Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

The Christian understanding of freedom is at complete loggerheads with what our culture tells us. And I’d say most of us as Christians have trouble understanding it ourselves.  An extremely important concept for understanding the Christian life is the freedom of a Christian. It’s a theme that runs all the way through the New Testament: the paradox that Christians are free through submission, free...

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, spirit...

The book of 1 Peter is probably more about suffering than anything else.  It might be the only book in the New Testament completely devoted to the subject of suffering. And it shows us that going through trials, troubles, and sufferings is one of the main ways in which we grow into Christlikeness.  So let’s see what we learn here about 1) the inevitability of suffering, 2) the good potential of su...

When we become Christians we don’t just turn over a new leaf, we’re spiritually raised with Christ and his resurrection power comes into our lives. And so, what does such an empowered life look like? We’re called to be holy, but this is a difficult term to get ahold of. In our modern culture, both the word “sin” and the word “holiness” are almost never used anymore except ironically. But we need t...

Jesus’ resurrected power is in our lives now. Even though we are not yet bodily resurrected, Christians are, according to Ephesians 2, raised with Christ and knowing the power of his resurrection. What does that mean? What does it mean to live that kind of life? What kind of life should we live now in light of the resurrection of Jesus?  Let’s look at 1) how we’re supposed to live as Christians, 2...

When we unite with Jesus Christ, his resurrection power comes into our lives.  Even though we believe we’ll be resurrected in our bodies at the end of time, there is already a spiritual resurrection that happens to us now. What does that look like?  Looking at this text, we can see 1) what happened, 2) where it happens, 3) how it keeps happening, and 4) why it happens. This sermon was preached by...

Jesus’ resurrection isn’t supposed to just change history—it’s supposed to change you and me. The New Testament everywhere says we should expect to encounter the risen Christ. And that’s how our lives are changed.  Peter is a case study for us, because we have here the story of how the resurrected Christ sat down with Peter at the fire by the Sea of Galilee—about how Peter’s life had fallen apart...

Easter is too marvelous for words, but we’re going to try.  Luke 24 is an account of the resurrection: from the morning when the empty tomb was discovered, to the middle of the day when Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus, to the evening when Jesus appeared to his disciples. And in that evening account, we see that Jesus said a number of things to his disciples. We can learn three things about th...

For centuries now, on the Sunday before Easter, the church has observed the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem just days before he was crucified. It’s called Palm Sunday.  What does Palm Sunday mean? It means Jesus is king, and it’s important to see that’s not just an abstract proposition. Palm Sunday is about this: you can’t know Jesus Christ unless you know him as king. He can’t chan...

Christianity gives us resources to help us live in a world that’s hard to live in. And in Luke 5, we see a resource we wouldn’t immediately think of as one — that is, that when Jesus calls us, he sends us out into the world to serve. Serving other people is draining, but it’s also strengthening. Because if you see that you should live for your neighbor’s fulfillment rather than your own fulfillmen...

When you’re in the wilderness, how do you handle the trials, the difficulties, and the temptations? In Luke 4, we have a famous passage about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus is assaulted by the Devil, and he deals with it through the Word of God. We’re going to look at how Jesus uses Scripture, and how, in a practical way, we can too. This text shows us 1) the depth and complexity...

The raising of Lazarus is the seventh and climactic of Jesus’ miraculous signs in the Gospel of John. John says Jesus did many miracles, but these seven particularly revealed who Jesus was and what he came to do. And this one is probably the most famous.  Jesus especially loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus—there was a special friendship there. But Lazarus gets sick when Jesus is away, and Lazarus is...

The healing of the man born blind is one of Jesus’ miracles that’s called a sign, meaning it symbolizes something about who Jesus was and what he came to do. This is a story about a man who’s born blind, and it takes up an entire chapter. The man is healed in the very first few verses, then there’s quite a bit of interrogation with the Pharisees, and then the man comes back, has an encounter with...

In the miraculous sign of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus takes a few loaves and fish and miraculously feeds a multitude of people. This is the only one of Jesus’ miracles that’s told in all four gospels. And the gospel of John gives us the final discourse in which Jesus explains the meaning of the miracle. Jesus says it’s a symbol. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” Let’s meditate on the aspec...

Can you imagine a perfect human being? You may say, “Sure.” But perfection would necessarily be surprising to us because we’re not perfect and we’ve actually never seen perfection.  The challenge of the New Testament is to read about Jesus, not just once, but page after page after page. If you do that, you’ll pretty much be forced to the conclusion that nobody could’ve imagined someone like this....

I’ve heard people say, “Oh, I wish I had his faith, or her faith,” as if faith is a talent. And I do think there’s a kind of faith that’s a temperament—people who are more trusting or more skeptical—but that’s not saving faith.  There is no type of person who becomes a Christian. Saving faith, the faith that brings you eternal life, is for everyone. And Jesus’ miraculous sign in John 4 teaches us...

Jesus’ first sign was not feeding the poor. It wasn’t healing the sick or raising the dead. It was keeping a party going.  In the book of John, there’s a series of miracles that are called signs. That’s important because it means Jesus’ miracles weren’t naked displays of power. They signify. They’re symbolic. They point to who Jesus is and what he came to do. And the first sign of Jesus’ ministry...

People come up to John the Baptist and say, “What is your identity? What is your self-understanding?” That has a very contemporary ring to it. And it has quite a bit to do with us.  We’re looking at the life of Jesus and who Jesus is. In the second half of John 1, in this encounter with John the Baptist, we learn that Jesus is the Lamb of God. So we ask, “What does that mean for us?”  Let’s take a...

You can’t really understand the real Jesus if you only look at his birth and his death. You must also look at his words and his deeds during his life. To study the words and deeds of Jesus, we’re going to look in the Gospel of John, starting with John 1. It’s one of the most famous passages of the Bible, with too much great stuff to possibly discuss it all. So I’d like to give a top-level view of...

In ancient architecture, the cornerstone was the first stone laid, and it had to be the most perfectly cut stone and the strongest stone. Because, you see, what the cornerstone is, the house is. If the dimensions of the cornerstone are off, the house is off. If the cornerstone is true, the house is true. If the cornerstone crumbles in any way, the entire house will be compromised or lost. All of t...

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 5, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. 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...

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 28, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. 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...

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 21, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. 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...

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 14, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. 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...

If you don’t have a desire for a transformation of character from the inside out, it’s because you just haven’t faced yourself. There is in all of us a selfishness, a lack of self-control, a dysfunction. And yet God calls us to, “be ye holy.” Being holy does not just mean to keep the rules. Being holy means you are wholly reoriented in your thinking, in your feeling, and in your behavior. It means...