Gospel in Life

Guest (Female): Welcome to Gospel in Life. We live in a culture that encourages us to focus on ourselves, our needs, our goals, our fulfillment. But what if our lives only made sense when we see them as part of a much bigger story? This summer, we’re featuring one of Tim Keller’s longer sermon series in which he teaches about the core truths of the Christian faith and the big picture of God’s ultimate plan of salvation for humanity, revealing how we can find real meaning, growth, and change in Christ.

Tim Keller: This is the third talk, this third teaching in a row on the subject of chapter 1 verse 4 of Ephesians. We're going to read chapter 1. I’ll read verses 4 to 8. And tonight for the last time we're going to look at the subject that we've been looking at that's so important, so critical, that so many of you in the last couple of weeks during this teaching time have been coming to me about and talking to me about.

The teaching that Paul gives here about our adoption is such a life-changing teaching, how it lays bare the foundations of our lives, how it shows you where you really stand. We're going to look at it one more time tonight and I'm going to read from chapter 1, I’ll just read verses 4 to 8. But we're homing in on the doctrine of our adoption.

Look: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." But the key here is he predestined us to be adopted as his sons.

For the last two weeks we've been looking at this. We've talked about the importance of the doctrine, the cruciality of it. But we've talked about the fact that everything God in all of eternity has planned, you see, all of his plan, he predestined us, everything came down to this: the pinnacle of everything he wanted to do, the capstone and the climax of all of his plans of history.

The whole point of Jesus' death on the cross and his redemption, all the things we've been looking at for a number of weeks, this is the apex. This is what it all comes down to. This is the highest thing that any religion even offers its people: to be adopted as his sons. We saw, for example, that this happens because of Jesus' death and his redemption.

You know the subtle beauty and the structure that's very subtle underneath the parable of the prodigal son that's so easy to miss. Is that the only way the prodigal son is able to come back after his sin and rebellion into the welcome of the father is at the expense of the elder brother. The father cannot exactly freely bring back the younger brother, the prodigal son.

He can't do it freely because you see everything that he's giving the prodigal son now belongs to the elder brother. Do you remember that? The prodigal son has wasted his inheritance; he owns nothing anymore. And for the father to bring him back into the estate, the only way that can happen is at the expense of the elder brother.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the elder brother is angry. And he says, "Every ring is mine, every robe is mine, every fatted calf is mine. And because of that, these things you're giving him, father, are at my expense." So we have an example of a grumpy elder brother. But the Bible says rejoice; that's not what you really have.

Jesus is the true elder brother. He was not at all unwilling, but we're told in Hebrews 2 he is not ashamed to call us brothers. He was made like us in every way so that he could be the firstborn among many brethren. And all of that we looked at meant that Jesus Christ willingly and gladly gave up, willingly and gladly paid the price, willingly and gladly knew that the only way we could come into the family of God would be at his expense, and he did it gladly, with singing, with joy.

But now what we started last week and which we're going to finish this week is we have to look at the great privileges and the characteristics of people who are children of God and who know they are children of God. People who are children of God and who know it, what are those characteristics? We started last week and I'm just going to plunge right into it because we have to finish this week. What are the characteristics of children? What are the marks of people who know they're children of God and who live it out?

First, and we started with this last week but let's talk about it now: the first is a freedom or fearlessness. We're told in Romans—remember, we've read this before—Romans 8 says that we have not been given a spirit of a slave to make you fear, but you received the spirit of the sonship and by this, that's the spirit, we cry, "Abba, Father." For we are no longer slaves but sons, and if sons, then heirs. Hear that? You're not a slave; you're a son. If you're a slave, you're full of fears. And the spirit of God's job in life, one of them, is to show Christians that they are children of God so to get rid of fear.

So here it is: if you're living in fear, you do not know that you're a child of God, or else you're not a child of God. Those are the only two alternatives. If you're living in fear, you don't know that you're a child of God or else you're not a child of God. Because here's why. In most of the great houses, most of the great families and most of the great estates, you had a great lord or a noble over the house and you had lots of people in the house.

Most of them were servants, most of them were slaves, but you had a couple of children. Now you see, the children took orders from the head and the slaves took orders from the head. And even though they both had the same orders and they both in a sense obeyed, they obeyed out of different motives. A slave had ultimately to know that if he did not obey the master, he could be expelled.

He could be demoted. In other words, a slave lives under fear, under compulsion, and under fear of expulsion. But a son has a whole different attitude. The son says, "This is my house; I can't be expelled from it. This is my father; my relationship is sure." And therefore, a slave and a son obey the same person with radically different motives. A slave obeys the father out of fear because the person is not their father.

A son knows that your acceptance by the father is not based on your performance. Now that leads to a lack of fearlessness. Let me get real specific. A slave is manic; a son is emotionally even-keeled. Why? Because a slave mentality says, "When I have done well, when I have performed well, when I have lived up to standards, I feel great about myself, but when I have failed, I'm in despair and I'm depressed." Up and down, up and down. Recognize yourself?

But a child of God relates to the father in a different way. When you have a good week, when you perform well, when you live up to standards, you don't get all that puffed up because you say, "Hey, my performance is not the reason that I'm in the father's house. It's what Jesus did." And when you fail, you don't go into despair because you say, "My performance is not why I'm in the father's house. It's what Jesus did." Do you see the evenness of it? Do you see the reason why there's not a manicness? The manic emotional upswings and downswings over your performance is the mentality of a slave, not a son.

Or here's another aspect of the fear problem. A slave is a person who's critical and judgmental because a slave is somebody who does not feel acceptable to God unless you feel morally superior. You don't feel loved unless you're morally superior, and therefore you need to see the faults in other people. You need to listen to gossip and to spread it.

Gossip makes you feel powerful, it makes you feel lovable—that's the reason it's salacious, it's delicious, both to listen to and to give, because it makes you feel superior. And a slave has got to feel superior to other people in order to feel loved. You've got to be critical, you've got to find fault in people everywhere. Now, the reason, in all fairness, the reason that a slave is doing that to everybody else is because you're doing it to yourself.

And you're just as mean to other people as you are to yourself. But as a result, you see, you're a critical, judgmental person. Ah, but a son has a spirit of affirmation. A son, you see, a son has great listening skills. A son knows that your acceptance and your lovableness does not depend on your performance, and therefore you have the ability to affirm people wherever and whatever they're doing. See, a slave is manic, a son is even-keeled. A slave is judgmental and critical in spirit, a son is affirming.

Or I’ll give you another one. A slave is defensive and controlling. For the same reason, a slave mentality says, "I’ve got to look good. Unless I look good, I'm not lovable." Therefore, you can't take criticism without being destroyed. Therefore, you're very defensive when someone brings things up against you. And that's another reason why you have to control people and situations; you've got to look good.

But a son is someone who loves to repent. Not defensive, not controlling—you love to repent. And here's why. A real Christian, a person who is a child of God and who knows that they're children of God, the reason you love to repent is repentance is almost like getting saved all over again. Because when someone points out your flaws, and you realize, "Hey, I really am a weak person and a flawed person," but the deeper I see my depths, the deeper I see my flaws, the more I'm amazed at the incredible love and mercy of my father.

And see, repentance is great for a Christian and a Christian eagerly repents. A son, a child, a person with a child mindset, a sonship mindset, eagerly repents. Why? Because you see, it's like getting saved again. It's a way—though of course it's painful, it's a little like pulling a scab off after really it's healed underneath.

You pull it off and it stings and it hurts and underneath you've got that beautiful looking baby skin; you wish your whole body looked like that. And in the same way, repentance is like that. It's like pulling that scab off and it hurts, yet underneath it's like getting saved again. A Christian is a person who repents with joy. Repentance doesn't grind them into the ground; repentance isn't something that's a last resort; repentance isn't something that at all costs we avoid.

What are you? Do you see what I mean? You have not received a spirit of slavery to fear. If your life is characterized by the fear of criticism, by the fear of other people's opinions, by the fear of getting close to people because they'll see your flaws, by self-consciousness and tremendous introspection, constant introspection and looking in. If your life is characterized by that kind of fear, then you, even though you might be a born-again Christian, you might really be a child of God, you're not acting like a child of God.

You see, you know what's really unique about Christians in New York City? By New York City standards, Christians have a moral framework, a set of values that's medieval in nature. And Christians believe that there are things that are sins that most people just take for granted; they eat and breathe them like air and drink them like water.

And when you come across a Christian living in New York City, you find on the one hand you have somebody here who's got a moral conscience and a scrupulosity of conscience that most people would be staggered by. And yet, a Christian who's living in your sonship can deal with people who are so violently opposed to you, deal with people who have such differences of opinions, such radically different approaches, and you can deal with them with warmth, without defensiveness, without getting threatened. A Christian is an absolute marvel. And if you're not capable of that, then you have forgotten that you're a son. The first mark of sonship is a fearlessness. Okay.

The second mark of sonship: access. Do you hear me? The second mark of sonship is access to the father, a spirit of prayer. In Romans 8, we already read it says that we do not have a spirit of slavery, but we have a spirit of sonship and we have gotten a spirit of sonship that leads us to cry, "Abba, Father." The "Abba, Father." The word "Abba," as many of you know and you've been told, but it's a very important word to realize.

The word "Abba, Father" is an Aramaic—it's an intimate phrase and it really means "Daddy." And I must say that therefore Christianity alone of all religions has the audacity to offer us an intimacy with the infinite that no other religion would dare offer us. As a matter of fact, I think it's fair to say that most other religions are appalled and even irritated and disgusted. In fact, I’ve been told by some adherents of other religions that the kind of intimacy that we assume with the father in heaven is blasphemous.

Audacity, yes. In fact, I'm going to use this word: shamelessness. In Luke 11, there's the parable told of the friend at midnight. And Jesus says, gives a story about a man who asks a friend at midnight for help. And he says the man will get up and give the friend what he asks for for his persistence. But the word "persistence," the little Greek word "persistence" that's translated "persistence" would be better translated "shamelessness." Shamelessness. Shamelessness.

Here's what I'm trying to get at. There is an effrontery, there is a boldness that would be impudence in a neighbor or a friend but is natural in a child. What is considered impudence, what is considered shamelessness, what is considered rudeness in a friend or in a neighbor is natural in a child. A child's attitude toward his daddy is utterly and radically different than the perspective of anyone else.

If your father is the president, if your father is a king of a continent, if anyone else would ask that man at 4 a.m. for a drink of water, it would be impudence. It would be sheer effrontery. It would be ridiculous to demand that level of care, to demand that level of intimacy, to demand that level of involvement would be absolute—it would be blasphemy. But if that's your daddy, he gets up. He may be king to everybody else, but to you he's daddy. He may be a hanging judge to everybody else, but to you he's daddy.

Now, have you got that attitude toward God? Because if you do, you'll be a praying fool. You will be praying shamelessly. You'll be praying constantly. You'll be praying boldly and relentlessly. You'll be praying about everything. You are just shadows of what you could be, you are husks of what you could be, if you prayed as if you were children. That's how children act. That's how children are. Come on.

You don't see a five-year-old say, "Well, I don't want to bother you, Dad; you're awfully busy." When's the last time you saw a five-year-old like that? When's the last time you saw a six-year-old come and say, "Gee, Dad, I wanted to ask you for something, but you're an important person; I don't know how I could impose on you like this"? And when you look at God and you say, "He's never going to answer this prayer because of what I’ve done. He's not going to answer this prayer because it's too small to bring to him." Spoken like a slave, not as a child. Do you realize who he is to you? You'd be a praying fool. This is one of the most important ways that you can learn about whether or not you still have the slave mentality or the son mentality, and that is: do you pray like that? Do you think of him that way? Do you cry out, "Abba, Father"?

A missionary told me a story that—there's a missionary who had four children and adopted a fifth child, adopted a girl, a ten-year-old girl. And even though she was legally adopted, there were months before she would call her parents, her new adopted parents, "Daddy" or "Mommy." She called them by their first names. In other words, legally adopted but there wasn't that bonding.

And then one day, she fell down in the yard and she cut herself pretty badly, and she cried out, "Daddy!" And he went running to her. And I want you to see that many of you are in the same boat. You're legally adopted, your status is vouchsafed, you've got the status of children of God, you've given yourself to him, but you're not crying out to him. And you're not crying out to him shamelessly and boldly and constantly and for everything. That's the condition you're in too.

Are you a child of God? Do you know you're a child of God? Do you pray like that? Billy Bray, the boxer, British guy last century, he used to have a way of talking. When something went wrong, he said, "I have to talk to Father about that." He had that attitude. Okay. First: fearlessness. Secondly: access, a spirit of prayer.

Thirdly, the third mark of a child of God is a sense of being wealthy. It's a sense of being wealthy. There's an amazing passage in Romans 8 that we've been quoting from, but let me just read this to you. In Romans 8, it says: "Creation itself waits with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. And we ourselves, who await, have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly and we eagerly await for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Guest (Female): Do you struggle to find the words to share your faith effectively with others? Most Christians, pastors included, have moments where we have trouble articulating what we believe and why our faith matters. In his book, *Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism*, Tim Keller shows how to communicate the Christian message in a way that’s clear, compassionate, and accessible, whether you’re speaking to a group or having a casual conversation with a friend. Drawing from his decades of experience connecting the gospel to real-life circumstances, Dr. Keller shows how the gospel message can speak even to the most skeptical or spiritually curious people. During the month of July, we’ll send you a copy of *Preaching* as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the transforming love of Christ with more people. So request your copy today at gospelinlife.com/give. That website again is gospelinlife.com/give. Now, here’s Dr. Keller with the rest of today’s teaching.

Tim Keller: That's a puzzling passage because it says all of nature is groaning in bondage to decay and can't wait for us to be adopted. And then Paul says, "And we ourselves await the adoption, the glorious liberty of the children of God." Now, how can Paul say here we're already adopted and then just a little later here in Romans 8 say we're awaiting our adoption? Ah, because you see, when you become a Christian, you're legally adopted.

And the greatest thing about adopting a child is you want to treat that child as if that child is your biological natural child. You want to give that child everything you'd give your natural child. There's one thing, though, you can't in the human context give your natural child, and that is your DNA. Now, in many cases, that's just as well. We don't want her to have my nose and that kind of—we don't want her to have my ears.

But in the human context, we'd like to do that; we can't do that. But what we've got here in the gospel is that not only do we become legally adopted, but God actually gives us his DNA. He actually puts into us his own nature, the Spirit of God. We've got the firstfruits of it, but the day will come in which we absolutely will resemble him. We're going to get the family likeness finally. It's growing in us gradually, but someday it's going to come down in fullness. And that day, Paul talks about in amazing terms.

You see Jesus, when you look at Jesus, there you've got someone with the DNA of the Father. There you've got someone, and all you see is moral glory. It says in Hebrews 1:3, "He is the express image of the Father. He is the radiance of God's being." And that radiance and that likeness is going to come to us. It's going to fall on you on the last day. It's going to come down on you.

And here's the amazing part. Paul says that the day that we actually come into the fullness of our sonship, all of nature is going to at the same time be changed. How can that be? Why would nature be waiting for us? It means the glory that's going to hit us is so powerful that we're going to bring all of nature with us when we're changed.

And you know, here's the reason why: we were built to be gardeners, we were built to take care of nature, we were built to take care of creation, and the environmentalists can tell you what a lousy job we've done. When we fell into sin, somehow we took nature with us. And when we come into glory, somehow we're going to bring nature with us.

And Paul—see now, Paul says, we talked about this this morning. Paul says in that context, in this passage talking about this glorious liberty, he says, "In this hope we are saved. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." What does he mean when he says, "In this hope we are saved"? Listen, this is the most practical thing you can possibly understand right now.

We hope for our sonship, we hope for the glory, we think about the inheritance. We think about the glory that's going to come down and it's going to be so incredible that when it hits us, when the glory hits ground zero, it's going to transform all of creation into perfection. So there's no more decay anymore. We're going to have a new heavens and new earth and we're going to be in charge where every blade of grass is so beautiful and so clear it's beauty that'll break your heart, that it'll lead you to kneel down and worship at the glory of the one who created it.

That's all going to come to us and Paul says, "My hope for that saves me." Now it doesn't save me in the sense that it forgives my sins, but he's saying it purifies me. My hope, my thinking about my inheritance, my wealth, the glory that is mine and the glory that is guaranteed to me and the glory that is coming—he says that's how I deal with my sufferings. I reckon them, I think them out.

Paul says unless you're hoping for your inheritance, unless you know you're wealthy, unless you know you're going to come into your inheritance, you cannot live a life of stability and of peace. I’ve got a couple friends—you probably do too. Not the same friends, but you probably got some friends like this. I’ve got some friends who, like most of us, are living off of the income that they make from year to year, but they know that someday they're going to come into a fortune.

And they're not totally sure when it's going to be, but it won't be far. As a result, they don't have the same worries that the rest of us do. You know, they try to save and they try to get things done and they think about the future and they think about their kids. They don't have the same worries because they know they're going to come into a fortune. And they've got a stability and they've got—you see, there's an overarching comfort. They know they're wealthy even though they can't touch it right now. They know they're wealthy; they've got a whole different attitude.

Paul says unless you've got this hope, unless you're able to reckon it, unless you're able to remember it, unless you're able to live as if you're wealthy even though you can't touch it right now, you will not be able to handle the problems of life. You will not be able to face them. You won't be able to see them out there. You're like a newborn king in a cradle. Wait'll you see.

And here you are fussing because somebody took your rattle away from you. But wait'll you see what's really yours. Infant kings have no idea of the glory that's waiting for them. All they are upset about is that nobody got me my toy. All they're upset about is that nobody's fed me now. Oh, they're so upset. Can't you identify with that? I can identify with that.

What am I so upset about because this hasn't gone right this week and this hasn't gone right this week? Somebody took my rattle. So what? In this hope we are saved. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing—the rattles that are being taken away from me are nothing compared to my inheritance. I'm going to be rich, rich! That's how a son of the king talks.

Samuel Rutherford, the old Scottish preacher, said, "You feel like you have a bad life? You feel like you're grieving for the things that you seem to be losing? Keep a record," he says. "Go ahead, keep a bill and on the last day, go to your father and give him that bill. And watch how he makes good on that bill with one instant of glory will outweigh all of the debts that you think you've been accruing. You're rich!"

Alright, a son is free. A son has access and lives as if he has access. A son knows he's wealthy and lives as if he's wealthy and deals with life through the knowledge of his inheritance. He's hard-nosed about it. Fourth, a son handles suffering as discipline. The fourth mark of sonship—the fourth mark of sonship is the graceful handling of trouble.

Hebrews 12 says: "Do not make light of the Lord's discipline, because he chastens all those he accepts as sons." We had human fathers who disciplined us, the Hebrews writer says, but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his righteousness. No discipline is pleasant now, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.

Now, the minute you realize that you're a child of God, you have a completely different attitude toward the suffering and the tragedies of your life. A child of God sees the suffering and would never, ever say, "I'm being punished." You don't say that because God isn't a magistrate. See, a child of God says God is not a magistrate, he's not a civil magistrate, he's not a policeman, he's not a judge of me.

He's not punishing me for my sins and exacting retribution. Because my elder brother got the retribution. He's paid all the penalty. And therefore, if there's troubles in my life, it's my father's discipline. My father is not just trying to take out of my hide revenge for my sins—no. Because I'm a child of God, I now see sufferings in a whole different light. My father is humbling me. My father is showing me what my heart is really made of. My father is showing me what's really important. My father is trying to make me like my elder brother.

Listen, do you treat, handle the troubles of life as children or as a slave? A child, first of all, you know what it means to handle suffering as a child? First of all, a child knows you're a child. Some of you say, "I can't trust God because this came into my life." And you know, I say to you, "But why can't you trust God?" "Because God's not explaining to me why." In other words, I don't want to act like a child. I don't want to think of myself as a child. I want God to explain why this is happening or else I will not trust him. That's a refusal to be a child.

Listen, children are constantly being told by their parents, "Honey, you can't understand. Later you will." You try to explain to your children and they go [blank expression]. They don't understand. And you see, children—children constantly complain because they don't understand. You say, "Honey, you can't do that. Honey, you can't go there. Honey, you can't do that. Dear, you can't.

We've got to pick up and move and lose—you're going to lose all your friends. But it's more important that we move right now than that you stay with your first-grade friends. It's not the end of the world." And so the child says, "I don't understand, I don't understand." So you try to give a first-grader perspective, and it doesn't work. Even though they complain, there is another level at which they know they're not supposed to understand. They know they're children. They have that—they basically understand that, most children do.

And you see, for you to treat the suffering of your life as if your father is the father and as if you're a child means you have to be willing to say, "Father, you don't have to explain everything for me to trust you." Until you're willing to say that, you are resisting the very idea of sonship. You're refusing to be a child. Until you say, "Father, you don't have to explain everything for me to trust you because after all, I am a child."

But also, to handle your suffering as children means that you have to say, "I see and I realize that God does not mean me any ill. He is not out to get me. He is not out to harm me. He is out to somehow change me and build me up and he knows what's best for me." Are you able to handle that? Are you able to handle your suffering as children?

Until you fill your mind with the greatness of God's wisdom and the fact that he's a father and you're a child, all you're going to do is go all through life bitter as all get out. And some of you are. And the reason is because you will not see that you are children of God or you refuse to give yourself to Christ to become a child of God, and therefore your bitterness ultimately rests on your shoulders.

One more thing about this. It says the Father disciplines us so we might share in his holiness. And one of the things I’ve always noticed is: unless you as a child of God yearn for your father's holiness, you will never be able to handle suffering. You see, if you sit down with a child of God and you say, "This is really hard, but somehow or another, if you obey and trust him in this, God's going to make you more like him.

You're going to be growing in grace, you're going to become more like Jesus, you're going to grow in holiness." And that settles down a child of God and the child says, "Yeah, alright, and I do know that being holy is more important to me than anything else—to be like my father."

But when you sit down with a person who's a moralist, not a Christian, a person who is being religious as a way of getting favors from God, a person who did not get into Christianity to serve God but to get God to serve him, a person who's religious but thinks that because I'm religious therefore God ought to be giving me a great life, who does not yearn for holiness and does not yearn to be like the Father but basically wants a sugar daddy—which is not the same thing as a father.

And you say to a person like that, "Well, we don't know all the reasons that God is letting this happen to you, but one thing is for sure: if you trust in him it'll make you holy," and they say, "So what?" You see, if you don't yearn for holiness above everything else, you will never handle suffering—ever. Because you won't be comforted when it says, "All discipline for the present is unpleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness that you may share in his holiness." That won't comfort you a bit.

Alright, lastly. We've seen that to be a son, to know you're a child of God, will bring you into freedom. To know you're a child of God will bring you into access and dependence on him in prayer. To know you're a child of God will make you feel wealthy and give you a stability, ability to handle life in a way you couldn't otherwise. To know you're a child of God means that you look at suffering in your life with completely different eyes.

But lastly—lastly—to know that you're a child of God means you have complete assurance of his love. I know in some ways this runs through everything else, but let's close here. It says Jesus is not ashamed to call you brothers. The Father is not ashamed to call us children. And that means fundamentally there should be a security in your life, a knowledge that God loves you no matter what. And I know a lot of you don't have that.

But here is where it is. I'm a human father. I'm a mighty imperfect father, and yet my desire for my children's happiness is unbelievably strong. With all of my flaws and with all of my selfishness, you see, everybody in this room who's a parent, you know what happens: the minute a child is born, you will never be happy again. You know why?

Because your heart, you will find out within days, is so completely bound up with that child's happiness that you will never, ever be able to be completely happy unless your child is completely happy, and he won't be any more completely happy than you are. In fact, as your—you know, I can tell already that when my children grow up and they go somewhere else, it's going to take tremendous self-control for me to not be completely involved in their lives.

I will want so much to still control their lives so that they're happy. And you know why? Because I won't be happy unless they're happy. Because even in our fallen condition, even in this most incredibly selfish of hearts, I see an image of the Father's perfect love. You know, parents are relentless, dogged in their support for their children.

How many times have you heard somebody say, "But she's still my daughter"? That means no matter what the heck you do, your mother's going to say, "She's still my daughter." No matter what the heck you do, they're going to say, "That's still my son, that's still my daughter." And that's in us, imperfect people. My wife and I sometimes just weep over our children's faults because we say, "You know, it's not bad now, but I'm just afraid if they don't overcome that, ten years from now think of the trouble." We want our children to be perfect, we want our children to be perfectly happy, but we can't bring it about.

Now, if logically I know that my Father in heaven must have more desire for your perfection and your complete bliss than I do for my children, alright? If logically I know he must have a more perfect and more powerful and a passion for your bliss and happiness than I have for my own, and yet I know my own is unbelievably strong, it's uncontrollably strong, then his love for you must not only be incredible, but don't you understand? This is an omnipotent Father.

If I had it within my power, what would I do for my children? Everything. Your heavenly Father loves you more than I love my children and he's got the power. And therefore, it is infallibly sure that his love for you will not fail, but instead will bring you into perfection of being and into perfection of happiness. It's got to be!

And to know that, and to rest secure in that, is the foundation for everything else I’ve been telling you. If you know, because you're a child of God, that he loves you infallibly and unconquerably—you see? His love will triumph for you and his desire and passion for your holiness and perfection will triumph. If you know that, then everything else falls into place. Then you will not be a person of fear, of judgmentalism. You will not be a person who's afraid to pray. You will not be a person who feels poor. You will not be a person who can't handle suffering.

Are you a child of God? Have you seen that Jesus Christ has died for you and you're resting in that? Are you recognizing that only because your elder brother has paid the expense that you can be in the family? On the other hand, how many of you know that you're in the family and you're not living it out? Are you living in freedom or are you defensive, driven, nervous, controlling, and critical?

Are you living in prayer or are you worried, powerless, and anxious? Are you living in your inheritance and your wealth or are you bored, self-pitying, and hopeless? Are you living with courage in suffering or are you in despair or are you repressed? Are you living in the security of God or are you nervous and overcome with a sense of inferiority?

Behold! Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us! "Behold" is a command. Behold—look at it, hold it, grab it. Behold—the whole reason that you're not living in the way that we've just described is because you're not beholding. Well, do it! "Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should become the children of God." Let's pray.

Now, Father, we thank you for this most basic of truths. In many ways, it's at the foundation of what you want for us, and therefore it's at the foundation of the life issues of our week, the life issues that we're grappling with most. Father, I pray two things. First of all, I pray that the individuals who are listening to these words here and maybe also through the tapes might suddenly have a revelation through your Holy Spirit that their fearfulness and their poverty and their boredom and their cynicism and their critical spirit and their defensiveness and their controlling nature and their prayerlessness and their inferiority feelings are all because they're not listening to your Spirit, who tells them that you are our Father.

Father, enable everybody here individually to behold the manner of love that you've given us that we should be your children. But I also pray we might become a church that's characterized by this teaching. I pray that we've become a church where everybody understands this and knows this and talks to each other about it and preaches it to one another. And I pray that we might have become a church of people who are so bold and at the same time so humble because of this teaching that nobody can figure us out, but everyone will be attracted to you through us. And now, Father, we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Female): Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel in Life podcast. If you’d like to see more people encouraged by the gospel-centered teaching and resources of this ministry, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel in Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps connect people all over the world with the life-giving power of Christ’s love. To learn more, just visit gospelinlife.com/partner. That website again is gospelinlife.com/partner. Today’s sermon was recorded in 1992. 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.