Tim Keller: What does it mean to be changed by the gospel?
I took notes in order to teach / share / discuss at last Monday's men's Bible Study. Listened to both parts three times. Each times I learned more. So much more than I was able to get down in these notes.
I Cor 8&9 Generosity should flow from holding onto the gospel. What does this mean? If the gospel has changed us, we'll be generous. If you really believe gospel, if it has changed you. In a revival some are truly changed, but others are not. Why?
Romans 7 so my brothers you who died to the law. For when were controlled by the law. I know that nothing good lives in me. The evil I don't want to do. What I wretched man that I am.
1. Our biggest problem
John Newton: "No one ever learned they were a sinner by being told. They have to be shown".
Paul writes that we are far more evil than you want to believe. You don't know how bad you are.
Luke 11 Jesus talking to his disciples about prayer. If you who are evil give good things to you children, how much more will your heavenly father give to you?
At a recent wedding we were sitting by the minister. I was feeding macaroni & cheese to Shivonne.
Paul: evil dwells in us so we can't change, We don't realize it. We don't deal with evil. Should be on page one of all Christian books. Most don't bring it up.
Dr Jekyll Mr. Hyde 80 pages long based on Romans 7. Jekyll was a good man, but realized he was evil. Every day he realized this more. The evil was keeping him back. Man is not one, but two. Jekyll had an idea – a potion. The evil would come out at night, so during the day he could do good. But when he took the potion he realized his evil side was tenfold more evil than he had realized, centered completely on the self. Author Robert Lewis Stephenson realized that we can't change ourselves. The best of us don't know how evil we are.
The song "John Wayne Gacy Jr" - was reviewed, said it is a masterpiece about a killer stuffing bodies under the front porch. The killer was loved by everyone, because no one knew. The last line "look below the floorboards for the evil I have hid". We could all be serial killers under the right circumstances.
Mr. Hyde was totally self centered until we understand that, we won't make progress.
2. What is the solution? At some point we realize something is wrong. We have to be shown. Something causes us to see our evil.
What will not solve our problem…Paul says what you do at that point, you go to the moral law when we see our own evil. Gussy it up with gospel talk…read bible, do everything just right.
CS Lewis in "The Abolition of Man" - all religions agree what a moral life is.
Paul: we were aroused by the law – honor parents, love neighbor, be pure. Applying the law just makes things worse.
St Augustine as a boy stole pears from an orchard –he wasn't hungry, he didn't like pears, but did it because he was told not to. Tim Keller didn't clean up room because his mom told him to.
The commandment "Thou shall not covet" is hard. By comparison the other commands were easy. Paul was forced to see that coveting has to do with being content in his heart. The essence of sin is self centeredness, everything has to revolve around me. Some obeying the law to make God have to bless him for obeying the law. This just makes things worse – the more self righteous you are, the more self important and angry and anxiety you have.
Dr Jekyll decided to overcome Mr. Hyde with Dr Jekyll. Jekyll resolved to redeem the past, This was beginning to work. Dr Jekyll thought he had overcome Hyde and started feeling good about himself. Then realized he had become even without the potion, but with pride and self absorption.
Two ways to be your own savior. They both get us to the same place. The first is to Go out and be bad. The second is to be generous and good and say God has to bless me. This only leads to bigotry and pride etc.
Jonathan Edwards book "The Nature of True Virtue – a hard book to read. Very philosophical. Two ways to do something: as a means to an end, or as an end in itself.
There are 2 ways to obey the law of God
(1) so God will favor you and for my own sake – common morality, to control my own life…using God
(2) to do it for God's sake, just to please God and say thank you. True virtue, for the joy of it.
Most do the right thing out of fear and pride. So at the heart of your moral life you are nurturing evil. At some point something bad will happen and you find yourself lying. Must understand and love God for his grace, so you can do it for the true joy of loving and pleasing God.
Charles Spurgeon: a gardener grew an enormous carrot gave it to the king as a token of his love and respect for the king. The king said that in thanks the king wanted to give the farmer a plot of land to garden. A nobleman overheard this and came to give the king a black stallion. The king discerned the man's evil heart and just said thank you. The nobleman was perplexed and asked "Your majesty, I don't understand". King said the gardener was giving the carrot. The nobleman was giving himself the horse.
DISCUSS: often I will look back on why I say or do certain things, sometimes more quickly than others. The hard thing is to consider my motivation before saying or doing something? To just always have the motivation of loving and pleasing the King.
Understand grace – please God because he is beautiful. Only then do I understand and begin to change.
Conclusion Paul said in the beginning of chapter 7 we died to the law to be married to another. Your spouse holds your self image in their hands. Doesn't matter what others say about you its what your spouse thinks. Honey you're great – you feel great and it doesn't matter what others think. Ok to obey the law, but to be married to Jesus. I must die to the law.
At the end the police are after Hyde. Jekyll can't hide his hideousness, so he killed himself just as the police were knocking at the door. Jesus was the one who died. We deserved to be taken away. Instead Jesus took our ugliness. We must know the grace of Christ so we can become beautiful in the eyes of God. Problems of pride and worry, etc. are destroyed by God's grace…not try harder to be a good person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j3HovVPDlk
How to be changed by the gospel part 2
This is the biggest problem we have.
2 Cor 9:13 generosity comes from the confession of the gospel, not just to believe but to hold fast to the gospel
Romans 8:1-8 there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Three principles:
Point 1 – have the freedom to know yourself. I am evil, but there is no condemnation, it is gone for those of us in Christ. Jesus assumes in Luke 11, talking tenderly, ask God for things. But you are evil, but also loved. Only Christianity says this.
Why emphasize the evil part? Why bring up the sin? Is this emotionally unhealthy? No. You may have physical and emotional problems if you can't handle knowing the fact that you are a sinner. An identity not rooted in God leads to sickness and death. We're more about our big sins than confronting who we are, that we're evil, and weak – we deny it because we base our selves as being good.
Are you a Christian? Many answer "I'm trying". Do those people know what it means to be a Christian? We are evil but / and loved.
CS Lewis if you want to know if there are rats in the basement, you have to sneak up on them quickly. If you do get the gospel, if you understand it – your biggest problem is you don't believe it – you exaggerate your problems and sins. Or you deny how bad you are. Instead I am saved by grace.
Point 2 – learn to identify the idols in your heart.
Romans 8 modern translations avoid "the deeds of the flesh"\instead say sinful nature – which is misleading. Not that something is wrong with your body. Paul was talking about envy, pride, ambition, not just drunkenness. Desires of the flesh – means over desire. Wanting good things too much, because we've made them ultimate things. Wanting to be liked, wanting to have influence.
Martin Luther: the first commandment is broken before the others. You have put something else before God. Flesh is the whole self / soul trying to save itself.
When you are married you eventually return to just being yourself. Spouses see who we really are. Tim Keller shaded the truth because underneath something is more important than Jesus– for Tim it is wanting human approval. Didn't mind that it inconvenienced him. His wife wants to control her space, her time, her environment. She'll say she had another commitment. ME: it's hard for me to dig down to figure out those deep motivations.
Spurgeon – don't go into the ministry to save your soul.
Romans 1:16 he who through faith is righteous, shall live. Not trying to impress others. My identity is unstable. Devastated by criticism. Over work – comes from idols, not righteous faith. Power hungry, immoral, greedy, stingy because the idols underneath is the root of the sin. I am good if I am powerful. I must go deep to figure out the motivation to keep sinning in that way. Critical to find out to rid yourself of those sins. Some parents make idols of their children.
What would cause you to feel you couldn't go on living? What are you proud of? If you don't kill yourself, it will kill you. You won't be able to grow.
Point 3 – you must rejoice in Jesus expulsively, in the face of your particular idols. You will never change until you get hooked on something bigger. They don't just go away on their own. Just don't let one idol replace previous idols. Getting moral isn't the answer. Seeking approval isn't the answer. Jacob hated working for Laban, but working 7 years was nothing when he had passion for Rachel.
When you come to realize your problem, you must realize this is the idol you must replace with God.
Colossians 3 when Christ who is our life appears, you will appear with him in glory. Things are nice, but not nice when compared to God.
Hebrews 12 Jesus endured the pain of the cross and going to hell, because Jesus' passion was to do the will of the father. His passion was also his love for us sinners. By suffering his was doing whatever he could to get us. His heart was us. When we realize this we need to rejoice expulsively in the face of our idols.
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