Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Now we come to the very last of the resurrection appearances. In some ways, John 21 is just filled with messages, filled with lessons, for how we’re supposed to live on earth until he comes back.

But in particular, there are four beautiful things we’re told here about the gospel, about the central message of who Jesus is, what he came to do, and how we should relate to him. We have here a great picture of the unity of the gospel, the forwardness of the gospel, the surgery of the gospel, and the intimacy of the gospel.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 11, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 4; The Lord". Scripture: John 21:1-17.

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In the gospel accounts, Thomas is pushing, pushing, pushing, and finally in this passage comes right out and says it. What does he say? “My Lord and my God!” That’s what it means to be a Christian, and you’re not a Christian until you say it. On the one hand, it’s a propositional statement. Jesus is Lord of the universe and God himself–there’s content to the faith. And on the other hand, it’s personal. He doesn’t just say, “Lord and God,” he says, “My Lord and my God!” and so he rests his life on it.

This is what John has been trying to get us to. Until you see him as that–not just a nice person, a savior who kind of helps you over the hard times in your life, someone who you go to church for on high holy days and pray to when you’re in trouble. This has to be the one who is the center of your life; the one you bow down to.

How do you get to that? How are we going to come to faith in Christ? How are we going to strengthen our faith in Christ the same way Thomas found? Let’s look at four practical ways to find faith or encourage your faith.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 4, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 4; The Lord". Scripture: John 20:24-31; Acts 1:21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:8; Ephesians 2:20; 1 John 1:1-2; John 8:19,45-46,58; John 12:44-45; Exodus 3:14; John 6:53.

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’ve been looking at the people Jesus met and dealt with after his resurrection in the resurrection narratives in Luke. And now we’re going to be looking at them in John.

Before we begin in the Gospel of John, I think it’s fair to pose two questions to you. First, why should you trust these accounts? Why should you trust and why can you trust they are telling you what happened? And secondly, why should you care what they say?

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 27, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 4; The Lord". Scripture: John 20:3-9;21:18-24.

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.

Jesus Christ is teaching us in this passage about the nature of the resurrection, that if we believe in him there’s a future for us. He says there’s a resurrection in the future we wait for and there’s a resurrection in the present we can experience now. It’s an understanding of both of those that radically shaped the early Christians, and it’s a disorientation to those that’s behind the fact that the Christian church looks different from that today.

The concept of the resurrection of the future that Jesus talked about is revolutionary. It’s paradigm-busting, but it’s only an intellectual concept. It’s only the knowledge of something in the future, and it isn’t operative in our lives unless the knowledge of the future resurrection becomes operative through the experience of a present resurrection, a spiritual resurrection now. So let’s look at those two.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 20, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 4; The Lord". Scripture: Luke 24:36-49.

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.

One of the most amazing things about Luke 24 is all that’s left out. In Acts 1, written also by Luke, we’re told that Luke knew about the fact that Jesus was actually on earth for 40 days after the resurrection teaching his disciples and appearing to people, meaning there were probably scores of other dramatic experiences people had of meeting with the risen Lord.

It makes these select few that Luke does preserve all the more remarkable. If Luke only preserves three, then it’s right for us to assume he must think these three, in all their features, convey to us the meaning of the resurrection better, perhaps, than any of the other appearances.

So it’s right for us to say, “What do they teach? What do we learn?” Not just that Jesus is risen, but what about the fact that Jesus is risen? Here’s what we’re going to learn. We’re going to learn about their spiritual blindness and how to have a personal encounter with Christ.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 13, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 4; The Lord". Scripture: Luke 24:13-32.

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.

We’re going through the life of Jesus, and now we’re coming to all of the appearances Jesus made after he was risen from the dead. This is the first of the accounts, the account of Mary Magdalene meeting Jesus. She’s the first person the risen Jesus meets.

Now we know that she goes on Easter morning to the tomb. She sees the grave is open, the tomb empty, and she runs to speak to Peter and John. Peter and John run to see that it’s empty, and she comes behind, and then they look in and see that the grave clothes are still there, and they begin to think. We’re told in verse 10, “Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside…”

Now, when we read the passage, there are three great things I think we see about this, three great things about Mary. She missed him, then she heard him, and then she held him. She missed Jesus, then she heard Jesus, and then she held Jesus.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 6, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 4; The Lord". Scripture: John 20:10-18.

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.

Of all the accounts the gospels give, this one here in Luke is the only account that tells us that when the women came to the tomb there were two angels that asked them a question. They said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

It was a counseling question, actually. It wasn’t looking for information. It was trying to push them. It was trying to show them their error. It was trying to show them they were disoriented to who Jesus really was and what he really came to do. And yet, it was joyful. It was loving. It was out to heal.

These women were making a mistake, and I’d like to show you three different ways in which they were making a mistake. These are three different ways we, too, can treat Jesus Christ as if he were dead today. They made the mistake of denying the miracle of the resurrection, the meaning of the resurrection and the spiritual reality of the resurrection.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 30, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 3; The King". Scripture: Luke 24:1-12.

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

We’re looking at the life of Jesus, and we’ve seen he’s come. He’s been betrayed. He’s been sentenced, and now he’s walking to be executed. And Jesus meets three sets of people on the way: the daughters of Jerusalem, the crowd at the cross, and these two thieves who were crucified with him.

There is a controlling thought throughout all three, and it’s seen in the prayer Jesus prays to his Father. “Father, forgive them. They don’t get it.” You see, here are all these people around Jesus. They’re watching it, and they don’t get it. They don’t know what’s going on.

They’re all spiritually asleep, but one is spiritually awake. Everybody looks around and cannot understand, but he prays a prayer, and the prayer is answered on that day with one person. We have a whole slew of people who are spiritually unconscious and one person who is spiritually conscious. Which are you?

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 16, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 3; The King". Scripture: Luke 23:26-43.

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

In this passage from Luke 22, we see the last night of Jesus’ life. It’s a fairly long passage, but the reason we’re looking at it all is because we see a pattern. Here at the very end, Jesus Christ is completely abandoned and forsaken. He is completely and systematically rejected by everybody who comes in. Everybody who should be standing there with him abandons him.

What we’re going to look at are three people who desert him. There are three people who are brought out in the book of Luke here who are abandoning Jesus at this point. If we want to understand what that all means to us, we have to look at these three: Judas, Peter and the Father.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 9, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 3; The King". Scripture: Luke 22:31-53.

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

What we have here is the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry. We’re going to see three things in this passage about the kingship of Christ. First of all, we learn here the confrontational nature of the kingship of Christ; secondly, the paradoxical nature; and thirdly, the transformational nature. Confrontational: “… your king …” Paradoxical: “… your king comes, gentle …” Transformational: “But he is coming. He is on the way.”

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 2, 1997. Series "The Real Jesus Part 3; The King". Scripture: Matthew 21:1-17; Acts 19:13-16; Revelation 3:15-16.

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