Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Hebrews was written to people who have been shaken by life. Difficulties and sufferings have shaken them to the core. 

The writer is trying to help them find ways to face the brutal realities of life, to stand solid when everything around them is falling apart. In Hebrews 12, we have the climax. The writer pulls together all of the threads and says, “In an unstable world, here is how you can live an unshakeable life.”

This passage depicts 1) the shakable life, 2) the unshakeable life, and 3) how to receive that unshakeable life.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 17, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 12:18-29.

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 https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There’s never been a culture with a lower pain threshold than ours. There’s never been a culture that gave us fewer resources for dealing with the brutal realities of life and death than ours. 

The writer of Hebrews wants his readers to understand how to become the kind of people who can cope with the brutal realities of life. To a great degree, the climax of his argument is here in Hebrews 12.

We’re taught here 1) life is a race, 2) why to run the race, and 3) how to run the race.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 10, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-13.

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.

Hebrews is written to help us have what it takes to face the difficulties of life. And in chapter 11, we’re told one of the keys is to be people of faith. But what is faith?

In our cultural moment, conservatives see faith as a moral virtue, while liberals see skepticism as a mark of intellectual maturity. As usual, the Bible’s understanding of faith is much more nuanced, much more sophisticated and complex, than either of those views. 

Life-transforming faith, according to this text, has four aspects: 1) it’s rational, 2) it’s personal, 3) it’s foundational, and 4) it’s graceful.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 3, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-10, 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.

The book of Hebrews is written to people who are so beaten down with troubles that they’re ready to give up. 

The writer is trying to give the readers what they need to handle the brutal realities of life in this world. In Hebrews 11, he gives us something that helps us handle anything. 

If you have it, you can handle absolutely anything life throws at you: 1) what is it? and 2) how do we get it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 27, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 11:32-40.

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.

When modern people hear that God requires blood to turn aside his wrath from sin, it sounds offensive. It sounds disgusting, primitive, obscene. 

Christianity has sometimes been called the religion of the slaughterhouse. It doesn’t seem to be what we need in a world that’s filled with blood and violence. But Jesus saves through his blood. And the book of Hebrews says there’s power in the blood. 

Without the shedding of blood, Hebrews says we wouldn’t know three things: 1) the depth of our problem, 2) the power of God’s solution, and 3) the extent of the transformation that can happen to us.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 20, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 9:11-14; 10:11-18.

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.

Jesus Christ did not come to start a new religion. He didn’t come to start the best religion. He came to end religion.

Every religion has its extremists. Religion causes an enormous amount of conflict and strife in this world. What are we going to do about it? To embrace Jesus Christ is to end religion, is to move away from all religion. 

There are two things Hebrews 8 tells us: 1) Jesus came to end all religion and, 2) therefore, Jesus came to give us a radical new covenant relationship with God.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 13, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 8:1-2; 7-13.

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.

To be able to handle life, there’s nothing more practical than to know that Jesus is your advocate.

This isn’t just an abstract doctrinal issue. Because this whole book of Hebrews is written not as a theological treatise, but as a piece of intense pastoral counseling. 

So let’s ask three questions: 1) why do we need an advocate? 2) how is Jesus Christ the advocate we need? and 3) what difference will it make in your life if you receive him as such?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 6, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 7:18-27.

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 Hebrews is telling us we’ll never make it through life without counseling—daily counseling.

A main theme of Hebrews is that life in this world is a journey, spiritually speaking, through a wilderness. In verse 13, it says the only way we’re going to get through it is with this little word: the Greek word, parakaleō. It’s often translated as encouragement, but it comes closest to what we today would call counseling. 

Let’s ask the text these questions: 1) why do we need counseling? 2) what kind of counseling do we need? 3) who can give it to us? and 4) how do we receive it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 27, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 3:12-13; 4:14-5:7.

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 https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Hebrews is written to first-century, urban people who are so weary with troubles and difficulties that they’re in danger of giving up. What do they need? 

It’s pretty obvious from this passage what the writer is trying to get across: because eight times in eleven verses we see the word “rest.” It’s not just a crucial message for them, but for us too. We live in a culture that’s probably more in need of this message than any other culture in history. 

This passage shows us 1) the importance of rest, 2) the two levels of rest, 3) the ordeal you need to go through in order to get rest, and 4) the author of rest.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 20, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 4:1-13.

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.

The book of Hebrews is written to a group of urban, first-century Christians who were struggling with fear and discouragement because their lives were so filled with troubles. 

The question this book asks is if God loves us so much, why are our lives so hard? In almost every passage, the answer it gives is that fear and discouragement can be dealt with by looking at Jesus. 

Hebrews 2 says if you really want to deal with fear and discouragement in your life, you need to see that Jesus is 1) the king who gets involved with us, 2) the captain who faces death for us, and 3) the brother who is proud of us.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 13, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 2:5-18.

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.