When the Jewish exiles got to Babylon, they found a huge city—hostile, big, brutal—and it was filled with other exiles, with different people groups and radically different views. Our culture is not so different.

Liberals feel our country is so conservative that they’re pulling their hair out, and conservatives feel our country is so liberal that they’re pulling their hair out. Both groups feel like exiles. Millions of ethnic minorities feel like exiles. So how do you respond to a city that’s hostile to your views? How do you live in a fragmented society? 

God’s answer to the Jewish exiles is astounding. In it, we see three things: 1) wrong ways to relate to the city, 2) God’s way to relate to the city, and 3) how to get the power to do it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 5, 2003. Series: The Necessity of Belief. Scripture: Jeremiah 29:4-14.

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