Your Plans: God's Plans – Timothy Keller [Sermon]

the scripture tonight is found all over the book of Proverbs and it's on page 7 of your bulletin the integrity of the upright guides them but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity the plans of the righteous are just but the advice of the wicked is deceitful the way of a fool seems right to him but a wise man listens to advice plans fail for lack of counsel but with many advisors they succeed too man belongs the plans of the heart but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue all a man's ways seem innocent to him but motives are weighed by the Lord commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed the Lord works out everything for his own ends even the wicked for a day of disaster in his heart a man plans his course but the Lord there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death the lot is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the Lord the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth this is God's Word okay we're going to continue to look at proverbs and that the subject of wisdom and each week we've said that wisdom is basically ability to make wise choices right choices our life is basically made you make or break your life on the basis of your choices is this the right person to hire is this the right all right is this the right career for you is this the right job for you is this the right is this is this the right amount of freedom to give to your child at this age is this the right person to confide in is this the right person to give this responsibility to is this the right person to marry is this was it right not to marry that person and every one of those situations the options in front of you are are many and most all of them are moral most all of them are egle most all of them are allowable but most of them aren't wise so we need guidance to make decisions and in the Bible in the Hebrew Scriptures there's a word guidance that comes up quite a bit especially in the book of Proverbs in fact it shows up in the first verse at the top and whenever you see the word guidance and most all the time in the Hebrew Bible it comes from a word for rope and it it's derived from the word for rope because the ropes were the method of navigation for sailors in those days you use ropes to to lower the sails when the wind was in your favour or to move the sails when you needed to when the wind changed or to raise the sails and tie them up when the storm came up otherwise you would be blown totally off course so it ropes were ways of navigating now the question is how do you get God's guidance how do you get God's navigation so that when you have all these choices you you know the right course to take how do you do that how does that happen we'll find out by answered looking at these proverbs and understanding first of all the guidance God does secondly the guidance God gives and thirdly the guidance God purchases for us the guidance God does the guidance God gives and the guidance God purchases for us okay first the guidance God does according to this list of Proverbs there's two ways in which God does guidance he guides paradoxically and he guides none obviously he guides paradoxically and not obviously what do I mean all right paradoxically take a look at the second last and the third last proverb in the list second last proverb is something that's probably nobody's not going to raise any eyebrows it says the plans of the diligent leader prophet as surely as haste leads to poverty the word haste might be a little better translated impulsive and the word diligent can also be translated strategic thoughtful reflective and it's saying if instead of just letting life happen if you act if you plan ahead if you if you if your strategic your life will go better making choices making decisions acting makes a difference okay fine but look at the verse just above it look at the third last verse the lot is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the Lord now lot casting was a way of doing a lot of things if you wanted to know okay casting a lot is very much like flipping a coin if you said okay which one of you gets to go to do it let's cast or drawing a straw okay it was just a way you know who came who kicks off first I guess if they had football back then they would have cast lots and I flipped a coin but look what it's saying every little detail every coin toss comes down exactly the way God planned even the smallest things are fixed by God's plan now we do not know as human beings how to hold those together human categories of thought cannot hold those two things together we feel like either our choices matter and they're significant they have consequences and that means our destiny is not fixed its history is open or we believe everything is fixed and therefore if everything is fixed who cares how you live it doesn't really matter what you do but not in the Bible in the Bible we're told and you can see it that we are absolutely free and we're absolutely determined at the same time that's even the words it uses in fact even though as we're going to see there's many other places narrative lis where this is spelled out there's places where the Bible shows us in in actual accounts of people's lives how this works out there's no better place to think in the Bible that puts the principle in a nutshell than right here if you take a look at the fifth proverb down and then at the ninth proverb down which is this is a chapter 16 verse 3 and chapter 16 verse 9 verse 3 says to man belong the plans of the heart but from the lord comes to reply of the tongue and then down verse nine in his heart a man plans his course but the Lord in his steps what is that here's what it's saying very very interesting he says your plans are yours your choices are yours you are responsible for them no one's forcing God's not forcing you in any direction on that say it's it's yours if you do something stupid if you do something wicked if you do something selfish if you do something cruel there's gonna be bad consequences and people are going to hold you accountable and they should and God will hold you accountable and he should your plans are yours but what actually happens as a result of those plans what actually happens in history whether it's words in verse 3 or actual deeds in verse 9 those are absolutely controlled and totally fixed and set by God nothing happens it's not according to his plan your plans belong to you your choices belong to you yet what actually happens is completely set it's completely fixed both at the same time not 50/50 not like 50 percent free and 50 percent fixed or 2030 at 20 80 or 60 40 or 40 60 no 100 percent free 100% determined under the sovereignty of God now of course I said human categories can't work that out we just don't think that can happen it's all in water to us it's one or the other or some mixture and if it's a mixture they they like I said if it's 50/50 or 60/40 or something like that now let's go let's go to to literature just to show that that human beings really basically say look either things are basically set or things basically are free and open so let's let's take the more fatalistic approach the famous legend of Oedipus Oedipus when he's born the Delphic Oracle says he will kill his father and marry his mother that's his fate and he grows up and he hears this by the way he hears the prophecy and he does everything he can to avoid it everything he can makes all of his choices to try to avoid it but in the end he kills his father and marries his mother in other words his choices have no connection to his destiny his destiny is fixed in spite of his choices there's no connection between them at all he can choose and do everything he wants doesn't matter it's going to happen now let's take another famous figure in literature Marty McFly and and and at the end of the Back to the Future trilogy of movies Doc Brown explains the message of that profound set of movies which I loved complete I've watched it any dates on any time any time and what does he say remember what dr. Ahn says at the very end it sums up the message of the three movies your future is whatever you make it so make it a good one and of course everyone who's ever been in a focus group and that's the reason why they did it says that's what I believe and that's what US popular culture believes your future is not set it's not written it's whatever you make it so make it a good one now it may be true that intellectually it's almost impossible hold together this biblical concept that we're absolutely free and absolutely determined we either believe we're determined or we believe are free but if you believe either of those you're cooked it's almost it's impossible to live a decent life that way if for example if you believe everything is fixed no matter what you do if there's no connection between your choices and and the destiny you're going to be totally passive you're going to be totally bored you can be totally cynical totally hard totally indifferent who cares but if as US popular culture believes not the way the faithless believed that there was no connection between your choices in the destiny if you believe is a total connection that your destiny is completely set by your choices if you really believe that and you thought about it you wouldn't get up in the morning if you believe that and you're happy that's wonderful you're not thinking it wouldn't even get out of bed in the morning when I was 22 23 I've used this illustration for other things it's very helpful in many ways I did everything I possibly could everything I possibly could like Oedipus you know everything I possibly could to get married to a woman who if I had gotten married to her would have been the wrong woman how does it look back at my 22 year old self I now think that probably about two-thirds of the things I wanted were wrong were bad bad things I've I gotten the navy been very bad 2/3 now here's the thing that scares me what's my percentage now now you know I think it's better I think it's a lot better I hope it's a lot better I mean I think it's getting better because I know I'm old enough now I can think of my 30s and it wasn't 2/3 it was better than the 2/3 it might have been half it might have been maybe half the things I really wanted would have been ok for me and the other half would have been bad for me but you know what when you're in the age you're in you don't know your percentage and it's something what fool knowing how little we know would want to live in a universe where your future is completely what is completely and totally fixed by your choices here's what's so fascinating the biblical understanding which is intellectually so wild and so weird and so intellectually difficult to hold on to is utterly practical because the Bible does not say your choices have no connection your destiny or that your choices determine your destiny but rather God and His sovereignty relates your choices partially to your destiny but he is the one who fixes everything and therefore you are held responsible you are completely free and yet you can relax see if everything was if everything was it's all fixed to be no incentive but since your plans are yours they belong to you you have every and any consequences will come from it from bad choices you have every incentive to work with every fiber of your being to do well and to do right and to be wise but on the other hand since everything is under the control of God who working is working things together for good you can relax this is the reason why enough and not freaked out this is the reason why Paul when he was in the boat in acts 27 acted the way he did he was in a boat there was a terrible storm that came up he was in a boat with soldiers and sailors in the Mediterranean the storm was so bad the the men were afraid for their lives and God came and spoke through an angel to Paul and said I am the Lord and I'm telling you that though the storm is bad and you might lose the ship no one in the boat will die God told Paul that then Paul gave the prophecy to everyone else and by the way prophecies in the Bible if you get a prophecy and it doesn't come true you're a false prophet and you're put to death book of Deuteronomy Paul knew that once God had told him that was the way that was the way and yet the next day in the midst of the storm when the sailors try to abandon ship Paul grabs the soldiers takes them to the part of the ship and forces them to stay and says the sailors unless you stay on the ship we're all going to die okay you say all right well okay if we're all going to die then it's not sure that they're all going to live but if it's absolutely sure it's they're all going to live who cares how they act but do you see if either those is true you're not going to be wise in a storm you're going to be passive or you're going to be paralyzed but Paul's cool because he understood that he is absolutely free and absolutely in the hands of God so God guides paradoxically secondly God guides not obviously not obviously yes because here in the middle pretty much in the middle of the page it says this is a little halfway down from the middle this is a chapter 16 verse for the Lord works out everything for his own ends even the wicked for the day of disaster the Lord works out everything for his own ends even the wicked now you know what that's saying it's saying not only our little things part of God's plan but bad things are part of God's plan the evil doer deeds are part of God's plan now if you had not just been through what we just been through if you hadn't come - if you hadn't thought through its 16 1 and 16 16 3 and 16 9 you would say oh no if bad things are part of God's plan God is the author of evil but you see the plans of a man belong to him that is to say were to her the that is evil deeds belong to the evil doer they are responsible for the evil deeds God does not force anybody to do evil deeds they are yours he hasn't made you do that and yet God is going to overrule and work and weave in even the worst things into an ultimate good in the end though it says in the end now the perfect example of that is Joseph Joseph now you remember the story Joseph and you have he's one of many brothers and Jacob was utterly poisoning that family destroying that family system because he was favoring Joseph over the rest of his brothers and Joseph was on his way to becoming proud becoming cruel becoming haughty becoming shallow he was on his way to being wrecked and his brothers were all becoming murderously bitter and of course we know what happened the brothers threw Joseph into a pit and sold him into slavery and then when he was in gypped as a as a slave then he was accused of rape and he was thrown into a dungeon and if you read the story of Joseph you'll see that that years go by over and over he's thrown into these dark pits basically and he cries out to God no answer God seems to be absent no answer year after year after year one thing goes wrong after another thing goes wrong after another thing goes wrong there's slavery and there's injustice and it's screaming and fighting and running and crying and everything's going wrong and yet only because every one of those things has gone wrong years later does it become obvious that only because of all those bad things Joseph becomes a man of greatness his brothers in the family are completely healed psychologically and in the end the family is saved from starvation as is most of the rest of that part of the world all because of all those bad things only in the end and that's the reason why Joseph is able to say in his famous summary but it's an actual it's almost an exact Restatement though it happened earlier of proverbs 16 three when he looks his brothers and said you meant it for evil but God meant it for good you meant it for evil but God meant it for good now what does that mean it means this never ever ever ever ever think that God's not working no matter how much it seems like he's absent and at the same time never never never never think you're going to be able to figure out for a long time what he's up to because only at the end at the end at the end don't say he's got till Saturday to tell me or if a you know why he's letting this happen no God works not obviously but God works now do you see this is the first point but let me show you how important it is do you see how important it is people are always saying I need God's guidance I need God's guidance you know I've got I got to figure out his will but God's guidance according to the Bible is more something God does then something God gives and so you know and somebody says I need guys guys the neat guys got you're standing in it you're in the middle of the current it's moving you right along you're being navigated you just may not think so so first of all if you want to live a wise life if you don't want to freak out if you want to be calm in storms like like Paul and therefore you know have the wherewithal to make decent choices if you want to have the philosophical you might say worldview infrastructure of the relationship of God to things that actually happen if you want to understand the relationship of evil and good if you have that and you see God is guiding you're standing right in the middle of it then you will like Paul be calm in storms make decisions that save the day secondly however we do have to ask the question but how does God give guidance because you do have decisions to make and you do have choices to take and you are at Forks to the road and you want to say all right how does God help me make this decision I need to know so how do we get the guidance God gives and now again we have two principles we get out of the Proverbs you have to pay the price for God's guidance and then develop the wisdom for God's guidance you have to pay the price and dulled the wisdom now why do I say pay that why do I say pay the price well in chapter 16 verse 5 which is smack it practically in the middle and perhaps the most intriguing of all of these proverbs we read this commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed commit to the Lord whatever you do in your plans will succeed now you read that and right away you say that's great and I'll bet you you think you know what it said and I thought I knew what it said but you know you've heard of the meat of the word and the milk of the word proverbs are the hard candy of the word you don't just swallow it you don't just bite into it you have to dissolve it very very very slowly on your tongue you have to meditate you have to think about it and we know what all the commentators point out this is a complete reversal of the way people think you would think they would say commit your plans to the Lord and then your deeds will succeed in other words commit your plans to the Lord Oh Lord bless my plan and then the execution will succeed that's what you think it's saying it's not saying that it says the opposite it says commit your deeds to the Lord and you will become more and more a person who make smart plans more and more become a person who make successful plans it's exactly the opposite of what you might think and this is what it's saying the word commit is the word that literally means to roll over onto to put all of your weight on and this is saying unconditionally trust God for all things that happen in your life unconditionally trust God radically unconditionally trust God and you slowly will become a person who makes wise plans plans and accord with reality plans and accord with who God is who you are human nature things why do I call this paying the price now I'll show you in a minute I don't mean by paying the price paying the price earns guidance I'll tell you about that in a minute but I'm saying paying the price receives guidance not the same thing why do I call it paying the price Elizabeth Elliott in a book she wrote years ago on guidance puts it like this she is the more we pay for advice the more we are likely to listen to it the more we pay for advice the more likely listen to advice from a friend which is free we may take or leave advice from a consultant we have paid much for personally we are more likely to accept but it's still our choice we can take it or leave it but the guidance of God is different first of all we do not come to God asking for advice but for God's will and that is not optional and God's fee is the highest one of all it costs everything to ask for the guidance of God requires abandonment we no longer say if I trust you you will give me such and such instead we must say I trust you give me or withhold from me whatever you choose as John Newton says what you will when you will how you will see she says finding God's will is not coming to God and saying if I trust you you will do such-and-such that's the way we read the proverb afore we thought about it right she says no if you want guidance you come to God and say I trust you give me or not give me whatever you choose Lord what you will when you will how you will now what does it mean to unconditionally trust God for every part of your life it means I think to say Lord from this moment on be Grunder full of some of you would do this tonight from this moment on I will obey anything you tell me whether I understand it or not or not and I will accept anything you send me whether I understand it or not but I'm not going to bail on you no matter what and the Bible is saying only if you go through life like that not bailing on God obeying unconditionally trusting unconditionally committing everything well as time goes on you or both your good times and your bad times will you know the kind of person whose plans are wise whose plans you plan more more successfully we said why would that be how would that be okay out some years ago I was studying this the story of Joseph in a Bible study I can't remember who was in it I can't member how long ago it was either but I do remember that somebody said all this slavery and injustice and years and years of agony and was that really necessary to do that why couldn't why couldn't we do it the way it always happens on touch by an angel the angel shows up and everybody goes and or maybe God shows up with all his glory and effulgence and says okay I'm gonna settle this right now we don't need forty years of misery and pain no you Joseph you're turning into a spoiled brat stop it you know I mean he'll say oh my gosh all right and he said all of you people you you brothers you're turning into murderously bitter people Joe I could watch out they want to kill him either gonna they want to summon a slavery don't let them do it okay and Jacob you've got to stop your favoritism and oh by the way everybody twenty five years no there's gonna be a terrible famine so you better start saving up otherwise you're going to die of starvation all right just like that half an hour maybe no that's Hollywood let me tell you how it works in real life real life in reality you never ever ever ever ever ever become wise like that nobody has ever learned they were a sinner by being told no one has ever learned about their flaws by being told you have to be shown you have to be shown your mother's been telling you about your flaws for years you had to be shown and until you see your flaws and until you a see your flaws and the only way you'll ever see your flaws that are in experience they're going to control your life and secondly no one ever learned that God loved them by being told you know I tell you every week practically and you go home and say well the preacher told me that I love I believe that no you don't I get don't you would you wouldn't live the way you do if you believe that you know what you need in order to really know you have to be shown over and over and over as life goes on you have to be in positions where you're absolutely God has abandoned you and then find out later on you were wrong that's to happen over and over and over you can't bail if to commit everything to him but as time goes on you will find that you are finally becoming wise your understanding for the first time your flaws and therefore your plans are more careful than they would be otherwise and secondly you're you're learning that God loves you and therefore your plans are more bold than they would be otherwise and therefore by paying this price by committing everything to him by then saturating yourself in his word so that you not only see the solid lines to your decisions but the dotted lines you understand that there's a lot of things that biblically are technically okay but you can see you can see inferences out of biblical principles the more you saturate yourself and seek to do what this verse says commit your entire life to him unconditional trust you will become more and more a wise person and you can see it in all these on all these verses for example look at the first proverb the integrity the upright guides them but the faith now what does that mean honest people your honesty guides you it says well now wouldn't it be better to say God guides honest people yes of course that's true but don't you see what it's saying God does not so much tell you how to get guided but how to become the kind of person that gets guided how to become the kind of person that makes wise choices look at the next verse the plans of the righteous are just now see only if you do this commitment rolling everything paying the price unconditional trust and therefore fine over the years you finally are learning truly about your flaws and you're finally learning truly how much he loves you only when that happens do your plans become more more smart wise just fair proportionate for example talk about this every week it's okay to love your children but if you just completely build your whole life around your children if they're your meaning in life right if you trust your children more than God if you look to your children more than God then what happens you're going to have stupid goals for them destructively bad goals for them wrong goals for them if it's okay to want somebody to love you to be in love with you right but if you've got to have it you've just got to always have a lover you've got to have somebody really in love with you you know what's going to happen you're going to need to date people that you shouldn't you're going to stay in dating relationships that you really should have broken off in other words your goals will be wrong you'll be destructively wrong but what happens is as time goes on you become the kind of person whose plans become better and better and wiser and wiser and there's only not--there's that's the only way to do it you become a wiser person from this radical commitment and look at all the other verses which tell you look at the third verse the wave of fool seems right to him but a wise man listens to advice plans lack for plans fail for lack of counsel but with many advisors they succeed here's how you make your decisions here's how you get God's guidance you commit yourself to him utterly that slowly turns you into a person of wisdom because of the humility you get you turned everybody else and so you generate lots of options you're not a fool you don't think you know everything and because of the love that you feel from him you at the same time you're bold you're diligent and you make plans and that's how God shows you what you should be doing now this isn't necessarily however what most Americans want to hear when most people have come to me over the years as a pastor they come to me and they say I need have decisions to make and I want God's guidance I want to discern the will of God and I always say make a decision and they say how spiritual I mean I thought you were a pastor I'm trying to find out the will of God how do I know what God wants I've been praying and I've been getting peace about this but I haven't been getting peace about this I need to know which one I wanted how do I discern the leading of the Holy Spirit I said make a decision in the Old Testament you had the or amend the thinman we don't even know what that was it was in the breastplate of the priest and it was a way of getting a yes or no answer from God we worked on a binary system from what we can tell and that means that it was either a couple of stones or a couple of sticks and you could maybe throw them in the air and if they both came up like this it was yes from God if they both came up like this was know from God they came up like this or like this it was a no answer we know that one time you know at one time there's many places in the Old Testament where people went to the urban theme and there was no answer from God that is didn't get it yes or no answer one time David went and asked God a question with the orman theme him he said he was on the run from Saul and he said if I hide in that city and saw pursues me there will the people of the city give me up to Saul and God said yes so David didn't go there so you know we read that and we go that's what I'm talking about I want to know that that's what I that's what I want I want guidance there's no talk of that when you get into the into the New Testament there's no talk about it all and you say well what's going on here here's why why doesn't God do that of course we we create our emotional rooms and films that's what the peace thing is so I have peace about this but I don't have peace about this I'm praying about this and it feels good I praying about this it doesn't feel good how do I know in other words we don't want to make a decision David didn't make a decision he didn't need to make a decision God just told him you didn't have to use any wisdom he didn't have to figure out he didn't have to know the people you'd have to know the human heart he just and that's what we want is that right by the way I am NOT saying don't even listen to your feelings sometimes when you say I'm not getting peace about this you're trying to talk yourself into it your conscience actually knows better sometimes you say I don't have peace about this you're trying to talk yourself into something but here you're you've got a reason why it's wrong but you haven't able to articulate it yet you need to talk it out with somebody else I'm not saying ignore your feelings but I am saying if Jesus decided on the basis of some emotional Orman thim him what the will of God was if Jesus said should I go to the cross or not I don't have any peace about it of course he didn't have any peace about it he would never have gone and where would you be so why does it but why doesn't why doesn't God just do it why doesn't he give us you know the answer why does he make a decision imagine some of this some of you this wouldn't be hard to imagine you have a four year old son your four-year-old son comes to you at five o'clock and says daddy can I go out and play and you say well you know where I think your mother you know creating dinner at 5:30 so don't go out too far you know just go over here and play but I will call you scroll forward sixteen years later your son's 20 he's a way College and he calls you up at five o'clock and says dad can I go out and play there's a bunch of guys playing frisbee in the quad I was wondering whether I could go out and play and you would say what is wrong with you I don't know you know you know your workload you know what's going on you're supposed to make this well dad I just want you to make the decision for me and listen there are parents believe it or not who would like to have their children that dependent on them that emotionally depended on them but God is not one of them he wants you to be like him make a decision and when I came here to start a church people are constantly saying to me are you sure God's called you to start this church in New York City and I used to always say no I think he did I mean I might have used my bike I see an opportunity I don't see anybody else going through taking the opportunity I feel an obligation to come I think it's a good idea I think God's calling me but I can't be absolutely sure I can be absolutely sure I mustn't lie it's in the Bible I can be sure I mustn't bow down at idle it's in the Bible is I'm sure of a lot of things that are God's will without you know but but as far as I know I won't be sure that I was called to plant a church until it happens then I'll know so well don't you have peace about it I know it was too hard it was too scary no I didn't have peace about it but I know this guidance is as much something God does as something God gives and therefore I knew by selling my house and coming on up here and getting started and signing a three-year lease that if I failed to plant a church God was preparing me for something I couldn't envision you see so we have to understand that the guidance God gives does then we can understand and use the guidance God gives they operate together but then one last point and it's very important when you read 16 verse 3 commit your to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed which actually means unconditionally trust God make a radically unconditional trust commitment to him and you will slowly become the kind of person who you know he will guide you he will make you the kind of person whose plans are wise and you make good choices but who does that who does that who commits completely who rolls everything over onto God's ik word commit is an absolute word who puts all their weight nobody in this room certainly nobody behind the mic in that case well I guess we're not we're not we're not eligible for his guidance no and yet it still comes to people the first time you really see this in the Bible it's when the children of Israel are being led out of Egypt and one day you can read about this in Exodus 13 one day suddenly a pillar by day it was a it looked like a cloud by night it looked like a fire went before the children of Israel to guide them when the pillar stopped they camped if the pillar stopped for five days they camped for five days when the pillar moved before they went guidance the presence of God but the pillar the Shekinah glory of God dwelt over the Holy of Holies it swelled over the tabernacle it swelled over the mercy seat the place of atonement in other words they did not pay the price for guidance in spite of the fact they didn't deserve it in spite of the fact that they couldn't do this this complete commitment it came to them anyway because in some way that the sacrificial system indicated is somehow the price was being paid for them who do you think really paid that price what is the ultimate guidance what is the ultimate price pay who do you think did that when last illustration about this whole idea of navigation when Jesus Christ was in the boat asleep during the storm and his disciples are just flipping out they're freaking out why because here they are in a storm and their navigator the Lord is sleeping no navigation no guidance in this storm right so they're freaking out so they wake him up and they say Lord don't you care that we're dying that carest thou not that we perish is the old King James don't you care that we're dying and Jesus gets up he's actually pretty short with them he says where's your faith and I you know he's so often tender with with people that I've often wondered why he was that sharp I don't mean he was sinfully sharp he was right and here's why here's why I think he was sharp with him I have to go back into my own parental experience to get to this you know at some point your child is going to look at you and you when you withhold something from him or her you you don't let your child have something that you really want and when they look at you and they say you don't love me and when that happens it'll happen to you sometimes those with really little kids just try not to blow up and I'll tell you why it's so hard you want to say how dare you you have no idea what I have done for you you have no idea the sacrifice you don't know I have no idea the things that I've withheld for myself to raise you you have no idea the sacrifices you have night and if you knew all I have done for you you would never question my motive for withholding that from you if you knew all that I have sacrificed for you you would know I must have a loving purpose from withholding that for you when they said master don't you care that we're dying I think Jesus was saying back to them don't you care that I'm dying when I said master you're not really navigating to the storm here's what Jesus is saying there is a real storm coming a cosmic storm a storm of God's wrath a storm of eternal justice a storm of the Justice that we deserve for everything that we've done as human beings and he says I am going to bow my head before that storm and I'm going to take it for you and I'm going to go through that storm without any navigation the father is going to abandon me I will be the only righteous person in history who committed absolutely everything rolled everything over on to the Father and I'm going to sink he's going to abandon me but don't you see I am going through the ultimate storm without navigation so you can be sure that in spite of the fact you don't deserve it you will always have me at the helm I'm going through the ultimate storm without navigation I didn't abandon you to that storm and therefore I will not abandon you in this storm and you know it now because I'm telling you look at Jesus look what he's done and to the degree you know that to that degree you will be able to commit everything to him and become the kind of person who makes wise decisions saying you know there's a man who was very prone to clinical depression who wrote a wonderful hymn this is how he got through it his purposes will ripen fast unfolding every hour the but may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower he fearful Saints fresh courage take the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your head let's pray our Father we thank you that you have shown us that you guide us we're in the middle of it we don't deserve it we can to some degree resist it and we need access to it for our decisions and that will come by unconditionally trusting you committing all of our life to you so that you can shape us more and more into the image of your son in whom all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom are hid we ask that you would so melt us and shape us by the knowledge of the storm he went through without navigation so that we can always know that you are with us in all of our storms guiding us and showing us the right course to take that we will trust you now we ask that you would do all this in our lives and help us to apply this to our lives by your Holy Spirit we ask it in Jesus name Amen for more of this series and other resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church please visit

Channel: Gospel in Life

Views: 601,026

Rating: 4.7373657 out of 5

Keywords: Timothy Keller, Tim Keller, Redeemer, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Gospel in Life, Tim Keller (Author), Christianity (Religion), Sermon, The Bible (Religious Text), Jesus, Jesus Christ, God, Church, Faith, Proverbs, God's Plans

Id: 3OXaJPiov5E

Length: 42min 35sec (2555 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 10 2015