Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

If you need to see changes in your life, what is the process by which change really happens? And how does that change flow from belief in Jesus?

The gospel is unique to all the religions of the world in that it says salvation is not achieved, but is received. So if you understand the gospel, and that salvation has nothing to do with how you live, why would you change? In Romans, Paul answers that, and in the process, he shows how faith in Christ concretely leads to changes.

In Romans 6, Paul gives us three keys to real, profound life change: 1) you have to recognize the shape of your spiritual slavery, 2) you have to realize the scope of your cosmic unity with Jesus, and 3) you have to live daily out of your new identity.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 19, 2006. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 6:1-7, 11-18.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How should Christians view their money and their possessions?

We’re looking at the Gospel of Luke, because Luke has much to say on this subject. How does God want us to think about money in general? What should our attitude be toward it? How should we relate to giving and spending?

In Luke 14, we see two things: 1) Jesus Christ lays out a standard for sacrificial giving that’s so astonishing it will seem unreasonable, and 2) Jesus actually shows how reasonable this kind of giving is.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 20, 2010. Series: Money and Possessions – In the Teaching of St. Luke. Scripture: Luke 14:7-24.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

As we end our series on the Holy Spirit, we come to maybe the most astonishing thing the Holy Spirit does for us.

We’ve looked at a number of well-known things the Holy Spirit does in us and for us. He calls us and enables us to believe. He regenerates us, creates Christ-like character in us, unites us inside the church, and empowers us with his gifts so we can serve people around us. But now we look at a passage that tells us about the ultimate, the final thing the Holy Spirit does for us. 

Let’s notice from the text 1) what the Spirit will do for us in the future, 2) what the Spirit, therefore, can do for us in the present, and 3) how we can let the Spirit do that in our lives.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 12, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Romans 8:17-25.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

I’ve seen the pendulum in the church swing to extreme places over spiritual gifts—sometimes giving obsessive focus to them, and sometimes ignoring them.

There’s nothing more practical for helping us avoid extremes and understand what a Christian church should actually look like than to embrace what the Bible gives us here, a theology of spiritual gifts.

Let’s ask three questions of this text: 1) what are spiritual gifts, 2) what are the practical implications for church life, and 3) how can we rightly use spiritual gifts?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 29, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-13.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Each year when we get to Thanksgiving, we pause to recognize all the ways God has been so gracious in his provision — both for our basic physical needs, and for the ways he provides for us spiritually to give us joy, hope and renewal through his son Jesus Christ.

Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit. 

Paul doesn’t say, “It would be a great thing to attain if you could. Try really hard.” No, he commands that we “be filled with the Spirit.” 

Let’s ask this short text three questions: 1) what is being filled with the Spirit? 2) how do we know if we are filled with the Spirit? and 3) how can we become filled with the Spirit?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 22, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-21.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re looking at what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit.

My impression is there are an awful lot of churches in the world that talk about nothing but spiritual experience, and there are an awful lot of churches that are absolutely afraid of the subject and talk only about truth and knowing the right things. I think the remedy for that imbalance is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, because the deeper you get into it, the more you realize Spirit and truth go together.

Let’s look now at what John 14 tells us about 1) who the Holy Spirit is, 2) what the Holy Spirit does, and 3) how you can receive what he gives.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on July 4, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: John 14:16-26.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We all have a problem with self-control. You can’t be circumspect without coming to the end of a day and looking back and saying, “Why did I say that? Why did I follow that impulse?” 

The Greek word used here for self-control translates to self-command. It’s a synonym for being free, because if you’re not self-controlled, then you’re out of control. If you’re out of control, then you’re a slave to some other forces. 

Paul knew a lot about self-discipline and self-control, and here’s what he tells us: 1) what it is, 2) how it’s born in you, and 3) how it can grow.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 30, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:23-10:13.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Contemporary people stare at the biblical concept of humility the way a cow stares at a new gate. 

The approach of our culture is expressive individualism, and it completely flies in the face of what the Bible says about the importance of humility. So let’s look in Philippians 2 at this concept of humility. 

This magnificent passage tells us about 1) a sickness we have, 2) what we would look like if we were healthy, and 3) how to get the cure.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 23, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There couldn’t be a more relevant topic than faithfulness—a word that means honesty, integrity, and truthfulness.

Americans’ trust of their institutions—business, government, church—is at an all-time low. All the studies show that. There’s a sense that there has been a failure of integrity in our society at all levels. Therefore, what does the Bible have to say about this all-important subject? 

Ephesians 4 shows us 1) there’s a problem of practicing truthfulness, 2) there’s a problem of abusing people with the truth, and 3) how we solve both problems. 

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 16, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 4:15-16; 25-30.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How do you talk about kindness? Depending on the context, the Greek word can be translated as fitting, pleasing, honest, or compassionate. How do you talk about a word with that kind of lexical range?

The answer is you can’t do it abstractly. You have to look at a kind of relationship that combines all those traits. The kind of relationship that combines them is friendship. And nothing is more humanizing and life-changing than friendship. 

John 15 is a unique passage about friendship. It tells us 1) the character or nature of friendship, 2) how you forge friendship, and 3) where you get the power for friendship.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 9, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: John 15:6-15.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

If you’ve ever read a translation like the King James Version, you know when you get to the word “patience,” the older English translation will use the word “longsuffering.” This is because the Greek word for patience literally means to suffer a long time, which doesn’t sound very promising. 

What it’s saying is that patience is the trait by which you are able to bear up under difficulty without giving up or giving in to bitterness. There are two kinds of patience: there’s patience under difficult circumstances and there’s patience with people. And Romans 12 is a remarkable passage about how to be patient and gracious to people who are opposing you. 

This passage gives us 1) a principle of showing patience, 2) some ideas on how to practice it, and 3) how to get the power to do it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 2, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Romans 12:9-21.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There’s a difference between controlling or suppressing the natural self-centeredness and insecurity of the heart through willpower and seeing it permanently changed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Galatians 5, there’s a list of the traits or characteristics of a supernaturally changed heart. They’re called the fruit of the Spirit. We’re in a series trying to understand how we can have more of that supernaturally changed heart in our own lives. Today we look at peace. 

We’re going to learn three things from this classic passage in Philippians 4: 1) the character of peace, 2) the three disciplines of getting peace, and 3) the secret of peace.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 25, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Philippians 4:4-12.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How do you know whether you’re just trying to be good, or whether the Holy Spirit has really brought transformation into your life? 

The way to know is to look at what’s called the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. There’s a whole set of characteristics of a supernaturally changed heart. We’re looking now at the first of these: joy.

Romans 5 tells us three things about joy. It tells us 1) joy is important, 2) Christian joy is unique, and 3) where Christian joy comes from.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 18, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Romans 5:1-11.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Almost all of us have parts of our lives we really want to see changed, but change is really hard. And it’s very possible to mistake a morally restrained heart for a supernaturally changed heart. 

If you squeeze a rubber ball and then take your hand away, it snaps right back to where it was. You restrained the rubber ball temporarily, but you didn’t really change it. Almost all of us have that rubber ball experience. We try to change parts of our lives, and we put a lot of willpower behind it. Then as soon as circumstances change, it snaps right back.

1 Corinthians 13 tells us that a supernaturally changed heart 1) is not the same as a busy life in service of others, 2) is not the same as a morally committed life, but 3) is meeting love as a power and as a person. 

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 11, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 14, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 49:8-21.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’ve lost connection with part of what the Bible teaches about sin: that God gets angry at sin. And I’m here to tell you that losing that is a bad thing.

In fact, I’ll go this far: you need an angry God. If you don’t believe in an angry God, a really angry God who hates sin and is going to punish it, you’re impoverishing yourself. You’re taking away all sorts of hope and humility and love.

Isaiah 64 and 65 show us 1) God’s anger is not like our anger usually is, 2) you need an angry God if you’re going to live in hope, 3) you need an angry God if you’re going to live in humility, and 4) you need an angry God if you’re going to understand how loved you are.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 7, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9, 65:17-18.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When people in the West were faced with the atrocities of World War II, the culture’s prevailing optimistic views of human nature were devastated. Two questions kept coming up: what’s wrong with us that we’re capable of this, and what are we going to do about it? 

Isaiah 52 to 53 was written to answer those same two questions. It was written to a nation facing exile, to people who were about to face captivity, atrocities, and prison. And it has maybe the most well-known answer in the Bible to the question about human evil: God is sending somebody, the servant of the Lord.

In this passage, we learn 1) who he is, 2) why he came, and 3) what he did.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 28, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In Isaiah 61, we have one of the great prophecies about the Messiah. It tells us the Messiah is going to deal with the problems of life—and that shows us something about sin. 

Sin is not just breaking God’s scale and breaking God’s heart; it’s also breaking God’s design for us. God’s law is also the design print of your heart, the way you were built to work. So when you break God’s law, you’re trampling on yourself.

In Isaiah 61, we can see 1) what the problem is, 2) what God is going to do about it, and 3) how we should respond.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 21, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-11.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Even when we feel vaguely guilty for things in our past, or when we feel outraged by what we see other people doing, we have trouble talking about sin and evil. In our society, we’ve been taught that words like “sin” or “evil” are oppressive or meaningless. Yet we sense something out there that we don’t have the vocabulary for.

But the Bible gives us a far richer vocabulary and helps us understand sin in far more nuanced ways. In Jeremiah 2, there’s a prophesy from Jeremiah to a nation in spiritual decline. And in it, we’ll see how sin is replacing God, and the result is addiction of spirit.

Jeremiah’s telling us about 1) the dynamics of spiritual attraction, 2) the dynamics of spiritual addiction, and 3) the dynamics of spiritual restoration.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 14, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:1-8.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The story in Judges 17 is not interesting. It’s a bunch of trivial people doing kind of dumb, weird things. Micah robs his mother, but then he gives the money back. Then his mother cheats God. Then Micah hires a Levite, and then Danites hire the Levite instead. What’s the point? 

On the one hand, this is terrible storytelling. Why was this incident chosen out of this whole period of history? There’s nobody in this narrative who you care about. They’re shallow and uninteresting. And we’re left completely unprepared for what happens in the following chapters, where there’s rape and civil war and genocide. So why is this here?

Every other part of Judges is about God’s salvation. And this passage shows us what we look like without his salvation. In other words, this shows us the nature of sin, and it shows us some things that are very surprising. This tells us 1) what sin does to us, 2) what sin does to God, and 3) how we can be cured of it. 

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 7, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Judges 17:1-13.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When people see the evidence of great evils and atrocities, they automatically turn into philosophers. They start to ask the metaphysical questions. How could this have happened?

Why doesn’t God do something about evil, about the wickedness and violence that’s here? Why doesn’t God do something about the brokenness of the world? Exodus 17 tells us that God has.

This passage tells us about a trial that happened years ago, and it was the most remarkable trial in the history of the world. Look at it carefully: 1) there’s a lawsuit, 2) then there’s a trial, and 3) then there’s an execution.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 9, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The story of Jacob and Esau is a great example of how anger works out in a family situation. 

Esau and Jacob were twins, and Esau was the oldest. When their father is fooled into giving Jacob the birthright, Esau can’t get ahold of his anger. We’re told that Esau held a grudge against Jacob and consoled himself with thoughts of killing Jacob. And when Esau’s father does pronounce a blessing on Esau, he predicts that Esau is going to be driven by anger all of his life.

How can you make sure your anger does not imprison and control you? How can you make sure that you control it? This passage in Hebrews gives us some principles: 1) it tells you what anger is, and then, 2) it tells you three ways to handle it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 2, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-17.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The rich young ruler looked like he had it made. He’s characterized by moral excellence and he’s financially wealthy. He’s got it so together that he even admits he doesn’t have it all together—that there’s still something he lacks. He isn’t sure what it is. He’s gotten to the top and realized, “I’ve almost made it.” 

So he comes to Jesus and says, “I just need that one more step.” And Jesus gives him an outrageous, strong answer. Jesus tells him he’s on a completely wrong road—that he’s totally outside the kingdom of God.

Unless we understand why the rich young ruler went away from Jesus grieved, we might be in danger of also being sent away. The rich young ruler went away grieving because 1) he talked to the real Jesus, 2) Jesus smashed two of his basic assumptions about how religion works, 3) Jesus got personal, and 4) he didn’t understand treasure in heaven.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 19, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Matthew 19:16-25.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Joseph’s career was going along fairly well. He’d risen from servanthood to becoming, in a sense, the Chief Operating Officer of a huge estate. And then sex came. He wasn’t even looking for it, but it came at him.

Things may be going very well for you, but sex will come—and it’s such a powerful force that how you handle it can make or break you. From Genesis 39, we can learn about what we’re going to call lust. We learn something from what we see Potiphar’s wife doing, we learn something from what we see Joseph doing, and we learn from what we see God doing. 

Let’s look at 1) how to understand lust, 2) how to handle it, and 3) how to heal it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 12, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Genesis 39:4-21.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In the Middle Ages, theologians said there are different forms of gluttony—that you can eat and drink excessively, sumptuously, daintily, or impulsively. Technically, gluttony means to eat and drink immoderately. But gluttony also tells us something about each of us.

Gluttony is taking something good and then cramming it in until we’re sick of it. Our desires are disordered so that good and necessary things become cravings. Sin, in other words, makes us all addicted to something. We all crave something, and we do it in such a way that it is very, very bad for us.

Let’s look at three things this Scripture teaches us about craving: 1) the depth of our craving, 2) the structure of our craving, and 3) the healing.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 5, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Joshua 7:19-26, Hosea 2:13-15.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There’s a sickness in us. We are cruel to each other in ways we cannot seem to heal. We have an inveterate kind of unhappiness in our hearts we can’t seem to put out. 

For the last hundred years, the reigning Western understanding of why we are so cruel and unhappy has been that it comes from outside of us, that it comes from conditions. But in the last few decades, the intelligentsia have increasingly admitted there’s something deeper than that. The Bible says the problem with human beings is not environmental—that there is a poison in us that’s called sin. And we need to understand the symptoms of that poisoning, the symptoms of sin.

Let’s look today at 1) the symptom of envy, 2) the root cause, and 3) the antidote.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 26, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Numbers 11:4-6.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

After he broke his promise to Jesus, Peter wept bitterly. Peter was an absolutely broken man in the profoundest possible way, and yet within weeks he was poised as the leader of a new movement, about to become one of the most influential leaders in the history of the world.

What broke Peter like this, and then what restored him so quickly? The answer is the same: promises. Promises are the reason he was broken, and promises are the reason he was restored. And the case of Peter tells us more about the power of commitments than, I think, any other incident in the Scripture.

Let’s look at what Peter learned: 1) how promises make us, and 2) how we can make promises.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 12, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Matthew 26:69-75.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In sixth century B.C., Nebuchadnezzar was the absolute monarch of the Babylonian empire. He’d built maybe the most incredible city in history. He was at the pinnacle of power, and his life fell apart anyway. And here’s the incredible part: he’s glad it happened! He praises God for having done it.

Do you know why? Because he says, “There was a spiritual cancer in me. There was something in me that was so bad, it was so dangerous, it had poisoned my soul so deeply that even as drastic as the treatment was, it was worth it to get it out of my soul.” What was it? Pride. Spiritual pride.

Could it be that we need to know the same lesson he learned? This text teaches us four things: it tells us about 1) the sleep of pride, 2) the heart of pride, 3) the outcome of pride, and 4) the healing of pride.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 5, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Daniel 4:24-37.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Jeremiah is speaking at a time when his society was literally falling apart—politically, psychologically, socially and culturally. Everybody was asking, “What’s wrong?” And the answer of God through Jeremiah, was, “It’s not the economy. It’s sin.”

The Bible shows us that sin is a dislocation of the soul. The soul should be centered on God, and all of our problems come from our unwillingness to center on him because we don’t want to lose control. So what happens? What are the effects of centering on something else?

Jeremiah gives a metaphor of us falling in love with other gods, meaning these other things we center our lives on. And he shows that there are two major consequences: 1) our lover gods will always enslave us, and 2) our lover gods will always leave us empty.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 29, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:19-32.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In Jeremiah, the people of Israel were calling out and saying, “What’s wrong with us? Why are things falling apart?”

And God came through and said, “Let me tell you what’s wrong.” In Jeremiah 2, we have the first sermon by the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Israel. It’s a sermon to show them why their lives are falling apart, why their culture is falling apart, why their psyches are falling apart, why their families are falling apart. And it’s a sermon on sin.

There are three things that we learn from this passage about the nature of sin: 1) sin is denial, 2) sin is a disposition, and 3) there is a solution.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 22, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:2-13, 19.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

It’s acceptable now to say, “I am spiritually searching.” But it’s not really acceptable to say you’ve found anything.

But the Bible says you can find God. Not just search for God, but find God. And the famous passage about the burning bush, where Moses finds God, is very important—it gives you all of the basic principles for truly finding God. And until the same three things that happened to Moses happen to you, you can’t find God.

Looking at this passage, we can see three stages: 1) the burning bush is a disrupting event, 2) when Moses gets closer he sees it’s an unmanageable power, and 3) in the midst of the burning bush, there’s an angel.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 4, 1998. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Exodus 3:1-14.

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The Ecclesiastes writer says, “I have sought to construct meaning in life.” He takes the view of a practical secularist—that we don’t know for sure if there’s a God, and that this life is all there is. And then he asks, “If this life is all there is, does that make life meaningless?”

He tells us in Ecclesiastes that he tried to construct meaning by being a cause-based person who fought injustice. He tried to construct meaning by seeking pleasure and beauty. And next, he tries a work-based life, making career and achievement the organizing principle of life.

In exploring a work-based life, he finds three things: 1) a life of work is not worth it, 2) why it’s not worth it, 3) what is worth it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 27, 1998. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:17–26, 4:4–8.

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When you go on a spiritual search, there are problems people always run into. One of them is the problem of pain. But there’s also the problem of pleasure.

I don’t think I’ve ever really talked to anybody who said, “I have trouble believing in God because of pleasure. Why is there pleasure in the world?” But my thesis, and the Ecclesiastes writer’s thesis, is that it should bother you, because pleasure is a huge problem. 

The Ecclesiastes writer teaches us three things about pleasure: 1) what pleasure promises, 2) why it fails, and 3) how it points beyond.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 20, 1998. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:1–11, 3:10–14.

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If you’re on a spiritual search, there’s no better place to go than the book of Ecclesiastes. In the entire Bible, it’s the only book written from the viewpoint of a skeptic.

The writer of Ecclesiastes asks, “If this life is all here is, what meaning is there in life?” To explore that, he looks at several questions we all have to answer in some way. The first of these is how we deal with the injustice and suffering we see in the world. How do you deal with injustice?

The Ecclesiastes writer 1) refuses to let you avoid the question of injustice, and 2) gives us clues to two answers for how to deal with injustice.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 13, 1998. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9:2–16.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When you’re young, there are probably things you’re sure would never happen to you, or things you’re sure you or friends would never do. But usually, as we get older, we begin to wonder whether there’s any rhyme or reason to life. Scientifically, they now say life is chaotic, that there is nothing but disorder. That’s both the practical and the intellectual perception.

But Christianity has the most wonderful, the most sophisticated, and the most decisive answer to that perception: Jesus is King. When we see our lives and history looking chaotic, the Bible comes and says to us, “Calm down. There’s an explanation.”

Let me show you how the two aspects of the kingship of Christ make up this most wonderful answer: 1) Jesus Christ has a kingdom coming, and 2) Jesus is King right now of history.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 30, 1994. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Ephesians 1:9–12.

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Jesus Christ carries out his office of King in two different ways. He carries it out spiritually in the hearts of his people, and he carries it out cosmically in history. 

We’re going to look now at the first of these: how Jesus Christ approaches the human heart. And 2 Corinthians 10 describes this approach in an interesting way.

Let’s look at this passage to see 1) what it’s describing implicitly, and 2) what it’s describing explicitly.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 23, 1994. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:1–6.

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Many people today think of Christianity as a set of beliefs you take up, something you decide upon. But the Bible says Christianity is something that comes upon you. It’s not something you pick up—it’s something that picks you up. 

Jesus Christ is not a passive Savior. Jesus is not someone who sits back and waits for you to figure it out. He is a revealer. He makes a provision for us, he comes after us, and he shows us the truth.

Let’s look at this prophetic ministry of Christ: 1) what he does, 2) why he does it, and 3) how he does it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 16, 1994. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Luke 24:44–53.

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By saying Jesus is a prophet, we mean he is a revealer. He communicates truth. He’s the revealer of who God is and what his will is. As a prophet, Jesus comes and speaks to you and to me for God.

Even though Jesus is far more than a prophet, he is a prophet. And the fact that Jesus is a prophet shows us that we have a God who speaks to us.

Let’s look at two aspects of Jesus as a prophet: 1) what are prophets? and 2) why is Jesus the ultimate prophet?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 9, 1994. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Acts 3:17–26.

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In English, the word Immanuel has only eight letters. Yet I tell you it is heavier than the heavens and the earth.

In that one word, Immanuel, you have the most offensive and the most comforting, the most repulsive and the most attractive message the world has ever heard. It means “God with us.”

Let’s see how this message 1) is the most repulsive because it says Jesus Christ is God, and 2) is the most attractive because it says Jesus Christ is God with us.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 19, 1993. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Matthew 1:20–23.

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Jesus Christ was not just born. He had an existence before he was born; and therefore, Jesus was not just born—he was given to us.

Jesus is the one gift that, if you have it, you have all the other gifts. Jesus is the one gift that, if you reject it, you lose all other gifts. The apostle Paul says that Jesus is the inexpressible gift.

By thinking about Jesus as a gift, I think we’ll come to understand more of who he is and how we should relate to him. So let’s look at three essential qualities of a gift: 1) gifts are surprises, 2) gifts can be insulting, and 3) gifts are immensely valuable.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 19, 1993. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Romans 8:32.

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The context of Psalm 2 is that the king has been installed in Jerusalem, but all the foreign kings are hostile and conspiring against this king. If you read it carefully, you’ll see that no earthly king can completely justify the fury of the threats, and no earthly king can completely justify the glory of the promises given. The language of the psalm, you might say, spills out over its banks.

Psalm 2 is one of the messianic psalms. In verse 2, it says, “The kings of the earth take their stand […] against the Lord and against his Anointed One.” Do you know what the word Anointed One is in Hebrew? It means Messiah.

This psalm is talking about the greater King. And it actually tells us three things: 1) we have a true King, 2) human beings hate the King, and 3) we need the King.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 12, 1993. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Psalm 2.

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In Psalm 69, we have the prayer diary of Jesus and an expression of his anguish and his sufferings for us.

This psalm, of course, is written by David, and it’s about King David and his immediate problems. But it actually doesn’t refer only to David—it also refers to a greater king than David and a far greater suffering. In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples that this psalm is talking about him.

From this psalm, we can learn three things about what Jesus came to do: 1) he came to be a servant, 2) he came to be hated, and 3) he came to be exchanged.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 5, 1993. Series: Understanding Jesus. Scripture: Psalm 69.

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At the end of the end of the last of Moses’ sermons, he says something so simple that it’s difficult.

Moses starts saying, “I’m offering you this personal relationship with God.” He’s saying, “It’s not too difficult. It’s near you. You don’t have to go up to heaven. You don’t have to go over the sea.” And actually, people miss this personal relationship with God because it’s so simple; the simplicity is its difficulty.

We’re going to see here, when it comes to this personal, covenant relationship with God, 1) its deceptive ordinariness, 2) its threatening graciousness, and yet 3) its unimaginable promise.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 23, 2007. Series: The New Heart God Gives. Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:11-20.

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When you’re about to die, there are no tangents; you get right to the point. You only say the things that are the most important that you’ve ever learned in your whole life.

Here, at the very end of the end of his sermons, at the very end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gets to the most crucial things he could possibly tell anyone. Here he gives us the solution to what could be called the ultimate human problem. 

So let’s ask 1) What’s that problem? 2) What’s the solution? 3) How do you know if you have it? and 4) If you don’t, how can you receive it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 16, 2007. Series: The New Heart God Gives. Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:1-10.

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If the last thing, practically, that Moses said before he died was, “You need to be in a covenant relationship with God,” then it would behoove us to figure out what that is.

What is a covenant relationship with God? In Deuteronomy, we have a series of sermons that Moses preached just before he died. And Moses thought a covenant relationship with God was that important — that this would be almost the last thing he said.

In this passage, we learn three things: 1) the uniqueness of the covenant, 2) the mystery surrounding the covenant, and 3) the hero of the covenant.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 9, 2007. Series: The New Heart God Gives. Scripture: Deuteronomy 29:2-4, 9-18.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

If we look at Jesus Christ, at the case for Jesus being who he said he is, there are five things to see.

First, there was a man who claimed to be God. Second, he apparently did miracles. Third, he got the people closest to him to believe he was God. Fourth, after he was dead, many people saw him risen to life again. And fifth, those people were so transformed by the experience of meeting that risen Savior that they spread the word everywhere.

How do you account for those five facts, for the data of who Jesus is? You have to come up with something. There are only five options for how you account for this. We’ll look at these five options, and what they mean for us.

This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 1, 1994. Series: Redeemer Open Forums. 

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In John 5, Jesus heals a lame man, and then he begins to teach about himself. He makes some astounding claims, and the people challenge him. “Why should we believe you?” 

In the context of Jewish jurisprudence, if a claim was made, you had to have two or three corroborating witnesses. Jesus responds to the people’s challenge with three: John the Baptist, Jesus’ own works, and the scriptures.

In the process of looking at what he says here, we learn three things Jesus himself believed about the scripture. Jesus believes in the Bible’s 1) complete authority, 2) unity, and 3) vitality and power.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 24, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: John 5:31-47.

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You can’t talk publicly about Christianity unless at some point you get down to say, “Well, what is it?” 

There’s great consensus that 1 Corinthians was written just 20 years after the death of Jesus Christ. So when Paul says he’s summarizing the message the Corinthians heard and believed before this, he’s talking about something that happened a handful of years after Jesus’ death. If you want to get down to the irreducible core of what Christianity is about, here it is in this passage. 

This is the gospel. The gospel is about 1) Jesus, 2) sin and substitution, 3) history and resurrection, and 4) astonishing, transforming grace.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 10, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.

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One of the best ways of having a discussion about faith is to not simply talk about what you believe, but also how you came to believe it. Not just the content, but the process or the journey you went on. It’s often very helpful, because everybody is on a journey. 

We’re looking now at a famous passage: Moses and the burning bush. Moses already believes in God, but until this, he’s never encountered him. This is Moses’ conversion experience: he actually meets God. 

Four things bring Moses to this moment, and they’re the same four things the Bible says usually have to happen if you’re going to meet God. What are they? They are 1) a disrupting sight, 2) an expanding concept, 3) a personal problem, and 4) a surprising grace.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 3, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: Exodus 3:1-14.

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We all have very strong moral convictions about what we think is right and wrong. And in a pluralistic society, we need to find ways of sharing our beliefs and being honest about who we are in a way that’s respectful and promotes peace.

One of the ways we can make for a more civil conversation is to ask a more fundamental question: Where do you get your moral convictions? How do you determine what is right and wrong? 

There’s almost no place I know that has a more interesting answer to this question than Romans 2. It tells us three things: 1) no one can succeed in being a relativist, 2) no one can really succeed in being a moralist, and therefore, 3) this is our only hope.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 27, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: Romans 2:12-29.

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If we’re going to have a truly open society, we have to learn how to be public about our deepest faith beliefs, and yet to do so in a way that’s respectful to others and promotes peace. 

So how do you talk about God and God’s existence? One way to talk about this with more reflection is not to ask, “Does God exist?” but to ask, “How do you know whether God exists?”

I don’t think there’s any more brilliant answer to the question, “How can we know whether God exists?” than in Romans 1. Paul actually gives four answers, all at once. He says, 1) we can know God, 2) we do know God, 3) we don’t know God, and 4) we can truly know God.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 20, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: Romans 1:16-21.

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To become a mature society in which we’re able to talk about faith, we also have to be able to talk about doubt. We don’t get much help here from either religious people or secular people. Religious people tend to see doubt as a bad thing. And secular people tend to think perennial doubt is the only sophisticated position. 

However, what the Bible says about doubt is unique, nuanced, and multidimensional. The Bible sees doubt as something that’s not all good and not all bad. Only when you begin to see it in a nuanced way can it be something through which we make progress. 

Let’s look at doubt in this famous psalm of Asaph: 1) what is it? 2) what causes it? and 3) what transforms it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 13, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: Psalm 73:1-3, 12-26.

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Ecclesiastes is one of the most confusing books in the world. It depicts a very disillusioned man. And you may be saying, “Is the Bible really saying all human life is pointless?” 

To understand what’s going on here, we need to keep two things in mind. The author of Ecclesiastes is called qoheleth, which basically means professor. And he’s doing a thought experiment. So Ecclesiastes is a set of thought experiments in which the professor is saying, “Let’s imagine living like this. Does that work?”

If we want to understand what Ecclesiastes is after, we need to look at its thought experiments. So let’s look at it this way: 1) there’s a major thought experiment, 2) with a lesson, and 3) there’s a small thought experiment, and then 4) an arrow or a pointer.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 6, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:9-26.

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We live in a pluralistic society, so we must ask this question: how can people be true to themselves and still get along? No matter who you are, if you care about the social fabric, that’s a huge question to answer. 

My goal is to show Christians how they can be part of the solution. We’re going to look at the subject of public faith. In John 4, we see that immediately after speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus talks to his disciples and gets really metaphorical. He talks about spiritual sowing and reaping. What’s he trying to get across? 

If we delve into it, we see that Jesus gives us 1) a call to spiritual sowing of seed, 2) the method of doing it, and then 3) the power, or the inner motivation, for doing it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 29, 2013. Series: A Public Faith. Scripture: John 4:27-42.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

It’s very common for people, even those who want to live the Christian life, to feel they have to check their brains at the door if they’re going to believe.

Often, we hear this basic approach to the Bible: the gospels were written down after years of legends, so we don’t really know how much of them are true. But let me give you a case that the Jesus the Bible shows you is historically reliable. 

Here is the case in three stages: 1) if you look at what the gospels claim, you’ll see they’re not written as legends or fiction; they’re either historical accounts or a deliberate hoax, 2) we now know now that all of the gospels were written within the lifetime of eyewitnesses, and 3) the same rules of historiography that are used on other documents of antiquity show the gospels to be trustworthy.

This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 4, 1994. Series: Redeemer Open Forums. 

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We live in a culture of choice. In our individualistic culture, our place and our parents and our social location don’t determine everything that we can do. We have some choices. Choices! What does that mean? 

That means we’ve never needed wisdom more than we do now, because wisdom is the ability to make wise choices.

Proverbs 4 shows us that if we want to lead a life of wisdom, our lives will be characterized by three things: 1) a glorious fight, 2) a guarded heart, and 3) a living word.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 22, 2013. Series: Wisdom in Life. Scripture: Proverbs 4:5-9, 14-27.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We live in a culture in which there are more choices than there ever have been. But you can be incredibly good, moral, and knowledgeable and still make pretty stupid choices. 

Wisdom is knowing the right thing to do in the 80 percent of choices that the moral rules don’t directly apply to. What you need in order to make good choices is wisdom. 

In Proverbs 3 we learn 1) where wisdom develops, 2) the vehicles through which wisdom develops, and 3) the catalyst that sparks and fuels them all.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 15, 2013. Series: Wisdom in Life. Scripture: Proverbs 3:1-8, 11-12.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There are choices everywhere, just zillions and zillions of choices. And if you don’t make good choices, it can be very destructive. Bad choices blow up on you. Every choice is like a fork in the road, and once you make it, you really can’t go back to where you were. 

What does it take to make good choices? It takes wisdom. And the book of Proverbs is perhaps the most famous text in the world on wisdom.

If we look at Proverbs 1, we can see the basics: 1) what wisdom is, 2) why it’s important, 3) why it’s a problem, and 4) where you can find it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 8, 2013. Series: Wisdom in Life. Scripture: Proverbs 1:1-9, 22, 32-33.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The trouble with the Sermon on the Mount is it’s so familiar that almost nobody listens to it, almost nobody knows what it’s saying. How do we know that?

At the very end of the sermon, it says the crowds were amazed at Jesus’s teaching. And that word, “amazed,” in Greek meant thunderstruck, shocked, astounded. That’s the prevailing way people responded. Have you been thunderstruck? Are you shocked by it? If you’re not astounded, you haven’t listened to it. 

So let’s listen to it. There are basically three great things Jesus says that are utterly astounding: 1) that there are two ways, two options spiritually, 2) that at the end of those two ways, there’s a judge, and 3) that at the end of that judgment, there’s a sentence.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 23, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 7:15-29.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There’s no one section where Jesus lays out how a relationship with him radically changes our human relationships and forms a new, deep, radical human community in Christ. It’s not in one place — it’s all throughout the Sermon on the Mount. 

The Sermon on the Mount is really a description of a new kind of community. What does Jesus teach us about this radical new community that is formed by his gospel message? When it comes into your life, how does it create this new community between those who believe in Jesus? 

Jesus teaches us four things: 1) the necessity of this new community, 2) the intensity of this new community, 3) the symmetry of this new community, and 4) the causality of this new community.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 16, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 5:21-24, 45-48; 7:1-6.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When people say, “I’ve tried prayer, and it didn’t work,” what Jesus is saying is, “You used prayer, not the way I designed it, but with a false model of spirituality.”

For Jesus, the importance of prayer is revealed in a little unobtrusive word at the beginning of this passage in the Sermon on the Mount: the little word “and.” Right before Jesus talks about prayer, he talks about our engagement with the poor and the needs of the world. Then he says, “And when you pray …” Because in Jesus’ understanding, it’s the people who are characterized by the most radical interiority who have the most courageous, visionary engagement with the needs of the world. And before Jesus gives us a model of prayer, the famous Lord’s Prayer, he tells us two other models of prayer that we should avoid. 

Let’s look at 1) the two false models, 2) the true model, and 3) a few practical ideas on how to go about it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 9, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 6:5-13.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

If we actually take the gospel, the essential message of Jesus Christ, and we live it out, what will it look like? That’s what the Sermon on the Mount is about. 

And in this part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we get to the area of money and possessions. 

Jesus tells us three things we can draw out here: 1) how money exercises power over us, 2) why money exercises power over us, and 3) how we can break the power.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 2, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 6:19-34.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

On the surface, one of the most unattractive things about Christianity to our culture today is its view of sex; but if you look underneath the surface and get a better grasp on what is really taught, the Christian view of sex is one of the most attractive things about it.

In other words, a lot of people see the Christian understanding of sex as undermining its credibility to them, but when you look down deeper, I think you’re actually going to see the Christian view of sex is one of the evidences for its truth. Because Christianity accounts for how sex operates in our lives, in our relationships, and in our society.

Let’s draw out four things Jesus is saying about this in the Sermon on the Mount: 1) there is such a thing as lust, 2) what it’s not, 3) what it is, and 4) how it can be healed.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 25, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 5:27-30.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Do you understand what your heart is really like? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is saying that the reason we’re inauthentic or hiding from other people is because we’re actually being inauthentic with ourselves, hiding from ourselves. We’re deeply uncomfortable with the reality of our own hearts.

Jesus wouldn’t mention hypocrisy in the Sermon on the Mount unless he thought it was a pervasive issue, something we’re all struggling with. Jesus says this is the way we are, that there’s a real problem and the human heart desperately wants to get into image management.

Let’s look at how Jesus shows us 1) two manifestations of hypocrisy, 2) how you can’t stand to see what’s in your own heart, 3) how you know the plank in your own heart is huge, and 4) how to remove the plank from your heart.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 18, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Luke 6:39-49.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

As soon as you hear the word relationships, right away you say, “Ah, relationships,” and you think of friendship or romance. But the main purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to talk about our relationships to other people, to those outside of our close relationships.

Right away, Jesus talks about three groups of people. And when we see how Jesus calls us to be toward them, we’re immediately shocked and upset. Many of us will say, “First of all, I can’t do it. And if I did, it sounds terrible.” And almost as if Jesus knows we’ll say that, he tells us three things.

Let’s look at 1) the three groups of people: people who oppose us, people who are less fortunate than us, and people who are different from us, and then 2) the three things Jesus tells us: the difficulty we have, the inner dynamic we need, and the directions we’re given.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 11, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Luke 6:27-38.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What is the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus?

In 1 Corinthians 15, there are three basic things Paul says about the resurrection as he answers three questions.

We must confront these three questions about Jesus’ resurrection: 1) did it happen? 2) what did it accomplish? and 3) what should we do about it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 4, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, 20-26, 51-58.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Christianity is utterly different from religion.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says there are two paths—one that leads to life and one that leads to destruction. And here’s what the scary thing is: both ways have people praying, giving to the poor, obeying God’s law. You can do all that and still be poison, on your way to destruction. Don’t mistake Christianity for religion.

Jesus says if you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, there’s a gospel goodness that vastly surpasses religious righteousness. How does it surpass? Gospel goodness 1) brighter, 2) deeper, 3) sweeter, and 4) higher.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 28, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 5:11-20.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Every other revolutionary who ever lived was really only trying to rework or reshuffle the same old kingdom. Except Jesus.

A kingdom always has three things. It has a pattern of values, a power to implement those values, and a product or impact. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ shows us that the pattern, power, and product of his kingdom are wholly and utterly different than the kingdom it replaces.

What are those two kingdoms? We’re looking in Luke 6 at 1) the old right-side-up kingdom, and 2) the new upside-down kingdom.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 21, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Luke 6:17-26.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What can the music of John Coltrane tell us about the relationship of  art to God, and of our own work in general to God?

We can all learn quite a lot from Coltrane, actually. And what we can see in his approach to his music applies not just to musicians and artists, but to us all.

In this open forum, 1) Tim Keller shares two things we can learn from Coltrane, 2) John Patitucci, a jazz bassist and composer, discusses Coltrane’s music, and 3) Keller and Patitucci hold a question-and-answer time with their audience.

This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 9, 2007. Series: Redeemer Open Forums. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In Ecclesiastes, the author takes the position of a practical secularist. And he asks, “If this life is all there is, then is life meaningless?”

The writer says if this life is all there is, if there’s no God and no meaning that you have to submit to, then you’re free to construct your own meaning. And so, he sets out to build meaning by living a cause-based life, and then by living a pleasure and beauty-based life. When he finds those both to be meaningless and burdensome, he decides to create a work-based life, to let work and career be an organizing principle in his life.

In doing this, he finds three things: 1) that a life of work is not worth it, 2) why it’s not worth it, and 3) what is worth it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 23, 2003. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Today’s sermon comes from a series on the life of Jesus described in the gospel of Luke. Luke gives us many of Jesus’ teachings on what it means to be a disciple. In short, a disciple is one who applies the gospel to absolutely every single area of life.

In Luke 6, we learn about Sabbath rest. God gives us rest from our labors – it is a gift and a blessing. It is a way of keeping us healthy and protecting us from being overwhelmed by our work. God himself modeled it for us when creating the universe. Let’s look at it more closely: Why do we need it? Where do we get it? How do we do it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 23, 2003. Series: The Meaning of Jesus Part 2; Following Him. Scripture: Luke 6:1-11.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Consider how much of your time, how much of your life, is built around your work. Yet, so many of the books and materials that look at what it means to live as Christians only focus on our evenings and our weekends. How are we to be a Christian on the job?

We’re going to look at some basic principles of what God says we must do to approach our work and our jobs in a Christian way.

Looking at Ephesians 6, we see that this passage knocks down two false views of work: 1) that work is a curse and leisure is the meaning of life, and 2) that work is the meaning of life. And then we’ll see 3) how you get the power to transform your view and aim of work.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 3, 1991. Series: Work & Faith. Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Some of you may know I was actually a teacher at graduate school seminary for five years. Then I said, “Get me back in the ministry,” where there is no grading papers and no one knows whether people are learning or not. But the gospel changes everything . . . even education.

We’re looking now at the what’s, why’s and how to’s of education reform from a Christian perspective. 

To consider a gospel-centered view of education reform, 1) I’ll share two thoughts from C.S. Lewis, and 2) I’ll be joined by a panel of educators for a question-and-answer time.

This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 5, 2004. Series: Redeemer InterArts Fellowship.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

If you’re Christian, what is the rationale for being an actor? Why should Christians be actors? How should Christians who are actors or writers or choreographers or directors think about their faith and their work?

To answer that, we need to look at the power of stories, at why we connect with and are overwhelmed by strong stories.

Let’s consider 1) what a story is, 2) that we attach meaning by connecting things to a storyline, 3) that Christians can find elements of their story in almost any other story, and 4) why we need to understand our baseline cultural narratives.

This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 5, 2004. Series: Redeemer InterArts Fellowship.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The gospel affects how you do your work, how you do your job, and how you pursue your vocation. But how? 

If we’re going to understand what Paul says in this passage, we need to look at 1) some background work and historical context, 2) practical principle number one, 3) practical principle number two, and 4) the power to carry them out.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 17, 2010. Series: The Gospel and the World. Ephesians 5:21, 6:5-9.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How does the gospel affect your work? 

We’re in a series where we’re asking, “What happens when you take the gospel, the basic message of Jesus Christ, out of the church and into the world?” One of the things that happens is it affects the way in which you do your work. And there’s no way to see the Christian understanding of work without going to Genesis 1, 2, and 3.

I’d like to show you three things Genesis tells us about your work: 1) it gives you a vision for work, 2) it gives you guardrails for your work, and 3) it gives you a power to do your work.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 10, 2010. Series: The Gospel and the World. Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:2-17.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When we talk about creativity, we mean artists of course. But we also actually mean entrepreneurs—whose creativity is as important to what they do as anything else. So thinking about creativity, what does Christianity have to say to it? The answer is a lot. 

Your deeper beliefs about the meaning of life and the world actually does shape your work. The Bible says the world was created, has fallen, is being redeemed, and is going to be restored. How does that affect or shape our creativity? 

The Christian understanding of creativity is that creativity is something you do 1) because you want to, 2) out of love, 3) in full knowledge of the risk and the cost, and 4) knowing that there will be satisfaction.

This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 16, 2010. Series: Center for Faith and Work.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How can practicing the law be shaped by the Christian faith? And how can we reimagine lawyering?

If you’re reimagining the legal profession, you don’t want to just be a Christian who happens to also be a lawyer. You want the way you practice the law to be shaped by your faith. 

For this reimagining, we need to understand three things from Christian theology: 1) that every human being is called to be a gardener, 2) that the law is a form of gardening, and 3) that you need to figure out your own idols.

This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 2, 2007. Series: Center for Faith and Work.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

A lot of people have an incredibly negative view of marketing and advertising. Not too long ago, I heard somebody say that advertising is the first profession: in the Garden of Eden, the serpent said, “you need that apple.” They were saying that marketing is creating need in somebody else for your profit, whether they really need it or not. 

On the other hand, you could make a case that marketing is the oldest profession because of when the Bible says, “in the beginning was the Word.” God invented communication. And in many ways, at its best, that’s all marketing is: communication.

So let’s look at  1) what marketing is, 2) what’s wrong with marketing, and 3) how you can integrate the Christian faith with work in marketing, advertising, and promotion.

This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 4, 2005. Series: Center for Faith and Work.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The Bible says probably 20 times more things about money than it does about sex, maybe more than that. So if you’re trying to know the Bible, you’re gonna know a little bit of something about money.

We all have our own filters. We all have mental maps, assumptions about God and the universe and human nature and what’s important in life. It’s what we call a worldview. So what is the Christian worldview when it comes to wealth creation?

The real question is whether wealth creation is good or bad or halfway in the middle? And we’ll see that the Bible is more nuanced on that answer. In the Christian worldview, wealth creation 1) is not bad, 2) is not good, and 3) is not something in the middle.

This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 27, 2004. Series: Center for Faith and Work.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Isaiah 60 describes the new heavens and the new earth. It’s looking to the end of time when God makes everything right—paradise restored. And in this passage, all the nations of the world are bringing their work products. 

What is gold and silver? What is the flux and the grain? They’re bringing the products of their work to God as offerings to God. And this means that just as there was work in the original paradise, there’ll be work in the future paradise. 

What does that mean for our work? Let’s notice three things: 1) the goodness and dignity of work, 2) what’s wrong with work, and 3) how work can be healed.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 10, 2016. Series: Where We Are Going: The City and the Mission. Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-11, 18-21.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Living the Christian life is not a matter of willpower and self-effort. Because of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the potential for radical and organic growth and change. 

2 Peter talks about moving from selfishness to unselfishness, from enslavement to freedom, from foolishness to wisdom. It’s talking about inward character change, about spiritual growth. 

According to this passage, spiritual growth is 1) possible, 2) gradual, 3) essential, 4) practical, and 5) ultimately wonderful. 

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 8, 2014. Series: Following Jesus. Scripture: 2 Peter 1:3-11.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The friendship between Jonathan and David is rightly famous.

Because we have so much information about the life of David, the narrative arcs are long. So to follow David’s friendship with Jonathan, you have to see it over multiple passages. We’re going to look at four passages in 1 Samuel to see what the Bible tells us about the importance of friendship. 

From the friendship of David and Jonathan we can learn 1) the absolute importance of friendship, 2) the necessary elements of friendship, and 3) the requisite power for friendship.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 17, 2015. Series: David: The Man of Prayer. Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1-4.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Who is Jesus? In Mark 2 and 3, Jesus makes a claim about himself that’s so immense it almost defies categories. 

In this text, two incidents are detailed and they both have to do with how we observe the Sabbath day. To understand the magnitude of Jesus’ claim here, we have to unpack the meaning of the entire text and then ask what he’s actually claiming.

Let’s look at the features of the story and learn from each of these: 1) the anger of Jesus, 2) the enemies of Jesus, and 3) the claim of Jesus and what that means for you.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 8, 2015. Series: Light in the Darkness: Glory of Jesus in Mark. Scripture: Mark 2:23-3:6.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In this unparalleled text in the Bible, we learn not so much what the church does, but what the church is.

We’ve been looking at the animating gospel principles that have profoundly shaped our church’s life in the city and service to the city. And that often means we’ve looked at something the church does. But now, let’s look at what the church is.

In 1 Peter 1, we can get insight into the church’s 1) glory, 2) gifts, and 3) grace.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 24, 2016. Series: Where We Are Going: The City and the Mission. Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-12.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In The Bride of Frankenstein movie, the monster stumbles into a blind man’s cottage, and they become friends. The only humanity he ever develops is in that cottage, where a person grabs him by the hand and calls him friend. And what it’s saying is that there’s nothing more humanizing than friendship and there’s no pain more horrible than loneliness.

In fact, all kinds of studies show that people who have fewer friends die more readily of disease and heart attacks. 

So as we look at John 15, there are two questions I’d like to ask: 1) why do we need friendship, and 2) how do we meet that need?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 19, 1992. Series: Gospel of John, Part 2. Scripture: John 15:9-17.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

For centuries this famous passage has been called the parable of the prodigal son. But it’s a great mistake to think it’s a story about one son. It’s a story of two sons, of a younger and an older brother. If you don’t compare and contrast the two, you’re going to miss the radical message. 

Jesus is saying every thought the human race has ever had about how to connect to God—whether East or West, ancient or post-modern, religious or secular—has been wrong. Jesus shatters all existing human categories. 

Let’s look at the story, and then see three things Jesus is telling us: 1) Jesus redefines God, 2) Jesus redefines sin, and 3) Jesus redefines salvation.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 11, 2005. Series: The Vision of Redeemer. Scripture: Luke 15:1-2, 11-32.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In Mark 2, Jesus makes a claim that is so over the top, so out of all categories, so outrageous that the religious leaders don’t even have a word for it. They’ve called him blasphemous before, but this claim goes beyond their words.

In this passage, two incidents are linked together, both having to do with the Sabbath. And what Jesus says is that he’s not here to reform religion—he’s here to absolutely end religion and replace it with himself. 

What we’re going to see is, 1) on the one hand, the futility of religion and, 2) on the other hand, the finality of Jesus Christ.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 19, 2006. Series: King’s Cross: The Gospel of Mark, Part 1: The Coming of the King. Scripture: Mark 2:23-3:6.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re looking at the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. 

After his resurrection, Jesus is still teaching his disciples—and us—preparing us to go out into the world and represent him. And in John 21, he teaches the disciples four things that should be true of us if we’re Christians.

Another way to put it is four marks the Christian church ought to have in the world. And those four marks are 1) supernatural unity, 2) new identity, 3) continuous intimacy, and 4) comprehensive certainty.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 23, 2017. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Doubters and Deniers. Scripture: John 21:1-14.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In our times, friendship is relatively ignored. Every other kind of love, every other kind of relationship is a hot topic. Everybody is writing about romance or family, while friendship is seen as uninteresting.

And yet, friendship is absolutely vital. Do you understand how crucial it is to make, find, maintain, and develop friendships? 

Let me just ask three questions: 1) why is friendship so neglected today? 2) why is it so vitally important and crucial? and 3) how can the resources of the Christian faith help us understand friendship and galvanize, energize and recover friendship?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 27, 1997. Series: Redeemer Open Forums. 

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Hannah is a woman in enormous pain. At the beginning of 1 Samuel, she is roaring with pain, roaring with grief.

And yet, in Hannah, we have a case study of a woman at prayer, a woman who has a spiritual encounter with God. Hannah eventually becomes the mother of the prophet Samuel. And we can all learn something from her fascinating account.

To understand this passage, we need to see 1) the anatomy of Hannah’s pain, 2) the change in Hannah’s heart, and 3) the secret in Hannah’s song.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 21, 2007. Series: Real Spirituality – Prayer and Beyond. Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:4-11; 2:1-10.

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What’s described in Isaiah 60 never happened in human history and never can happen in normal human history—and it has much to teach us about how we view our work.

Isaiah 60 looks to the end of time when God makes everything right and paradise is restored. And in that restoration, something happens that we often overlook: all the nations of the world bring their work products—their gold, silver, flux, and grain—as offerings to God. Just as there was work in the original paradise, there’ll be work in the future paradise. And so, what does that mean about our work? 

This text points to three things about work: 1) the goodness and dignity of work, 2) what’s wrong with work, and 3) how work can be healed.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 10, 2016. Series: Proverbs: Where We Are Going: The City and the Mission. Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-11, 18-21.

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There are two typical approaches to work today, and both of them are wrong. Both of them cut right against what God meant work to be.

One approach says, “Work is a curse—something to be endured for a paycheck.” The other approach says, “Work is my way to find self-esteem through achievement.” But the Bible, and the fourth of the Ten Commandments, shows us a different view of work.

Let’s see what the fourth commandment and Ephesians 6 show us about work: 1) work is not a curse; it’s a calling, 2) work is not for yourself; it’s for him, and 3) three things to do if you’re unhappy with your job.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 22, 1989. Series: Proverbs: True Wisdom for Living. Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Proverbs says you’re not going to be a wise person unless you’re great at choosing, forging, and keeping terrific friendships.

For the vast majority of your decisions, there will be many options that are all moral. Wisdom is being so in touch with reality that you know the right thing to do in the situations moral rules don’t address. And Proverbs says you will not lead a wise life unless you are really good at friendships.

If we look at various verses in Proverbs, we can learn 1) the uniqueness of friendship, 2) how to discover a friend, 3) how to forge or build a friendship, and 4) where we get the power for friendship.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 29, 2005. Series: Proverbs: True Wisdom for Living. Scripture: Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; 25:17, 20; 26:18, 19; 27:5, 6, 9, 14, 17; 28:23; 29:5.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

This is a startling passage. The context is that the Galatians, who became Christians out of pagan backgrounds, are now falling under the influence of teachers who say, “It’s not enough just to believe in Jesus Christ. You also have to obey everything in the Bible.” 

Paul says something here which is astounding. He says that if they do that, they will fall back under what he calls the slavery of the non-gods.

So we ask ourselves three questions: 1) what are the non-gods? 2) how do they enslave? and 3) how can we be free?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 22, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 4:8-20.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The meaning of Christmas is that God got flesh and blood. In Jesus Christ the holy and transcendent God became really and fully and truly human. He shared in our humanity.

I submit to you that the traditional, moralistic religion has completely forgotten this whole idea. In fact, I submit to you that if you and I really understood the fact that Jesus Christ shares in our humanity, we’d live differently. 

What does that teach us about God? It teaches us three things: 1) God has a concern for the physical, 2) God has a knowledge of the sorrowful, and 3) God desires the relational.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 18, 1994. Series: The Nature of Faith. Scripture: Hebrews 2:14-18.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Abraham is a lot like many of us, who are not from where we now live. We’ve been brought somewhere from elsewhere. Abraham is the same. Abraham left his home community and became an exile.

The Bible tells us repeatedly in the New Testament that each of us should see ourselves as exiles. We should live where we’re called to live as exiles. What does that mean? What did Abraham actually do in his exile? Let’s look at what the Bible says about how Christians are supposed to relate to the cities to which they’ve been called. 

We learn three things from this passage: 1) God builds cities, 2) God sends people to cities, and yet at the same time, 3) God frees us from cities.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 11, 1994. Series: The Nature of Faith. Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-16.

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Hebrews is written to people who had suffered a great deal of persecution and difficulty. They were getting discouraged. Some of them were saying, “What good is this Christianity? We’re good people. Why are such bad things happening to us?”

The writer is showing them that they have resources as Christians such that they can face life, no matter what it throws at them, with greatness and power and stamina. And in Hebrews 12, we come to the final case study that shows this. We come to Jesus himself. By looking at what Jesus suffered, why Jesus suffered, and how he suffered, we learn how we can face anything and triumph.

This passage shows us three basic principles: 1) you will handle life’s difficulties depending on your focus, 2) you will deal with your troubles as long as you understand Jesus’ work, and 3) you should discern his model.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 4, 1994. Series: The Nature of Faith. Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-13.

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The whole story of Moses and the leading out, the exodus, of the people of Israel out of Egypt and out of their slavery is all told in Hebrews 11 in just a couple of phrases.

In the Passover’s ordinance of the death of a lamb and taking shelter under its blood, God gave the Israelites and anyone who wanted to read the Old Testament a clue to the meaning of the universe. Look at Jesus as Lamb, and a tremendous greatness of life will develop. This is the object of our faith. This is the thing we look at to become people of faith.

From looking at Jesus as our Passover, Jesus as the Lamb of God, we get three lessons: 1) we see everybody deserves judgment, 2) Jesus’ death is a propitiation, and 3) the reason Jesus Christ was so weak as the Lamb was because his love was so strong.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 20, 1994. Series: The Nature of Faith. Scripture: Hebrews 11:27-29.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.