Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

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.

Though there’s probably at least a hundred things the Spirit does, the main thing the Spirit does is he makes Jesus real to you. Everything else the Spirit does, all the fancy names we come up with–illumination, regeneration, sanctification–every other word you may hear me say and everything you hear anybody else say, it all boils down to that.
When the Spirit of God made Jesus Christ not merely an intellectual concept or something on the periphery of your life, but rather when he made him glorious, the most important and significant thing in your life, that’s the day you moved from being a nominal Christian to being someone transformed by the power of the Spirit.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 6, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2". Scripture: Romans 8:12-17.
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 does the Spirit do? The Spirit does a lot of things. It’s astonishing. If you really go back into the Old Testament you’ll see the Spirit was a creator. The Spirit is a teacher, and we’re going to see that the Spirit has three main ministries in the life of a Christian.
Those three main categories are: The Spirit regenerates us (which means he is the agent of being reborn), the Spirit sanctifies us (which means he gradually turns us more and more into the likeness of Christ in our character), and thirdly, the Spirit anoints us with power. The Spirit of God makes God real. The Spirit of God mediates the presence of Jesus Christ. So you don’t just know about him, but you sense you’re in his presence.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 29, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 2". Scripture: Romans 8:15-11.
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.

Nobody grows without trouble. You can plan to obey this week, but you can’t plan to suffer. Suffering is one of the main ways in which Jesus Christ gives you what you really want, and that is becoming the person you want to be.
How you respond to the troubles in your life will go a long way toward whether or not you ever develop courage, patience, compassion, or humility. How can you make sure you don’t waste your sorrows?
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 21, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1-9.
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.

We’re now going to talk about, in some ways, the simplest of all of the disciplines: You have to obey. It’s the simplest and the hardest of all of the ways in which we grow, of all the tools for growth. We have to obey, and as we obey him, we change. We’re transformed.
In Philippians 2:12, it says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” It doesn’t mean to be saved, to go to heaven, is something you have to be good and work for. It doesn’t say, “Work for your salvation.” It says, “Work it out.” This passage lays out with three basic principles about obedience–the person of obedience, the method of obedience, and the results of obedience.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 14, 1990. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: John 8:31-39.
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 are fascinated with the new. The reason we’re fascinated with the new is because every human being has a deep need for eternity. We all sense ourselves fading away. We see ourselves sagging and wrinkling. We see ourselves decaying, and that’s not natural. Nature is subject to futility, we’re told in Romans 8.
Underneath the diets, underneath the need for vacations in new places, new clothes and new things that make you feel good for a little while, there is this need for eternity. We all need eternity. We need this newness God’s talking about.
This passage tells us about the newness that is to come, a newness that is totally in the future. But there is also a newness that you can begin to experience now. Let’s just take a look at those two things. It’s exciting to look at it. The first aspect is the newness that is to come. The second aspect is the newness we receive now.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 31, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In this series on Christian growth, we’re going to talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. One of the main differences between Christianity and moral religion in general is that Christians believe only through the influence of the Holy Spirit are we able and enabled to do anything good. Only through the Holy Spirit can we grow. It’s through the Spirit’s work anything gets accomplished in our lives, not through our own effort.
If we come to faith in Christ, come to God through Christ, then the Spirit of God comes in, and we can know God personally through the Spirit. Through the Spirit’s influence in our lives, we can actually experience God, not just know about him and not just know what he requires of us, but actually experience him.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 10, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: Ephesians 5:18-21;3:14-21.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re taking a look at Colossians 3:12–17 and pointing out some how-to’s. How do you work the gospel, the good news down into your life? Paul essentially says, “because your life is hid with Christ in God, live that way.”
If Christ is your life, then when other people come and criticize you, you say, “Well, you know, it hurts to be criticized, but my reputation isn’t my life, and what they think of me isn’t my life. Christ is my life.” Paul is saying, “Be what you are. Take hold of what you really are and you really have, and live on the platform of it. Be what you are. Let the peace of Christ rule.”
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 12, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17.
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 gospel tells you to stop trying to steal self-acceptance from other sources and to instead warm yourself at the fire of our standing in Jesus Christ. In Christ, God treats believers as if they have done all that Christ has done. It doesn’t matter what kind of day you’ve had. The gospel says that the determining factor is not your present or your past, but Christ’s present and past. That’s what the gospel is.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 5, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Faith is finding your identity in Christ. But how do you do that? What we’re going to do is look at what it means to live by faith.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 29, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

An idol is something else besides Jesus Christ that is your life. In order to grow, the job of the Christian is to identify what those idols are and to pull them out. You’re looking at yourself and you’re saying, “Why am I so angry? Why am I so worried? Why am I so depressed?” Then you say, “Let me analyze this. What is actually driving me? What goals do I feel like I must have?”
Many of us say, “Oh, I trust Jesus and nothing else.” But what is your heart functionally trusting? What does it actually trust? What does it really rely on? Here is the question we need to ask: “Has something besides Jesus Christ taken title to my heart’s functional trust, its functional preoccupation, loyalty, service, and delight?
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 22, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: 2 Colossians 3:5-11, Luke 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 beginning a series on Christian growth–growth in grace, growth in supernatural maturity. Sometimes it’s only as you begin to see what the Bible says is true of a Christian, what is in store for a Christian, the kind of growth that can happen in the Christian’s life, that you can come to see very clearly you’re not a believer. You’ve been in and out of churches. You’ve been in and out of different religious organizations. “How do you know?”
Sometimes one of the best ways to know is to look and see what the characteristics of Christian growth are. Growth in grace is the very essence of the gospel; otherwise you’re left with a “niceism” or a “moralism” instead of Christianity.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 1, 1989. Series "Growth in Christ, Part 1". Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-11.
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.

Tim Keller and the Gospel in Life team would like to wish you a Merry Christmas. Thank you for listening and for your support, especially over these last 6 months. We look forward to sharing more Gospel centered resources with you in 2020.

Christmas utterly contradicts and shows the foolishness of the wisdom of any age, the prevailing thought forms that hold sway over the most educated, enlightened people. Christmas shows the wisdom of the world is dated, shallow, inadequate, and lastly–narrow and exclusive.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 20, 1992. Series "Advent 1992". Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:20-21; Romans 1.
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.

I’d like to prove to you that really everything Christianity is about and everything the Bible is about is locked in the statement, “Fear not: for, behold, the gospel of joy.” Why were the shepherds afraid? It’s because of the light–a particular kind of light. It’s the light of the glory of God. Whenever God gets close, he shows you you’re not God. The light of the glory of God reminds us we’re creatures; we’re not God.
The first thing grace does is make you scared. The first thing at Christmas God’s revelation did was it made them scared. God wanted to bring the good news of Christmas to the shepherds.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 13, 1992. Series "Advent 1992". Scripture: Luke 2:8-14.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Mary’s song, the Magnificat, is in a way the first Christmas carol. In fact, we should say that Mary, in a sense, is the first Christian. She’s not the first person saved, not the first believer in God, but she’s the first Christian in that she’s the first person who actually finds her life changed by the Christmas message, by the message God is becoming a human being.
Mary is a great model for us today because when she hears the Christmas message, she’s changed. She’s totally changed. She therefore is a model for us. She sings about three things in here. She understands the message of Christmas, and so she’s singing about it. She sings about God’s nature, his purposes. And then she sings about his adequacy.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 6, 1992. Series "Advent 1992". Scripture: Luke 1:46-55.
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 public places, Christmas is generally seen as meaning that if we really work hard we can make the world a better place. That’s the meaning of Christmas. If we hold hands and breathe in unison, if we really get together, we can make the world a better place.
It’s like a song they sang in the Live Aid concert in 1985. Afterward, Bob Dylan, who was one of all those rock stars who were singing, said to the press he was very uncomfortable singing the song. Somebody said to Bob Dylan, “Why were you uncomfortable?” He said, “I’ll tell you why. Because man cannot save himself.”
So we look today unto Bob Dylan for the true meaning of Christmas, because he got it right. The Bible says Jesus Christ came because we cannot save ourselves. There’s a problem. He had to do something about it. God and sinners need to be reconciled. This little passage shows us our need for reconciliation with God, the way of reconciliation, and the results - the radical, thorough results of the reconciliation Christ affects.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 24, 1995. Series "Advent: God and Sinners Reconciled". Scripture: Colossians 1:19-23.
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.

Christmas is about the doctrine of the incarnation, God becoming human. That’s what we sing about. And this passage is a breathtaking roller coaster ride through the doctrine of the incarnation. What I’d like to do, instead of looking so much at the doctrine, I would like to talk about what it means to us, how it makes our lives different.
Let me tell you three things that if the baby in the manger was God, not just a guru, not just a supernatural being, not just the first created thing, not just a hologram from heaven, but God himself. If that baby was God, let me tell you three differences it should make. It should lead to a reordering, a relinquishment and a rejoicing.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 17, 1995. Series "Advent: God and Sinners Reconciled". Scripture: Colossians 1:15-20, Philippians 3:10,  Hebrews 12:2, Mark 10:29.
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 gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.