Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

At the beginning of Luke 15, Jesus is speaking to religious leaders who look at him fraternizing with “sinners.” They basically ask Jesus: “Why are you hanging out with all these lost people?" In response, Jesus gives three parables about lostness, ending with the parable of the lost son. Jesus is trying to get across a new idea of what it means to be spiritually lost. In the parable of the lost son, then, Jesus gives us a new understanding and a new category for spiritual lostness.

In this sermon, we'll see what that category is, how you can judge whether you’re in the category yourself (what the signs are of that condition), what do you do with it if that’s you, and lastly, what are some of the implications for the church.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 9, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:17-32.

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 famous parable of the prodigal son shows us not just how the grace of God changes our individual lives but also how it changes our relationships with each other, how it forms a new kind of human community, a unique human society. Jesus brilliantly ties this story in with one of the main themes of the entire Bible: exile and homecoming.

Philosophers have taught that the human condition is one of profound alienation—feeling that we’re not really home in this world. Why would that be? What are we going to do about that? Those profound questions are all addressed and actually answered by this parable. We’re going to learn here about the human condition, the divine solution for it, and the new Communion that is the result.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 2, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:17-32.

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 parable of the prodigal son gives us incredible insights about how the grace of God creates a unique kind of Christian community. The one thing everybody knows when you read the parable of the prodigal son is that it's about forgiveness.

What does this story teach us about forgiveness? What kind of community would we be if we took its teaching about forgiveness seriously? In this sermon, we'll see that forgiveness is assertive, it’s sacrificial, it’s powered from inside, and it leads to a resurrection.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 26, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:11-24.

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 parable of the prodigal son shows us how the grace of God affects our relationships with each other and how it creates a unique community. In the story, when the younger brother comes back to try to make restitution and reconciliation, he says “I am not worthy to be called your son" two times.

What did sonship mean in ancient culture? What does sonship mean in the Bible? We have to understand sonship if we are going to understand the great gift that God has given to us through Jesus.

This sermon will explore the character of sonship, the practice of sonship, the community that results from sonship, and the accomplishment of sonship.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 19, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:21-24.

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.

In the story of the prodigal son, we see a story about the meltdown of community and the restoration of it. The key theme we’re going to look at in this sermon, which is crucial for the restoration or the renewal of community, is the theme of repentance.

Even though the word is not in this passage, what we have when the younger son decides to go back to his father is an example of repentance. This sermon will look at the importance of repentance, the anatomy of it, the key to doing it, and the kind of community that results from it. 

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 12, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:11-20.

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 parable of the prodigal son shows us, among many things, how the gospel creates a new and different kind of community. The parable shows us a family that is unraveling and falling apart—it is experiencing assaults on its integrity and cohesion.

In this sermon, we will see that the story of the prodigal son gives us a picture of an assault on community, because of idolatry which is only overcome by agony.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 5, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:11-14.

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.

We’re looking at the parables Jesus tells in Luke 15: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. These famous parables not only show us how God’s grace changes us individually, but how God’s grace forms us into a unique kind of human community. 

The gospel creates a completely unique and distinct kind of community — a community the world has never seen. Let’s take a look at the sheep, the search itself, and the shepherd, and see what each one of those teaches us about how God’s grace creates community.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 28, 2008. Series: The Fellowship of Grace. Scripture: Luke 15:1-10.

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.

In some cultures or social locations, God isn’t seen as compassionate enough, because he allows terrible things to happen. In other cultures, he is seen as too compassionate and forgiving to people who have done terrible things. To fully understand the compassion of God, we have to look at what the Bible says about it.

At the end of this famous story of Jonah, the word “compassion” shows up three times — what does it tell us about the compassion of God? This sermon will look at the compassion of God under three headings: 1) What is the compassion of God? 2) What is the compassion of Jesus? 3) What is the compassion of you and me?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 29, 2011. Series: To Know the Living God – The Adequacy of God. Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11.

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

If you are facing a difficulty you don’t know how to bear, a decision you don’t know how to make, or a complicated relationship you don’t know how to navigate, what you’re feeling is the need for wisdom. This simple yet profound passage is a great poetic hymn to wisdom, and it shows us that we can only find wisdom in God. In this sermon, we will see 1) The absolute importance of wisdom; 2) The only source of wisdom (God); and 3) How you can get wisdom.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 22, 2011. Series: To Know the Living God – The Adequacy of God. Scripture: Job 28:9-15; 20-28.

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.

Many people accuse the Bible of being a document that promotes oppression and injustice—but that’s not true at all. This text tells us God is a God of justice, and that, to walk with God, we must love mercy (our heart motivation) and do justice (the life we’re supposed to live). Therefore, Micah 6:8 actually summarizes what it means to be a follower of God by saying, “Do justice.”

This sermon will look at “doing justice” under three headings: 1) The life of justice; 2) The God of justice, and 3) How to live a life of justice before God.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 15, 2011. Series: To Know the Living God – The Adequacy of God. Scripture: Psalm 146:1-10.

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.