I'm in my heart, and not whether I look great. In other words know in other words the wealth I need the worth I need

See the reputation I need is all wrapped up in him and that makes Christians radically free We're not self-conscious We're not scared about our bank account it you're never gonna live the upside-down Kingdom unless you have the inside-out Kingdom secondly And this is fairly important, verse 19 says, a Christian, one of the ways you know you're a Christian is that you love to study the law of God and obey it. See, if you're a religious person, you're kind of scared of the word of God. And of course, if you're a relativistic person, you disdain the law of God. But one of the ways you know

that you're a believer and you've got gospel goodness is, as Psalm 1 says, the blessed is the godly man, his delight is in the law of God and on it he meditates day and night. In other words, one of the ways you can tell you've got gospel goodness is you love to have God tell you what to do. You delight in meditating and finding things where you can change. That's one of the best ways to know whether you really understand the gospel of grace. Because if you read the Bible and you read the sermon of the mountain and you just feel terrible, you say, oh my goodness, how could God ever love me? You

still don't get it. You still don't understand what Jesus means when he says, I came to fulfill it. You don't get it yet. You're still stuck in a certain amount of religiosity. If you don't just love to have him tell you what to do and tell you where you're wrong. If you don't just love to have them tell you what to do and tell you where you're wrong. If it doesn't give you delight, instead it just crushes you down and you still don't get it. It's a test. Lastly, if you're not sure whether you're a Christian or not, let me suggest something. The Sermon on the Mount is not a horizontal bar. It's not a way to climb up to God. Do this and do this. No, it's a vertical bar. It says there's two ways. One way is to say, out of my goodness, I will seek to

get God and other people to give me what I need in my inner emptiness. That is, a feeling of approval, a feeling of worth. Or you can say, I'm going to build my whole life and my approach to God on what Jesus has done for me. Be your own Savior or let him be your Savior. See, there's a vertical line. Surround the Mount. It's not, here's the horizontal line, climb on up. No. Choose.

To see the law by Christ fulfilled and hear his pardoning voice transforms a slave into a child and duty into choice. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have shown us the difference in Christianity and religion. Now, we all need to see this, whether we're Christians, whether we're not Christians, or whether we're not sure what we are. If we're not sure what we are, we need to understand this and there's people in this room now that are seeking to find out how to connect with you. I pray that they would learn what this means. I have come to fulfill the law of God. Father, there's some of us in this room who know that a lot of our goodness is religious even though we're Christians. And it's one of the reasons why we're just not reveling in and rejoicing, rejoicing in

Jesus' fulfillment of the law for us. And as a result of that, we really don't delight in the law of God, and our prayer life is filled with deadness. And we pray that you would help us to rejoice in the gospel tonight in such a way that this week we are conformed more into the likeness of your Son and therefore we live brighter, deeper, sweeter lives. Now we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel in Life podcast. If you'd like to see more people encouraged by the Gospel-centered teaching and resources

of this ministry, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel in Life monthly partner. Your partnership allows us to reach people all over the world with the life-giving power of Christ's love. To learn more, just visit gospelinlife.com slash partner. That website again is gospelinLife.com slash partner. That website again is GospelInLife.com slash partner. Today's sermon was recorded in 1999. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor

at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.