Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Power of the Spirit

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Thinking about the gospel of Jesus Christ leads Paul to pray in a particular way—in a passionate way. Usually people in those days prayed standing. Paul kneels—it’s a sign of great emotion and solemnity. And what does he so passionately pray for? That his readers—and that also means us—would be strengthened with the power of the Spirit. Let’s explore this: 1) Why is that so important? 2) What is it? and 3) How do we get it? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 27, 2011. Series: A Study of Ephesians: Who is the Church? Scripture: Ephesians 3:14–21. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. How hopeful are you about the future of the Christian Church? The book of Ephesians gives us an incredibly inspiring vision for the Church, showing how it has the capacity to be a new humanity and a community of astonishing beauty. Join us today as Tim Keller preaches from the book of Ephesians. The scripture this morning is from Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to 21. For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may

have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how high, how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, amen. This is the word of the Lord. We're going through the book of Ephesians, and this is Paul's great letter to the Ephesians,

and the main subject of the letter is the church. And if you were here last week, you know that when we got to the beginning of chapter three, verse one, Paul starts by saying, for this reason, and then he cuts off and goes into a digression. He's just been talking in chapter one and two about the great salvation that God gives us through Christ, the gospel. And then he says, for this reason, and then something occurs to him, and he goes into a digression and detour.

It has to do with about suffering and how to help his readers deal with suffering. We looked at that last week. Now notice verse 14, he starts again, for this reason, which means, he says the same thing, he's getting back to where he was going before, and where was he going before? Thinking about the gospel leads him to pray. He says, I kneel before the father. For this

reason I kneel. And this is a passionate prayer because usually people in those days prayed standing. So to kneel was always a sign of great emotion, great solemnity. And so as Paul thinks about the gospel of Jesus Christ, it moves them to pray and pray in a particular way. And by the way, if you ever read any part of the Bible and do not find yourself moved to pray, go back. You didn't understand it. However, Paul here says, I move to pray for something for his Ephesian readers, and that would also mean us. And what is he praying for?

It's actually there in verse 16, that he may strengthen you with power through his spirit. That he may strengthen you with power through his spirit. Why is that so important? What is it actually? And how can we get it? That would be a wonderful outline for a sermon. Why don't we just take those three questions? He's praying that they would be strengthened

with the power of the spirit. Well, why is that so important? What is it and how do we get it? Well, why is that so important? What is it? And how do we get it? First, why is this so important? One of the things that's surprising, when you begin to think about this prayer, and all students of the prayer over the years have been struck by it, it takes a moment.

Look at the three things he's asking God for he's asking God for, for his readers. Now his readers are Christians. They are Christians. And this is what he's asking that God would give them. First of all, that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith. Secondly, that they would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

And thirdly, they would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And if you've been reading the filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And if you've been reading the book all the way through, you'll know this, that in chapter one, and pardon me, chapter two, Paul already said that all Christians already have Christ dwelling in them. If you go back to chapter one, it says, Christians, all Christians, by being united with Christ,

already have the fullness of God in them. And when he says, I want you to know the love of Christ, well, it's just common sense, though there's also many other places in the New Testament that say that you can't be a Christian if you don't know about the great sacrificial love of Christ for you on the cross. So here's the question. Why is he speaking to people that already have these things? He said they have these things. And why is he asking God to give them these things?

And he's actually really calling the people to seek these things. Why is he telling, talking to people who have these things and asking them to go get these things? And there's only one answer. At one level they have these things, at another level they haven't experienced them. It's one thing to know the love of Christ, to know about it, and I know he did all this.

It's another thing to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. What Paul is talking about is the difference between having something be true of you, having something perhaps in principle or having something in or even in theory and actually experiencing it in your, look verse 16, inner being or verse 17 in your heart. Now here's why this is so important. It is extremely impossible for Christians, real Christians, to live their lives with a pretty high degree of phoniness, hollowness, and inauthenticity.

Because the thing that they know and believe and actually have in principle is not something they actually experience in their inner being in their heart. Now there's an awful lot of great historic examples is not something they actually experience in their inner being, in their heart. Now there's an awful lot of great historic examples that I love to cite, and I never get tired of citing them, that's why I'll cite a couple more.

Let me just give you three. Blaise Pascal, great philosopher, and a Christian believer, a Christian believer. French philosopher, great mind. When he died, some of you may know, and you can find this on the internet, just look up Pascal and put in the word fire. When he died, they discovered that he had sewed into the inner lining of his coat a journal entry,

a kind of a spiritual diary where he wrote down about an experience he had one night, and this is what it said, and this is just the first part of it. In the year 1654, Monday 23rd November from about half past ten in the evening till half an hour after midnight, fire. One line, capitals, fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and of the learned. Certainty, joy, certainty, emotion, sight, joy, joy, joy, tears of joy, my God, never leave me,

let me not be separated from you, and on it goes. Now notice what he said there. That night, fire, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not the God of the philosophers and the learned, but he was a philosopher and the learned. He was talking about himself. Because that night, he actually got what Paul is praying for you and me to have.

And that is something he had in principle, something he believed and knew in principle, that he actually experienced in his inner being, experienced in his heart. Dwight Moody was a Chicago minister, a very prominent minister in Chicago in the late 19th century. But one day he came to New York

and had a wonderful experience, and more people from Chicago should try it too. And this is the truth, this is what he said. He says, one day in the city of New York, oh, what a day. I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name. I can only say that God revealed himself to me and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him to stay his hand. Now, and Dwight Moody would say, and we actually don't know much of what Pascal would say about that experience, he'd say, it wasn't they weren't Christians before. But now there was, there had been this separation between what

they were in principle and their experience. It was an incongruity, a degree of hollowness, of inauthenticity and of phoniness, and that came together. And they began to actually be what they were. They began to actually live as they really were. They began to have in their heart and experience what they knew with their mind and their reason. And they were revolutionized, you know, they were electrified, they were galvanized. And this is therefore, why is this so important? It's not just important

because it diminishes that degree of phoniness, it's also important because without it you don't live a life of power. And let's put it like this. It is possible, is it not, for you to know that years ago a relative when she died gave you some money and you put it into a CD and it's in the bank somewhere for you. And you kind of vaguely remember and know that. And now, years later, you get into a part of your life in which you're having real financial difficulties, real personal difficulties, and you have to scale back and you have to stop doing many things. It's very, very painful.

What if, in this illustration, the money that was in there was far bigger than anybody thought, the money had grown far bigger than anybody thought, you money had grown far bigger than anybody thought. You had no idea the magnitude of it. Let's just say that there was tremendous amounts of money that was legally yours, and it was in the bank, and yet, because you didn't draw on it, you live poor.

Paul is saying that's exactly where most Christians are. It's legally yours. Your love's been accepted in Christ. You have his love. You have him living in your life. You have the Holy Spirit. All these things. You're not drawing on it. You're living poor. And this is the reason why it's fascinating to see that when Paul wants to pray for these Christians, these are first century people who lived in a part of Asia minor, life was really hard then, it was really dangerous. You know what the infant mortality rate was?

And so when he's going to pray for them, what does he pray for? He doesn't pray that they would be protected from disease, he doesn't pray that they'd be protected from war, he doesn't ask that he's, he doesn't ask them for anything, doesn't ask God for anything that has to do with their circumstances. Do you know why?

Because he knows if they have this, they'll be able to handle any circumstances. This is more important than all that. That's why it's more important. That's the first thing. So this power of the spirit to give us this experience of what we already have in our inner being is very important.

Secondly, what is it exactly? Now let's begin to try to describe it. And I can only try to describe it. However, I actually think, and this is at least the 100th time I've meditated on this passage in order to teach on it, it seems like, over the years, that what we're being told here about this power of the Spirit is that it is actually a spiritual

inner sensitivity to Gospel truth. Essentially what Paul is praying for, and I know at first it doesn't sound all that wonderful, but let me unpack it, a spiritual inner sensitivity to Gospel truth. First of all, what do I mean by spiritual sensitivity? He says, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he strengthens you with the power through his spirit.

What's the spirit doing? In your inner being, so that you may grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love. Now look at this, the Holy Spirit is preparing your inner being so that you may grasp the love. Now we've already talked about the fact that, of course all Christians know, if you're a Christian,

you know the love of God. You know that Jesus died for you and loved you and went to the cross for you. But this word grasp is so important. And we'll get back to it, I'm not done with the word yet. But the word grasp is not the same as believe, is it? It means to grip something. It means to get a hold of something.

Now, to understand what the Holy Spirit enables you to do, I'm afraid some of you are really gonna have to stretch because I'm looking at your ages, and a lot of you are pretty young. So let me tell you, some of you have never heard of things like, in the old days, photography required something called film. So, let me tell you, some of you have never heard of things like, in the old days, photography required something called film.

And it also actually required, in some cases, it required, you know, actually photographic paper. Film and paper was sensitized by chemicals, so it was sensitive to light. And so if you, here's a camera and the shutter opens and in comes light bouncing off of a tree. And it comes and hits the film or hits the photographic paper. And if that film or that paper has been sensitized with chemicals, then it grips the image. It permanently stays on there.

The light from the tree hits it and it creates an image of a tree on the film. But if it's not been treated, it opens, it shuts, the light comes in and no difference. Now, without the work of the Holy Spirit, or maybe I should actually say to the degree you're experiencing this work of the Holy Spirit, or maybe I should actually say, to the degree you're experiencing this work of the Holy Spirit, when you have presented to you Christian truth,

God is holy, God is wise, God is absolutely sovereign, God is unconditionally loving and gracious. If the Holy Spirit has sensitized your heart and you were presented with a sermon, with a book, with a talk, with an idea, with a text of the scripture, you're presented with the idea of God being absolutely sovereign and good, right? If your husband's spirits are sensitized, you feel safe. You hear about God's grace, you feel loved. You hear about God's holiness, you feel

zealous to be a holy person yourself. In other words, when the Holy Spirit is actually sensitizing your heart, it's not just you hear about God's love, you hear about God's holiness, you grip it. It grips you, it comes in, it changes you. Now, nobody has talked about this any better than Jonathan Edwards in his great sermon,

Divine and Supernatural Light, which you can get anywhere online, about 100 places. And at the heart of the sermon, there is this perfect illustration. And the illustration has to do with honey. And he says, there's two ways to know that honey is sweet. You can know it with the mind and the rationality, or you can know it with the tongue and the sensation.

In other words, you can know that honey is sweet because people tell you about it and you rationality, or you can note with the tongue and the sensation. In other words, you can know that honey is sweet because people tell you about it and you believe them, or you can actually taste the sweetness of honey and sense the sweetness of honey yourself. And he says, when you move from knowing the honey is sweet to the actual tasting of honey, he says, in some ways you knew before, but when you move from rational knowledge

to actual sensing of the honey sweetness, you say I knew it was sweet, but I really didn't know it was sweet. I knew, but I didn't know. And then, in an incredibly convicting passage, Edwards turns and says this, well, in the same way, there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious,

and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and graciousness on the heart. You know, you might feel pretty good if you say, I really believe in God. I really believe that Jesus died on the cross. I have no doubts. And Paul, and Jonathan Edwards says, well, you could have no doubts that honey is sweet

Be absolutely sure doesn't mean you've tasted it and therefore you really don't know it's sweet You can be absolutely sure. Oh, I've been raised in the faith. I've been raised in the church. I believe in God I believe Jesus died on the cross my sins. It's possible to have an opinion about that, not ever having actually sensed the loveliness and beauty of that on your heart. And that's the reason why the psalmist, you know, in the book of Psalms,

it doesn't just say believe that the Lord is good, though you should, it says taste and see that the Lord is good. It's possible to know all about these things and to be really sure of them and never having actually met them or encountered them. Because your heart has not had that spiritual sensitivity, sensitizing, the Holy Spirit hasn't sensitized your heart

so that when you're presented with these things, you actually taste them, you actually see them. It's with spiritually speaking. They lift you up. They shock you. They move you. They melt you. They lift you.

They compel you. Instead of just, okay, I know that now. You say, well, what is that like? Well, there's a couple of other indications in the text. First it says, why would he say that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith? When we already said all Christians have the Holy Spirit, therefore Christ is in your heart already. But for Christ to dwell in your heart almost certainly means that through the power of the Spirit, Christ

becomes as real to you as the other people in your life, or more real. Christ's approval, Christ's love, Christ's opinion becomes more affecting, more sweet, more assuring, more real than that from a parent or from a child or from a peer or from a friend. That's what it must mean. When he says, look, I know you already have Christ dwell in your heart by faith in principle, you have the Holy Spirit if you're a Christian,

but I want Christ to existentially dwell in your heart by faith. I want him to be real. I want you to sense him as real as the other people in your life. See, right now, you say, I know God loves me, but this person has criticized me or this person says you failed and you're devastated

That's because you know, but you don't know the love of God. You haven't grasped it. You haven't gripped it I want Christ to dwell in your heart by faith And until then you're living a kind of incongruent life a kind of phony life a powerless life You know it it's true of you, but you're not drawing on it It's easy to assume that if we understand the gospel and preach it faithfully, we will be shaped by it. But this is not always true. How can we make sure that our lives, churches, and ministries are being shaped by, centered

on, and empowered with the gospel? Tim Keller's book, Shaped by the Gospel, is meant to help congregants, lay leaders, and pastors understand how to make the gospel the center of all ministry. In Shaped by the Gospel, Dr. Keller shows how gospel-centered ministry is more theologically driven than program-driven. As you read, you'll discover how reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the patterns of the gospel lead to renewal in your churches and ministries. This month when you give to Gospel in Life, we'll send you Dr. Keller's book,

Shaped by the Gospel, as our thanks for your gift. Just visit gospelinlife.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give. And thank you for your generosity, which helps us reach more people with Christ's love. And then the last indication of what Paul's talking about, what it is, is this last section where it says that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

And that's actually a subtle concept. People who study the use of words in the Bible, both Greek and Hebrew, say that when the Bible talks about fullness of life, it's not talking so much about a feeling. It's talking about a truly a new kind of life. And what this means here is this. You may have already made this mistake, and it's because I haven't warned you yet, but I'm warning you now.

You may think that I'm talking about not just knowing certain kinds of truths with your mind, but feeling them in your emotions. And of course the emotions are involved, but this shows that we're going beyond that. Because it's possible to have your feelings aroused, your feelings moved, but it not actually change

the way in which you live. Paul is saying, if you are rooted in love, if you're grounded in love, what is that kind of metaphor? The roots of your life, the foundation of your life, if it goes down to the love of God and the love of God is drawn by the roots into the very foundation of your life, if you in other words, if you actually do sense the love of Christ in your heart, it will permanently change the way you live. You will not be as needy.

You will not be as afraid. You will not be as selfish. You will not be as self-absorbed. You will not be as proud. You will not be as self-hating. You will be permanently changed. Do you see this spiritual sensitizing to Christian truth, to gospel truth, means that when you look at what the Bible says

about the power of the spirit, you do not have to choose between thinking and feeling. You do not have to choose between theology and experience. If you go out into the churches of the world today, you pretty much do have to choose. You've got lots of churches that put all the emphasis on thought, doctrine and theology and learning. We're gonna learn this and we're gonna get this

into our lives and they're afraid of experience. They're afraid of the feelings, they're afraid of that. They don't like all that talk, it's too mystical. But then you have plenty of other churches in which there's almost no emphasis on the word, on the truth, on studying it down deep, on sound doctrine, on theology. It's all about mystical experience.

But you don't see that here at all. There's almost a fusion. In fact, I don't even think, the Bible even understands that distinction. They're fused. They're together. The mind ascends into the heart until your whole being and soul is on fire and you offer yourself to God,

which leads us to our last point. Let's be practical. In fact, a lot of people, the reason I'm doing this now is because I often have had people say, oh, I always enjoy those times in which you preach about the importance of Christian experience in prayer, but you don't give me enough practical how-to's. You end too quickly, all right?

Okay, just remember this day. Let me give you some practical how-to's. First of all, let me give you three prerequisites that are implied here in the text. Three prerequisites that are implied here in the text. Three prerequisites. First of all, I would just say, regular, sustained, seeking prayer. See, this is a prayer for experience.

This isn't the only thing that you ought to pray for. In fact, it's kind of dangerous to always spend a lot of time thinking about your experience. We'll get to that in one second. But I do think there is a necessity of doing something like Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor was the great missionary to China, the pioneer that opened China. I think he was the founder of China Inland Mission. And he had one of these little prayers that he prayed virtually every day. It was in his journal. It was a prayer for, it was just a way of saying, Lord, well, here's what the, the first line of the prayer,

it was a little poem, but the first line of the prayer was, Lord Jesus, make thyself to me a living bright reality. Said it every day. It's part of your way of becoming receptive. You don't expect it to be answered every day. You don't even expect this it to be answered every day. You don't even expect this necessarily to be answered every year. But I think you do need to every day,

regularly say, Lord, I'm open to this, I need this. Otherwise, there's a degree of phoniness, hollowness, inauthenticity about me. So regular, sustained, seeking prayer. Brief, but constant, number one. Number two, obedience. Here we are saying, well how can we have God with his spirit come in, sensitize my heart

so I can really have a sense of his love in my life? I want to start being very hard-nosed about it. Kneel. It says, for this reason I kneel before the Father. Remember what I said about kneeling? What all the commentators say is, kneeling is not just a way of praying, it's also a way of submitting.

And Father, nowadays to Americans, we live in this very individualistic society in which fathers and mothers are just nurturers, but some of you who come from other cultures than American understand that in ancient times, the word father did mean intimacy, but it also meant authority. The father had the authority,

and to kneel before the father and then ask for this experience is basically saying, I obey, I submit to you. I obey you unconditionally. Or let me be as practical as I can be. There's no use saying well over here, there's a part of my life in which I'm doing something I know isn't right. Oh hey, I did it again.

Whoops, I'm still doing it. I really shouldn't, I really need to turn, I need to stop that. Well here I keep doing it. You know, your conscience is bothering. But now I'm gonna sit down and say oh lord fill me with your fullness and your love Doesn't work that way You got a kneel In fact, let's just be just at the psychological level you're never going to really sense his love

You're not gonna grasp it if your conscience is bothering you because you know you're doing something that's wrong It's almost like trying to fill up a bucket but you're poking holes in the bottom. The bucket's just going to keep emptying. So obey. First of all, sustain seeking prayer. Secondly, obedience. Thirdly, and this is really only 30 seconds because the whole series is on this, community. Would you please notice it says, I want you to have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep, you see that verse? But notice what's in the middle there? I want you to have power together with all the saints

to grasp the love of God. You do this in community better than as an individual and we've been talking about that so often, I don't think we need to get back to it. We've been talking about it in the past, we will talk about it in the future. But essentially, if you want to know God, you need to be deeply involved in community.

Now, those are three prerequisites. Now, two very specific skills. Number one, determined meditation. Excuse me. Number one, determined meditation. I'm going to have to get some water which I should have walked over here with. For those of you listening to this on a recording, I just walked across the stage to get some water. I know it's awful to listen to a recording and say, what happened there? Let's go back to this word grasp.

It's a word that has made the commentators scratch their heads for years because you know what the word means? It means to wrestle. It means to sack. It's a word that could be used to sack and plunder a city. It means to jump on somebody and overpower them and wrestle them to the ground and knock them out. Huh.

It's a very strange word to use here when it says I want you to grasp the love of God. I want you to grasp how long and wide and high and what does this mean? Now, it can't mean that in prayer you're supposed to wrestle with God even though if you look at the book of Job if you look at Jacob in Genesis 32 there are times in which you can say especially in times of suffering that prayer is wrestling with God that's all right but that's not what Paul's talking about here. What is why do we use this

this fighting metaphor this this wrestling metaphor? Who's he wrestling with? And he's wrestling with, I actually think what you're doing is very similar to what you see in the Psalms, like Psalm 42, where the psalmist says, why are you cast down, oh, my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?

Or in Psalm 103, where the psalmist says bless the Lord of my soul and forget not all his benefits what's going on there there's some psalms in which they're praying to God there's some psalms in which the psalmist is speaking to the reader but there the psalmist is speaking to the reader, but there the psalmist is talking to himself. He's meditating. What does that mean?

He's wrestling the truth into his heart. He's saying, don't forget this. Why are you doing this? He's saying, now look, in light of this truth, why are you doing this, oh heart? Why don't you see this? Why are you anxious? Why are you cast down? Why are you not more grateful?

What's he doing? He's taking himself in hand and he's taking the truth and with the power of the Spirit he's thinking and reflecting and applying and connecting until he begins to feel and sense and see change. Do you know how to do that? We got some whole teachings on that. You can find sermons on it. Look up the word meditation See when you have your quiet time or your devotional time. There should be three parts to it Reading the Bible that's listening to God praying that's talking to God in the middle meditating which is talking to yourself wrestling the truth into your heart and that's the idea behind the long and wide and high and deep I Want you to grasp what how long and what is he doing? He's thinking it out

He's not just saying I want you to grasp the love of God I want you to think out how long it is how wide it is how high it is how deep it is He's inviting meditation. He's reviting and inviting reflection and it's a wrestling match He's inviting meditation. He's inviting an inviting reflection and it's a wrestling match Do you know how to do that or you just read the Bible you get your information? Then you pray down your list or do you know how to do this determine meditation in the power of the spirit? So that you don't live phony lives So you don't say well, I know God does this and this and this I know is this and this and this, and yet over here, my heart and my actions are not living in congruency

with that at all. I'm gonna bring them together in meditation. Please do not buy or go along with people that talk about meditation and contemplation, and they say it means emptying your mind. If you wanna have meditation, you empty your mind. Oh no, that's not how the Bible sees it. You fill your mind. If you want to have meditation, you empty your mind. Oh no, that's not how the Bible says it. You fill your mind.

You fill your mind with truth and with the power of the spirit, you get that truth into the center of your being and it's very active, it's not passive, it's very filling, it's not opening, it's not emptying. You're not emptying, you're filling. You hear that?

Very utterly different. Christian meditation, not transcendental meditation. CM, not TM. Okay, get that straight. And lastly, and this is most important, never is the love of God as an abstraction going to turn from a concept into a living bright reality unless you understand it through the prism, through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ because you notice very carefully, notice Paul does not say if you want the Holy Spirit's power

in your life to enable you to grasp the love of God so it's no longer just a concept, but it's a living bright reality that fills you with the fullness of God, then's no longer just a concept, but it's a living bright reality that fills you with the fullness of God, then you have got to meditate not just on how long and wide and high and deep God's love is in general, but on how long and wide and high and deep is Christ's love, the love of Christ.

And it's only when you understand the gospel that you're saved by grace, in spite of being a sinner, you're saved not by what you do, but by what Jesus has done, not on the basis of your performance or your good works, you're saved by grace, in spite of being a sinner, you're saved not by what you do, but by what Jesus has done, not on the basis of your performance or your good works, you're saved by sheer grace, that is the thing that turns the concept of the love of God into a dynamic reality that you sense and you taste in your heart that changes you.

Can I show you? Let's do it. He's inviting you to do it. How wide is the love of God? Well, if you just say, oh, God is a great God and his love is very wide. In Jesus Christ, think of this. Isaiah 118, though your sins be a scarlet,

you shall be whiter than snow. Though your sins be a scarlet, you shall be whiter than snow. Though your sins be a scarlet, you shall be whiter than snow." You know what that word means? Scarlet is the color of blood. And this was Isaiah's way or God's way of saying through Isaiah, even if you've killed somebody, even if you have blood guilt, blood on your hands, remember poor Lady Macbeth? She had blood on her hands. It was psychological, out- damn spot. She couldn't get it out. I Don't care who you are or what you've done. I don't care if you have killed people It doesn't matter what you have done

If Jesus Christ died on the cross so you're saved by grace alone, then God's love is infinitely wide It's wide enough for you. It can get you in Even if your sins be a scarlet. You see, that's not just the wideness of God's love in general. It's infinitely wide because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's ask how long is the love of God? Okay, let's ask that. How long is the love of God?

Well, you say, well, as long as I live the life I ought to live, as long as I'm obeying him, then he'll love me. No. Oh, no. Jesus says in John chapter 10, I know my own. I give them eternal life, he says, and no one can pluck them out of my hand. Philippians one, verse six, where Paul says, I'm convinced, he says to Christians,

everybody he's writing to at Philippi, I'm convinced that, he says, that the one who did, who began a good work in you, the one who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. Not may, will. His love is infinitely long why in fact

In fact, when did it start? Everybody when it guys love start we're told in revelation that the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world God put his love on you in the depths of time and He will never take it off of you, why? Because salvation is by grace. It's not by works, it's not by what you do. It's because of Jesus' salvation. That it's infinitely long.

How wide is the love of God? If you understand the gospel, it's infinitely wide. How long is the love of God? If you understand the gospel, it's infinitely long. Why? Why is it infinitely wide and long? How long is the love of God? If you understand the gospel, it's infinitely long. Why? Why is it infinitely wide and long? Because it's infinitely deep. And this is the key, you know.

How deep is the love of God? Without Jesus Christ, this is just an abstraction, without Jesus Christ, God could have sent you 60 volumes and every page saying, I love you deeply, I love you deeply, I love you deeply, I love you deeply, and you would just sit there and say, well, that's nice. But if you want to understand the depths of the love of God, in fact, the only way to understand the depths

of the love of God is to understand the depths to which Jesus Christ went to love you. How deep did he go? My God, my God, what hast thou forsaken me? That's hell. He was thrown into the deepest pit anybody ever went into and he went in voluntarily. My God, my God, what hast thou forsaken me? That's hell. He was thrown into the deepest pit anybody ever went into and he went in voluntarily. He went down and down and down.

I remember so much. I remember years ago in this very room after one of our Q&As, some woman came after church, listened, didn't really like the sermon much, stayed. I always loved it when they did that. In fact, that made for great question and answer times. And she says, you know, I don't believe in Christianity. I don't believe in, I believe in God, but I do not believe in Christ.

But I have a loving God. I have a God of infinite love. You don't need Christ to have a God of infinite love. And I said, yes and no. She says, what do you mean? And I said, what did it cost your God to love you? She said nothing I said that's what I mean The depths the depths

Because of the gospel you know that God's love is infinitely wide and infinitely long because it was infinitely deep and then of course infinitely high. What's the height of God's love? What's the height of God's love? Did you know that in John 17 he says, Father, about us, I want them to have the glory we have had before the creation of the world. And in 1 John 3.1 it says, beloved, we do not know what we will be like, but we know we will be like him because when we see him we will see him as he is That's the height of God's love He's gonna he's gonna give us the same thing that fills his heart with infallible joy from all eternity He's gonna show us his glory

And he's gonna give that glory to us Show us his glory. And he's gonna give that glory to us. Can you think of any higher than that? And only if you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, will you understand the heights, will you understand the depths. Are you being moved at all by this? It's the spirit of God.

No, wait, wait, excuse me. It's the spirit of God. Yeah, you can clap for the spirit, but maybe at home. But I honestly, and I appreciate the gesture, let's do this. Here's the best way to congratulate God for what he can do and what he is doing. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we do sense your spirit helping us as we've been meditating. We just spent these last couple of minutes meditating on how in the gospel, in the gospel, your love is infinitely long, infinitely wide, infinitely deep and infinitely high. And as we think about that, we sense that by your spirit's power, we're changing. We feel safer, we feel more loved, we're less prone to be seduced by sex, money, and power.

And we live in New York where we need that kind of, that kind of help so much. We wanna be different, we wanna be changed, we wanna be filled with your fullness. And so we pray the same prayer for ourselves that Paul prayed for us, because we know we'll glorify you. And we ask for it through Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.

Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel in Life podcast. If you found today's teaching helpful and something you'd like more people to hear, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel in Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the hope and joy of Christ's love.

Just visit gospelinlife.com slash partner to learn more. Today's sermon was recorded in 2011. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.