Spiritual Resurrection
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Welcome to Gospel and Life. Is being a Christian just about moral transformation or a pathway to the good life? Tim Keller looks at the book of Galatians to demonstrate how the Christian life is so much more than that. It's about how Christ transforms us in a radical and life-changing way. Throughout this month, Tim Keller will be teaching from the book of Galatians and how the gospel transforms us. Turn with me to the passage on which the teaching is based tonight.

I discovered a tradition. You know, we don't have many at Redeemer. And I'm always looking for one. And I found one. Actually, I didn't realize it was until this, I was thinking about this. And that is every Easter, the morning service focuses on the objective reality of the resurrection. The objective miracle. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. We are going to be raised from the dead.

However, in the evening service, we focus on the subjective aspect of the resurrection. That the resurrection is not just an objectiveness miracle in our past and in our future out there, but it's a subjective miracle within. That's why we have testimonies in the evening service every year. Always have. And that's the reason why usually the teaching also...

focuses on that. And actually, that's the tradition. But I also noticed when I looked at all my evening, Easter evening sermons, some of which are five minutes long, back when we used to have 18 testimonies, I also noticed another tradition which I'd like to break tonight, and that is that ordinarily, I'm very general about

I talk about it. We don't talk about how it happens. What is a spiritual resurrection? Now, that's the reason why we're continuing with our series on Galatians. And, you know, every night, every Sunday, in fact, every sermon, I look out there and I see a variety of people and I always have to kind of look toward Galatians.

one kind of person or another. Sometimes I switch off inside a sermon. Have you ever noticed that? Sometimes I'm looking for people who might be newer at this, to whom this whole line of teaching or just looking at the Christian faith is a new thing. Sometimes I look to some of you who've been around for a while and have been at this for a good long time. Tonight, I'm going to look to the people to some degree who've been with us, who have been through Galatians with us, who've been sticking with it.

Because tonight I'd like to talk to you about not so much just the fact of spiritual resurrection, but how it actually happens. And I am convinced that even though tonight, even tonight, though I want to be practical, there's almost no way to do anything more than just sketch the outline of how this happens. But it's all here. There is no better passage in the Bible to teach you how to change inside yourself

deeply, permanently. That's what spiritual resurrection is. To be a Christian means you've got resources for change that are unique, unequaled, unsurpassed. Let me just read to you Galatians 5. Let's read the passage we haven't looked at at all, actually, verse 16 to 25. Galatians 5, 16 to 25. So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, and envy.

drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

This is God's word. All I can tell you, Christian friends, is that every line from verse 16, every word, every phrase from verse 16 to 25 is important. If you want to learn how to change deeply, every line, every phrase, every word is not only important, but there are some amazing surprises in here. Let me just show you a few of them. Some amazing ones.

Again, even though the word spiritual resurrection is not used here, this is one of the texts that you usually would go to for this. This is what it's about. The Bible talks about spiritual resurrection. What makes you a Christian is not you turn over a new leaf, you start to live in a different way, you get some inspiration, you get a new philosophy of life. What makes you a Christian is that the resurrection power of Jesus Christ flows over into you.

So, for example, you have Ephesians 1, chapter 20. This is a prayer by Paul. He says, Now think of that.

He's praying that the Ephesian Christians would know the power for us, that power that God used when he resurrected Jesus from the dead. Now, the word know could not mean know about.

Of course, the Ephesian Christians already know about the power. They're so great that Jesus was raised from the dead by that power. So what does Paul mean when he says, I'm praying that you will know this incomparably great power? And of course, as many of you realize, the word know in the Bible usually does not mean cognitive, but it means relationship. It doesn't mean so much know about, it means to experience. And Paul is saying, this is available to you as a Christian. This power exists.

And what is this power for? Philippians 3, oh, here's another one. Philippians 3, 10 and 11, Paul says, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. But what is it for? In Romans 6, he says, we died with him that we may live in newness of life. Now, what this is saying is very simple, but actually, I would like us all to hang our heads a little bit. This is going to hurt, but this will also, it's a good hurt. It feels good. It feels good.

Jesus is saying, the Bible is saying, that when you become a Christian, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead comes into you spiritually, internally. And the deadness in you, the fear, the guilt, the struggle, the joylessness, the hopelessness, all the things inside, all the deadness, that spiritual power is now alive in you. And Paul is saying that's alive in you to create newness of life.

And we'll take a look at this in a second. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness. We'll look through all that. That can run rampant through you. You have got the power to change. You've got a power to change that nobody else has got. And when I say this is going to hurt, we have to ask ourselves right away, are we not settling for too little? Aren't you settling for too little? Aren't I settling for too little? I mean, how much have you changed so far? Just how much? How much?

Of course you have, but look, look how much further you have to go and look what you're settling for and look what you've got. The power that raised Jesus from the dead, that broke the bands of death is in you. Okay, that's the point. Now, the question is, does it actually work? How does it actually work?

And let's spend some time on this. What do we have? All right, number one. First of all, let's just see the signs of spiritual deadness, the signs of spiritual life, before we actually look at exactly how you move over from death to life. Here's the signs. It says, for example, if you want to see the signs of spiritual deadness, here they are. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious.

And by the way, this is just important to notice, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. Now, there's a couple of ways of breaking this down, but I would like you to show you that there's 15 words here and seven of them are the sins of irreligious people by and large and eight of them are the sins of religious people by and large.

And when you think of the works of the sinful nature right away, you may think of some of these, but not others. See, for example, there are three words that have to do with sex. There's porneia, sexual immorality. There's impurity, akatharsia, which is talking about sexuality. There's debauchery. And those have to do with uncontrolled...

Out of control sexuality. Ah, yes, you say, of course. Well, I always knew that that was sin. Well, all right. Then there's two others. Let me give you two more that you think of as sin, probably. And they have to do with substance abuse, right? If you look on down, they have to do with substance abuse. There's two. You have drunkenness and you have orgies. And by the way, these are...

Drunkenness and orgies, the orgies are not sex orgies. It's actually, I don't know why they translate it that way, but drunkenness and orgies both have to do with substance abuse. Out of control with alcohol, out of control with substances. You say, ah, yes, I knew all about those. Well, maybe you did, but then you have selfish ambition, envy, jealousy,

hatred, discord, fits of rage, dissensions. And these are things that are now and have always been absolutely rampant, if not more rampant in the church. And if you've been in churches, you know that they're there. They're all over the place. I mean, it's not at all unusual. If you were raised in a small town, if you're in a church, those things are going to be in there five to 10 times more than outside the church. Sometimes you get out of the church to get away from them.

Paul is not here just picking on immoral people, people who break traditional values. Rather, he's talking about all sorts of spiritual deadness

And then he turns around and says, well, what you want in your life is this. And then he gives the famous fruit of the spirit. Now, many, many ministers, and I'm certainly one of them, can and I will in the future take a look at the fruit of the spirit. Yeah, it's on the other page. We had to keep them away from each other because they were so antithetical to each other. And what are these? Let me give you a quick do some stock taking, will you? Now, obviously, and I will sometime take this apart.

But let me just do a little stock taking. What is love, joy, and peace? You might right away say, oh, I know what that is. Well, love is opening yourself and serving somebody else for the intrinsic value of who they are as opposed to using them to feel good about yourself, manipulating them to get your way. The opposite of love in the Bible is not hate. Never is. What is it that casts out? What is it that perfect love casts out? What's the opposite of love? Perfect love casts out

Thank you very much. Someone without any. Because you see, the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is self-protection. Self-protection. You cannot love and protect yourself. You can't do it. Whenever you see books about this, I think I told you, I saw a book a couple of months ago. The subtitle was Loving Our Children Without Sacrificing Ourselves. Ha ha ha.

Never mind. Okay. Another sermon. But you see, you can't love anybody without sacrificing yourself. I mean, I know that there is a lot of smart people that say, when you get involved in a love relationship, make sure that that love relationship does nothing but enhance your goals. It should not get in the way of the things that you want. It should not get in the way of your goals.

It has to be something that supplements. And yet the Bible actually says the opposite of love is fear. And since fear is self-protection, love is self-opening. Love is making yourself vulnerable. Love is serving somebody else. Love is putting yourself out. Secondly, I'm not going to do this for every one of them, joy. Now, whereas love is opening yourself to someone for the intrinsic value of who they are, not for what they do for you, you know, not helping. Okay, that's love. Joy is...

is to lighten God for the intrinsic value of who he is. The difference, the counterfeit of, the counterfeit of love is selfish affection, where you're really using people in order to get a good feeling for yourself. The counterfeit of joy is, I guess, what you call elation, where you are rejoicing in the blessings, not the blesser. You may be filled with joy for God just because he's answering your prayers and he's doing what you want, and you're using him.

You see, joy and love are extremely, extremely alike, only they have to do with horizontal and vertical. Joy is delight in God for who he is. And of course, if you can delight in God for who he is, if you're really good at that, you are absolutely the most powerful person possible because circumstances don't matter. What comes and goes doesn't matter, you see.

Do you have that? Love, joy, peace. Well, I won't spend much more time on that. I got to go faster. Peace, which is confidence and trust in God's wisdom and control of your life. Peace comes from not thinking you're smarter than he is about how your life ought to go. Okay. A deeply forgiving spirit versus an angry one. Anger is the brokenness. Anger is death. You know,

I mean, the doctors will tell you anger literally kills you. Anger literally tears you up on the inside. Anger literally brings you to disintegration. And that's the reason why the only possible way to, of course, that's what's happening physically. Imagine what it's doing spiritually. And therefore, the only possible way to have spiritual life is to be a forgiving person. Patience is forgiveness versus angry, irritable. How are you doing?

Love, joy, peace, patience. Kindness is actually generosity as opposed to envy. Generosity is spirit. I just delight to see other people doing well. I delight to see other people lifted up. No envy at all. See, no smallness of spirit at all. Goodness. What is goodness? Now, this is actually one that's not a very good translation. Goodness really means sincerity or integrity. And goodness is integrity and honesty as opposed to hypocrisy.

Integrity means that you have such, well, you see these all, by the way, did anybody notice verse 22? It doesn't say but the fruits of the Spirit. I've had people over the years tell me about the fruits of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit. It doesn't say fruits of the Spirit. Now, is Paul just a bad, I mean, you know,

I mean, Paul, I mean, is he just using bad grammar here? I mean, you English teachers out here, would you red pencil this and say, ah, you know, there's not agreement here between the subject and the predicate. The fruits of the Spirit, he says, the fruit. Well, why does he give you nine? Because actually, this is one diamond held up, turning it around, and each one of these...

wonderful, wonderful character qualities. Actually, it's just one way of looking into the whole thing. Every one of these is just an aspect of practical holiness. You really can't have one without the other. And yet you can be behind, you can be behind, but ultimately you can't, if you're too far behind in one, they all fall apart.

But you see, integrity comes from having enough love and having enough joy, at least, and having enough peace so that you are the same with one group of people as another. You're the same in public as private. You're the same on Sunday as you are on Monday. You're the same all by yourself, all alone, when nobody's watching. You are the same in the dark as in the light. You are the same when nobody's looking as when everybody's looking. Or are you?

Have you anything to hide at all? And I don't mean about your past. See, I know people who say, I've got something to hide about my past. And usually that's just, you don't understand the gospel very well. You're kind of scared. I mean, that might be immaturity. But do you have something? That's not a lack of integrity, I don't think. But do you have something to hide now? Lack of integrity. Faithfulness. Faithfulness.

Faithfulness actually is dependability, being absolutely wholehearted as opposed to being a half-hearted person. Reliable, dependable, absolutely there, utterly committed, as opposed to somebody who's always setting goals and never reaching them, always making promises and never fulfilling them. These are all signs of brokenness. And then you have gentleness. Gentleness, again, is a poor translation. That's humility. It's not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.

It's a blessed self-forgetfulness. You're just not wondering how you're looking. You're not always looking in the mirror. You're not walking into rooms and looking around and saying, what do these people think of me? How am I doing? How do I look? How do I feel? I mean, it's the blessedness of self-forgetfulness, and that's what gentleness is. Humility as opposed to pride, self-absorption, self-consciousness. And then lastly, self-control. And self-control is the ability to always choose...

the important thing over the urgent thing. Self-control is the ability always to choose the important thing over the urgent thing. If you're a Christian, these things should be abounding in your life. If they are not, what's your excuse when you have the resurrection power of Jesus? Now, as I promised you, you say, well, how does that happen? How does that work? Okay. It actually is here.

And there are some really astonishing things, but you need to get... All we can do in a sense is lay them out as principles, but you need to get a handle on the principles. You really do. What are those principles? All right. First of all, boy. Let's just, first of all, look at the order. Verse 16. I want you to take a look back here. Verse 16. So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Doesn't that strike you a little bit? Paul does not say...

Live by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. What's the difference? Now, we have to be very, very careful here because I want you to know that there are places where Paul says, don't sin. There's places where he says, don't gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Don't do the bad things. Don't hate. Don't lie. It's all the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. Don't be selfish. See?

okay don't be filled with fear don't be hateful don't be bitter don't use people you know don't break your word in other words there's times where of course he says that but if you look carefully there is something he says that you've got to do which will lead to the undermining of the sinful nature he says so i say live by the spirit and you will not desire uh gratify the desires of the flesh which means that there is a spiritual discipline that's deeper than just trying harder

How can we best understand the freedom we have in Christ?

What is the relationship between the law of the Bible and the grace that Jesus offers? In the book, Galatians for You, Tim Keller takes you through a rich and deep study of Paul's letter as he reflects on the amazing grace we have in Christ. Galatians is a powerful book that shows how people can think they know the gospel, but are actually losing touch with it. In this study of the book of Galatians, Dr. Keller helps you understand how this short book in the New Testament can transform your life.

Galatians for You is our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the love of Christ with more people. Request your copy today at gospelinlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Doesn't mean you shouldn't just say no sometimes, but there's a spiritual discipline that goes deeper. Let's go on.

Let's talk about that spiritual discipline. So that's the principle. There's a dynamic here. Secondly, the second thing we learn is your main target. The main target, if you want deep change, the main thing that you want to bring all your resources of the gospel to bear on, the main thing. And some of you, you've been with me a long time. You're going to say again, and it's not because I'm repetitious, because the Bible's repetitious. I want you to know.

It's not because I just don't have anything new to say. It's just that it keeps coming up. And what is it? In verse 16, it says, so I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not desire, and you will not gratify, what? Now, in the old authorized version, it says the lusts of the sinful nature. And the same word shows up down in verse 24. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and its lusts. Well, the trouble is, when you see the word lusts,

Every, everybody that uses the English language. Now, when you see the word lust right away, you think of sex. And that's the reason why the modern translators don't translate it that way. So they put in desires, but that if anything is even, even worse. What do you mean the desires? The problem here in every single pastoral book, everything that Paul writes, he says this in Galatians. He says that in Ephesians, Peter, first Peter,

John, James, every single person who writes in the New Testament a pastoral book, a counseling book, a letter to somebody trying to help them grow, every one of them, it comes right down to this. The problem in your life, the thing that the sinful nature is producing are epithemia. That's the Greek word. It's translated desires. That's too weak. It's translated lust. That's too misleading. It's a word that means an overdesire.

Epithumia literally means an overdesire, a superdesire, an overwhelming desire. And Paul is saying here that this is the secret. You've got to figure out a way to crucify. You've got to bring all the resources to bear on your overdesires. Now, the reason this word is so important and the reason this is so important for you to understand is the average Christian thinks the big problem is your desire for bad things. I drink too much.

I hit people when I get mad. I shouldn't want to hit people. I shouldn't want to drink too much. I worry. I need to stop worrying. And so these are bad desires. And so what do you do? Is you say, I'm going to really, really work hard to be a Christian right now. And that's, you know, but see, Paul has said, he doesn't say, live by the Spirit and do not fulfill the desires of the sinful nature. He says there is a dynamic by which we have to destroy sin.

The over-desires of the sinful nature. Your problem is not desires for bad things, but inordinate over-desires for good things. For example, you say, I've got to stop being so afraid. I've got to stop being so worried. I think I've shared this with you in the past, have I not? One of the reasons I wasn't able to get along in music is I was a trumpet player and I played music and I probably could have done something in it, but I could not handle auditions. Have I told you that?

I would absolutely, I was a trumpet player, and the trouble with the trumpet is you have to get the, you know, there's a spot. You have to put the mouthpiece right on your embouchure, right in the right place. I couldn't even get it on there because I was trembling so much. And, you know, so what do I do? I say, well, I need not to be so worried. I need to have faith. I need to have faith. I need this not to work. No. My music was too important to me. I said, what's wrong with music? Music's a good thing.

I mean, you know, some of us are going to be out of a job. As far as I know, I don't think they have preachers in heaven, but I know they have musicians. A lot of us are going to be out of a job. We're going to have to, I'm sure they'll have a job retraining place right on the right of the gates you come on in. But musicians will not need a new job. There is nothing wrong with music. But my problem, somebody's really laughing over here, isn't it? But my problem was not my bad desire. You know, it was just a real mistake. My problem was my over-desire.

My problem was my overdesire. And therefore, this is your trouble. If you look at your life, there are things that are good things that you feel like you have to have that are overly important to you. They are lusts. Lust for music. See? Lust for family. Lust for beautiful, wonderful, happy children. You say, wow, I never think of the word lust like that. Well, you better start. I wish we could...

That's the word. That's the word. Lust. But it's not lust for sex. In fact, even that's good. There's nothing wrong with sex. It's sexual idolatry. It's making sex an idol. It's making music an idol. It's making this too important. That is the focus for change. Thirdly, another principle. And this one is a mind blower. If you look real closely, what is the fuel for your overdesire?

What is the wood that's creating this fire, which is what you have got to put out if you want to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, self-control? I never say that right. But after all these years, what is the fuel for the fire? What is creating these over-desires? What is the root of the thing that you're going to have to make change if you're really going to grow, if you're going to have spiritual resurrection? Now look carefully, very carefully. Verse 16 says,

What is a... Yeah, sorry about this. What is living by the Spirit opposed to? This is one of the ways to figure out what it means to live by the Spirit. Living by the Spirit, it says, live by the Spirit, which is completely opposed to gratifying the epitomea of the sinful nature. Live by the Spirit as opposed to gratifying these over-desires. But then look at verse 18. What there is being led by the Spirit opposed by? What's the opposite of being led by the Spirit there?

being under the law. Now, this is one of the most shocking things in this book, because what he says is the works of the sinful nature, the sinful nature is something that just creates these incredible lusts. And out of these lusts come all of our sin. And there's this long list that comes up in verse 19, and it's a terrible list. But you know what it's caused by? In Paul's mind, to be under the law and to be

wrapped up by these over-desires is the same thing. What causes over-desires is to be under the law, and it's being under the law that creates this incredible passage, this incredible list in verse 19. This is astounding. Now, see, again, I'm looking to those of you who've been with me during this series. What is the book of Galatians about?

It's about a group of Gentile Christians, and they have come under the influence of a group of teachers who say, you have got to completely obey the law of God. You've got to go back into every single part of the Mosaic legislation, and you've got to take it on, and you've got to be incredibly obedient to the Bible in every single possible way. And what does Paul say? That is, Paul is saying, you want to go back under the law. Does under the law mean

You want to obey the law. To be under the law, does that mean to be obedient to the law? No, because Paul is constantly saying obey the law. Look, verse 13. You brothers were called to be free. He doesn't want you to be under the law. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Serve one another in love. The entire law is subdued in this. What is he saying? You've got to obey the law.

He's not saying to get out from under the law means that you get out from under law obeying. No. What he is saying, though, to be under the law is to be law relying. Hear this. Obeying the law is not what Paul's talking about. It's relying on the law. It's saying, by my performance, I can get my salvation. By my achievement, yes.

Then I will know I'm worth something. And Paul is saying that is the source of everything wrong in your life. That is what's opposed to being led by the Spirit.

That is what creates the over-desires of the flesh. In fact, he's actually saying that by you trying to become incredibly, incredibly under the law, very moral and saying, then God will love me, that is what actually heightens the over-desires. And if anybody in this room has ever tried that, if you've been part of a very rigid, very legalistic, super, super biblical community in the sense of biblical, in the sense of trying to obey the law in order to get God to love you, to favor you, you know what happens.

The harder you try to be absolutely good in every way, the worse your temptations come up. The more you say, God loves me because my thoughts are absolutely sexually pure. I do not look at an attractive person of that particular gender. I don't look. I don't look because I know God will love me if I'm absolutely pure. And the more you try that, Paul says this is what happens in Romans 7, the harder you try...

In self-righteousness, in self-salvation, in works righteousness, to do that, the more your heart will produce those impure thoughts. That's an amazing statement. And therefore, what does this mean? The reason you've got the over-desires you've got is because you still have in your life the old motivational structure that says it has fixed on certain things. I was a Christian when music was too important to me and performing was too important to me.

I went one time when I was when I was depressed, I went to a counselor and the counselor said, think of one thing that will make you feel great about yourself. So whenever you get depressed, just think of yourself doing something that makes you feel great about yourself. And I always remember I always thought of a particular trumpet solo in which I would stand up in the middle of the orchestra and I would play that solo and the whole orchestra would swell up underneath me. And and I would just I would hit every note just right. And that was you know what? I'll tell you why that didn't help.

I'll tell you why it didn't help at all. Because the more I actually, what he was actually saying was, he was saying, adore that. Make that the center. Make that your meaning. Make that your worth. Really think about that. And all I did was when I actually had to stand up, I was more scared than I ever was. You see, in other words, what it did was I went under the law.

I said, if I can just be this great trumpet player, boy, then, then I'll have some worth. Then I'll be able to look the world in the eye. Then everybody will think I'm great. And the more I did that, the more this overdesire hit me and the more inside I was dying. So what do you do? Two things down in verse 24. And there's always two. And what are they? Crucify the sinful nature with its passions and desires and keep in step with the spirit. To live by the spirit always has a negative and a positive effect.

And I can't but just tell you, I'm just going to tell it to you now and we'll come back to this. One of the things that is so fascinating about this passage, I'm sorry, I'm going to make you go back one more time. So get ready. Okay, keep your finger here. Okay. Crucify. What does crucify mean? Why did Paul use the word crucify? Why didn't he say crucify?

Those who belong to Christ Jesus electrocute the sinful nature. Well, you say, they didn't have electricity. All right, all right. All right, I'm thinking that. Okay, why didn't he say those who belong to Christ Jesus have speared to death the sinful nature, have decapitated the sinful nature? Well, some people have said, well, what Paul's really saying is a slow death. I used to say that. I have a couple sermons from years ago in which I said that's what it means. I doubt it. What Paul is saying here is,

He says, if you have to look at the things in your life that are too important to you, whether it's music or whether it's your family or whether it's that ideal someone you think you need to marry, whether it's your physical beauty, whether it's your career, whatever it is, the approval of your friends, you have to look at it. And you have to look at it in light of the cross. You have to see Jesus Christ dying for you. And you have to say, when I have...

A savior who will die for me. Why do I need a savior like this? If Jesus Christ values me so much that he would do this for me, why in the world do I feel like I've got to have this? You have to unmask it. You have to demote it. You have to change it. You have to repent of it. But see, crucify, crucify. Paul is saying, take it to the cross.

But then on the other hand, he says, you see, this is not just saying no. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to refrain. Of course. I mean, there are things in your lives and my life that are so deep-seated, and they're there for a long time. And you do have to stop. You have to say, I know this is bad for me. I'm not going to do it. But what Paul is saying is there is a deeper process that has to be going on, or in the end, you'll have nothing but willpower, and you'll give in after a while. You won't be able to refrain. So what does he say? He says, crucify...

That sinful nature. Crucify those over desires. Crucify those things. And then it says, keep in step with the spirit. What does that mean? Well, go back one more time. And there is an amazing statement here. You have to look carefully. In verse 17, the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit desires

What is contrary to the sinful nature? What's so amazing about that? First of all, the word desire. We already know what the word desire is. The sinful nature over-desires, super-desires, passionately drives you towards certain things because you're under the law. Because you're saying, if I have this, then I'll feel great. Then I will be saved. But look how carefully Paul does this. Paul is saying...

He doesn't quite say it, but he comes extremely close to saying it, so he hits that balance. He says, it's not just the sinful nature that has epithumia, but the spirit. Look it. It says the sinful nature has these incredible passions, these lusts, but the spirit has lusts too. Now, he won't quite come and say it, because you couldn't say it. It wouldn't be right to say the spirit over-desires anything, but look how close he comes. What he is saying is the spirit lusts too, but what does the spirit lust for?

He says, that's what you have to lust for. That's what you have to let the Spirit help you lust for. That's the lust that will throw out all other lusts. You have to keep in step with the Spirit. You've got to run with the Spirit toward where the Spirit is running. What does the Spirit lust after? What does the Spirit adore? What is the Spirit's job? What is He about? Jesus says...

In John, that great high priestly prayer, the great upper room discourse in John 14, 15, 16, he says, I will go away and I will send the comforter and he will tell you about me. He will take of mine and he will glorify me. The Spirit's job. The Spirit lusts after Jesus.

The Spirit says, look at him. Look at him. Look at what he's done. Look at where he is. That's what it means to keep his step with the Spirit. It doesn't just mean to try harder. It means to worship. It means to adore.

Why do you think Paul says this amazing thing? There's one place where Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 3. Now, the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory. But if the ministry of the law that condemns brought that glory, how much more glory is the ministry that brings the righteousness of God? That's the gospel. And here's what he means. We are not like Moses.

who had a veil over his face when he came down from Mount Sinai. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we who with unveiled faces now gaze...

And that Greek word really means to contemplate. We with unveiled faces now contemplate the Lord's glory and we are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the spirit. Paul says, remember how Moses said, I want to see your glory. And God says, no, you can't.

I'll only show you the outskirts. I'll put you in a cleft of the rock. And yet Moses had, just by getting that close to God, when he came down, he had so much glory on his face that the Israelites couldn't look at it. He had to put a veil over. And Paul is saying, but now, but now, because of the gospel, now that which could not come into Moses' life, because even the great Moses

would have been consumed like a moth by a blowtorch if the glory of God had ever been shown to him. But now the New Testament says, when you look at Jesus Christ,

And when you believe in Jesus Christ, the power of the Spirit comes into your life. The very glory that Moses couldn't have comes into you. And you have got an insight. The Spirit will give you an insight into God's glory, into Jesus' glory. He will show you Jesus' beauty. He will show you his love with a reality that Moses yearned for, that Moses wanted but couldn't get.

You can fall in love with Jesus. You can lust after Jesus. It's the only lust that fulfills. It's the only lust that's not inordinate. The Spirit wants to show you the beauty of Christ. And if you see it, to the degree you see it, you'll be free from your over-desires. And that's what the discipline is.

It's that worship and that crucifixion. It's specific crucifixion, so that's the reason why. It's the same old thing every place. How did you become a Christian? Repent and believe. Turn away, turn toward. How do you grow as a Christian? Crucify the sinful over desires. Take them to the cross, and then turn and see what the Spirit's looking at, and he will help you see it too. Let's pray. Our Father, who art in heaven,

Well, Lord, I got a nosebleed because we were way high up. And we looked down on this huge panorama of all the great things that Paul says is possible for us in Christ. Spiritual resurrection. What is our excuse? I don't know. I pray, Father, that you would enable us to drop our excuses, to take hold of this text and these promises, and to come to you and say, I want to know the incomparable power that is in us. I want to know Christ's

and the power of his resurrection. Father, I know that you'll honor a prayer like that. You'll put feet on it. You'll help. So I pray that everybody in this room will do it from their heart tonight or soon. I pray that in Jesus' name. 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 1998. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.