Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Psalm 110 is unbelievably rich, but it’s not all that well known. Did you know that the New Testament writers quote this psalm more than any other passage in the Old Testament? Jesus forcefully used this psalm to explain to people who he was. Furthermore, the first Christian sermon was preached on this psalm.
The psalm talks about some person who combines excellencies, who combines traits that ordinarily would never be combined in a single figure. It’s talking about a king, but specifically a divine and human king, a strong but weak king–and therefore a transforming, beautiful king.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 29, 2015. Series "Pilgrim Prayer: Psalms for the Journey". Scripture: Psalm 110:1-7.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re going to look at one of the key conundrums in the Bible. And if we understand it, we’re going to be able to understand a lot of the Bible. It’s also a conundrum in human thought, and it’s part of the human condition. You see it in this passage, where it says, “He comes to judge the earth.” Everybody is exalting, clapping their hands, singing together for joy. Why? Because God is coming to judge.
No one is ever happy in a courtroom. So what in the world is going on here? We’re talking about judgment day, the final judgment of the earth, and it’s a time of joy. How does that work? Let’s look at the promise of judgment, the problem of judgment, and God’s provision for judgment that makes judgment a promise and not just a threat.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 22, 2015. Series "Pilgrim Prayer: Psalms for the Journey". Scripture: Psalm 98:1-9.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

No matter how savvy you are, no matter how much planning you do, no matter how powerful or successful you are, there’s no way to stop times of difficulty from coming into your life. They will come into your life.
So how do you get peace and poise in your heart in the face of a world like this? That’s the question that this psalm is about. It starts off by making a remarkable promise in the first four verses. There’s a claim and there’s a misunderstanding of the claim. And finally, we’ll see how we can take hold of the claim in such a way that we enter into the peace that’s offered.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 15, 2015. Series "Pilgrim Prayer: Psalms for the Journey". Scripture: Psalm 91:1-16.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Psalms 42 and 43 talk about how to deal with being downcast, how to deal with being despondent, in despair, in darkness. Everybody needs this throughout life. No matter who we are, we all go through these times.
Let’s notice that there’s a condition described, then there are causes diagnosed, and then finally, there’s a cure prescribed. There’s the condition of being downcast. It’s described. Then the psalm actually gives you some idea about the causes of the condition, and then finally gives you three extraordinarily practical cures.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 8, 2015. Series "Pilgrim Prayer: Psalms for the Journey". Scripture: Psalm 42:1 - 43:5.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The way the word “sin” hits modern people’s ears, it either makes us laugh or shudder. We laugh, because, generally speaking, the word sin is usually used in modern public discourse in a lighthearted, ironic way. But we don’t like to talk about sin seriously. When anyone uses the word sin like I am now, people get very nervous.
Yet the Bible says there’s nothing more important for practical living than for you to understand the concept of sin generally, and your sins in particular. Let’s take a look at this psalm, which will teach us three things about the subject of sin: the poisonous reality, the treatment, and the antidote.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 22, 2015. Series "Pilgrim Prayer: Psalms for the Journey". Scripture: Psalm 32:1-11.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What we try to do during the Easter season is turn our minds toward what Jesus did, why he did it, and the meaning of what he did in Gethsemane, on the hill of Calvary, in the tomb. One of the things, among many, that it means is what we see here in Psalm 51.
Psalm 51 and the story around it tells us that no matter how much you blow up your life, it can be repaired. No matter how far you fall, you can be brought up. No matter how deeply broken, you can be made whole, because of what Jesus did.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 31, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Psalm 51.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The gospel is only an implicit, untapped power in your life until it’s released in power through repentance. For the changes you want, the changes you seek, the changes you need–the secret is repentance.
This passage is perhaps the classic and the greatest passage in all of the Bible on this wonderful theme: repentance. What is repentance? We don’t know how to do it because we think we know how to do it already. So let’s take a look at it.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 24, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Psalm 51:1-10.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The Bible says human hearts are sinful, but beyond that we’re slaves to sin. The Bible says sin is not just an action; it’s a power. Every sinful action has a destructive power upon the faculty that put that action forth.
In other words, when you sin with the mind, that sin shrivels the rationality. When you sin with the emotions, that sin shrivels the emotions. When you sin with the will, that sin destroys and dissolves your willpower and your self-control. Sin is the destructive action of the self against itself. Sin destroys freedom. Sin is an enslaving power. It shrivels us up.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 17, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Numbers 11:4-6,10-20; Romans 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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In the narrative we’re looking at, Naaman continually seeks to go to kings, but God insists on continually speaking to Naaman only and exclusively through slaves. Naaman is continually going to “somebodies,” and God insists on speaking to him through “nobodies.”
What does that mean? What does that tell us about ourselves? What does that tell us about God?
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 10, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: 2 Kings 5:5-17.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What is the problem with the human race? Why do we have the problems we have? The Bible says the answer is a disorder of the human heart, a dislocation of the soul called sin.
The account we’re looking at is one of the most wonderful illustrations in all of the Bible about what the Bible has to say about the nature of the problem and the cure for it. Let’s look at it under three headings. First, the text tells us what Naaman really needed the cure for, secondly, what the nature of his cure was, and thirdly, how we know he was indeed cured.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 3, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Kings 5:5-17.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The message of Jonah is about a moral, orthodox, religious man, who in the end is more a slave of sin than the debauched pagans to which he has gone. Unless you understand the essential spirit of sin, and that a very religious or moral person can be more bound by it than an irreligious or skeptical person, it’s going to defeat you.
What does Jonah teach us about sin? First of all, it teaches us God goes to Jonah and shows him two symptoms that reveal there’s something morally disordered, something wrong with his heart. Then he gives him the diagnosis of his sin. And then finally, we’ll see God’s therapy for it.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 25, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Jonah 2:7-3:5;3:10-4:11.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re going to take a look at a passage that tells us about sin, a picture of two trees. This text is about how to deal with your anxiety and worries. Jeremiah is claiming to have the secret.
Jeremiah says, “I’ll tell you about worries and how to deal with worries, but first you have to let me tell you about the nature of sin.” Let’s see what this picture of two trees tells us about sin. It tells us about the root, the fruit, and the cure for sin.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 11, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Jeremiah 17:5-13.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The biblical teaching about sin is one of the strongest arguments for the truth of Christianity that there is. There have been many thoughtful people who abandoned Christianity, abandoned religion, but were pushed back and embraced the faith because there was nothing else except the religious idea of sin that, when they actually saw human evil up close, could account for human history and human behavior.
And yet, if there is a lack of joy in your life today, if the thought of Jesus dying for you does not revolutionize you, does not transfix you, does not transform you, do you know what the main reason for that is? You have not seen how deep he went to pay for you. You don’t know how far he has brought you. You don’t know the seriousness and the depth of your sin.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 4, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Mark 7:25-30; 8:11-17.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What’s wrong with us, the human race? The answer of the Bible is all of our sociological and psychological problems are theological problems, and the only answer that possibly gets underneath all of these other semi-answers is the real problem of sin.
We now look at what I’m going to call our capacity for self-deception. What is the capacity for self-deception? It’s the almost infinite ability of the human heart to hide the truth from itself when that truth is too unpleasant or uncomfortable. Self-deception is not the worst thing we do, but it’s the reason we can do the worst things.
There’s no better example of the tragedy of self-deception and the dynamics of it than this tragic story of Saul, the first king of Israel. This text tells us about the fact of self-deception, the structure of self-deception, and a prescription for the healing of it.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 28, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:12-23.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with the human race? If you don’t ask that question, if that question doesn’t burn in your heart, your head is in the sand. The answer the Bible gives us to this question is that it is, to a great degree, a problem of underestimation.
God says, first of all, that sin hides itself. It crouches. Secondly, that sin is tremendously powerful. It will have you. Thirdly, we’re told about hope. You must master it. It tells us about the hiddenness of sin, about the power of sin, and that there’s a hope for the defeat of sin.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 21, 1996. Series "The Faces of Sin". Scripture: Genesis 4:3-15; Hebrews 12:24.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

[NOTE: This message was recorded on cassette tape in 1990, therefore the audio quality is subpar in some portions of the recording.]
Paul says that if you want to understand the Bible, you need to realize that everything is about Jesus. He says it’s written not just for them, but it’s written for us, on whom the end of the ages has come.
This passage teaches us three things. The world is a wilderness. God has opened a fountain for people in the wilderness. And this fountain is only available because God himself entered the wilderness and received our punishment.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 24, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2". Scripture: Exodus 17:1-17; 1 Corinthians 10:2-4.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There is a courtroom, and we all know it. You don’t even have to go to the Bible–your own experience tells you. It doesn’t matter if people are coming to you and saying, “You’re great. You’re really great.” That’s nice, and you cling to that like a life raft, but you really wonder, “What about the other people who seem to have rejected me in my life? Who am I really? What do I really look like? Am I acceptable?”
The reason we’re so deeply insecure is because there is a courtroom. There is an accuser and there is a bar of justice and we are being accused there. We know it. Our conscience is a radio transmitter picking up the prosecution. How do we deal with the prosecutor? We look to the advocate.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 3, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2". Scripture: Zechariah 3:1-7.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Do you know how often Jesus Christ says, “You may be fake. You may be bogus. You may be counterfeit?” Paul likewise says, “Examine yourself to see if you’re in the faith. Jesus tells very clearly here in these two agricultural parables that there are counterfeits inside the body of Christ.
There are three kinds of Christianity that are fake, that are counterfeit, where the message of the kingdom comes in, but there is no real true central root the truth actually takes. First, there is intellectual Christianity. Second, there is emotional Christianity. And third, there is volitional Christianity.
I think emotional Christianity is mentioned as the second soil, intellectual Christianity, the third soil. And it’s probably volitional Christianity that is represented by those people in Matthew 7, who on the last day say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we do all sorts of great things in your name?” and Jesus says, “I never knew you.” Let’s take a look.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 27, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2". Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9; 18-30; 36-43.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

It’s clear we don’t see courage the way the Bible sees it. Courage and faith, in the Bible, aren’t really different. Courage is considered a moral trait, along with love, patience, honesty. It’s a moral character, and it’s something God expects from us.
What we’re reading about here has to do with fear. The ultimate fear is a kind of mistrust in God. We cling to these other things because we all believe at the deepest level, that if we clung completely to God, he’d let us down. In fact, if you clung completely to God, if he was your only security, you would be a perfect person.
The process of growth and grace and sanctification is to get to that place where you find out what those other things are that you are basing your security on, what you are really resting on instead of God. Do you know how you find where those things are, how you can find the trail to those security blankets? Follow your fears.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 20, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2".
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Commitment always makes you vulnerable, but Jesus Christ cannot be known apart from absolute commitment. He can’t be known any other way. Jesus Christ can’t be sampled; he can’t be known on a money-back guarantee trial. It can’t be done. He can only be known through absolute commitment, and to absolutely commit means the willingness to obey absolutely.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 13, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2". Scripture: John 12:1-6, 23-26.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.