Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

The theme of forgiveness is something that’s in so much of opera, theater, and literature—because it’s a very important issue in human living. So our theme comes in the form of a question: should we always forgive?
Forgiveness is always easy when you’re asking someone else to give it. And it’s always hard when someone’s asking you to give it. A lot of people have problems with forgiveness. They say forgiveness seems to make light of what was done wrong, or they say they can’t forgive unless the other person asks for forgiveness. But if you look at the whole story arch of the operas, you know that whenever people fail to forgive, bad things happen.
This Open Forum, with a talk and open mic Q&A, is specifically designed for skeptics or those wrestling with the claims of Christianity. We’re going to discuss 1) whether we should forgive, 2) what it means to forgive, and 3) where we might get the resources for it.
This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 1, 2013. 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.

Why is it that we celebrate Christmas with gift giving? We don’t do that at Easter. We don’t do that at Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July. At anniversaries and birthdays, we give one person gifts, but at Christmas everybody gives everybody gifts. Why? I’m not actually looking for a literal answer. I’m asking as a rhetorical question, “Why is it that everybody gives gifts to everybody else at Christmas?” 
I’m here to say it’s profoundly appropriate, because it gets at the theological heart of Christmas: that Jesus Christ is the only human being who wasn’t just born but was given. 
Everyone who knows something about the Bible will say that 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is the longest, most involved, and explicit passage in all of the Bible on the subject of generosity. We’re being told 1) there’s a problem with regard to giving and generosity, 2) what will happen if we don’t solve that problem, and 3) how we can solve it.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 13, 2015. Series: What We Are Giving: The Dynamic of Grace. Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:8-15; 9:6-12.
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.

We’ve been looking at Christian practices, or spiritual disciplines, by which our character changes. Now, instead of looking at one practice, we’ll look at how a number of practices come together to create one particular character quality: self-control. 
A self-control problem is when you’re doing something you desperately want to stop, but can’t. There are the classic addictions like drinking and drugs, spending and gambling, overeating and undereating. But we shouldn’t think of self-control just in those terms. We also have trouble controlling our tongues, our thoughts, our time, and our emotions. Because all of us have some problems with self-control, we had better figure out what to do about it. Otherwise, our problems with self-control will strip us of our careers, of our relationships, or even of our physical lives. 
These two passages from 1 Corinthians 9 and 10 are Paul’s insight into what the Bible says about self-control. We’ll start to make progress if we grasp three things: 1) the centrality of the heart, 2) the power of the gospel, and 3) the endurance of Jesus.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 15, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:23-27; 10:11-13.
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.

We’re in a series on Christian practices. We believe certain things, but those beliefs don’t necessarily change our lives unless we instill those beliefs into our hearts through Christian practices, through spiritual disciplines. 
Let’s look at a Christian practice, a spiritual discipline, that you probably don’t think of as a spiritual discipline. It’s the practice of hospitality. All through the Scripture, hospitality is extremely important. It’s a sign of spiritual maturity. If you put the word “hospitality” into a search engine right now, almost all the first things that come up will be vacation resorts or Martha Stewart entertaining where everything is perfect. But actually, that’s almost the opposite of what the Bible means by it.
In Hebrews 13, we’re going to look at 1) the principle behind Christian hospitality, 2) the promise of Christian hospitality, and 3) the impetus for Christian hospitality.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 8, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Hebrews 13:1-14.
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 this series, we’ve been saying beliefs don’t automatically change your life. They have to be instilled into your heart through spiritual disciplines, through Christian practices. I’d like to talk now about a Christian practice you probably don’t think of as a practice—the practice of friendship, especially friendship between believers. 
Friendship only happens to the degree you work at it. The ancients considered it the most virtuous of all the loves—because it was the most deliberate. The Bible understood, like all ancient people, how important friendship was. The practice of friendship was something Christians were to extend to everybody in their Christian community. 
That didn’t mean there weren’t levels of intensity. Jesus said to his twelve disciples, “You’re all my friends,” and yet, John was his best friend, and Peter, James, and John were close friends. With some people you practice more intensely, but the Bible says all other believers in your Christian community must be friends. You must practice the disciplines of friendship. 
There are two great features of friendship. In Galatians 5 and 6, let’s look at 1) the constancy of friendship, 2) the intimacy of friendship, and 3) the power to fulfill them. 
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 1, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Galatians 5:26-6:5.
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.

Many people believe God is real and God loves them. That belief ought to make you more secure, happier, and more humble. But beliefs don’t automatically turn into changed thoughts and feelings and behavior. Beliefs have to be turned into changed character through Christian practices, through spiritual disciplines. 
Over the next three sermons we’re going to look at different aspects of community-building. The importance of Christian community is masked when we read the Scripture. Because we are Americans, in many cases we’re individualistic, and we tend to read the Bible through individual lenses. Also, the English language doesn’t have a second person plural pronoun. So when we read the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says “you must do this,” we read it as how God wants us to behave individually. Actually, almost all the pronouns in there are “you all”—they’re plural. What Jesus is saying is “I want you to be part of a community like this.” 
Let’s begin looking at the importance of Christian community. From Romans 12, I want to pull out three things we’re going to learn about community: 1) the family nature of Christian community, 2) the graciousness of it, and 3) its ultimate source.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 25, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. 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.

We’re in a series on Christian practices. We’ve said beliefs have to be turned into changed character through Christian practices, through spiritual disciplines. 
We come now to forgiveness and reconciliation of relationships. In our culture, we tend to think of forgiveness as a private, emotional process. But the Bible sees it as a communal discipline that we all have to practice. Matthew 18 is a very hard-hitting chapter on this subject of forgiveness and relationship reconciliation. 
Let’s look at forgiveness under three headings: 1) why it’s so crucial, 2) what it is, and 3) how you do it.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 18, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Matthew 18:15-17, 23-35.
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 in a series on Christian practices. Beliefs don’t automatically produce a changed life. Beliefs have to be turned into changed character through Christian practices, through spiritual disciplines. 
We’re going to look now at a Christian practice that never stands on its own. Rather, it happens within the other practices. When we get to Galatians 6:1, it says Christians shouldn’t hold one another accountable without examining themselves. But what are we examining ourselves for? The answer is here in Galatians 5. We’re supposed to be examining ourselves in order to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, spiritual fruit. Otherwise, the Christian practices can just become mechanical. 
It’s important to say, “What are we doing in our Christian practices?” We’re supposed to examine, look for, and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Let’s look at this very famous passage under three headings: 1) the necessity of spiritual fruit, 2) the cultivation of spiritual fruit, and 3) the root of the spiritual fruit.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 11, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26.
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.

The belief that God loves you ought to make an enormous difference. But in so many cases, it does not. Beliefs don’t automatically produce changed character. Beliefs must be turned into changed character through Christian practices, through spiritual disciplines. 
Maybe the Christian discipline par excellence is observing the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11, there’s a Greek word that shows up five times: synerchomai, which means to bring together, to come together, to unite, or to connect together. It’s translated in different ways through the text, so when you’re reading it in English, it’s not as striking. But the theme is that the Lord’s Supper connects things that otherwise would be fragmented. 
In order to understand what it means to observe the Lord’s Supper and to have it really change your life, you need to know what some of those connections are. Let’s look at four ways the Lord’s Supper connects things: 1) it connects the present to the past, 2) it connects your soul to God, 3) it connects the individual to community, and 4) it connects your life story to the future.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 4, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:18-34.
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.

We’re in a series on what we’re calling Christian practices or spiritual disciplines. You may have beliefs, but those beliefs don’t automatically produce a different character unless your beliefs are turned into actual changed character through spiritual disciplines, or Christian practices. 
Today we come to a very important spiritual discipline. It’s the subject of Psalm 1: meditating on the law of the Lord, the Scripture, to the point of delight. Psalm 1 says that meditating on the Scripture is what will bring blessedness—absolute well-being. The magnitude of that claim, and in some ways the simplicity of the claim, is easy to miss. Yet here, smack in the middle of the very introduction to the Psalter, we’re told that not just belief in God but meditating on the law of God, on the Scripture, is the key to blessedness. 
This is an extremely important, crucial part of what it means to be a Christian. There are three things I’d like to show you here: what meditation promises, how it’s practiced, and why it works.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 27, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6.
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.

Christians have all of these great beliefs, yet the beliefs we have don’t automatically produce changed character. That’s the reason there are so many people who profess Christianity who are just as selfish as everybody else. Beliefs don’t just produce character. Beliefs have to be turned into character through practices, through spiritual disciplines.
Today we’re going to be looking at how we are supposed to use Scripture, the Bible, in our lives. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible (176 verses), and it’s all about the practical uses of Scripture in our lives. If you want the Scripture to be used in your life to translate beliefs into character, then you have to recognize its majesty, tap its power, and unlock its secret. 
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 20, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Psalm 119.
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.

An awful lot of people who believe in God are as messed up and as selfish as everybody else. Why? Because beliefs don’t automatically create changed character. You have to turn beliefs into character with something in the middle. Between beliefs and character come spiritual disciplines or Christian practices. Unless you understand what those practices are and unless you participate in them, you will not actually change your character. 
The second most commanded Christian practice in the Bible is one that when you see it, you usually don’t even realize it’s a command. We’re commanded to sing God’s truth, to sing God’s praises. Ephesians 5 gives five things that flow from being filled with the Spirit. Of the five results, three are about music. If you do not learn how important it is to sing God’s praises regularly with others, to listen to God’s praises sung, you will not be changed by the gospel. 
Why would music be that important? Let’s take a look at Ephesians 5, especially in light of the entire history of music in the Bible. We’ll learn the power of music (what it does), the grace of music (what it can do), and the future of music (what it will do).
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 13, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Ephesians 5:18-21.
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.

We’re starting a new series on spiritual disciplines, or Christian practices, like gathering for corporate worship, private meditation and prayer, the disciplines of simplicity and generosity, reading the Bible in community, and spiritual friendship. 
The best way to introduce the series is to plunge into the first Christian practice, the first of the spiritual disciplines, which is worship. We’re looking at Psalm 95, which is called the Venite. In Latin, venite is the first word. It’s “O come.” It’s probably the best single place in the Bible to go if we want to understand what worship is all about. 
In this Psalm, we’re going to learn three things about worship: why we should, what it is, and how it’s done.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 6, 2008. Series: Practicing The Christian Life. Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11.
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.

As we come to the end of the book of Jonah, we can ask ourselves the question, “What’s this story about?” Who is the protagonist? Who is the antagonist? It’s not Jonah who is the protagonist. It’s not the fish who is the protagonist. 
It all comes down to this last question in the passage. In the last question, God says, “Should I not have compassion? Should I not love that great city?” This is what the story is about. It’s about God, who is the protagonist, seeking to bring grace and love and mercy to a big city. The antagonists are the religious, moral people who believe in God and who obey his commandments. It’s us. It’s city-disdaining, city-phobic, religious, moral, good people. We’re the antagonists, and God is the protagonist. The book is about God’s love for a big, unbelieving, unjust, violent, pagan city. 
So, what are we supposed to learn about the city from this book? I suggest we learn three things here: we learn about God’s call to the city, God’s view of the city, and God’s love for the city.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 14, 2001. Series: The Church in the City. Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11.
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.

The book of Jonah is awfully relevant to our situation, especially today. Jonah has been asked to go to the capital of Assyria, the great rising, emerging imperial world power. It  was a violent place. It slaughtered helpless people. Jonah’s response to that is anger. He wants them punished. He is angry at them for their violence. Yet, in one of the great surprises in all of biblical narrative, there’s probably no more surprising turn than what we see in this book. 
God refuses to accept either the violence of Nineveh or the poisonous anger of Jonah. Let’s take a look and see what this text tells us about violence. First, the surprising sources of violence. Second, the remarkable strategy we should take with violence. And then lastly, the ultimate solution for violence.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 7, 2001. Series: The Church in the City. Scripture: Jonah 3:1-4:5.
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.

We continue to see the relevance of Jonah’s situation and the story of Jonah to our own. Jonah was a prophet and he had a relationship with God. He was a preacher. He had faith. He had an understanding of who God was and who he was. He was moving along in his world just fine. Then his world changed, because God came to him and said, “Now I call you into a new ministry, a new situation. I want you to go to Nineveh.”
Ninevah was a violent, ruthless, imperialistic nation. It was, as it were, a clear and present danger to the very existence of Jonah’s country. He was filled with disdain, hatred, bias, and bigotry. To use the technical theological term, Jonah freaked out. 
What we see next is that Jonah has a spiritual breakthrough. He moves to a new level. Let’s look at four things we can learn from Jonah through this experience: the key to spiritual transformation, the method of spiritual transformation, the marks of spiritual transformation, and the continual need for it.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 30, 2001. Series: The Church in the City. Scripture: Jonah 2:1-3:3.
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 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.

Jonah is a prophet. God has come to him and told him to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the implacable foe, the implacable enemy of his country. “Go to that city and preach against it. Warn them about God’s anger.” What Jonah does, of course, is he runs away. He refuses to do it. He goes in another direction.
Jonah’s on the run. Why? Because Jonah has fear in his heart. He’s afraid to go to Nineveh, because–why put himself in the very midst of his enemies? 
We’re going to see what the Bible says about fear by noticing three features of the story: the stormy sea, the religious sailors, and the willing substitute. The stormy sea is who we are. The religious sailors show us the wrong thing to do about it. And the willing substitute is what to do about it.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 23, 2001. Series: The Church in the City. Scripture: Jonah 1:4-17.
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 book of Jonah is really one of the best possible places to get an overview of what the Christian message is about. This passage is about sin. But it doesn’t actually ever use the word sin. And yet, not only does it profoundly map out the real nature of sin, it gives us an understanding of sin that goes deeper than what you’d think the definition of sin is. 
It’s one thing to believe in sin. It’s another thing to understand it and understand your own heart. We’re going to take a look at four features in the narrative, and each one is going to tell us something about sin. The four features we see are in verse 1. We see the coming word. “The word of the LORD came …” In verse 3, we see the running man. In verse 5, we see the deathly sleep. And lastly, we see the stormy hope. 
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 9, 2001. Series: The Church in the City. Scripture: Jonah 1:1-10.
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.

Jonah was called to go to Nineveh to preach, and after a lot of detours, he did. When he got there and began to preach, we’re told that Nineveh, by and large, turned from its violence and its evil ways. Now this is a marvelous thing and we would expect great joy in Jonah’s heart. But surprise, in 4:1, we read, “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.” Why is that? The bottom line is Jonah can’t figure out God’s love.
Jonah, like everybody, believes in love in general, but when it comes right down to it has a fatally inadequate understanding of how love actually operates, and in particular, how God’s love actually operates. In the same way, many, maybe most, of our own struggles and collapses (just like Jonah here) are due to our own inadequate understanding of how God’s love really operates.
Let’s look at two things that God is trying to get across to Jonah. First, God’s love is refining fire. It is life-purifying. Secondly, God’s love is a seeking fire, a seeking power, a seeking love.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 16, 1990. Series: Jonah. Scripture: Jonah 4:1-10
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.

Jonah went into a big city like New York, and he saw a massive change. He saw repentance that was culturally transforming. The people turned from their violence and evil ways. In response to this amazing thing, we’re told, “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.” What’s going on here?
How can we explain Jonah’s mood swings, his tremendous emotional instability, able to praise God in chapter 2 and a few days later saying, “I am angry enough to die?” The answer is a divided heart. Jonah believed in and served the true God, but he also believed and served a rival god. As a result, his heart was divided between worshipping two different things. 
Hearts divided between more than one god creates that kind of instability we see in Jonah. They create the kind of misery and drivenness of Jonah. And what we see is that it could be true of us as well. Now let’s just ask two questions of the passage: 1) What’s a divided heart? 2) How can we heal a divided heart?
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 9, 1990. Series: Jonah. Scripture: Jonah 4:1-10.
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.