Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Waiting and Living by Faith

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

It’s almost cliché to hear someone say you should “wait on the Lord.” But here in Habakkuk, we have a book that’s all about how to face evil times. And one of the main ways in which we’re able to handle evil times is what the Bible calls “waiting on the Lord.”  Habakkuk has started by voicing a great complaint, has heard God’s first response, and has called out to God again. In this passage, Habakkuk waits to hear God’s second answer. Habakkuk waits. There is a rich meaning to this, which we can see in this text. We are to wait on the Lord 1) patiently, 2) perspectively, 3) obediently, 4) God-centrically, and 5) joyfully. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 10, 2009. Series: Living by Faith in Troubled Times. Scripture: Habakkuk 2:1-4. 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. As you may have heard recently, it is with sadness that we share with you that our founder and friend Timothy J. Keller passed away in the morning of May 19, 2023 at the age of 72, trusting in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. While our hearts are heavy with the news of Tim's death and our prayers are with his family as they go through the grieving process, our spirits are also lifted because we know that he has a new life and is with his Savior and that one day we will see him again. And so with that hope in mind, we want to honor Tim's wishes and continue ministering the gospel during this season, because as you have heard Tim say many times, the gospel changes everything.

So listen now to his teaching and join us in praying for his family. Thank you. I scripture reading tonight comes from the book of Habakkuk, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. I will look to see what He will say to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied, write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.

For the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and will not delay. See he is puffed up. His desires are not upright, but the righteous will live by his faith. This is the word of the Lord. We started looking at this little book in the Old Testament, Habakkuk, and we're doing

it because it's a book about how to handle and face evil times. Now you know when a society has a long run many years or decades of good times, things getting better and better, people begin to think that that's normal. That's how history should be going, that should always find that things get better and better over time, that our children will do better than we did, have lived better than we did. And as somebody said, society can get into the view

He said, society can get into the view that peace and prosperity are the rule in the world and the right of all sensible folk. But the Bible, book of a back, book of Joe, many other places, says, that's just not true. And of course, history shows it's not true. And of course history shows it's not true. The first part of the 20th century, you know from 1910 to 1945 was a terrible time, very evil times that came on for decades, which things did not get better and better, things did not improve everybody, wondered how we were going to make it through. Now we've just started into a major economic recession. It's way far worse than the ones we've had for generations. And so it would be naive and presumptuous to say, oh, evil times has started,

but it would also be naive and presumptuous to say, evil times haven't. And it doesn't matter because if you come to grips with parts of the Bible like a backook, a book of Job, places in the Psalms, you're prepared. Because the Bible in these places say, no, don't expect, don't count on good times. That's not really the norm. But even in disaster and evil, God is working and there are ways for you to face it. And that's what we're looking at for just a few weeks in the book of a backook. And last week, we started with chapter one.

And in chapter one, Habakkuk starts with a great complaint. He's complaining to God, saying, why? Look at all this evil and suffering that you're allowing to happen in my society. And God's first response is, it's going to get even worse. I'm going to bring the Babylonians. They're going to invade your country. It's going to get even worse.

And Habakkuk calls out and says, I'm even more confused now. I'm even more upset. And then he waits to hear God's second answer. He prayed, God has the first answer, he prays again, then God will have a second answer. But in this interlude here, chapter 2, 1 to 4, in this interlude, Habakkuk waits. And actually, in this little section, you've got a number of metaphors and a number of verbs that tell us a lot about this very key theme in the Bible. And really one of the, I don't know if you can call it a skill, but one of the main ways

in which we're able to handle evil times. It's what the Bible calls waiting on the Lord, waiting upon the Lord. This is a major theme in the Bible. And it's a major theme here. Now it's almost a cliche because people talk about this. People say, I'm just waiting on the Lord and people say you need to wait on the Lord and nobody knows what that means. They don't know what that means. It sounds spiritual. But I want you to know that there is a meaning to it, and it's a rich meaning, and the Bible in many places tells us what it means, and maybe no better than here, because there are at least five aspects or five ways to

wait on the Lord that we see in this text. We are to wait on the Lord patiently, prospectively, obediently, God centrically, and joyfully. First of all, we're supposed to wait on God patiently. You notice how down in verse 3, God says, the revelation awaits an appointed time. Though it linger, wait for it. And what he means here is, you know, have accus, are you confused? He's for upset, he's looking for answers, he's searching for it. And what he means here is, you know, have accus, are you confused? He's for upset, he's looking for answers, he's searching for answers. God says, I'm going to give you some answers, I'm going to send you revelation, but it might

linger. It may take time. And if it lingers, and it will linger, he says, wait for it. Now this word for weight is the basic Hebrew word for weight, and it means be patient. You know, if you're waiting for a bus and it doesn't come and it doesn't come and you just go home, you've given up, you're not waiting for it anymore. Wait for it. If you're in a doctor's office and you're waiting and waiting and she doesn't call for

you and you just go home and that's that or you can wait for it, the weight means be patient. Weight means don't give up, don't despair. Means don't shave and agitate, but be patient. And the first thing that waiting on the Lord, maybe the most basic thing waiting on the Lord means is that when everything makes no sense, when you're confused, you're perplexed, you don't know what's going on in your life. You're in the midst of difficulties. Instead of giving up, blowing up your patient. Be patient, that's what waiting on the Lord means. Be patient in your troubles, in your circumstances. Now, a lot of people say, oh, I wish I could,

as if, I mean, I wish I could. How I wish I had patience is if patience is like a germ, you catch or you don't. Actually, as far as I understand, the Bible says that patience comes from a couple of deliberate actions. First of all, patience comes as a deliberate act of humility. To deliberate act of humility, patience is always an act of humility. So for example, in James chapter 4, we read this. Now listen

you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. But you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Instead you want to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will do this or that. Hmm? It says, you have your plans and you know how things ought to work, but you don't know. You say, this is going to happen, that's going to happen. But you don't know. You ought to say, well, if it's the Lord's will.

Now, what's that mean? We think of when things go wrong, we think of our anger, we think of our despair, we think of our worry and our fear as feelings we can't help. But this is saying that those feelings arise from an assumption out of an assumption of your own omniscience. There's an assumed omniscience. See when you're really, oh, this is awful. What?

What? Because XYZ is not happening. And that when you're really, oh, this is awful. What? What? Why? Because XYZ is not happening. And that'll be a disaster if XYZ doesn't happen. Oh, you know, huh? You know that XYZ has to happen for life to meanings. How do you know? You know, it says, you don't know. You're upset, but you don't know.

Please lay down the melancholy burden of assumed omniscience. It's such a relief. Even the wisest people do not see all ends. When you are just freaking out because this has got to happen, that means you think you know, but you're not omniscient. And you're freaking out because the freaking out is coming from your certainty that you know. You don't know. Be humble. The deliberate active humility, that'll help for, that's one way to be patient. Another way patients comes is through a savvy vote

for your own personal growth. Now, what does that mean? What it means is most of us don't do this. Most of us don't say when bad things happen, when difficulties come upon us, when disappointments happen, real disappointments, some of your facing right now. We just don't say, what an opportunity for me to become the kind of person

I've always wanted to be. My loved ones always wanted me to be, and God wants me to be. No, you don't usually think like that, do you? That's why I'm suggesting it for you here. Because when you meet disappointments with patience, it turns you into something neat, great, and good. The Bible says so. So for example, James chapter 1, consider it joy

brethren when you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith can produce patience and if it produces patience the patience will finish its work so that when you are complete you will lack nothing. Or Romans 5, 3, we rejoice in our tribulations knowing that that they produce patience, and then patience produces character and character hope, and that hope will not disappoint us for brings the love of God shed in our hearts. See when bad things happen, if you meet it with patience, it turns you into a person of character, a person of poise, or not.

You know, pressure can turn a lump of coal into diamond. Some years ago, I read a, I was watching a movie and it was a battle movie, you know, a war movie. And there's this soldier and he's been wounded and he's got shrapnel and, you know, bullets in him. And the surgeon comes and has to do surgery to save his leg or something, I guess. And the surgeon only has a local anesthetic. So the patient is going to be awake when he does the surgery. And he says, here's the thing you've got to realize. When I lay on that table, lay on the table, you got to stay still.

No matter what you feel, no matter how, you cannot flail around. If you stay absolutely still, then you'll be better off, we'll stay the leg. If you flail around, it'd be almost worse than if we had never done the surgery at all. And when circumstances, bad circumstances, disappointments hit, you can either flail around and become a more bitter person, or you can be patient,

and turn into someone who's actually in the end more peaceful. First and greater character, a person of greater endurance. You know, when troubles hit you, it's either going to turn you into, it's going to either drive you toward having a far better prayer life you've ever had before or a far worse prayer life than you've ever had before. And I don't know anybody who has a great prayer life, who really knows how to connect to God, and a great prayer life is worth more than diamonds. I don't know anybody who didn't find that prayer life

under pressure, it's one of the diamonds that was created by being patient under suffering. So when trouble happens and difficulty happens, do you say, I'm gonna vote for my own personal growth, or do you flail around? You know, Job, maybe the key verse in to the book of Job, Job chapter 23 verse 10, he says this, he says, God knows what he's doing with me, which is another way of saying, I don't. See, when Job says, God knows what he's doing with me, I don't, that's patience. He's saying, look, I don't know what the world God is doing.

I have no idea, but he knows. And then he says, and when he has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold. See because he says, I'm going to meet this with patience. He's going to grow into something he never could have been otherwise. And therefore, waiting on the Lord means not giving up, not shaping, not freaking out, being patient, under your circumstances, even though you're confused by a deliberate active humility and a savvy vote for your own spiritual growth. Number one, number two, the second aspect of waiting on the Lord that we see here,

another way to wait on the Lord, is by waiting, perspectively, now you say, what does that mean? Well, I'm looking at the image that the hemacic uses in verse one. When he says, I will station myself on the ramparts. See, he's waiting for God, he's waiting to hear from God, and he says, I will station myself on the ramparts. He's waiting for God. He's waiting to hear from God. He says, I will station myself on the ramparts. That's a word by the way that means, I don't know why the

national version used ramparts, which is a little bit more vague. It's a word that literally means a tower. Now, why does cities build towers? They build towers so that you could see what was coming. See down in the city, on the ground, there's all sorts of things you can't see. But in the tower, in the higher the tower, the more you can see what's coming. You can see weather coming. You can't see on the ground, so the city can be ready for it. You can see enemies coming that on the ground you couldn't see till it's too late. You can see embassies coming, you can see everything

coming, you can see what's coming. And you know, for example, if there was an enemy, you know, at your city gate and down on the ground, oh my, what are we gonna do? But if you're up in the tower, you can see that there's reinforcements coming, 20 times the number of people at the gate and you say, oh, you got perspective on it. It's gonna be all right. Now what does it mean when Habakkuk says,

spiritually, obviously, I'm waiting on Lord by going into the tower, what does that mean, spiritually speaking? What that really means is you must not just simply look at your problem. You've got to put it in the bigger perspective of everything the Bible tells you. Let me give you an example of going into the tower. Paul says in Romans 8, I reckon, now that word reckon is a word lagiddemi, which means I added up, I calculated, I think

it out, I work it out in detail. He says, I reckon that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory which will be revealed in us. Paul had a lot of suffering, a lot of things went wrong for him. He had physical problems with his eyes, he was persecuted, all kinds of problems. But he says, I put it in perspective. My sufferings look really big until I compare them to the glory that will be revealed. He's going into the tower, he's looking at the big picture and suddenly his suffering looks small. Now this is very practical. He's sick, but get into the tower and he say, well wait a minute, the only

sickness that can really kill me, which is sin, has been gone. It's done. It's been paid for. Or you can say, I'm in debt, but the only debt that can really sink me forever and ever and ever is sin, and that has been paid for. And there's a true riches at the end of time that I will have for me, and it's nothing, what I could get, and even the greatest wealth I could possibly amass here on the earth,

is nothing compared to that. What's Paul doing? He's meditating on the glory that is coming until it penetrates him and he looks at his suffering and he can handle it. Do you see that? Do you do that? Do you know how to do that? Waiting on God, waiting on the Lord is not a passive thing. God waiting on the Lord is not a passive thing. Waiting on the Lord means thinking like that, going into the tower, lagiz demi. I reckon that the sufferings this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that it will be revealed in us.

I think and think and think and I think about the glory until my sufferings become something I can handle. So patience comes from acts of deliberate humility and waiting on the Lord comes from acts of deliberate perspective. I'm putting things in perspective. I'm waiting on imperceptively. I'm waiting on impatiently, but that's not all. Now thirdly, waiting on the Lord doesn't just mean getting the proper perspective and

being patient. It also means being obedient, which was to wait for him obediently. And that comes from the very, very top, where he uses the image not just of going up into the tower, but being a century in the tower. He says, I will stand at my watch. Now, if you're in the military, you certainly know this,

but even if you're not in the military, you know this from common experience and what you've heard. If you're a century-owned duty, if you're on guard duty, I don't care. It doesn't matter whether you feel bad, it doesn't matter whether you're sleepy, it doesn't matter whether you're bored, it doesn't really matter how you feel, it doesn't matter your circumstances, you may not leave your post. You can't. The whole city can be lost.

You can't say, well, you know, I've been up here for day after day and there's never been any enemies, I'm going to knock off early. Or I'm just, I'm tired, I'm bored, I'm not getting into, it doesn't matter, you cannot leave your post. You must do your duty. And this is the back ex-way of showing us that even though he's struggling with God, we saw that last week.

And we will later too. He's struggling enormously with God. He's emotionally and intellectually very realistic. He doesn't get it. He's asking God some really hard questions, but he will not leave his post. And what that means is really simple. You may be weary, you may be, you may feel God's absent,

you may be getting absolutely nothing out of your Christian walk at all. You may be incredibly confused what's going on, you may have experienced disappointment, after disappointment, after disappointment, you may be getting none of your prayers answer. You can't leave your post. He's have to obey him. You know why? Because the word waiting, even in English, doesn't mean waiting around. Why do they call them waiters and waitresses?

They're certainly not waiting around. They're running around. Why? Because to wait, it means to serve. Ladies in waiting, or servants in waiting, are not waiting around. They're serving. And one of the things waiting on the Lord

means is, even when you don't feel like it, you still do your duty. And now, what does that mean? Well, excuse me. On the one hand, what very often happens when your God seems absent, evil times, disappointments, difficulties, one of the things we do is we just stop doing a lot of things that we usually do.

We stop coming to worship. We stop private prayer. We stop reading our Bible. We stop going to our small group. If you go to a small group, you stop serving people, you stop doing for people. Why? Because you're filled with self-pity, you feel bad,

and you're not getting anything out of it. Right? I get just at the court, Marshall, for the century, who just left his post. What have you got to say for yourself, says, you know, the judge and he says, well, I wasn't getting anything out of it. So I left. Oh, well, that's right. I'm so old. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm John Newton, the great pastor, John Newton, he's also a great hymn writer Someone wrote him and said I'm just getting nothing out of praying And he said I can tell you you're gonna get nothing out of not praying He said he says he says if you get nothing from trying every day to go to the throne of Greece I can absolutely assure you to get nothing by staying away He says you keep it up. You just keep at it way. He says, you keep it up. You just keep at it. But it's not obeying, waiting on the Lord obediently, does not just mean doing the things that you should do, not just failing to do the things you should do. It also means not trying to do some things you know you shouldn't. I mean, in times where you're weary, you're disappointed, you're empty, you don't know why God's not answering your

prayers, it's very easy. You just want to feel good. So you do things with sex, you're disappointed, you're empty, you don't know why God's not answering your prayers, it's very easy. You just want to feel good. So you do things with sex, you do things with money, you do things with food, you do things to make yourself feel good. You do something that you know isn't right and you feel high for a minute and then after it you feel even worse. But that's leaving your post. And the one thing you mustn't do, waiting on the Lord means no matter how evil things

are, you don't leave your post. You just do what you're supposed to do, do the next thing, put one foot in front of the next. Thank you for listening to today's teaching here on Gospel and Life. As you process the news of Tim's passing, we recognize that you may be looking for a way to respond. To help with that, we have set up a page that gives you a way to share your condolences, submit a story of how Tim's teaching or writing has helped you, or simply how you can pray

for the Keller family in this ministry. For more information, please visit gospelandlife.com slash remembering. That's gospelandlife.com slash remembering. Now here's the remainder of today's teaching. Probably the most, I still think that in all of literature, the most vivid of all the examples of this is, and I get this out every couple of years,

because y'all need to hear it the first time and maybe the second, third time, is Jane Hare. Jane Hare in the famous novel is a woman who's, you know, she was an orphan, she's playing, nobody likes her. She grows up and nobody really cares for her, and she's just so lonely and she wants so much to be loved. And then she meets this handsome man, Mr. Rochester, and he loves her, and she loves him. And then she finds this handsome man, Mr. Rochester, and he loves her, and she loves him. And then she finds out he's married. And he's got a mentally ill wife, but she's still alive. And he says, just come and live with me.

And of course her moral principles are, hey, marriage is for better and for worse. You have an obligation to stay faithful to your wife. And I can't come in live with you. But at that point, what she knows in her head is the right thing to do. And what she wants to do in her heart are two absolutely, completely diametrically opposed things. And the dialogue that goes on between her and Mr. Rochester and between the different

parts of her own heart is just remarkable. But this is a remarkable example of waiting on the Lord and not leaving your post. This is her voice. Not a human being, she said, that ever lived could wish to be loved better than I was loved. And him who thus loved me, I absolutely worshiped. Yet I had to renounce love and idol. Interesting. So I did. And Mr. Rochester said with a wild look crossing his features, what do you mean, Jane? What shall I do? Where shall I turn for a companion and for some hope?" Jane said, do as I do, trust in God, believe in heaven, and hope to meet there again someday.

Then you will not yield, he says to me? No, says Jane. Do you condemn me to live, wretched, and to die a curse? No, she said. Do you condemn me to live, wretched, and to die a cursed? No, she said, I advise you to live sinless and therefore die tranquil. Jane, who will be injured though by doing what I'm asking you to do? You have neither relatives nor acquaintances who you need to fear to offend, come and live with me, and then she concludes like this.

And while he spoke, my very conscience and reason turned against me and charged me with crime and resisting him. They spoke almost as loud as feeling capital F. And my feelings clamored wildly, oh, comply, it said, they said. Tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for you?

Who will be injured by what you do?" Still, indomitable was my reply. I said, I will keep the law given by God. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was saying, not mad as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation. They are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise and mutiny against their rigor. If at my individual convenience I might break laws, what would be their worth? Forgone determinations are all I have at this hour to stand by. They're upon I plant my foot.

I did. Didn't leave her post. I will stand at my watch. So waiting on the Lord means waiting patiently, waiting on the Lord means waiting prospectively, putting things in perspective, waiting on the Lord means obediently, being obedient. Fourth, not only I want you to miss the farthest from the trees. Waiting on the Lord means waiting God centricly. You're not waiting on the Lord's answers, even though you are, but primarily you're not

waiting on the Lord's answer. You're not waiting on the Lord's reward. You're not waiting on the Lord's things because you're willing to go to the ramparts into the tower, stand at your watch no matter what. What does that mean? You're really waiting on the Lord, not on the Lord's things, on the Lord. Habakkuk has often been called a little book of Job. It's a mini book of Job, and by the way, it's a heck of a lot easier to read than the book of Job.

So that's why we're studying the book of Habakkuk. But in the book of Job, it starts with Satan coming to God and saying, does Job serve God for nothing? And Satan says to God, Job looks like he's your servant, but he's not your servant. He looks like he's waiting on you, but he's actually waiting for your things. He looks like he loves you for you yourself. But he actually only loves you for the things he's getting. Look at all the things you've given him. Look at his great family.

Look at his money. Look at his famous success. Well, says Satan, I'm going to take them all away. I'm going to take away his family. Take away his health. Take away his money. And then you'll see, you'll see he was not loving you for yourself. He was only loving you for the things he was getting.

He wasn't waiting on you. He was waiting on things from you. He was only loving you for the things he was getting. He wasn't waiting on you. He was waiting on things from you and he will curse you. Now Satan is basically right about us, you know that. Basically, when you get started with God, you start to approach God, first connect to God. You're doing it to get something. You're doing because you're unhappy. You're doing it because you're guilty. You're looking get something. You're doing because you're unhappy, you're doing it because

you're guilty, you're looking for forgiveness, you're looking for things. That's okay, but it better not stay there. And here's why. It's hypocrisy. If somebody loved you or looked like he or she loved you, but they were getting an awful lot of benefits out of your connections. They were getting a lot of benefit from their relationship with you. And then what happened if something happened to you and you lost those connections and you lost those benefits were no longer attached to you and that person just dropped you like a stone. How would you feel? Would you feel betrayed?

Would you feel objectified? Do you feel dehumanized? Yes, because you say, that person never loved me. They were just loving the things I was giving them. How awful. And yet people, for years, I've talked to people as a pastor. I've talked to people who said,

oh, I used to go to church and I prayed for things and God never gave me anything so I'm out of there. And they're treating God exactly the way they would never, ever let anybody else treat them. They're treating God in a way that if the family treats them in the same way, they're furious. You have a right to be furious. What does it mean to wait on the Lord? It means to love Him for who He is in Himself. And that means to be faithful to Him, even when you're getting nothing out of it at all. And it's only in times of trouble that you have an opportunity to turn your self-interested, exploitative relationship with God into real love.

It's only when loving Him gives you no benefit at all. And you know what? If you look at Job, if you look at the end of Habakkuk, it's a wonderful ending to the book. If you look at the Psalmist, the people who are wrestling, they're wrestling and they are wrestling and they're angry and they're struggling and they're asking God hard questions, but in the end they stay with God. You know why? Because they've become servants. They've become people who love him for who he is. They're serving him just because he's God. They're loving him just for who he is and himself. It's possible to get there, but almost only ever through tough times. And therefore, when ever darkness descends on you and ever bad things happen to you, and you get disappointed and you're really upset

with how everything's going in your life, God is asking you a question. And that question is basically this. Now we'll find out whether you got into this relationship with me to serve me, or to get me to serve you. Now we'll know. And if you stick with them, and if you learn how to love them no matter what,

if you learn to be faithful to them even though you're getting nothing out of it at all, when the darkness lifts you will find that the pressure has turned your heart that lump of coal into a diamond. And there'll be an unflapability, there'll be a fortitude, there'll be a poise, there'll be a piece that you didn't have before. Here's one character in a novel was described this way. Even his hopes seemed to die. It was turned to a new strength.

His face grew stern, almost grim as the will hardened in him and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue. This person suddenly realized, I can take anything now. He felt through all his limbs a thrill. And that's what happens when you come to realize, I'm in this with God forever. I don't need to get anything out of it. I'm with him because he's God, not because he's doing this

and that and this and that for me. So waiting on the Lord is waiting on him patiently, it's waiting on him, perspectively, it's waiting on him obediently, and it's waiting on him, God-centricly, but last of all is waiting on him, perspectively, it's waiting on him obediently, and it's waiting on him. God, centrically, but last of all, is waiting on him joyfully. The last verse is one of the most important verses in the Bible. At least it was picked up by Paul in Romans and in Galatians, it was picked up by the Hebrews, the writer of the Hebrews in chapter 10, and it says, the righteous will live by his faith. And God is saying to have a patient, wait on me, be unconditionally obedient, but from

what? Well, faith in this situation, and Paul's right and the Hebrews' right is right, faith is not just stoically holding on to God. It's instead of looking at the circumstances around us, relying on your faith in the redemptive purposes of God, the gospel. In other words, instead of looking at your circumstances and being affected by them, be affected by what God has done

for you to save you in Jesus Christ. That's actually what it means. And that's the reason why I say, you don't necessarily have to have joy as you're waiting for the Lord, but it be awfully great to have it and here's how you can have it. In fact, here's the only way you can have it. You have to look at one of the most amazing passages to me in the Bible. it's one little verse. Jesus Christ in Luke 12 is telling a parable about a master who goes away on a trip and

he leaves his disciples behind his servants. And some of the servants are obedient and faithful because they're sure he's coming back and others are disobedient and unfaithful because they don't think he's coming back. And Jesus is his way of saying, I want my followers to wait for me. I want them to wait on me. I want them to live patiently, and I want them to live obediently because they're waiting for me. But then in Luke 12, verse 37, Jesus completes the parable

like this. And he says, it will be good for those servants that the Lord finds waiting when he returns. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he will dress himself to serve them. He will have them recline at the table, and he will wait on them himself. Now, whenever Jesus says, verily, verily,

it's a solemn statement. Amen, amen. He's saying something solemn and staggering, and I'll tell you this is staggering. And here's what he's saying. He is saying, at the end of time, I'm going to have all of my people sit down at the table and I'm going to gird myself to weight on them. Now, the word gird is a metaphor that comes from back in those days if you were going to do

some intense action you had to pick up your flowing robe and put it into your belt so that you could focus, so you could bear your legs so you could run or you could do something intense, but it was a metaphor that meant to focus all of your powers on one goal. And Jesus Christ is saying, and you know who's talking here, he's saying, I'm going to focus all of my powers on inflicting all the joy, all the honor,

all the fulfillment and happiness that I possibly can on you. Now look, who's waiting a minute? He said, I'm going to focus all of my powers on making you as happy as you possibly can be, but he's omnipotent. He says, all I'm going to concentrate all the infinities and immensities of my being on making you, on inflicting you absolute incredible cosmic infinite joy. That's what I'm going to do. If you wait for me, if you wait on me your whole life,

I will literally wait on you. I will gird myself and I will serve you. Well you say, wow, you know, that's almost too much. I mean, how can we even believe such a thing? I'll tell you how. I can guarantee that this is gonna happen. You know why? We know that Jesus Christ is gonna

gird and serve us on that future day. We know he's gonna do it in the future because he did it in the past. Because on the night before he died, he girded up his loins, and he washed the feet of his disciples, and they were so shocked. What a survival thing to do.

To wait on us. Like a servant, like a table later. Why are you doing that? And you know what Jesus was doing? What he was saying is, I'm going to the cross. I'm going to die. I'm going to wait on you by going to the cross and dying for your sins. Do you want to see patience? Jesus Christ being patient with the very wrath of God and not giving up. He was waiting on us. He was serving us. He was loving us.

There's the ultimate example of patience. Now here's all I want to ask you. If you see Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, willing to lay aside his all of his celestial being and joy and come down and wait on you by going to the cross, and not giving up even in the garden to get somebody even on the cross, even under the wrath of God, why can't you wait for him now?

Why can't you wait on him now? Why can't you wait on him now? See, if you see him waiting on you in the past and waiting on you in the future, you'll be able to wait on him now. You'll be able to do all of this with joy. And if you wait on him patiently, prospectively, obediently, unconditionally, fully, you will find it's really perfect freedom. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You that You've made it possible for us to

wait on You. You've given us the prospect of it in the future. Jesus Christ waiting on us. You've given us the amazing memory of Him waiting on us, on the cross and in the past. And if He has waited on us and He's going to wait on us, you know, on the cross and in the past. And if he has waited on us and if he's going to wait on us, we can wait on him. Father, a lot of us are facing a lot of difficulties.

We're facing evil times in our lives and a lot of us are having trouble bearing up under them. But would you just shoot our hearts filled with amazement and wonder and gratitude and joy when we think of your son, Jesus Christ, patiently waiting on us, serving us, girding himself for us on the cross so that we can do the same for him now. And handle our evil times and become something beautiful. We ask it 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. 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. you