Love and the Future of God

[00:00:03] Welcome to Gospel in Life. What does true Christian character look like, and how is it formed? We often assume that becoming more disciplined, generous, or patient is simply a matter of trying harder. But even our best efforts can be driven by pride or a desire for approval. Today, Timothy Keller explains how true Christian character only grows out of our acceptance of God's grace and how we live differently when the truth of the gospel transforms us from within.

[00:00:30] This is 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 1 through 13.

[00:02:08] I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three things remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. The Word of God.

[00:02:27] We've been in a series in which we've been looking at the ways in which an experience of the grace of God creates a new inward character, a new interior character of the heart. And today we come to the end of the series. And we come back to the same passage on which we started, 1 Corinthians 13.

[00:02:48] But tonight what we're going to do is we're going to look at the end of this passage in which Paul tells us that the secret, that's the word, the key to developing that interior, supernaturally changed heart is to look to the future, to look to something that's going to happen in the future. If we're going to understand the passage, we've got to in some ways review it, even though a lot of you probably weren't here 11 weeks ago when we looked at it for the first time.

[00:03:18] This passage in verses 1 to 6 tells us about a problem. And then verses 8 to 13 at the end gives us the remedy. And then verse 7, right smack in the middle, gives us some insight for how to use the remedy. So there's the problem, the remedy, and how to use the remedy. First, the problem. Now verses 1 to 6, this passage is very famous. It's read at weddings.

[00:03:47] It's put up on walls. And it's always ripped out of its context. And when you rip it out of its context, it just seems like a wonderful kind of reflection on the attributes of love. But if you put it in the context, and the context is a letter to a church with a particular set of problems. If you read this chapter in light of all the rest of the book, all the rest of the epistle of Corinthians, this is what you're going to learn.

[00:04:14] Verses 1 to 3 tells us all about what the Corinthian church is. Corinth was a big city. Big cities tend to attract people who are very bright and very talented and very ambitious and very gifted. And the church at Corinth was the same. Verse 1, they had miraculous gifts like tongues and prophecy. Verse 2, they had more ordinary gifts. It says, if you have knowledge to understand mysteries.

[00:04:39] And by the way, mystery, the word mystery in St. Paul always means the redemptive purposes of God as they're revealed in the Scripture. And when he says faith to move mountains, he's not talking about saving faith or the faith that unites you to God. But he's talking about the faith that makes you into a leader and a person who can get people moving toward a vision. So in verse 2, he's talking about the fact that the church was filled with gifted leaders and teachers and communicators.

[00:05:05] And then verse 3, if I give everything to the poor, if I'm willing to die, give my body to be burned, die for the faith. In verse 3, he's mentioning, this is also true of them, was that they were incredibly moral people and virtuous people. By using these extreme cases, like to give all of your money away to the poor, to die for your faith. He was saying, he's talking about people who are not hypocritical in their moral commitment.

[00:05:35] You know, a hypocrite is somebody who says one thing and does another. Or is maybe moral over here, but in some other corner of his or her life is not. But we're talking about utterly committed people. Very sincere. Integrity, see. So this was the Corinthian church, verses 1 to 3. Gifted, active, growing, lots of ministry going on, serving people, serving God, obeying the Bible, obeying the moral law of God.

[00:06:02] But then, verses 4 to 6, is a picture of everything that the Corinthian church is not. Now the way you would know that is if you read the whole of the 1 Corinthians letter, you will see that almost every word that shows up here in this particular inventory about love is not just some reflection. That Paul just, you know, he says, well what is love? What is love? Love is this? No.

[00:06:28] What he is doing is he's collecting all the things that are wrong with the Corinthian church that he's mentioned other places in the book. In other words, the Corinthian church, they were filled with moral people. They were filled with people who served God and served other people. And they were ministering and they were active and they were growing and they were morally virtuous and committed. But they were filled with impatience and pettiness and pride and fighting and harshness and dissension.

[00:06:57] And therefore, here's what Paul is saying. If in verses 1 and 2, 2 and 3, forgive me, he says, you know, you can have all these moral virtues. You can obey the Bible. You can serve God and you can serve other people without any love at all. And if what he means by that, you can see in verses 4, 5, and 6, what is love? Love is not seeking your own self-interest, not boasting, not pride, proud, not self-centered. Here's what he's saying.

[00:07:26] It is possible to do all your morality, all of your serving of other people and helping the poor and obeying the law of God and teaching the Bible and obeying the Bible. You can do all of that, not for God but for you, not for others but for you, all for your own sake, all out of selfishness, all out of pride, all out of a desire for power.

[00:07:46] He's saying the same thing that Marx and Nietzsche and Foucault said, which is that it is not only possible but even normal for morality and religion, for service of other people and service to the poor and service to God to all be done selfishly, all be done out of a desire for power. He's serving God, not for God's sake but for your sake, helping other people, not for their sake but for your sake. What do you say? How could that be? What do you mean? Well, you do it.

[00:08:15] To feel good about yourself, you know, develop some self-esteem. To feel needed and significant. To feel better than people who are not as decent and as moral and as busy as you. To put God in a position where he's got to answer your prayers and take you to himself. To get, in other words, you could be doing it for all these things. In other words, doing everything for your sake, not his sake. Your sake, not their sake.

[00:08:43] Well, if you want to understand what I'm talking about, what Paul's talking about here, I can't do any better than tell you a little illustration that I got years ago. It really has had a big impact on me. When I read it, it helped me understand the Bible. It helped me understand the gospel. It helped me understand my own heart. It changed the way in which I preach and minister. One of the problems is I can't find it.

[00:09:11] It was in a Charles Spurgeon sermon. And he was an old Baptist preacher that preached in the 19th century. And I have 35 volumes of Charles Spurgeon sermons. And I know it's in there somewhere. And every so often I get it down. I say, where did I find it? I don't even know if I'm remembering it right. But here's what I remember. There once was a gardener who lived in a kingdom. And one day he grew this huge carrot.

[00:09:41] And he brought it to his king. And he said, my lord, this is the greatest thing I've ever grown or ever will grow. And I want to give it to you. As a token of my love and my respect for you because of the great king you are. I just want you to have it. And he turned to leave. And the king says, wait. I see you're a man that I can trust with this. I own the land right next to your garden. And I'm not using it.

[00:10:10] I want you to have it. I want you to just take it. Garden the whole thing. I can see you're somebody I can trust with that. Take it. It's yours. And the gardener went home rejoicing. And a nobleman was at court. And he overheard this conversation. And he began to do a little calculating. He says, if you get that many acres for a carrot, what would you get for?

[00:10:35] So the next day, he came before the king leading a huge, beautiful horse. And he says, my lord, I breed horses. And this is the finest horse I ever have bred or ever will breed. And I just want you to have it as a token of my esteem and respect just because of the great king that you are. And the king looked at him and figured it out.

[00:11:04] And he says, look, that gardener was giving me the carrot. But you're giving yourself the horse. The gardener is giving me what he gave me for my sake. But you are giving me what you're giving me for your sake. And the way I remember that Charles Spurgeon, that Baptist preacher saying this, using this, is he said,

[00:11:28] If you give anything to people so that you will feel good about yourself, so you get honor and respect, so you get thanks. If you do anything for God so that he will give you goodness and good health and bless you and take you to heaven. You're not doing anything for God. You're not doing anything for people. It's all for you. I do remember this part. He says, if you, in order to feel good about yourself and to get respect in your community and to get God to take you to heaven.

[00:11:58] If you're out there clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. You're feeding yourself and you're clothing yourself. And you're doing nothing of any value. Now what is Paul saying here? Paul is not saying, like Marx, especially like Nietzsche and Foucault. He's not saying, yeah, therefore, you don't have to be moral. He's not saying, you don't have to obey the law of God. You don't have to serve people. You don't have to serve God. You can make it up. You can lie.

[00:12:28] You can cheat. You can spend all your money on yourself. You can commit adultery. That's fine. He's not saying that. Okay? I just want you to know that. But here's what he is saying. He is saying, unless something really deep happens in your heart to change the way your very heart works, unless something fills your heart with joy and love, your morality will be bad for you. It will not move you toward God. And it will be stultifying its effect on other people.

[00:12:56] Unless something happens that radical in your center, your morality will not move you toward God. We're not in the end help other people. And the sign, verses 4 to 6, the sign that you're serving God and you're serving others is only the result of self-interest and a morally restrained heart rather than a supernaturally changed heart is you lack these things in verses 4 to 6.

[00:13:21] You are, in your private life, in your personal life, you're impatient rather than really patient with people. You're harsh and you're unkind. You're proud. You're jealous. You gloat. You see? You're disdainful. You're scornful. You're anxious. So that's the problem. And a big problem it is. You see?

[00:13:47] By the way, next time you're sitting in a wedding and somebody gets up and reads 1 Corinthians 13 all the way through and everybody else is sitting there saying, isn't that beautiful? And you say, that's awful. And of course, that's one of the worst, that's one of the most convicting, outrageous, amazing, convicting, I just said that, things. Everybody else is saying, well, no, it's very inspirational. And you say, no, you don't know what it's saying.

[00:14:16] It's a big problem. What's the remedy? The remedy is in verses 8 to 13. And what Paul is saying is, the remedy is something coming. There's something coming. Now, the first place he says this is in verse 10, where he says, for now we know in patches and pieces, but when perfection comes, all the imperfect things will fall away. What is that?

[00:14:45] The first thing he says, there's something coming, which he calls perfection. Now, every commentator says that translators, we ought to be sorry for them here because this word that they translate perfection is a word that you can't convey the meaning with any one English word. There is no one English word that corresponds to what this is. It's the Greek word totelion. And the word totelion, as you can see, has the word telos, like telescope to see a long distance to the goal.

[00:15:13] And telos means, on the one hand, what you're designed for, what you were built for. But on the other hand, it also means the fullness of being and the fulfillment that comes from being in the condition of doing what you were built to do. Now, what does that mean? Well, let me give you an illustration that will help you with that, get past that abstract definition. Imagine a whale. Whales.

[00:15:41] They're so powerful. Incredibly powerful. And here's the whale and he's swinging his huge tail. It weighs tons. His tail weighs tons. But he's getting nowhere. He's only injuring himself. Why? Because the whale's on the beach. And if a whale is beached, that incredible tail, he can swing it all he wants. All he'll do is hurt himself and hurt the others around him or maybe dig himself deeper into the sand. Why?

[00:16:11] He's out of his element. The whale's not built for the beach. And because he's not built for the beach, because he's out of his element, out of that which he was designed for, out of that which he was built for, than even the exertion of his strengths, are just injuring himself and the people around him. But put him in the ocean. Put him into what he was built for. That's his tetelion. That's his element. That's the thing he was built for. And he experiences what?

[00:16:43] Everything, when he exerts himself, he experiences fulfillment. Now when he swings his tail, he speeds through with beauty and speed, cuts right through that incredible ocean water. And when Paul says that what's coming is tetelion, here's what he's saying. Your problem is this. You are out of your element. But there is a place. There is a thing. There is a spot. There is something that's coming.

[00:17:09] That when we get into it, all of our potentialities and capacities will be realized. We're going to explode with fulfillment and satisfaction. We'll be everything. And hundreds of thousands of times past our wildest dreams or sense of what we can be. What is it? Verse 12. Then face to face. Face to face. Face to face.

[00:17:37] It's the Greek reflects the syntax of every place in the Old Testament where Moses or Isaiah or Jacob had a fleeting but close and tantalizing encounter with the very presence of God. And here's what Paul is saying. What is your tetelion? What is the element? The thing you were built for. The thing that if you were in there, if you were there, you'd experience all the absolute fulfillment of every fiber of your being. The thing you're built for. What is the thing?

[00:18:08] It's the beatific vision. The visio de. An unveiled, direct experience and sight of the very face and presence of the creator God. Face to face. That's what you were built for. Well, now, what does this metaphor mean? What does it mean to be face to face? Well, you know, there's the presence of God and then there's the presence of God.

[00:18:38] Now, what I mean is here we are all together. Are we not all in one another's presence? You, up there. Aren't you in the same room with them? Yeah, but aren't we all in the same room? Don't you see me? I see you. Okay? But we're not having a face to face, are we? We're not having a face to face. And in the same way, you can sense the presence of God in a very general way. You can see his handiwork in the nature.

[00:19:08] You can feel inspired as you read the Bible. You can have a sense of warmth and as you know that he's a God who answers prayers, you pray to him. But this is different. When two people, when two persons put their faces close to each other, what happens? First of all, there's an experience of the other person's attributes.

[00:19:35] When I have a face to face with someone, I experience their attributes. What do I mean? Well, I may have heard they were brilliant. I may have heard they were beautiful. I may have heard they were big. But now that I'm having a face to face, it smacks me. I'm overwhelmed. They really are beautiful. They really are big. They're really brilliant. You see? And to have face to face means you don't just know about, but you experience the attributes of the other person. But secondly, a face to face means you not only that, but you experience the affection of the other person.

[00:20:04] Someone who brings their face up to your face. Wants to tell you secrets. Maybe wants to kiss you. Even the nearness itself is an act of affection. And what Paul is saying is the thing you were built for, the thing that you must have without which even the exertion of your strengths will injure you.

[00:20:31] Is you need to gaze on the very beauty and glory of God. You need to have an experience of his beauty and glory. And you need to have an experience of his love and intimacy to know that you were delighted in. That's what you were built for. That's the ultimate. The Bible talks about it that way. Psalm 16. In thy face is joy upon joys. In thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.

[00:21:01] Psalm 17. In righteousness I will see your face when I awake. I will be satisfied by seeing your likeness. Here's two writers about this. C.S. Lewis says, The faint far off results of those energies which God's creative rapture implanted in matter are what we call physical pleasures. Isn't that an interesting thought?

[00:21:24] The faint far off results of those energies which God's creative rapture implanted in matter are what we call physical pleasures. And even filtered and small, physical pleasures are still too much for our present management. That's a nice way to put it. But what would it be like to taste at the fountainhead that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? Yet that is what lies before us. We long to be acknowledged.

[00:21:54] To bridge some chasm that yawns. To be the delight of God. For glory means acceptance with God. Response. Acknowledgement. Welcome into the heart of things. The door we've been knocking on all our lives will open and we will be called in and received. And here's another writer, John Flavel, 17th century British minister. And he says this. All good things lie in the vision of God as all rivers come from and are in the ocean.

[00:22:23] Why are your emotions and minds unsatisfied by all the things that you see here? Just as you bring a great ship into a narrow channel and she cannot sail but runs aground. But if you give her sea room and depth, she runs like the wind. So here. All that delights you on earth. All those comforts are like droplets. Inflaming more than satisfying the appetites of your soul. But the Lamb will lead you to fountains, floods of living water.

[00:22:51] In which your soul will have sea room. How would your life change if you no longer had to prove yourself to anyone? We often live as though our value depends on our accomplishments, the opinions of others, or whether we're meeting our own expectations. Leaving us trapped in a cycle of trying to measure up. In his short book, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, based on a sermon from 1 Corinthians 3, Tim Keller explains how the gospel offers a completely different foundation for our identity.

[00:23:21] One that's free from insecurity and pride and that allows us to rest in God's complete acceptance. This month, as thanks for your gift to help Gospel and Life spread the transforming love of Christ with more people, we'll send you two English copies of The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness and one Spanish copy that you can share with a Spanish speaker in your life. Request your copies today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.

[00:23:54] In other words, the face, the smile of this face is what you've been looking for in all your achievement. The kiss from this face is what you've been looking for in all other kisses. The words out of the mouth in this face is what you've been looking for in all other words.

[00:24:17] And to know that this face has wept for you will wipe away your tears forever. And Paul says that's what's coming. That's your element. That's the teleon. That's the ultimate. Now, does just believing in that in general change you? Is this the thing? You just have to have a general belief that someday we're going to, you know, maybe, you know, if we're all very good, you know, we'll see him face to face.

[00:24:47] What a wonderful thought. Is that what changes you in the core? No. A general belief is not enough. You have to have certainty of it. And a desire for it. It's the certainty of it and the desire for it. The degree of the certainty you have of it and the degree of your desire for it is what actually changes you in the heart so all of your deeds of service to others and to God are radically changed in their motive, radically changed in their character. What do I mean?

[00:25:16] First of all, you have to be certain. Paul was certain. He didn't say, I'm sure if we're all good enough, if we're all good little boys and girls, someday we'll have this eternal bliss in heaven. That's not what he's saying. Look, he says, then we shall see face to face. Then I shall know fully. Shall. I will. Well, you say, boy, that's pretty arrogant. How in the world, how can he be so sure?

[00:25:45] How can he be sure he's good enough for the face of God? Let me show you. Look at the second half of that last verse. It's not what you think. For years, I always thought he was saying this. He says, then I shall know fully, even as I shall be fully known. Then I shall know fully, even as I shall be fully. That's not what it says. It says, then I shall know fully, even as I am already fully known. It's a past tense.

[00:26:15] Well, you say, well, of course God already knows him. Of course. I mean, he's God. You know, what are you saying? Paul says, I know that I'm going to have the face of God because right now I am fully known. You say, well, what's the big deal about that? Of course he knows. And when you say that, that shows, and it's understandable, that you do not know the import of the word no in the Bible. In both Greek and Hebrew, the word no is a deeply relational word.

[00:26:42] So in Matthew 7, there's a place where Jesus says, on the last day people will come to me and they will say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do wonderful deeds in your name? And Jesus says, I'm going to say to them, I never knew you. Now, does that mean he doesn't fully have information about them? Does this mean he doesn't know all about what they do and who they are and their name, rank, and serial number and what they've done every minute of their lives? Of course he does. He's the Lord. What does he mean when he says, I never knew you?

[00:27:08] He means, I don't have a settled personal relationship of love with you. The word no in the Bible is a word for deep, intimate relationship. In the old King James, have you ever noticed the place where it says, And Adam knew Eve and she bore a son? What do you mean no? You know what we mean.

[00:27:34] In the Bible, the word no is the ultimate word for a deep love relationship. Why? Why would the word no be used like that? Because the word no combines the two things you most want in a relationship. If somebody doesn't really know you but has affection for you, eh. They say, oh, you're wonderful. They don't really know. That doesn't really affect me that much.

[00:27:57] If somebody doesn't know you but has affection for you, or worse, if somebody knows all about you and rejects you, that's not good either. To be known but not loved, to be loved but not known is not what our heart needs. We need to be fully known and fully loved. To have someone know you to the bottom and love you to the uttermost, then in that relationship I'm safe. In that relationship I have everything I really want.

[00:28:27] In that relationship, finally I'm affirmed. And when Paul says, I am fully known, and he uses, this thing that surprises the commentators, is he uses a particular kind of Greek past tense, which we don't even have in English. It's called an aorist tense. A-O-R-I-S-T. And it refers to a single past action. And this is what Paul is saying. I am utterly certain that I'm going to have the beatific vision.

[00:28:55] I'm utterly certain that the smile, the lips, the face of God are mine. Why? Because at some past time, God himself came in, fully knew me, fully loved me, accepted me, and made me his own. When did he do that? What action, what time could Paul be meaning by using that aorist tense? And here's the answer. It was in the career of the one who did this.

[00:29:22] In John chapter 2, verse 24, we're told that Jesus Christ did not trust people because he knew what was in them. You got that? Go home and say, the pastor tonight told us that Jesus Christ didn't trust people. And you know why? Well, the text tells you because he was smart. Because he knew us. But he knew us. He looked to the bottom. He saw all about it. And at the end of his life, though, what did he do? He didn't go home.

[00:29:52] He didn't reject us. He's on the cross. And he's saying, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What's happening? He's losing the face of God. He's losing the face of his father. He's losing access to his father. He's losing intimacy with his father. And do you know what that means? I mean, in 2 Thessalonians 2, we read this. They will be punished by being shut out from the face of the Lord and from his glory.

[00:30:20] Of course, if the face of God is Tertullian, it's our element. Then to lose it completely and utterly would be the ultimate devastation, the ultimate torture, the ultimate pain, the ultimate disaster. And Jesus Christ was experiencing that on the cross. Why? Why? Here. Now we answer the question, how could Paul be so sure he'd be good enough for the face of God? He's not.

[00:30:44] But Jesus Christ lost the face that we deserve to lose because we weren't good enough. Jesus Christ lost the face that we should have lost so we never can lose it. Because when Jesus Christ saw us to the bottom and yet died for us on the cross and took the rejection and the forsakenness and the loss of the face of God so that we could have the face of God,

[00:31:12] that means the moment we say, Father, accept me because of what Jesus has said, at that moment I know I am fully loved and known. And Paul says, I am utterly and absolutely certain that the delight of those eyes, when it finally hits me, is going to finally blast out of my life all the insecurity, all the fear, all the things that are bad about me.

[00:31:41] That kiss on my lips, that delight, the radiance of that delight on my face, the knowledge that this face wept for me and gave up his son for me and so on. When I see that, it'll make me perfect. And knowing that that's going to happen and knowing that in a sense it's already, he already delights in me, utterly changes my attitude toward everything else that happens in life.

[00:32:09] Of course, because now it's the desire for that, which is the fundamental motive that runs through everything I do. Why does verse 11 say, when I was a child, I looked like a child, I thought like a child, I spoke as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. What does that mean? It's a very famous verse, but what does it mean? And here's what St. Augustine thinks it means.

[00:32:31] St. Augustine, in his commentary says, a childish person, childishness means unstable, no delay of gratification, impatient. Let's do it now. Why is this taking so long?

[00:32:54] And he says, if you are trying to serve other people and serve God, not out of a knowledge that I am loved, but out of a desire to get love, you'll be childish in all of your morality. You'll be childish and unstable in all of your ways. Think about this. It means that when I try to serve other people, not in order to give love to them, but in order to get a sense of love, to love myself, then I'll know I'm a good person, to get honor and respect and gratitude for them.

[00:33:21] I'll be like a child because what it means is I only love the people who are thankful to me or who I like, or I'll be very unstable and childish in this other way. Or I won't be able to say no. I'll let them trample all over me. I'll be dysfunctional because I'll need to be needed. If you are trying to serve other people out of an emptiness in your center, you're only serving yourself.

[00:33:46] And if you try to serve God in order to get something from him instead of out of just a desire to praise him and honor him and delight in him for what he's already done for you, if you obey him in order to get something for him, you're like the nobleman. You're not doing a thing for him. You're doing it all for yourself, and you'll be like a child. You'll find morality a grind. You really will. Why is it so hard? I have to say no over and over again. I have to read the Bible. I have to do all these things. It'll be a grind.

[00:34:16] You'll be like a child. Or can you be like the gardener who's rich? He has everything he wants. He loves his king. He's totally satisfied with his king, and all he wants to do is to please and honor his king and to see the smile of his king. That's it. Why do you listen to music that you find beautiful over and over and over again? Why do you do that? Do you feel better about yourself? Does it help your self-esteem? No.

[00:34:45] Do you have other people to think that, boy, you're really cool? Hopefully. No. Why do you do it? You do it because it's satisfying in and of itself. Why do you serve God? Why do you do the things he asks? Why do you serve other people? Why do you put yourself out for their needs?

[00:35:07] Is it for their sake, just because they're out there, just because he's there, or for your sake to get something? That's the issue. If you know about the smile, if you know that that's coming, if you know he's already smiling, you're already fully known. If you know even that by faith, it changes your attitude toward everything. Now, here's how you can apply this remedy in the end.

[00:35:37] What it's really saying, it just says, to the degree that you live in the joyful certainty and desire for that beatific vision, to that degree, you will serve God and other people just for the love of them, not for yourself. It will be a joy. It will be gravy. It will be rich. Now, let's use the remedy in one area.

[00:36:04] Verse 7, the end of the list of things that Paul says is the marks of a loving person. Up to there, verses 4, 5, and 6 are convicting, but for most people they seem reasonable. To say, love is patient. We say, yeah, okay, I guess we should be patient. Love is kind. Yeah, all right, okay, I should be kind. Love doesn't boast. Love isn't rude. Well, that's pretty hard, but okay, you're right.

[00:36:29] But when you get to verse 7, suddenly Paul says stuff that is absolutely ridiculous, unreasonable. What does he say? Here he says, and this is the acid test of the difference between a morally restrained heart operating out of emptiness, operating out of self-interest, and a heart that has been changed and filled, understands the gospel, knows you're fully known in love. He says, here's the acid test.

[00:36:55] That kind of heart loves, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, never fails, never gives up on people. Never gives up. Well, somebody says, not only is that impossible, but it's actually undesirable. What do you want me to be? Gullible? You want people to walk all over me? It's ridiculous. Always trusts, always hopes.

[00:37:23] What am I supposed to be some kind of, am I supposed to be blind? Am I supposed to be gullible? No. Think about this. We're not talking about gullibility here. A gospel-changed heart lovingly trusts. What does it mean to lovingly trust? It means to risk out of love. To trust in something or to hope in something is to risk. It's not hope. It's not trust unless there's a kind of risk. You're not sure, you know, but you do it.

[00:37:51] And it's not loving trust unless you do it knowing that the person could let you down. Knowing that if you give yourself and you lay yourself out, the person could betray you. Knowing that the person could just not come through for you. You know it, but you do it out of love. Now, that means a gullible person is not trusting out of love. The gullible person is trusting out of ignorance. The gullible person is trusting out of naivete.

[00:38:20] The gullible person, you know, trusts and gets let down. And what does the gullible person say? How did that happen? Why did that happen? How dare you? They're gullible. They weren't trusting out of love. They were trusting out of ignorance. And of course, the gullible person doesn't trust out of love, doesn't risk. The cynical person doesn't trust out of love, doesn't risk. But what Paul is saying is the gospel-changed heart is a heart so swimming in love, so unneedy, so sure of the smile,

[00:38:47] that it doesn't mind being cheated so much. It's not always adding up accounts. I think I'm losing in this relationship. I think I need to cash it in. A gospel heart never stops trusting out of love, never stops risking out of love. I found it interesting. This is what Time Magazine said about Sarah Cohen after she won the gold medal. Big surprise. Gold medal. Winter Olympics. Figure skating, right?

[00:39:18] Big shock. How did she win? Here's what they said. They said, Hughes showed none of the tension of her short program, rollicking through seven triple jumps. Five in combination. Her coach leaped as high as her student after Hughes nailed a huge triple-toe loop-triple-loop combo. I saw it, but I still don't know what it is. And it says, She finished a captivating program and responded magnificently to the most pressure of her young life. Now, that's not exactly true.

[00:39:47] Maybe and maybe not. Here's why. You know why she won. Why did she win? Because she had so much less pressure on her. In other words, she... Why did she win? First of all, she tried to do things the other people, the other contestants weren't willing to do because they were scared. She not only was willing to try something harder than the rest, but she nailed it. Why? Because she had nothing to lose.

[00:40:18] She was young. She had done better than anybody thought. Her whole career was ahead of her. She wasn't supposed to win or place or show. No, that's the wrong sport, isn't it? Okay? She had no... She had nothing to lose. She had nothing to lose. That's why she tried something so incredibly risky and why she nailed it. Because she had nothing to lose. She didn't feel the pressure that the others felt. That was the whole reason. She didn't... It didn't bother her. She said, What if I fall? That's all right. It's okay.

[00:40:47] I have nothing to lose. That is a picture of a gospel-changed heart out in the world of relationships. Why am I scared of anybody's frown when I've got this smile? I've got nothing to lose. Well, somebody says, You mean you let a person walk all over you? You always trust, always hope? You're going to let a person sin against you? No. For their sake. Do you hear me? If you have got a heart so certain of and desirous of

[00:41:16] and just relishing the foretaste of the face, the face-to-face, the beatific vision, if you have a heart like that and you see somebody sinning against you, of course you say no. Of course you confront. Of course you stop them. For their sake. It's bad for them to sin against you. And I'll tell you, you can tell the difference. Because if you stop a person from sinning against you for their sake rather than your sake, which is the whole point of this whole message, you'll do it. Maybe you might be strict. You might be kind of even severe. But there won't be outrage.

[00:41:46] There won't be anger. There won't be just trying to hurt them. This is an absolute divergence. This is not morality. This is gospel grace. This is not religion. This is a gospel-changed heart. Do you see the difference? Are you like the gardener? Are you like the nobleman? It's all the difference in the world. Same words, same action. The nobleman brought more. Did more for God, as it were.

[00:42:17] Was more holy. Was more moral. Was even more committed. Gave more to God. But it meant nothing. C.S. Lewis says, put away your childish things. There's a great place where he says this. Suffering will be healed and made up for. Oh, pardon me. Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us.

[00:42:45] We're like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he can't imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. Here we are fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when the face is offered to us. Put away your childish things. Put away your childish things. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have

[00:43:15] through this text shown us what we really need, what we really have to live for. The certainty of it changes our attitude in all of our relationships, helps us to sit loose to all of our troubles. It really will change everything. Now, there are some people in this room who actually don't understand and grasp this yet. They are just beginning to grasp the difference between religion, morality and gospel Christianity.

[00:43:45] But there's others in this room who absolutely grasp it, but they're not using it. They know the remedy they even have the remedy. They're not using the remedy. We pray that we would know it and use it and become like your son who trusted us though he knew we were untrustworthy because of his love. We pray that you would make us not gullible or cynical but people who

[00:44:15] always trust, always hope, always persevere, never give up because we're rich in your love through Jesus Christ in his name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you apply the gospel to your life and share it with others. For more helpful resources from Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com. There, you can subscribe to the Life in the Gospel

[00:44:45] quarterly journal. When you do, you will also receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other great gospel-centered resources. Again, it's all at gospelandlife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 2002. 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.