Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Witness

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

The story of Peter’s denial and the story of Jesus’ arrest and trial are intertwined in Mark 14. We’re meant to compare these two stories. Peter is on trial, just like Jesus. Peter is being questioned, just like Jesus. The question is being put in front of us: do you have what it takes to be a person of truth, of integrity, who does the right thing, who stands up for justice, who tells the truth in general and the truth about Jesus in particular, regardless of what it costs you? According to this passage, no, you don’t have what it takes—but you can get it. We learn here 1) how Peter failed to be a true witness, 2) how Peter was healed and succeeded in being a true witness, and 3) how that happened. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 4, 2007. Series: King's Cross: The Gospel of Mark, Part 2: The Journey to the Cross. Scripture: Mark 14:29-31, 53-54, 66-72. 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.

As we see in the book of Mark, the days leading up to Jesus' death were filled with the trail, pain, and mockery. But we also see the grace and love of Jesus on full display. Today on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller continues to show us how Christ loved us at an infinite cost to himself. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelOnLife.com and sign up for our email updates. When you sign up, you'll start receiving our quarterly newsletter with articles from Dr.

Keller as well as other great Gospel-centric resources. Subscribe today at GospelOnLife.com. The scripture reading this morning is taken from the book of Mark chapter 14 verses 29 through 31, 53 through 34 and 66 through 72. Peter declared, even if all fall away, I will not. I tell you the truth, Jesus answered today, yes tonight, before the rooster quotes twice, you yourself will disown me three times. But Peter insisted and satically,

even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the others said the same. They took Jesus to the high priest and all the chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warned himself at the fire. While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls at the high priest came by.

When she saw Peter warming herself, she looked closely at him. You also were with that Nazarene Jesus, she said, but he denied it. I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around. This fellow is one of them. Again, he denied it. After a little while, while standing near, while those standing near said to Peter,

surely you are one of them for you are Galilean. He began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, I don't know this man you're talking about. Immediately, the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus has spoken to him. Before the rooster grows twice, you will disown me three times.

And he broke down and wept. This is the word of the Lord. This is the story of Peter's denial, very famous story. But did you notice that we have to extract it? We have to collect the verses to put the whole narrative together from throughout the chapter, because Mark has deliberately interspersed and intertwined two stories. The story of Peter's denial and the story of Jesus' arrest and trial, because Mark wants us to compare

and see the parallels between these two stories. Peter's also on trial, just like Jesus. Peter's being questioned just like Jesus. And the issue in chapter 14 is the issue of what does it mean to be a faithful and true witness. Now the word witness or testify or testimony, it's the same Greek word, very important in the New Testament. And it shows up seven times in chapter 14. But do you know that the Greek word for witness or for testimony were to testify, the Greek

word is the word martyr. That's the Greek word. And it means to tell the truth in general, or to tell the truth about Jesus Christ in particular, even if it costs you, even if it costs you a lot, even if it costs you your life. And Jesus is being a faithful and true witness, obviously, as we saw last week. And Peter is not. And the question that's being put in front of us by Mark is, do you have what it takes to be a person of truth, of integrity, a person who does the right thing, who stands up for justice, who tells the truth in general general and the truth about Jesus in particular, regardless of what it costs you.

Do you have what it takes? Mark is trying to show us, no, you don't, and yet you can get it. And he's going to show us that if we look at the passage under three headings. First of all, we learn here how Peter, we learn about Peter's failure as to be a true witness. Secondly, how he was healed and succeeded in being a true witness. And then thirdly, how that happened. First, we'll see his failure to be a true witness. Secondly, we'll see how he was healed and succeeded to be a true witness. And then thirdly, how that happened. First, what's most easy to see in the text is how he failed.

You notice, by the way, in verse 29 what's happening there, when you go before you give your testimony in court, they swear you in, don't you? Don't they? They swear you in before you give your testimony. And what's interesting is Peter voluntarily swears himself in. He doesn't even know his trials about the start, but he swears in. And he says, you see all these other guys around you? He says in verse 29, Jesus, you see these other guys?

I love you more than them. I'm better than them. If they all fail you, I won't fail you. I will be true to you. I will identify with you. I will stand by you. I'll be your faithful witness. He says in verse 31, even if it means I have to die.

But when Jesus is arrested, you say, oh, yeah, but that he failed. Well, I want you to notice, verse 53 and 54, when Jesus Christ is arrested, only Peter follows. Yes, he follows it a safe distance, but there is no such thing as a safe distance, really. He, to follow it all, put him in extreme danger, but he does it. Certainly, he felt the tug of that oath. I mean, you know, we talk about accountability groups and accountability structures, but there's an accountability structure for you. In front of the physical face of Jesus, you promise to do something.

And 20 minutes later, I guess you want to do it, you know? And so he's following and he comes to the, around a fire and he stands there with guards, you see. So he's trying, always trying to be faithful to witness, but he fails spectacularly. And I must say it's more spectacular than it looks. I don't like to usually do this, but I need to contradict our very good English translation in order to show you how spectacular it is. When he starts to get questioned, he says, oh, I'm not a disciple.

I don't know him once, twice, and the third time, we're told down in verse 71, and he began to call down curses on himself. Now in the Greek text, all it says is, it uses a Greek word, a verb, and it's actually a verb that you probably will recognize. It says, literally, he says, and he enathematized. That's the Greek word for curse. He enathematized. But that's all it says.

Now, here's what commentators and scholars think about this. They're saying that the NIV translation is just trying to make nice. And we probably, you know, you want to say, that's, well, we know you meant well. That's not probably what it's saying. First of all, the verb stands there by itself. It's not a reflexive verb. Bear with me for 30 seconds.

It's not a reflexive verb. A reflexive verb is a verb that basically refers back, even without a pronoun. It automatically means he cursed himself. This is not a reflexive verb. If he's cursing himself, it's got to actually have the pronoun himself in the sentence, but it's not there. This word on himself, self, it's not in there. That's just been read in by the NIV translators.

And secondly, this verb is a transitive verb. It's not like our verb to curse. Our verb to, if you read, he cursed. It could just mean profanity. He was just using profanity. But this is a word that has to have an object. It's a transit of verb and it needs to have an object. He was cursing someone or something

in order to save his skin. And it wasn't him. Who was he cursing? He was cursing Jesus. Why would he curse Jesus? To prove that he wasn't a disciple. See, he's swearing that he's not a disciple. How do you do that?

You curse the man. No disciple would curse his own master. No one. That's proof. He's saving his skin by cursing his master. This is a terrible personal and public betrayal. And the minute the rooster crows, the horror of what he's done, it just comes down on him like a cloud,

like a mountain. And it says he doesn't just weep. He breaks down in weep. He breaks open in weeps. He falls apart in weeps. Now what are we supposed to learn about this first point? Here's what I think Mark is trying to show us. Mark wants us to see that you know what?

You don't have to be in a courtroom to be on trial. Ordinary life is a trial. Just out there in the courtyard, you know, at the fire. It wasn't just Peter, but you and I, it's an ordinary life that our integrity is on trial. Will you speak up for the truth, no matter what it costs? Will you speak up if you know about the truth of Jesus, will you identify with Jesus publicly? And what Mark is trying to say is, it's in ordinary life that your integrity, your ability to be of faithful witness is on trial.

And he's also trying to show us, look, none of us are actually going to succeed. No one will pass the test because here's a man who tried so hard, harder than anyone else. Here's a man who had an accountability structure like you'll never have. And he failed. He failed to be a faithful and true witness. That's the first thing we see. Secondly, this passage obviously shows us how he failed to be a true witness. But do you know this passage, maybe it's a kind of ironic way to say, this passage bear

witnesses the fact that he was healed and that he himself became the faithful and true witness, eventually that he wasn't here. You say, I don't see anything about that in here. Well, stand back. I'm reading, stand back and look at the hole and you'll see. I'm reading a book right now by a scholar named Richard Bacchum and the name of the book is Jesus and the Eye Witnesses. And it's a very important, terrific, and significant book.

First thing I can tell you about this book is that this book is the most thorough and I think overwhelming book of evidence that the New Testament gospels are not oral traditions. They were passed along for generations, evolving through the addition of legendary materials until they were written down many years later, and who knows whether any of it happened. These gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are not oral traditions, they were oral histories. And they were taken down from the mouths of the eyewitnesses themselves by Matthew, Mark,

Luke, and John, and Bokham gives incredible evidence. For the fact that for decades after Jesus' death and resurrection, the people who were healed like Bartimaeus, the people who carried the cross like Simon of Cyrene, the all the women of the tomb, like Joanna and Mary, and Mary the mother of Joseph and Mary Magdalene, and the 12 apostles themselves,

all of these participants continually remembered publicly, remembered and repeated all of the incidents from the life of Jesus Christ in great detail in the midst of public ministry and all the churches. For decades, these eyewitnesses held forth and told the stories of what happened to them. And with great detail, and it wasn't until Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John started writing down

these things as the witnesses began to die off that we have the Gospels, but they were oral histories, not oral traditions. And they were right from the mouths of the very people who saw it. That's the first thing. It's an incredible book that gives you all the evidence, and it's very, very strong evidence. But the second thing the book tells us is something about the nature of the Gospel of Mark in particular. Mark mentions Peter proportionately more than any of the other gospels.

Also we're told, if you actually go through the book of Mark you'll see there's never anything that happens in which Peter's not present. He's always there collectively or individually, all the way through. Thirdly, Bacchum points out that there are little eye witness, there are little marks, details that are marks of eye witness account. For example, look at verse 66, notice? It says, while Peter was below in the courtyard, below, the trial is going on above Peter in the courtyard. This is the only place that we have any ideas, one of the gospels that mentions, that Jesus trial happened in a second story.

It happened in the second story, and the people in the courtyard were down below watching the trial going on up there. And what Balkan points out is that one of the marks of eyewitness accounts as opposed to legends is you've got details in them that don't help the plot, they don't help the narrative, they don't help the characterization, they're totally unnecessary. They really, a person who was creating a story

wouldn't think about it, why are they there because they were remembered. And so Boccon points, Poinets puts all the evidence together, and here's what his conclusion is. The book of Mark itself, the entire gospel of Mark, is the eyewitness testimony of Peter. That after this was all over, Peter was healed so completely that he became the leading eyewitness, the leading apostle,

the one who for decades publicly and faithfully testified to what Jesus Christ had done for him, and what Jesus Christ had done for us, and what Jesus Christ said and did. This passage is a testimony to the grace of Jesus. And this is testimony to the fact that Peter was changed. And we know from history that Peter not only was a faithful and true witness that when the neuronian persecution of Christians came up in the middle of say 65 AD, and it became fatal to admit publicly

that you were a Christian leader and teacher, Peter said without any hesitation, take me." And he was put to death. And he was crucified in Clement of Alexandria, writing in 85 AD, says, let us remember the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and hatred, the greatest and most just pillars of our church were persecuted and even put onto death, even Peter, at last, having delivered

his testimony departed to the place of glory prepared for him. And guess what? Bokin points out that the very passage we just read is probably the leading piece of evidence that the book of Mark is actually the testimony of Peter. Why? And here's what Bacchum points out. And I'm going to, I'm going to, let me just read what Bacchum says. He says, no one in the early church other than Peter himself would have dared or wished

to highlight the weakness and failure of the most revered and significant leader in the entire Christian movement, with the candor Mark's narrative does. Therefore, the only possible source for the account of Peter's denial would be Peter himself. You hear that? You know what this is saying? Look, this is the leader of the Christian movement. And if you are an early Christian leader besides Peter, you don't want anybody to know about

this. That the great leader, the leader, you know, my boss is boss. Did this? You would never have made this up, first of all, nobody would have ever made something like this up. It certainly doesn't help the Christian movement. But even the fact it's true, people wouldn't have said it unless Peter said it. Now what are we supposed to learn from this?

We are supposed to learn all of you, so it's wonderful, fascinating. In other words, this very text proves that Jesus Christ changed Peter from a coward into a courageous brave and faithful true witness. But I want you to think about the implications. We're being told here that Christianity is really different. The gospel is different than any other culture and any other religion that's ever existed. Never how two weeks ago we mentioned this, there's a historian John Somerville that talked about the fact that before Christianity came along, all cultures were shame cultures. Now, you know what a shame culture is?

Everything matters more than anything else is honor and face. Everything is done for you honor. Everything is done to command respect and respect and fear of strength is what makes the society go, okay? And therefore, it is astonishing in the extreme that in the very foundational documents of the Christian church, we would be showing in the most lured and vivid colors that the greatest leader of the Christian church was this enormous failure, who cursed his master. And there is not a single other culture or a single other society or a single other religion

that would allow this man to be the leader afterwards. No way, but several days later on a beach, when the risen Jesus Christ met Peter at a fire, a whole new vision for human character and human greatness was born. Because at that fire, Jesus Christ three times asked Peter a question, painfully making him painfully retrace his denial and his betrayal. And three times Jesus says, Peter, do you love me more than these? What was that? This is in John chapter 21.

He says, Peter, do you love me more than these? Remember, Peter had said, Lord, I love you more than all these other disciples. Nobody in the world is as faithful and as true and as passionate and as sold out as I am. And here's Peter. Here's Peter in Jesus' meeting and Jesus says, Peter, are you still going to tell me that you love me more than anyone else, that you are more sold out and more pure in your devotion, and more passionate for me, that you're a better man than any other man. Are you still going to tell me that?

And three times Peter basically says, no, Lord, I just love you. Three times Peter doesn't explain, he doesn't argue, he doesn't deny, he repents. And every single time Jesus leads him to repentance and he says, in he repents, Jesus turns around and says, lead my church. That's nuts. There's no culture in the world that would have allowed that, but here's what Jesus is saying, not just the Peter, but to you and me. He is saying, Peter, because you were the biggest failure through repentance, you became the best leader. It's because you were the biggest failure that you can become the best leader, because nothing creates

greater greatness. Nothing creates more ability to speak into people's lives. Nothing creates greater greatness. Nothing creates more ability to speak into people's lives. Nothing creates more effectiveness in people's lives than for you to plunge your failures into my grace. Plunge your failures into my grace. And it'll give you a wisdom that no one else can have. See, and a joy that no one else can have, and a self-forgetfulness that no one else can have, and a self-forgetfulness that no one else can have, and an insight that no one else can have, failure is plunged into my grace. That's greatness.

Peter, because you were the biggest screw up, and because you were the biggest failure, you will be the highest leader. And Peter accepted that. And he went on and will be the highest leader. And Peter accepted that. And he went on and he was the great leader. And let me just say one more thing quickly before we get onto the question, well, how exactly does that work? Why does plunging your failures into God's grace change you? How does that work?

I don't get it. Well, before, just keep one thing in mind. Then if you feel like your life's on plan B because you just really found things up. Really found things up. You made a huge mistake, you blew up, you said the wrong thing, you were stupid, and you said, my life will never be right again. What if Peter hadn't screwed up?

What if Peter had actually said, yes, I am one of his disciples. What if he'd done that? He probably would have been crucified with Jesus. And he never would have become the vehicle of grace that he was. Oh, you say, okay, so was all right for him to do that. No, it wasn't all right for him to do that. Do you think he would say it was all right for him to do that? But don't you see, if you come to Jesus,

your life can never be put on plan B. Doesn't matter how badly you screw it up, if you take it to him and you plunge it into his grace, he'll turn it all to glory. He'll turn it to plan A. Not amazing. Hi, I'm Tim Keller. You know, there is no greater joy in hope possible than that which comes from the belief

that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 4, although Christ was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. If you grasp this life altering fact of history, then even if you find things going dark in your life, this hope becomes a light for you when all other lights go out. With Easter approaching, I want you to know the hope that stays with you no matter the circumstance, the hope that comes from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In my book, which is entitled Hope in Times of Fear, the resurrection and the meaning of Easter, you'll find why the true meaning of Easter is transformative and how it gives us unclenchable hope and joy even when we face the trials and difficulties of this life, which can be considerable. Hope and times of fear is our thank you for your gift this month to help gospel in life reach more people with the hope and joy of Christ's love. You can request your copy today by going to gospelandlife.com slash give. That is gospelandlife.com slash give.

Thank you so much for your generosity. And as we prepare to reflect on the amazing love of Christ, demonstrated when he went to the cross to save us, I pray you will find a new hope and comfort in the historical fact of his resurrection. So point one, Peter failed as a witness. Point two, Peter was completely healed and became a faithful witness.

Point three, how did that happen? You know, maybe you understand that, a repent, yeah, but that's it. No, that's, it's how you repent. Let's go back to what Mark's been trying to say all along. Mark wants us to see the parallels. Peter is question, Jesus is question. Peter's on trial, Jesus is on trial. Peter is being charged with something, which is true. You are a disciple. Jesus is being charged with something we saw this last week, which isn't true. He's not trying to blow up the temple. He's not a vandal, you know, he's not a terrorist.

But Peter, though, he's being charged with something that's true, gets off. And Jesus, though, he's been charged with something that's false, is condemned. But Mark has done everything up to this point to show us that that's not just an ironic coincidence. Oh, Peter gets off, who deserved to be Oh, Peter gets off who deserve to be condemned, and Jesus who deserves to get off was condemned. Isn't that ironic? No, it's not just ironic, because in the Lord's supper passage

in chapter 14, Jesus says, I'm pouring out my blood. I am, this is the cup of the new covenant poured out for you, for many, and what Jesus is saying, and what Mark is saying, this isn't just an irony. Peter gets off who deserved to be condemned because Jesus Christ was condemned in his place who deserved to get off. Jesus is not just suffering unjustly though he is, he's suffering substitutionally. It's not just that Peter goes free and Jesus gets condemned, isn't that awful.

Peter goes free because Jesus gets condemned, it's not awful. Jesus, Peter goes free because Jesus is condemned. He was our witness in court. He was our representative in court. He stood in our place in court. And because he stood in our place in court and took the deserved punishment, he was crushed. So what? So this. Luke tells us something a little more, even than Mark and Matthew and John

tells us about Jesus' interaction with Peter about the denial, okay? And what Luke tells us in chapter 22 is this, that Peter says, all I'm never going to fail you and Peter, Jesus says, yes, you're going to fail me. And Peter says, no, I'm not going to fail you. And then Peter, Jesus adds something. And it's so mysterious. He says, Simon, Simon, Satan asked to sift you as wheat. He wanted to have you. But I have interceded for you so that when you turn back, you'll be able to strengthen your brothers.

What? Now, first of all, Jesus is actually kind of giving you a fore, it's a foreshadow of what he's going to say on the beach in John 21. He says, you are going to turn back. You are going to get through this. And when you get through this, you're going to be the strengthener of the brothers. You'll be the biggest leader. Because you're the biggest failure, you're going to be the biggest leader.

Because you're the biggest screw up, you're going to be the greatest heart. Why? Here it is, why? And the answer is, I interceded for you. Past tense. Now, this word intercede means I represented your case in court. But it's in the past tense. And he's talking to Jesus, he's talking to Peter at the end of the last supper.

Wait a minute, he hasn't gone to court yet. What's he talking about? Here's another court. There's another way in which Jesus represents us in court. In 1 John and in Romans 8, listen to this. 1 John says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

For if anyone sins, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our advocate and the atoning sacrifice for our sins. If you confess your sins, John says to his children, he says, if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Why? Because Jesus Christ is your advocate, standing before the Father, representing you, and he is the Atoning Sacifest for our sins.

And Paul says, in Romans 8, this, who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies who is to condemn. It is Jesus who died, more than that who was raised to life and is at the right hand of God, interceding for us. Present tense, interceding for us. So I am absolutely certain, therefore, therefore I am absolutely certain, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor the present, nor the future, nor height, nor death, nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from

the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. John and Paul are talking about another court in which Jesus Christ is still our faithful and true witness representing us, speaking up for us. But it's not an earthly court. What are we talking about here? Look, all of us, to some degree or another, know that there is a court and a bar before which we're going to be judged. It doesn't matter what you say, I don't care whether you say you're an atheist or not,

it doesn't matter. Look, it happens, what happens when somebody attacks you, and somebody criticizes you? What happens? You start to add it all up, and you go home mumbling, eat. But I'm so good to my mother. Or yes, maybe I did that, but you don't understand.

I had all this on me, and I'm really good over here, and maybe I'm not good here, but I'm a good person. What's going on? There is a bar of justice before which we all feel that we are accountable. And we're representing ourselves before that bar. Simple as that. We're constantly amassing, you know, a case to say,

we're really pretty good. We're really okay. We really deserve to be all right. We really deserve approval. We really, and when somebody comes and it criticizes us, we get out the case. We represent ourselves. And here's the gospel, according to Romans 8 and 1 John 1 and 2, that when you receive Christ as your Savior, you don't have to represent yourself anymore.

That Jesus Christ stands as your representative, as it were before that bar. You know, it's metaphorical, but the reality is greater than the metaphor. In some way, Jesus Christ is seen not you. He is your representative. That's why Hebrew says, he's our great high priest. And John says he's our advocate. He's like our defense attorney as it were. He stands in the court. And we don't have to appear.

He speaks for us and therefore we're safe. However, you say, well that's interesting. But is that really this incredible transforming power? Well, you have to understand it. I have to tell you, let me use myself as an illustration. When I finally understood this incredible doctrine that Jesus is our faithful and true witness in the heavenly court, see, in the cosmic court,

it changed my life, but not till I understood it. Only Kathy knows how much I was like Peter in my early days of being a Christian. That is to say, every day I was swearing, this is the last time. This is the last time God I'm ever doing that. Next week, next day, next hour, I was doing it. Over and over and over again. Always swearing and swearing.

It's not very much like Peter. Absolutely, I'm going to do it. This time for sure, and I would just do it again and again. And when I heard about this great doctrine of Jesus Christ's high priesthood, he's the advocate, he stands as a representative before the Father. It didn't console me. And here's why. I figured something like this was happening up there. Jesus was coming before the Father and he says, Father, it's about him again. He did it again. He yesterday promised he'd never ever do it again and he did it again. And the

father says, well, what should we do about it? And Jesus, would you please give him one more chance? That's what I thought was happening. Please just give him one more chance. Please be merciful to him, just for me. And I thought the father was saying, well, all right. Because I actually figured that Jesus was up there as my advocate and what he was doing was begging for mercy. In other words, he was like a defense attorney who has no case. And when you're the defense, when you have a client

and you're defending your client and you've got no case at all, all you can do is play on the emotions. All you can do is spin. All you can do is exploit. All you can do is spin. All you can do is exploit. All you can do is manipulate. All you can do is weel and cajole and just hope that somehow you're going to get some sympathy somewhere.

You haven't got a case. That's what I thought. He was coming before the father. Without a case saying, please give Tim Mercy one more time. And the father was saying, well, all right. It didn't console me because I kept wondering, how long can he keep that up? And then I read a sermon by David Martin Lloyd-Jones on 1st John 1 and 2, which I just read you.

We have an advocate before the Father. And therefore, if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses of all unrighteousness. And Lloyd Jones said, would you please notice that Jesus Christ is not before the Father asking for mercy? Because it says, if we confess our sins when Jesus is our advocate, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses of all unrighteousness. It doesn't say he's faithful and merciful. It doesn't say he's going to forgive us because he's merciful. He's going to forgive us because he's just. Jesus, the advocate, is not asking

for mercy, he's asking for justice. You say, what? Here's what he's doing. What he's actually doing is father, something like this. Father, it's Tim again. But I'm not asking for mercy for what he's done. You see that's sin? I've paid for it. I paid for it fully. There is my blood. And Father, it would be unjust for you to get two payments for the same sin. And therefore, he must never fall out of your family, he must never fall out of your love,

he must never fall out of your arms. Father, I am not here asking for mercy from my client, says Jesus Christ, I'm asking for justice. And that is an infallible case. And the minute I realized he wasn't just asking for mercy for me to have one more chance, but he was clothing me with his righteousness because in the earthly court, he was crushed by justice. So now justice is on our side, not just mercy.

This is the reason why John Bunyan, when he finally understood this, that he was, we're not just pardoned, we're not just getting forgiveness for a while so that we have one more chance. But now he's our representative that we're cloth just pardoned. We're not just getting forgiveness for a while so that we have one more chance. But now he's our representative that we're clothed in his righteousness, that when God looks at us in Christ,

he sees nothing but a beauty. And justice, the justice of God, which is infallible in the mountains, you're like dust in the scales, next to the justice of God's, as Isaiah. That is on our side now. Now there can be no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the reason why John Bunion puts it like this. John Bunion, in his autobiography, not, you know, I know he wrote the program's progress,

but he wrote an autobiography, and he talked about how guilt-ridden he was and how every single thing that he did bothered his precious little conscience. And he says, every little touch would hurt my tender conscience, but one day, as I was passing through a field, suddenly I thought of a sentence. And that sentence was, your righteousness is in heaven. And with the eyes of faith, I saw Christ sitting at God's right hand. And I suddenly realized there is my righteousness. And whenever, wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could never say to me, where is your righteousness this week?

For it was always right before him. I saw that my good frame of heart could not make my righteousness better, nor a bad frame of heart make my righteousness worse. For my righteousness was Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. Oh, now my chains fell off indeed. I felt delivered from all my slavery to guilt and fears.

I went home rejoicing for the love and grace of God. And now I could look for myself to him. And I realized that all my flaws and character qualities were like the pennies that a rich man carries in his pocket when his gold is safe under lock and key at home. Christ is my treasure, my righteousness. And now Jesus was also my wisdom, my righteousness, my holiness, and my salvation.

Do you understand that? Jesus Christ is the ultimate faithful witness, not just then but forever for you. Now when that sinks in, and if it syncs in, here's quick, real quick, four things that it should change, four ways it should change your life. Number one, guilt. Those of you who are still hating yourself and flagellating yourself over the years,

because of something you've done and you just can't feel worthy again, John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, once wrote a depressed man thing you've done and you just can't feel worthy again. John Newton, who wrote amazing grace, once wrote a depressed man who just thought he was so awful and people couldn't love him and God couldn't love him because he was so awful. And John Newton said, you say you feel overwhelmed with guilt and a sense of unworthiness. Well, you cannot be too aware of the inward and inbred evils of the human heart, but you may be indeed you are improperly affected by them.

You say it is hard to understand how a holy God could accept such an awful person as yourself. Well, you express not only a low opinion of yourself, which is perfectly right, but you also express far too low an opinion of the person, work, and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, which is absolutely wrong. You complain about sin, but when we examine your complaints, they are so full of self-righteousness, unbelief, pride, and impatience, they are little better than the worst evils you complain of. Why are you beating yourself up?

Because you're trying to be your own Savior. Why do you feel so guilty and you hate yourself? Because maybe God or somebody else will have pity on you. What are you doing? You're being a Pharisee, you're being a reverse Pharisee. In theory, already, it's just, it's still self-centered, it's still self-absorption. Look who he is, look what he is for you. Get rid of the guilt.

Number one, number two, finally, you can not be controlled by human opinion. Look, if somebody's hurt your reputation or if somebody's criticized you terribly, oh my gosh, I as much as anybody knows how horrible that is. But this is your freedom from human opinion. This is your freedom from the court of human opinion, from human approval. When Stephen was about to be executed in Acts chapter 7, he's about to be stoned to death because he'd been tried by a kangaroo court and found guilty when he wasn't. He's about to be executed and he looks to heaven and he got a vision. And

he says, I see the glorious throne of God and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand. Now, if he'd seen Jesus sitting at the right hand, that's the place of rule. But he saw Jesus standing at the right hand and that's the place of advocacy. And here's what Stephen was realizing. On earth, he'd been condemned, but in heaven he was being commended. And the verdict on earth became inconsequential because he knew what the verdict was on him in heaven. And at that point, his face became radiant and as they were killing him and stoning him,

he said, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. He got a boldness, and he got a joy, a courage, and a freedom. Who cares what they think? Who cares what they do? Wouldn't you like that kind of freedom? It's available. So first of all, gets rid of guilt. Secondly, fear of human approval, disapproval.

Thirdly, it'll make you a good witness. Now listen, some Christians, if you're a Christian here, some of you, nobody ever gives you flag for being a Christian. Nobody ever mocks you. You've never taken a hit professionally. No one ever gives you flag for being a Christian. You know why you're a coward? And you don't let anybody know you are. And some of you are strident and self-righteous and obnoxious in the way in which you talk

to people about your Christian faith and you're very proud. Oh, I'm just speaking up as a witness. But I would like you to consider this. If you still need human approval, that's the reason why you're too scared to be a witness or why you feel like the need to get into arguments and win them. If you need too much to argue with people and win the argument,

or you're too scared, it's because you haven't seen Jesus Christ as your advocate, your true witness, your high priest, your faithful high priest, and therefore you haven't been yet freed from fear of what people think of you, enough to be the balanced and good witness that God's calling you to be. And lastly, if you understand Jesus Christ as the faithful and true witness representing you before the bar of God and you don't care what people think anymore, it'll give you

a sense of humor. Oh, yes. Listen, there's two things at Rob, you'll give you a sense of humor. Oh, yes. Listen, there's two things that rob you of humor, superiority and inferiority. If you ask a person with a superiority complex, are you a Christian? They'll say, how dare you question my Christianity? And if you ask a person with an inferiority complex, are you a Christian? They'll say, oh, I'm trying and I'm not even worthy of the name. But if you ask Peter, post this, if you ask the healed Peter, are you a Christian?

You know what he'd say? What a joke, yes. Me, a Christian. I shouldn't be, but I am. I'm absolutely a Christian. I'm the leading Christian. I shouldn't be. And it's the biggest joke of grace possible, and he would laugh.

And you see, grace destroys self-importance. Makes it easy for you to laugh at yourself. It just destroys self-importance. And only people who are utterly devoid of self-importance will ever be decent witnesses, will ever be winsome witnesses. It creates a playfulness in you. Who cares what people think? And you know what you are, and your God loves you forever.

You're still so weak, and your God loves you forever. Come unto me, says Jesus, all ye who are labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for this remarkable passage that shows that Peter, though he went as low as somebody could go, cursing the very name of his master to whom he owned everything, your love is bigger than that cursing.

And you turned it into... You turned that into an agent for His greatness. You turned it all to glory. You made Him a faithful and true witness through your faithful and true witness, Jesus Christ, not only on earth, but in heaven forever. And we thank you for that. And we ask, you would help us to understand that and grasp it and work it into our hearts, especially now as we do the Lord's Supper

so that we can be like your son, Jesus Christ, Father, make us like Him. We ask it in His name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching from Dr. Keller on the transformative power of Christ's death and resurrection. We pray that it challenged you and encouraged you.

To find more gospel-centered resources like today's teaching, you can sign up for email updates at gospelonlife.com. That's gospelonlife.com. This month's sermons were recorded in 2006 and 2007. The sermons and talks you here on the gospel and life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.