Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

It 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.

We’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 passage tells us four characteristics of the Christian experience: 1) the reality, 2) the diversity, 3) the beauty, and 4) the festivity.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 24, 1996. Series: Daring to Draw Near. Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8.

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

We’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 right away, but he didn’t figure what would actually happen. No one on the face of the earth would figure what would actually happen.

We’ll look at what happened. And then to apply this, we’ll see 1) the problem is we need an anchor for our souls, and 2) how we can get it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 3, 1996. Series: Daring to Draw Near. Scripture: Genesis 15:1-21.

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

We’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.

Let’s see what we can learn from what Paul shares: 1) the heaven experience, and 2) the thorn experience. 

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 20, 1996. Series: Daring to Draw Near. Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.

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

We’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 things God does for a depressed Elijah, and 2) the three things Elijah learns.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 13, 1996. Series: Daring to Draw Near. Scripture: 1 Kings 19:9-18.

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.

We’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 happens in this incident. Then we’ll look at what it teaches us about getting close to God. It shows us that 1) the presence of God is never permanently connected to any one object or method, but 2) his presence is always attached to several principles.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 6, 1996. Series: Daring to Draw Near. Scripture: 1 Samuel 5:14.

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

There’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 resources we’re told Christians have in order to face suffering.

These three resources are to know 1) the comfort of the presence, 2) the challenge of the glory, and 3) the joy of the resurrection.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 20, 2008. Series: Job - A Path Through Suffering. Scripture: Job 13:20-24; 14:7-17.

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

Christian 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 hope gives us an enormous resource to use on this problem. In Romans 14, Paul shows us 1) the problem, 2) a false solution, 3) the true solution, and 4) the power to do it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 25, 2004. Series: Living in Hope. Scripture: Romans 14:1-3, 14:14-15:7.

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.

Historical 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 anybody be certain about the future?” That was what was different. The answer and, therefore, the key to this whole dynamic of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When the early Christians looked at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the resurrection 1) gave them certainty of God’s future and 2) described the shape of God’s future.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 11, 2004. Series: Living in Hope. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-10; 47-58.

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.

I 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 Christianity gives us so we can handle death, and 2) how we get it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 4, 2004. Series: Living in Hope. Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.

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