← Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
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Welcome to Gospel in life. You don't have to look far to see that something's deeply wrong with our world and with us. But is there an answer that gets to the root of why? In today's message, Tim Keller explores the human condition through stories in the Bible, uncovering what scripture says about sin and why. It's the only explanation deep enough to face the truth about our.
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Recently. Recently there was an inner church meeting of Christian men in the city called Promise Keepers. I got a chance to speak at it, and maybe the most unflattering way to put it that the most unflattering way to explain that movement is it's a movement to try to make Christian men make and keep more promises, make and keep more commitments. It was interesting that at that time I was going to. I was already preparing a sermon on the issue of integrity and Peter. And this incident here tells us, especially the case of Peter, tells us more about the power of commitments and the power of promise keeping than I think, any other incident in the scripture. Let me read it to you. Now, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. You also were with Jesus of Galilee, she said, but he denied it before them all. I don't know what you're talking about, he said. Then he went out to the gateway where another girl saw him and said to the people there, this fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth. He denied it again with an oath, I don't know the man. After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away. And then he began to call down curses on himself. And he swore to them, I don't know the man. Immediately, a rooster crowed. And then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. This is God's word. You see, earlier in the chapter, at the Last Supper, Jesus had turned to Peter. That's what the reference is there in verse 74, Jesus had turned to Peter and said, peter, before the night's out, you're going to betray me. You're going to deny me three times. Three times. Before the rooster crows at dawn, you will deny that you even know me. And Peter said at that point, up in verse 35, Peter said, even if I have to die, I will never disown you. That's a promise. That's a commitment. Peter says, even if it means my life, I will never disown you. And yet, by verse 73, 74, 75, he's doing it in verse 35, he made a promise that 40 verses later he's breaking the promise. And we're told in verse 75, and this is what I want to look at in particular with you. He went out and wept bitterly. He went out and he wept bitterly. Not just he wept bitterly. Why, he was an absolutely broken man in the profoundest possible way. And yet within weeks, within weeks, he was poised as the leader of a new movement, the Christian movement that was about to change history. And he was about to become one of the most influential, influential leaders in the history of the world. What broke him like this and then what restored him so quickly? And the answer is the same, and that is promises. What broke him was he did not understand the power of promises. What restored him was he learned the secret, See, he didn't understand the power of promise breaking. But then he, after that, he learned the secret of promise keeping. And promises is the reason he was broken, and promises is the reason he was restored. And I'm going to just propose to you that the bitterness of our lives, see, Peter went out and wept bitterly that a lot of the bitterness of our lives comes from our inability to make or keep promises, to make or keep commitments. Now, when I use the word promises during the rest of this talk, the rest of the sermon, I don't want people to immediately think of formal contracts. I There's a place in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, I say unto you, don't swear at all, but let your yes be yes and let your no be no. Now, a lot of people have misinterpreted that as meaning Jesus saying, never take a vow. That's not what he means. He says, don't swear, but let your yes be yes and your no be no. What he means is a Christian should be someone that every yes and every no. Everything you say you ought to treat as a commitment. Whether or not you say, I promise, whether or not you sign on a dotted line, whether or not you make it formal. There are not to be degrees of integrity in my people, says Jesus. There's not supposed to be levels of commitment. If you say to somebody, I'll pray for you. If you say to somebody, I'll call you. If you say to somebody, I'll look you up. If you say to somebody, I'll look in on you. Jesus says, that's a commitment. Christians, my people are supposed to be people of their word, people who are dependable people of integrity. See? So promise keeping To Jesus does not just mean the ones where you say, I promise, where you put your hand up in the air. Let's take a look at what Peter learned, and we'll look at it under two headings. The first heading is how promises make us. And then the second heading is how we can make promises, how promises make us, and then how we can make promises. First, how promises make us. This is the power of promises. Why was it that Peter went out and wept bitterly? Because promises make identity and they make community. Did you hear that? They make identity and they make community. Without promises, without commitment, without the willingness to make a commitment, to deny yourself, to limit your options and to hold yourself to a course of action that you stick with no matter what. That's a commitment. That's a promise. Without promises, there's no identity and there's no community. And Peter lost both of them at the moment. This is what promises make us. First of all, promises make identity. Why was Peter weeping so bitterly? I'll tell you why. He didn't know who he was. You know why he didn't know who he was. Am I the Peter he thought of, verse 35? Or am I the Peter of verse 74? Which Peter is the real Peter? I don't know. My life is in fragments because I couldn't keep a promise. Promises give identity. See, when you ask a modern person, who are you really, what is your identity? Another way to put it is, who are you really? Modern people tend to say, it's my desires and my feelings that tell me who I really am. That's who I am, my deepest desires. There's an awful lot of talk still, though. I hope eventually it will go, you know, it'll pass away. The last 20 years, there's been a lot of talk about people saying, I need to find myself. I need to find out who I am. And usually in modern parlance, it means I need to get out from under all responsibilities, all promises, all obligations, all covenants. I've got to get away from all obligations and find out what I really feel like so I can find out who I am. Because most modern people say who I am is my deepest feelings. But, boy, I hope you know the reason. I hope that this is going to pass away because I'm hoping the baby boomers are getting older. Because as you get older, you begin to realize that your desires, your feelings are not only in conflict with each other, but they're even in conflict with themselves. They're in flux. My deepest desire is that who I am. But my Deepest desires are in conflict with each other. Not only that, they don't even line up with themselves over a period of time. They change. It doesn't work. I mean, look, what are your deepest desires? We all want the security of having somebody who's always there for us. But we like the freedom to play the field. You want security and you want freedom in the area of love. You want security and you want freedom in the area of work. You like the security of having money. But you like the freedom of an unstructured life without, you know, the disciplines of a career. If you look to see what you most deeply desire, you'll see that they're at odds with each other. Peter wanted to be the leader of the Christian movement. He also wanted to live. And you know, in the past, you know, those are both desires. I would like to survive. I would like to not be tortured. I would also like to be a great leader. And they came together. Who's Peter? You say, well, it's your deepest desire. Who knows what your deepest desire is? One desire has the ascension for a moment. Another desire has the ascension for the next moment. Here's Peter. He really wanted to live. That's a desire. And he really wanted to be a leader. Who is Peter, you say? Well, his deepest desire probably was to be a leader. No, his deepest desire at the moment was to be a coward. Is that all he is? What I'm trying to say is your feelings cannot possibly be the core of your identity. Because by definition, your identity has to be that unchangeable core to yourself that's always the same. By definition, an identity has to be something which. A core of sameness about you that is always the same, no matter what the circumstances and no matter what the feelings and no matter what the year. That's what an identity is. Therefore, you are not your feelings, because your feelings are always changed. It means whatever you're committed to, you are your commitments, you are your promises. If you aren't. If instead in every situation, you're following your circumstances and you're following the impulses, you'll never know who you are. And nobody else will either. Because there's nothing that you always are. Your identity is what you always are. If there's nothing that you. That you can say, I always am that, because I'm committed to that. And no matter how I feel, no matter what the situation is, no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what people say, I'm committed to that. Unless you've got something like that, you don't know who you are. There's no identity without promises. Now, this isn't just my idea. Hana Arendt. Not exactly. You know. You're born again. Minister Hannah Arendt. Quite a theorist, quite a political analyst. She says in one of her writings. She says this. Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep an identity. We'd be condemned to wander helplessly without direction in the darkness of each person's heart. Caught in its contradictions and equivocalities. You hear her, she says, if your heart is filled with contradictions and equivocalities, you'd have no identity. Unless you are bound to promises. See, Peter could have kept his life together. How do you keep your life together? Peter could have said, I am he who will be there with you, Lord Jesus. Regardless of public or private, regardless of hard times or easy times. And the promise would have been the thread that bound him together. All of his pieces, all of his parts. That's what integrity is. The word integrity is the same as our English word integer, which in mathematics means a whole number as opposed to a fraction, right? And in the same way, how can you be sure that you're a person of integrity? That means that you are not living your life in fragments or in compartments. How can you be the same, a whole person? How can you be the same in public as in private? How can you be the same with one crowd as with another crowd? How can you be the same on Monday as you are on Sunday? How can you be the same in what you say and what you do? How can you be the same from one year to the next? How can you be the same? Only by a promise that pulls it all together. Otherwise, it's my glands, it's my feelings, it's my circumstances, it's public opinion, it's all these things. Remember? You know. Did you see the movie with Bridget Fonda and Nicholas Gage, It Could Happen to youo? It's about a cop, a New York cop, that promises a waitress that if this lottery ticket wins, since she made a contribution to it, he'd come back and give her half the winnings. Then he finds out he won $4 million. His wife, when she hears about the promise to the. To the waitress, says, forget that. It's not in writing. It's not written down anywhere. $4 million. You'd be an idiot to go back. And he says, a promise is a promise. And he goes back and he gives the waitress $2 million. And one thing that's interesting. Throughout the rest of the Film his wife, you know, the cop's wife, who wants nothing but the money and has no other principles than that, goes through multiple transformations of personality and finally collapses. But even though he really pays a price for sticking with his promise, he has a sense of himself, and it lasts throughout. And of course, the best place where this is ever said is in that wonderful play, that wonderful line in man for All Seasons where Sir Thomas More is being told he's going to burn at the stake unless he recants. And his daughter says, oh, please, Father, his daughter's name is Meg. Can't you please just go back on your word so that we can have you? And he looks at her and he says, when a man makes an oath, Meg, he holds his own self in his hand like water. And if he opens his fingers, he needn't hope to find himself again. You know why Peter's weeping bitterly? He opened his hand and he was gone. If you say, well, I got principles, but if it doesn't look like it'd be advantageous to tell the truth, if it doesn't look like it'll be comfortable to do this thing, well, I'm a pragmatist. You open your hand and there's nothing left. How does Peter know who he is? He has no idea. He doesn't have a promise that binds together every part of his life. Is he a Christian or isn't he? Is he for Christ or isn't he? He doesn't know. Nobody knows. He can't even trust himself now. He's got no identity. Promises make identity. But also one other thing. We have to be brief but important. Promises make community. You notice where he goes to weep out. You see, that doesn't say. Look, he says he went outside and wept bitterly. That is not. That is not just an accident. That is not an unimportant statement. He went outside and wept. You know why you say, well, yeah, it's common sense. When you've broken a promise, when you have broken faith, when you've made a commitment, and then you give up on the commitment, you don't say to everybody, hey, let's gather around. I want to weep. No, you go away. You're alone. Because promises create community. There is no community without commitment. For 10 years, I ministered in a small town in the south, and there were two men that almost virtually wandered the street. They weren't exactly homeless, but they almost were. And they were born and raised there, and they were related to half this town. But they never kept promises. They repeatedly kept breaking their Promises. And as a result, nobody trusted them. And they had no friends. They had a lot of relatives. They had nobody who would be there with them because they were never there for anybody else. Not only that, they couldn't even trust themselves. The inevitable consequence, the inevitable result of breaking commitments or even failing to make them is aloneness, isolation, being on the outside. See, in New York, excuse me, I run into people all the time who say, of course, I don't make promises. Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies. I keep my options open. I'm not going to make commitments. I'm not going to get stuck. I'm going to do that which will maximize pleasure and profit. So I just want you to know who I am up front. I don't make commitments to people. I don't make promises to people. In other words, watch your back when you're around me. Look, when you have a city like that, you don't have a city, you have a jungle. And that's increasingly the case, is it not? Because if you say, I'm not going to be there for others, I am not going to make commitments. To make a commitment is to say, I narrow my options. You can't be a friend unless you narrow your options. Instead of doing what you want to do tonight, you need to go over and see that friend, because you know that friend's going through something. I don't want to go through it. I'd rather go do something else. But he's my friend, she's my friend. You have no friendship, you have no community without narrowing your options, without saying, I've got a program and I'm going to stick with it, regardless of what. Louis Smedes is a man who wrote a terrific article on promising, and he has this great line in it. He says, my wife has been married to five different men since her wedding day, and every one of them has been me. Because he's an old man, he's writing after they've been married for over 50 years. And in other words, he's talking about how much he's changed over the years. He says, my wife's been married to five different men. Every one has been me. But connecting, the connecting link that bound each of those men into an integrated whole was the promise I made on my wedding day. That promise gives me an identity. And that identity is, I am he who will be there with you if I ever shed that name. If I ever broke that promise, I'd never find myself again. And the bond that connects us would break as well. How is the wife, over 50 years going to be able to have a relationship with a man who's changing so much and vice versa? Of course, he's writing from the male point of view. He says the only way that she's been able to know is because of my promise. If I break that promise, there's no community. Why should she ever trust me again? Why should I trust myself again? If I leave her to go off with another woman, why should that woman have any confidence that I won't do the same thing to her? And why should I even think that I will have any confidence that I wouldn't do it again? I open my hand, nothing there and I'm alone. Always, always, always the result of promise breaking. Outside, weeping bitterly, looking around, no one there including me.
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Everywhere we look, we see brokenness, wars, cruelty and heartache. We feel it in the world around us and in our own lives. How did it get this way and what can be done about it? In his brand new book that's releasing this month, what Is Wrong with the World? Tim Keller offers a clear and compassionate answer. Drawing from a series of teachings given at Redeemer, Dr. Keller shows how the reality of sin explains the pain we see all around us and how only the gospel offers lasting freedom and healing. Whether you're overwhelmed by the state of our world, struggling with your own mistakes or choices, or looking for hope and joy, what is Wrong with the World will help you see how the gospel speaks to both the heartache of our world and the pain within each of us. This newly released book, what is Wrong with the World is our thanks for your gift this month to help gospel and Life share the good news of Jesus. Request your copy today@gospelandlife.com give. That's gospelandlife.com give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching.
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Now that's how promises make us. There is no society without people who make commitments and stick with them. There is no families without it. You know what a family is? A family is when two people get together and they dare to make this promise. We're going to raise little ones until they're big enough to care for themselves. And if you dare to make that promise, we're going to do it no matter how they act. We're going to do it no matter how they treat us. If you don't, if you, if you don't dare to make that promise, you don't have a family. And you only have a family. As long as you're keeping that Promise. There's no society, there's no family, there's no marriage, there's no community, there's no friendship without being willing to rein your own heart in and say, I make an appointment with myself. An appointment with myself. Five years from now, I'm still going to be there for you. Now, question. How can we make promises then? If promises make us, how can we make promises? And here's why a lot of you are asking this question. I know you're saying, I got problems here. I got real problems with what you're saying. You seem to make it sound so simple, but it's not. On the one hand, when you make promises, people take advantage of you. I've made promises and I've been burned. People have taken advantage of me. I'm afraid to make promises now. New York is full of people, as far as I can see, that have been burned by old promises. And who have said, I'm going to be much more careful the next time I do it, if ever. And then, on the other hand, you've got other people who say, the other problem I've got is when I do make promises, I can't stick with them. I can't stick with them. I'm like Peter. I break down. I can't follow through. But here's the secret, and you have to look at the whole story of Peter to understand. In John, chapter 21, Jesus comes and restores Peter. And in that passage, he just does this. I can give you a synopsis. He does something. First of all, he sits Peter down at a fire. And three times he says, simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter says, yes, I do. And then he asks him again, do you love me? And he says, yes, I do. And a third time, three denials, three questions. Do you love me? And he says, yes, I do. And after each time, what does Jesus say? I want you to be a leader of my sheep. I want you to feed and lead my flock, just like before. Before you broke the promise. I still want you to lead. I'm going to make you a good leader. But he says to Peter, by the way, you ought to know that if you keep this promise to me now, this new promise you're making, you're going to be killed. You know, you probably would have been killed if you kept it the first time. Well, now that you've made it again, you're going to be killed anyway. He says the way he puts it is, he says, you'll stretch your hands out on a cross. You'll be Crucified too. And Peter turns to John the apostle who's right next to him, and he says, what about him, Lord? And Jesus looks at Peter and says, what if I decide that you're going to be killed, but he's not? What business is that of yours? Don't you know who I am? Follow me. Now, what Peter is told there, you might say what happened there. Because from then on, Peter was a promise Keeper. From then on, Peter kept his word. From then on, Peter became a tremendous leader. He became a man of identity and community because he kept his commitments, because he made the. See, the bigger your commitments you make that you dare to make, and the better you keep them, the more of a sense of self you've got and the more incredible friends you've got. Don't you see that it's a scary thing to start a church? But the people who got together and said, we're going to start this church, even though it's going to cost us an awful lot of money, there's a community there. See, the more the promise, the greater the promise. And Peter went on and he experienced the identity in the community. Well, why? How could that possibly be? And here's the answer. He saw Jesus as a promise keeper. Instead of looking at himself, instead of saying, I can do it. Willpower. I can make the promise. I can do it. I know I can. And instead of drawing strength from willpower and looking at himself, he saw Jesus as a promise keeper. He saw three promises that Jesus made. And I say to you, unless you see the same three promises, you'll never be a promise keeper. You won't be able. You'll be too scared to make commitments like those of you who've been burned. And you'll be too weak to keep commitments. You'll be too scared to make them, you'll be too weak to keep them. And as a result, you'll find less identity and less community. Unless you see these three promises that Jesus made. Peter saw them and it changed them forever. He looked away from himself to Jesus, the promise Keeper. What were those three? Well, let me just mention them. Jesus promised to judge, Jesus promised to die, and Jesus promised to forgive. Gotta have them all. I'm just gonna tick them off. Number one, his promise to judge Jesus Christ says, peter, I'm in charge. You live, you die. You die, you live. Don't you understand? I'm in charge. I am the judge of all the earth. And even though some of you might suffer terribly from keeping a promise, you know, here, let's just Take a look at one promise that you're supposed to make as a Christian to always tell the truth. Somebody you know, here's a person who tells the truth. And the boss says, I don't like it, but you got guts. You're promoted. So here's another Christian. And this other Christian says, okay, I know I'm a Christian. I'm going to tell the truth. I know I'm playing power. I tell the truth. And the boss says, I don't like it. You're fired. Right? Wait a minute. Peter says, you know, why is it that I keep a promise? I'm going to get killed and John's going to keep the promise and he's going to live. Why is it Jesus says, don't you understand? I'm the judge. In the end, everything's going to be set straight. Nobody's going to get away with anything. Listen, friends, unless you have an understanding, a hopeful view of history in the future, unless you understand that there is a God who, no matter what promise keeping cost you in the short run, in the end, truth and justice and compassion and righteousness and goodness, the things that you hold to and the things that you base your life on when you make a promise, when you make a promise to God. See, those things are ultimate realities. In this world, sometimes those things mean you'll take it on the chin. But we know that this world isn't the only world there is. We know there's a bigger world. We know that that's the reason why Peter's able to say in Second Peter three, we wait according to promise because we know that he is going to judge. And the right and the true and the just and the compassionate and the love and goodness, the things that we base our life on, those are ultimate realities. They're going to triumph. And therefore those of us who hold to them, we're going to triumph, too. If you don't understand that, what use is there to keep a promise? They put it another way. Remember those baby boomers? You remember this? You're old enough to remember this commercial. It was a beer commercial. They used to say, you only go around once in life, so you got to grab for all the gusto. You can remember that. I can't even remember which one it was. I mean, maybe it was only on Philadelphia television. I don't know. You can only go around once in life. You got to grab for all the gusto you can. That is the most hopeless possible view of history. It's hopeless. Why you're saying is the only Happiness you'll ever get is right here. Because when life is over, you're dead. And of course, when the sun is over, everything's dead and everything will go up in flames. You cannot possibly expect to keep promises. If you believe your life is an accident and eventually everything is going to burn up in the death of the Son. Why in the world would you keep a promise? The very nature of promise keeping is delayed gratification. Why in the world would you delay your gratification if this life is all there is? Jesus says, don't you understand? You make a promise and you lose your job. You make a promise and you get promoted. But I'm in charge. Everything will be evened out. It is only temporary that sometimes the promise keeping brings you down. I am the judge. Wait. According to promise. That's the first promise. Secondly, and most importantly, his promise to die. His promise to die. You heard what I said. If you were here one week when the folks joined the church, all the way through the Bible, again and again and again, God says, if you are faithful to me, I'll be faithful to you. If you are committed to me, I'll be committed to you. Again and again and again. Something happened on the cross that never happened before and will never happen again. Someone, Jesus Christ, went to the cross. And against all of the powers of darkness and against all of his own feelings, you know, he shrank at the possibility of going to the cross. You know why? He had a human nature. In the garden, he said, not my will, but thine be done. You know what he meant. Even though he was a perfect human being, he still was a human being. His divine nature knew exactly where he should go. But his human nature was scared to death. He was afraid of dying. He knew what he was going to go through. He knew the torment. How did he keep his human and divine nature together with a promise? He said, not my will, but thine be done. I bound myself to the program. I'm going to do it. He was a person of integrity because he stuck with a promise. Hebrews 10 says that when Jesus came into the world, he says, lo, it is written of me in the book, I come to do thy will. I come to offer myself a sacrifice. He remembers the promise. That's how he gets to the cross. But on the cross he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now wait a minute. What's going on? How could that possibly be? God always says, if you break promises, you'll be alone. But if you make promises, you'll find people around you. If you break a promise to me, you're separated from me. But if you make a promise to me, if you keep a promise to me, then I will be with you. But now look what happens. Here's the first time in the history of the world and the only time it'll ever happen, that God said to Jesus Christ, if you keep my promise, if you keep this promise to me, I will forsake you. And on the cross, Jesus was absolutely and utterly alone. Do you know why? We're told in Leviticus 16, on the day of atonement, once a year the people of Israel would do something about the fact they've been breaking their promises all year. Every year you break promises to God. You say, I'm going to love my neighbor as myself. Nobody does that. You say, I'm going to love you and obey you. Nobody does that. So once a year, they had the day of atonement. And you know what they did on the day of atonement? Listen. Once a year, the high priest would take a live goat, this is Leviticus 16, and lay both hands on the head of a live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion, all the covenant breaking, all the promise breaking of the Israelites. And he would put them on the goat's head. And he shall send the goat away into the desert. And the goat will carry on itself all their sins into a solitary place. You know why the goat is being treated as the promise breaker. Promise breakers go out. Promise makers are on the outside. Promise breakers are in the desert. Promise breakers are utterly alone. And on the cross, Jesus became that scapegoat. And that's why the writer of the Hebrews in chapter 13 actually says it wasn't an accident where Jesus was crucified. He suffered outside the gate that he might redeem us with his blood. Jesus Christ was such a promise breaker that he was willing. He was such a promise keeper, he was willing to go to the cross. But now here's what's so weird. He was such a promise keeper that he was willing to be treated as the ultimate promise breaker so that you and I could become promise keepers. He was sent out. He says, my God, my God, you've forsaken me. I'm alone in the dark. There is nothing between me and the fire of your utter rejection. It's pouring out into the core of my being. Why is he being treated like that? He's being treated as a promise breaker. You know what's so weird? Here is Peter warming himself with the fire in the courtyard, here's Jesus tortured. Why? Jesus is the promised keeper. Peter is the promise breaker. Peter's being substituted for. Jesus is taking the curse that belongs to Peter. And you and I are Peter. Do you see it now, my dear friends? Unless you see, and this brings us to the end, the third thing you have to see is Jesus then is able to come to Peter at that fire and he's able to say, Peter, do you love me three times? And Peter repents because he has to say I love you three times to kind of make up for the denial. And then what does he say? Jesus says, in that case, you can still be a leader of mine. You can still be a leader. I'm going to put you back in charge. What? How you say, if promise breaking is so bad and promise keeping is so important, how could he do that? Because see, Jesus says, now don't you see, Peter, what you did wrong the first time? You think that your identity is really bound up in your promise keeping. Oh no, A Christian's identity comes from Jesus promise keeping. If you think you can save yourself through promise keeping, you'll be a promise breaker, just like Peter. Peter felt he could save himself by being a really committed person. And so he picked it up in fear and pride. And because he picked it up in fear and pride, when he saw his weakness, he was in despair. But a Christian, here's what's so ironic. If you understand that you are not saved by your promise keeping, but by Jesus promise keeping. When you pick up a promise, you will break it. You're a sinner, but when you break it, you won't be able to, you won't have to deny it. You repent. And a repentant promise breaker is a promise keeper. You won't be in despair, your identity will not fall apart because you'll say, he forgives, he loves me. Not because I have been the promise keeper, but because he was the promise keeper. And because of that, here's the great irony, here's the paradox. When you break a promise and you know you're a sinner, saved by grace, you can repent quickly. And that brings you right back into where you were before. You don't make excuses, you're not denying and you're back in promise keeping. The people who best keep their promises to God are the people who know they can't. The people who best keep their promises to God and grow are the people who know that they are loved. Not because they're promise keepers, but because Jesus is you. Know where that leaves you? Some of you are afraid to make promises. That's why you're in New York. That's why some of you won't even date. That's why some of you don't have many friends. That's why some of you don't lay yourself out into people's lives. That's why some of you never join a church. You're afraid of commitment. Don't you see? He's the judge. Don't be scared. And he died. He took your penalty. He was willing to keep a promise like that. Why can't you keep promises for him? On the other hand, some of you, by the way, are too quick to make promises. Do you know that? That's just as bad? You know why? You can see now that if you're too quick to make promises and you make so many promises, you find they contradict each other. You promise this person this and this person this, this person this, and then you can't actually come up with it and you have to back out and you have to repent. Don't you see? Promise keeping is so important that those of you who are afraid to make them need to start making more. More committed. But promise keeping is so important that some of you who over promise and who over commit, you need to start pulling back. Because promise keeping is a divine thing. You're just a little lower than God when you make promises and you make covenants and you mustn't do them so quickly. Almost everybody in this room goes one way or the other. But most of all, if right now you're thinking about doing something disobedient, you made a promise to God. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to be faithful to my spouse. You know, I'm going to stay chaste till marriage. You know, whatever. You make promises based on the law of God, right? Now, if you're afraid that you're about to pull out, oh gee, look at what it cost him to keep his promise for you. And when he did, he was blasted. Now what's it going to cost you to keep your promise for him? Nothing like it. Nothing like it. God says to Jesus, if you keep your promise for me, I'll abandon you. But you know what he says to you? He says if you keep that promise, even though it'll be hard, if you tell that truth, if you do that right thing, if you keep that promise, I'll be with you. I'll envelop you, I'll descend on you. It's the exact opposite of what he said to Jesus. But Jesus kept his promise for you. Can't you keep your promise for him? In Jesus Christ, all the promises of God are yea and amen. Let's be like him. Let's pray. We Father, we ask that you'd grant to us now the possibility, people, men and women of integrity, men and women who are not too quick but not too slow to make commitments and to do so because your son did. Make us people of our word. Make us people of honesty. Let the world look into this community and be amazed at the truth spoken in love here at the promises made, the commitment, the way people give their money, the way people give their time, the way people give their hearts, people who are not afraid to be committed to one another. Make us people like that because we're seeing your son, the great Promise Keeper. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com Today's sermon was recorded in 1995. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.