Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
692 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★★ - 13.4K ratingsSermons by Tim Keller, founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC and NY Times best-selling author of ”The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.” For more sermons and resources, visit www.gospelinlife.com.
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Episodes
Hagar and the Son
May 24, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 31.5 MBWhen people in the Bible have close encounters with God, in almost every situation they say, “I can’t believe I’m still alive,” and Hagar is one of them. In Genesis 16, we see the story of Hagar, the maidservant of Sarah. Sarah’s and Hagar’s experiences overlap. We’re told Sarah mistreats Hagar, and it’s so bad that Hagar, a pregnant woman, flees out into the desert. We have here a story that will tell you the gospel. This is the gospel according to Hagar. We’ll look at 1) how we can under...
Tim Keller is with his Savior
May 20, 2023 00:33 - 2 minutes - 1.82 MBIt is with sadness that we share with you that our founder and friend, Timothy J. Keller passed away this morning, May 19, 2023 at the age of 72, trusting in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. Please join us in prayer for his family as they go through the grieving process. While our hearts are heavy with the news of Tim’s death, we know he is rejoicing with his Savior in heaven.
Isaiah and the Altar
May 19, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 32.1 MBWe’re looking at historic accounts of people who had direct encounters with the living God. Isaiah 6 is a seminal passage: all of biblical religion is in here. It tells us so much about what it means to be a Christian and what it means to really meet God. In this passage, Isaiah’s just going to the temple like he’s gone to the temple hundreds of times before. It’s the Sabbath day. He walks into the temple, and the very last person in the whole world he expects to actually see is God. This ...
Sarah and the Laugh
May 17, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 31.4 MBTwo times God appears to Abraham, but this time is utterly different than the last time. This time, God has come to get Sarah’s attention. In Genesis 15, God speaks to Abraham in dread darkness as an unapproachable thing. Here, in Genesis 18, in the heat of the day and in the most approachable possible way, God has come not so much to talk to Abraham—he has come to talk to Sarah. God is going to establish Sarah in his promise. We’ll look at 1) why, 2) how, and 3) what lessons we can draw o...
Abraham and the Torch
May 15, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 31.5 MBWe’re looking in the Bible at people who have had direct encounters with the raw presence of God. But this situation in which Abraham has a meeting with God is one of the weirdest stories in the Bible. It’s also the most significant passage for me in all of the Old Testament. In this passage, Abraham asks how he can know that God will do what God’s promised. When God responds, Abraham knows what’s going on: a covenant ratification ceremony. This was the making of a contract. Abraham knew ri...
Paul and the Thorn
May 12, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 29.3 MBWe’re looking at times when people have had close encounters with God. The one Paul gives us is one of the most curious of all. And it’s actually about discouragement. Paul is writing a letter to the church at Corinth. There were false teachers who had come to Corinth, twisting the gospel and claiming to have divine authority. When Paul responds, he does not enter into a direct competition. He does not say, “My revelations are bigger or better.” Oh, no. He says his revelations are different...
Elijah and the Voice
May 10, 2023 10:00 - 43 minutes - 34.7 MBWe’re looking at individuals who have met God in a particularly poignant way, who have actually come into the presence of God. To understand Elijah’s experience, we have to first jump back. Right before this moment in Elijah’s life, we see one of the most dramatic, spectacular events in all of the Bible. But after that spectacular event, Elijah is afraid, running for his life, and in utter despair. Let’s tell the story, and then let’s draw out lessons from it. Let’s look at 1) the three th...
Dagon and the Ark
May 08, 2023 10:00 - 44 minutes - 36.1 MBWe’re looking at places in the Bible in which someone, or in this case something, got near to the presence of God. Whenever a person gets into the presence of God, there’s usually some kind of physical manifestation. In other words, God connects his presence to something visible, something tangible. There’s only one object, however, in all the history of the Bible, that God routinely attached his presence to, and that was the ark of the covenant. Let’s look at what the ark is and what happ...
Joshua and the General
May 05, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 28.4 MBMany of you have probably heard of the battle of Jericho. But you probably didn’t know about what happens in these first three verses. These verses make all the difference. Jericho was a huge city, a fortified city, and humanly speaking, an impossible city for the Israelites to handle. It’s important to remember that this is not the first time Joshua has been to Jericho. In this passage, Joshua goes out all by himself and looks at it. He’s remembering something that happened 40 years before...
Job and the Whirlwind
May 03, 2023 10:00 - 31 minutes - 25.1 MBMany people say, “I want to meet God. I want to have an encounter.” But the way Job gets to an encounter with God is through absolutely horrible suffering. Job is a book for adults. It’s not easy. It’s certainly not sugarcoated. When God shows up, it’s not a Hallmark-card, folded-hands, rays-of-light-coming-through-the-stained-glass-window kind of religion. Oh no, not at all. Let’s look at the story of Job, and then let’s look at what it teaches about what it means to know God. It shows us...
Jacob and the Wrestler
May 01, 2023 10:00 - 41 minutes - 33.8 MBDrawing near to God is perilous. If there’s any place in the Bible where that comes out, it’s here, because when Jacob draws near to God, he finds that God is a wrestler. This is the climactic moment in Jacob’s life. This is the place where Jacob finally finds out what his life means, finally finds out what his main problem is, finally has a transformation of heart. Before this incident, Jacob plays at religion. After this, he’s a changed man. To understand this narrative, we have to 1) lo...
Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering
April 28, 2023 10:00 - 58 minutes - 47.2 MBThis talk and Q&A by Tim Keller was held at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City on October 2, 2013.
If a Man Dies, Shall He Live Again?
April 26, 2023 10:00 - 34 minutes - 27.6 MBThere’s nothing more inevitable in life than suffering, and there’s no book in the Bible, and maybe no work of world literature, that faces the issue of suffering with more realism, integrity, and wisdom than the book of Job. In the middle part of the book, there are long speeches by Job, and most of the time he’s expressing confusion and anger. But there are two places where, in his wrestling, Job wrestles through to remarkable faith and insight. In this one, Job comes to grips with three ...
Miserable Comforters
April 24, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 29.7 MBHow do you bear suffering? How do you get through the inevitable suffering that will come to you? The answer to that is comfort. In the book of Job, Job has three friends who show up and do an absolutely terrible job of comforting. Yet, even by looking at their terrible comfort, we’re going to learn something about the sources of comfort. In this passage, let’s take a look at 1) the bad comfort, 2) the better comfort, and 3) the ultimate comfort. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Ke...
Questions of Suffering
April 21, 2023 15:58 - 35 minutes - 28.7 MBWhen you suffer, it’s natural to ask the question, “Why?” Instinctively, it’s sometimes the very first thing out of our mouths when tragedy hits: “Why me? Why this? Why now?” There’s no other book of the Bible or piece of literature that addresses the great why question of suffering with the intellectual and philosophical integrity and deftness, the emotional and dramatic realism, and the spiritual wisdom of the book of Job. This text teaches us three things about the why question of suffe...
Christian Hope and Suffering
April 19, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 31.9 MBThe Christian hope is a life-shaping certainty that our ultimate future is the eternal love and glory of God, the new heavens and new earth. The uniqueness of the Christian hope means every area of our lives is shaped by that belief, that future. And so the Christian hope has an enormous impact on how we face and process suffering, disappointment, difficulty, troubles. In 2 Corinthians, we’re told three things about suffering: 1) the inevitability of it, 2) the pattern of it, and 3) the fu...
Christian Hope and Money
April 17, 2023 10:00 - 37 minutes - 29.8 MBThere’s more emphasis in our culture on getting and spending money, on consuming goods, than in any culture in history. In his book, The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope, Andrew Delbanco says we’ve lost the sense that there’s something beyond this world, so we use money to distract ourselves from the fear that our lives aren’t going anywhere. Paul agrees with that, that what you believe your ultimate future to be will have a huge impact on how you use your money. In these two famou...
Hope, Race and Power
April 14, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 29.2 MBChristian hope is unique. The certainty of a material future, the new heavens and new earth, and the certainty that in Christ, that’s coming to you, makes Christianity a distinct, life-shaping force. It distinctly shapes the way in which we live in every area of life. We’re looking now at an area of life that has been a matter of enormous concern to us as a whole world, especially as a society. How do people of different races, cultures, and religions live together in peace? The Christian ...
The Hope of Glory
April 10, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 29 MBHistorical and sociological scholarship shows the early Christians were remarkably different than their neighbors. Why were the Christians so much more compassionate to the sick? Why were they so much more forgiving to their persecutors? Why were they so much more ethnically inclusive than anyone had ever seen? Were they just ahead of their time? Were they just nicer people? No, it all depended on what they believed their future to be. You might say, “That sounds very good, but how could an...
A Special Easter Conversation with Tim and Kathy Keller
April 08, 2023 10:00 - 8 minutes - 11.9 MBIn this short special episode, Tim and Kathy Keller have a conversation about the resurrection of Jesus as the historically verifiable event on which the Christian faith stands.
Death and the Christian Hope
April 07, 2023 10:00 - 37 minutes - 30.5 MBI think I can say without fear of contradiction that no matter who you are, there’s a lot of death in your future. If you look around, you look at your loved ones, you look at your family, you look at your friends. Either you will face death yourself because you will be dying younger than is our want, or you will live a long time and face the death of the other people around you. Christian hope gives you something to deal with that, gives you something remarkable. Let’s look at 1) what Chr...
The Experience of Hope
April 05, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 33.9 MBYou might say that even though you believe in most of what the Bible says about the ultimate future, it hasn’t changed your life. You really don’t handle suffering or death or other things any differently than other people. Why would that be? The answer is because it’s not simply the doctrine of Christian hope, it’s not just the cognitive belief that changes us. It’s the experience of hope. Let’s look at 1) the promise of this experience, 2) the sources of this experience, and 3) how we ge...
The Grammar of Hope
April 03, 2023 13:40 - 42 minutes - 34 MBNobody has ever asked me to preach on hope, except my wife, who asked me to do this whole series. The reason people don’t ask me to preach on hope is we underestimate tremendously what really is the engine of our lives. How you live now is completely determined by your believed-in future. We’re going to look at what Christian hope is and how it is the great life-changing dynamic in the Christian life. Let’s notice what Ephesians 1 tells us about 1) the importance of hope, 2) the content of...
The Empty Tomb
March 31, 2023 10:00 - 31 minutes - 25.3 MBAll four of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) tell us that the women followers of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning found the tomb empty and heard a message from the angel. Of those four accounts, Mark’s is the shortest. In two wonderful verses, we have the entirety of the life-changing message of the resurrection, of Easter. There are three aspects to this message: 1) there is a word of challenge to change your mind, 2) there is a word of grace to change your heart, and 3) there is...
Women, Pagans, and Pharisees
March 29, 2023 10:00 - 41 minutes - 33.5 MBIn the burial of Jesus, we see three classes of people who are brought together by the death of Jesus. There is the Roman centurion, who is a pagan. There are the women who stay with Jesus all through this time. And there’s Joseph of Arimathea, who is a member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee, a member of the ruling party. Women, pagans, Pharisees—three groups of people who don’t usually hang out together. Yet something has brought them together. These are three groups all making positive respo...
The Death of Jesus
March 27, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 34.1 MBAt the actual moment of Jesus’ death, an inexplicable, mysterious darkness comes down. From noon to 3:00 PM, it was absolutely dark. This is an inexplicable darkness. A solar eclipse does not create absolute darkness for more than a few minutes. Besides that, a solar eclipse can’t happen during a full moon, and it was Passover, which is a time of a full moon. Beyond that, it was the wet season, so you can’t attribute it to a desert wind storm. This is a supernatural darkness, and therefore ...
Mocking Jesus
March 24, 2023 16:56 - 39 minutes - 31.4 MBIn the first half of the crucifixion account, there’s a theme. That theme is the fact that Jesus is mocked, insulted, jeered at, laughed at, humiliated, and shamed. The soldiers are jeering at him, spitting on him. He is stripped naked and crucified naked. The passersby are insulting him. The religious leaders are mocking him. And at the very end, even the thieves on the crosses beside him are making fun of him, insulting him. Jesus didn’t only get killed on the cross—he also got shamed an...
Jesus and Politics
March 22, 2023 10:00 - 38 minutes - 30.9 MBFor the first time, in Mark 15, we have Jesus in front of the political establishment, the Roman state. So we have to ask the question, “What is the relationship of Jesus to politics, of Christianity to the government?” Pilate asks three questions. He asks Jesus, “Are you king of the Jews?” and, “Why aren’t you fighting back?” Then he asks the crowd, “What shall we do with the king?” The answers to these three questions are a lens by which to explore the relationship of Christianity to poli...
Witness
March 20, 2023 10:00 - 44 minutes - 35.6 MBThe story of Peter’s denial and the story of Jesus’ arrest and trial are intertwined in Mark 14. We’re meant to compare these two stories. Peter is on trial, just like Jesus. Peter is being questioned, just like Jesus. The question is being put in front of us: do you have what it takes to be a person of truth, of integrity, who does the right thing, who stands up for justice, who tells the truth in general and the truth about Jesus in particular, regardless of what it costs you? According t...
Christ’s Confession
March 17, 2023 14:18 - 36 minutes - 29.6 MBWe’re looking at the final days of Jesus’ life on earth. And in Mark 14, Jesus is on trial. There’s nothing more dramatic than to be on trial for your life. And there’s no more dramatic moment in a trial than when the defendant is called to testify on the witness stand. And there perhaps has never been a more dramatic and shocking testimony given on a witness stand than the one Jesus Christ gives. In this passage, we see 1) that Jesus is the judge, 2) that Jesus is the judge who was judged...
The Kiss of Death
March 15, 2023 15:15 - 41 minutes - 33 MBAs we look at the last part of Jesus’ life, we come to this scene: his arrest. In it, Jesus makes a big deal about them coming for him with swords and clubs. What we have here is a clash between two kingdoms, two administrations of reality, two sets of priorities and values. We have the right-side-up kingdom of this world and the upside-down kingdom of Jesus and of God. In this passage in Mark 14 we see, 1) Judas shows us the kingdom of this world, 2) Peter shows us the difficulty of livin...
The Heart of Jesus
March 13, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 32.2 MBIf you read the rest of the life of Jesus, he’s totally unflappable, but in the garden of Gethsemane, as he faces his imminent death, it says he’s astonished and overcome with horror. The fact that Jesus struggles with his death is not only unique in ancient history, it’s actually almost unique in church history itself. This passage in Mark 14 helps us 1) see that it all really happened, 2) understand we have a culture, 3) come to grips with the wrath of God, 4) discover a way to deal with ...
Hope in Times of Fear: An Interview with Tim
March 11, 2023 11:00 - 41 minutes - 33.1 MBIn this special episode, Susan Nacorda Stang interviews Tim about his book, Hope in Times of Fear. The interview was recorded prior to the book's release in March 2021.
Supper With Friends
March 10, 2023 11:00 - 38 minutes - 31.3 MBConfucius, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses—they all died in old age, in comfort and blessedness, triumphant over their opponents. Of all the founders of major religions, Jesus alone died alone, young, stripped naked, stared at, mocked, while he died by inches in agony, crying out to God who had forsaken him. Who, hearing that story, would say, “That’s the spiritual leader I want”? And yet, the suffering and death of Jesus Christ transformed lives at a depth and on a scale that completely changed th...
The Betrayers
March 08, 2023 11:00 - 40 minutes - 32.7 MBIn Mark 14, Jesus predicts his betrayal by one disciple, and he predicts the defection and the failure of all the disciples. So what are we supposed to learn from this? Even though it will be relevant to everybody, this passage is particularly meant for people who think they are Jesus’ friends, people who think they’re pretty close to him, people who feel they’re really following him, people who even would consider themselves the leaders of the Christian movement. This passage teaches us a...
The Meaning of His Death
March 06, 2023 11:00 - 41 minutes - 33.7 MBIt’s very clear what Jesus Christ came to do. He came to die. That sets him apart from the founders of every other major religion. They came to live and be an example. He came to die. Most of the people in the world fall into one of two categories with regard to the cross of Jesus. Many people struggle too much with the cross, because they find it offensive and nonsensical. Many other people struggle too little with the cross. They think they believe it, but it’s not changing their life at ...
The Final Temple
March 03, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutes - 30 MBWe’re looking at a very famous passage about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the cleansing of the temple. And in the midst of this passage, there’s the curious incident of the fig tree. In this we can see 1) the character Jesus has, 2) the power he brings, and 3) how that power reproduces his character in you and me. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 17, 2006. Series: King's Cross: The Gospel of Mark, Part 2: The Journey ...
Watching for the Son
March 01, 2023 16:33 - 37 minutes - 30.1 MBJesus tells the disciples that Jerusalem and the temple, at some future time, are going to be destroyed by the Romans. And Jesus says this is a foreshadowing of the end of the world, of judgment day, of his second coming to earth. Jesus then tells his disciples to watch and yearn for his coming back to earth. A lot of people, both inside and outside the church, really struggle with this teaching. Three questions come up immediately: 1) Doesn’t this lead to fanaticism? 2) What difference do...
Work and Family
February 27, 2023 11:00 - 35 minutes - 28.4 MBThe first three chapters of Ephesians has a lot of heavy theology about what it means to be a Christian and who we are in Christ. Then, it suddenly gets incredibly practical—and it’s not actually a different subject. All of the theology has an effect on how we live in our practical lives. Christ really is Lord of every area of life. Two of those areas are now laid out for us: work and family. We’re going to look now at 1) Jesus and your work, 2) Jesus and your family, and 3) Jesus and yo...
Faith and Work
February 24, 2023 11:00 - 42 minutes - 34.1 MBIsaiah 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 wor...
Work and Rest
February 22, 2023 11:00 - 43 minutes - 34.6 MBWhat does it mean to follow Jesus and apply the gospel to every single area of life? In Luke 6, we look to an area of life that’s covered in the fourth commandment: sabbath rest. We all have somewhat different relationships to work. There are people, for example, who are out of work and would love to have more work. But by and large, one of the biggest problems we have is the discipline of getting sabbath rest. As we look at sabbath rest, we’re going to ask 1) Why do we need it? 2) Where ...
Our Work and Our Character
February 20, 2023 11:00 - 41 minutes - 33 MBThe gospel affects how you do your work, how you do your job, and how you pursue your vocation. How does that affect your work? 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 Wor...
Work and Calling
February 17, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutes - 29.9 MBIn the Bible there’s a view of work that’s revolutionary. It’s so revolutionary that Dorothy Sayers writes that society as a whole, and individuals in particular, are dying for the lack of it—that individuals are hurting because we don’t have it. Unless you understand the biblical doctrine of work, you will never find rest. That’s the irony. You see, there’s a kind of work that arises from rest, and on the other hand, there’s a kind of restless work. It’s one or the other. The biblical doc...
Hope for Your Work
February 15, 2023 11:00 - 34 minutes - 28.1 MBHow does the gospel give us hope? And how does that hope shape our public life? We’re looking at how hope shapes the way in which we live our lives—not just in giving us inner peace and not just in our family life, but in our public life out in the world. In particular, how does hope shape the way in which we do our work? We’re going to see 1) the passion of hope, 2) the case study of hope, and then 3) the reason for hope. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presb...
Sent to Love
February 13, 2023 11:00 - 38 minutes - 30.8 MBThe night before Jesus is going to die, he’s trying to get his disciples ready to be sent out into the world to represent him. And what does he do? He washes their dirty feet. We’re meditating on the fact that he washed their dirty feet. Only when you understand this picture, do you really understand the kind of love that Jesus is calling all Christians to. The love that Jesus is calling us to 1) is not just attraction, it’s action, 2) is not just giving, it’s investing, and 3) is not out...
Sent with Grace
February 10, 2023 11:00 - 40 minutes - 32.9 MBWhen Jesus knew it was his last time to train his disciples, he started their training with foot washing. He gets up out of his place as the guest of honor, and he puts on a towel, picks up a basin, and begins to wash their feet. We’ve seen that this has symbolism that tells us who Jesus is. We look now at how it tells us what he came to give us: his salvation. We learn here that 1) we have a deep problem, 2) there’s a twofold cure, and 3) why and how we can get it. This sermon was preac...
Sent in Love
February 08, 2023 16:28 - 38 minutes - 30.8 MBOn the night before he went to the cross, Jesus was about to send his disciples out into the world in a new way, and so he trained them. He started with this remarkable act of foot washing. Jesus has just finished talking about who he is and what he came to do. And then he gets up and begins to wash the disciples’ feet. So the foot washing is clearly a sign, a symbolic act. In the foot washing, we’re going to learn something about Jesus. This act shows us 1) his person, 2) his power, and 3...
Sent to Bring Freedom
February 06, 2023 11:00 - 36 minutes - 29.4 MBDoes becoming a Christian mean the end of your freedom? Is a relationship with Jesus Christ a radical challenge to your freedom? The answer is yes and no. But ultimately, no. Now I know somebody’s going to say that sounds like an ambiguous answer, but actually, it’s a complex answer. In John 8, Jesus teaches about freedom. Jesus shows us 1) the complexity of freedom, 2) the enemy of freedom, 3) the ultimate source of freedom and the true liberator. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy...
Sent to Bear Witness
February 03, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutes - 30 MBWe’re looking at the last sermon that Jesus Christ preached publicly to the world at large. And when you know this is the end, that you’re never going to speak to people again before you die, you usually say the things that are most important to you. There are three ideas that Jesus gets across in this passage. They are not easy messages for the world to hear, but they’re brilliant. Jesus is saying three things: 1) you need my power to believe, 2) you need my light for your darkness, and...
Sent to Show Christ’s Glory
February 01, 2023 19:31 - 34 minutes - 27.4 MBAccording to the Bible, there’s nothing more eminent than the glory of God. But that term is so remote to us now. Most Christians have heard of doing things for the glory of God, but what does that mean? Do you want to have meaning in life? Do you have some need for deep personal change? Are you concerned about justice in the world? The key to all those things is the glory of God. We see in John 12 that to live for the glory of God is to 1) treat God as supremely important, and 2) see God...