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The book of Deuteronomy is a series of sermons Moses preached just before he died. In it, he lays out, in the most comprehensive and practical way, how you should live if you experience the grace and salvation of God. If you experience God, how should that actually affect the way in which you live your life? It's a very, very practical book and an incredibly comprehensive book. Today, we get to the Ten Commandments. This is one of the most influential texts in the entire history of the world. Let's take a look and see what we're taught about it. It's awfully basic, but it's awfully basic because it's awfully important. There are four things we're going to learn here about God's Law: 1) the origin of the Law; 2) the substance of the Law; 3) the problem of the Law, and 4) the solution to that problem. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 27, 2007. Series: Deuteronomy – Doing Justice, Preaching Grace. Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:6-21, 24-29. 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.
Jesus says, “Don't be anxious,” three times in this passage. Quick question that comes up: how does anybody have the audacity to command us to not be anxious? Nobody gets up in the morning and says, “I'm going to really be anxious today. I can't wait.” It's not a very voluntary thing. So why would Jesus command us? If we look carefully, we'll see that he's not commanding us in a drill sergeant way. Instead, he gets underneath and he explains and he reasons with us. There's a sense in which he does surgery. He's saying, “If you let me do my surgery in you, if you listen to my instructions, I can get anxiety out of you. I can deal with your anxiety.” Let's look at what Jesus shows us about 1) what is anxiety? 2) where does it come from? and 3) what do we do about it? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 3, 1990. Series: The Lord's Prayer 1990. Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34. 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 many people, the whole point of prayer is this: how do you get God to give you what you need? Now, that's not the point of prayer, and if you think it is, you will get very little. That's the irony. Prayer is very effective for those people who don't come into it hoping it will primarily be a way to get God to give you things. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus shows us that after you are done centering your heart and mind on the fatherhood of God and submitting to his lordship by saying, “your will be done,” then you can go and start asking him for your daily bread, for protection, for provision. So there's an order here that must be honored, or else you rip up the fabric of prayer. Let's look at what it means to pray with this order: 1) first accepting “your will be done,” and 2) then asking. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 27, 1990. Series: The Lord's Prayer 1990. Scripture: Matthew 6:9-15. 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.
A life of absolute peace, a life of tremendous clarity, a life of total power and freedom, a life of high beauty—that's the vision of the Lord's Prayer. A whole new life that revolves around God. We're going to look now at the part of the prayer that's about admitting. Let me reiterate that since prayer essentially is centering on God, everything starts with adoration and everything has to be understood as flowing out of it. If your repentance, if your admitting doesn't flow out of adoration, it won't deal with your guilt and it will even make it worse. But if it flows out of adoration of the Father, it can get rid of your guilt. Jesus Christ, in the context of the Lord's Prayer, teaches us 1) the reason for repentance, 2) the motivation for repentance, and 3) three ways to repent. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 20, 1990. Series: The Lord's Prayer 1990. Scripture: Matthew 6:9-15. 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.
What's ironic is the Lord's Prayer has probably the most familiar words in the English language, and yet it is the secret to what you seek. We're so tired of technology, of quantifying everything, of being a number. At the core of our being, we need and we desperately want real soul experience. And how to have it is right in front of us. Jesus Christ taught it to us in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus says, “This is how to pray. This is the key.” I must say that one of the reasons why we don't know how to use it is because this prayer is so familiar. But it tells you everything you need to know about communication with God. Looking at just one verse, we see how Jesus shows us 1) the difficulty of prayer, 2) the basis of prayer, and 3) the essence of prayer. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 6, 1990. Series: The Lord's Prayer 1990. Scripture: Matthew 6:9-15. 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.
With this episode we begin another two part Rainy Day Conversation. These are quarterly conversations with smart and gracious people whose wisdom is brought to bear upon life and ministry and the church. The focus of this conversation, with Dr. Trey Martin, is how we as Christians and as pastors think about our affections in the wake of the late Dr. Tim Keller's helpful, but potentially confusing, teaching about idolatry. Are we over or under applying this teaching? I'm grateful to Dr. Martin, a man who has thought deeply about this, for joining in this conversation. The question is how the concept of idolatry can be helpful, and at times unhelpful, personally as we live our lives before God and pastorally as we lead our congregations to love and follow Jesus. In some quarters of the church it has become popular to label many things as ‘idols'. But are they? What might be gained, or lost, by seeing them in that way? How ought we to understand our affections? Can we love a thing without it being a god in place of God? In this first half of the conversation, we'll lay the groundwork for the practical application which will come in the second. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: For an explanation of the name and intention of these occasional interviews, read this, or listen to it here or here. Dr. Trey Martin The article that stimulated this conversation: A COUNTERFEIT IDOL: RESIGNATION AND FAITH IN TIMOTHY KELLER'S COUNTERFEIT GODS, by Dr. Trey Martin. Used by the kind permission from Covenant Theological Seminary. For information about the academic-pastoral journal Presbyterion, go to https://www.covenantseminary.edu/publications. Timothy Keller, The Reason for God Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together Sinclair Ferguson, The Whole Christ When you buy a book using a link on this page, Greatheart's Table receives a commission. Thank you for supporting this work! Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart's Table, visit us here.
QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Truth is not something we possess; it is Someone who possesses us.”~Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Christianity is not a set of ideas, but a Person who walks before us and calls us to follow.”~Timothy Keller “To follow Jesus is to discover that life itself has a direction.”~Dallas Willard “Truth is not found in a principle but in a person—Jesus Christ.”~N. T. Wright “The central pronouncement, ‘I am the Way,' is profoundly significant within the chapter as a whole, for it states in so many words what Bunyan knew, that ‘the way' is not what Thomas thought it was, a literal route or pathway, but a Person, Jesus himself. The destination, accordingly, is not a place (not even precisely ‘my Father's house'), but also a Person, the Father himself.”~J. Ramsey Michaels “The road to heaven runs through the cross.”~Billy Graham “Where is the highway to heaven? Where is the love we all need? Where is the peace we long for? Where is the man who is free?”~ John Denver, “Hold On Tightly” SERMON PASSAGEJohn 14:1-14 (ESV) 1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
It's artificial to avoid the subject of money when so many of your problems, your worries, and your difficulties revolve around money. And it's also artificial to avoid the subject because so much of the Bible is about money. The Bible says there can be no significant spiritual growth unless you put your money and your attitude toward it into God's hands. And 2 Corinthians 9 shows us that it's the mark of a real Christian to be radically generous. This passage teaches us 1) the impact of that generosity, 2) the motivation for that generosity, and 3) the measure of that generosity. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 10, 1991. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. 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 middle of John 1, the religious leaders send people to interrogate John the Baptist. It doesn't look like it's got much to do with Christmas, and yet it does. Some major inner change has happened to John the Baptist. And if John the Baptist has had that change with what little knowledge he had of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas, how much more should we be exhibiting that change? Let's take a look at 1) John's view of himself, 2) John's view of Jesus, 3) the resulting character change, and 4) how we might know it as well. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 18, 2016. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent. Scripture: John 1:19-28. 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.
When the original hearers of John's gospel—the Jews and the Greeks—heard the term, “the Word became flesh,” it was revolutionary. Many scholars have said it marked a complete revolution in the history of human thought. But I'd like us to think about the fact that Christmas doesn't change our lives like it ought to. John says the Word of God became a flesh and blood human being. This is a life-transforming truth. Let's look at three ways this truth should change our lives. If Christmas happened, and it did, 1) we have infinite comfort in the face of suffering, 2) we have infinite powerful conviction and incentive to serve, and 3) we have a hope that is both realistic and infallible. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 11, 2016. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent. Scripture: John 1:14-18. 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.
John 1 is about Jesus first coming into the world. It's John's way of helping us understand the meaning of Christmas. And at the very beginning, John sort of hits us between the eyes and says the reason why Jesus Christ came into the world is so that you might be born again. It's all here in two verses, where it says the new birth is 1) essential, 2) radical, 3) simple, but 4) hard. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 4, 2016. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent. Scripture: John 1:12-13. 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.
Light in the darkness is one of the ways that throughout history, Christmas has been celebrated. Lighting candles, and lights on trees, and lights at night. What is that all about? In John 1, John talks about Jesus coming into the world. It's his way of talking about the meaning of Christmas. And in this very famous passage, the word “light” shows up seven times. Let's look at how this tells us that 1) human beings need light, 2) there is a light, and 3) how we can connect to it and receive it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 27, 2016. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent. Scripture: John 1:1-11. 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.
Today Dot and Cara turn from the younger son to the older brother. Looking at Luke 15 and sharing insights from The Prodigal God by Tim Keller, they explore how we can “do all the right things” and still miss the Father's heart. This Christmas, what if we let God expose both the prodigal and the older brother in us so we can receive His grace? Grab your Bible, a cozy drink, and maybe your Christmas hat too and settle in for this hope-filled conversation.Got a question about today's episode or something else you'd like to hear us talk about on the show? Let us know! Episode recap:Intro (00:00)Start by writing down Luke 15:25-32 (0:14)It's easy to forget what we have been saved from (3:14)Like the Pharisees, we forget we need a Savior (7:00) Both sons were using the Father for their own sake (11:00)We think the story is about actions, but it's about their hearts (14:15)Remember the context of this story is the disciples and the Pharisees (19:00)Ask God to protect you from a judgmental heart (23:30)None of us deserve it or could earn it, but we get to receive the Father's love (25:00)Are you interested in having Dot come and speak to your community? Email us at hello@dotbowen.com.Watch Write this Down! on YouTubeFind Dot Bowen on Instagram and Facebook Scripture Verse: Luke 15:11-19 (ESV) ““Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'”The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller: https://amzn.to/44Qrj71
Paul gives us an assurance at the end of Romans 8. It is magnificent and yet very simple. In these verses, he's saying, “Here's the thing that will absolutely change your life through Christ.” Paul tells us this assurance, and he says this is the thing that you can use every day that will change your life. Let's look at it under three headings: 1) that we can be assured, 2) why we can be assured, and 3) how we can be assured. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 7, 2007. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 8:28, 38-39. 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.
Rightly so, at Christmas, people who are suffering want to know, “Why should I be merry? What basis do I really have for joy?” The answer is that if Christmas really happened, if God really did open a cleft in the pitiless walls of this world, if he broke into our broken reality with his healing power, if he became a human being, then there are three solid bases for joy in any circumstance. If Christmas happened, then even in the deepest grief, you can feel these three things holding you up: 1) our bad things will turn out for good, 2) our most truly good things can never be taken away from us, and 3) our best things are yet to come. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 17, 2006. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 8:28-39. 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 we're going to be equipped for real life, we have to see how Christ actually prepares us to face the unavoidable brutalities of life. We've been looking at how faith in Christ concretely and profoundly changes us. And in Romans 8, we get to the subject of suffering. It's absolutely crucial if we're going to be equipped in any spiritual way for real life, to see how Christ helps us in our sufferings. This text gives us three things: 1) it gives us a warning about suffering, 2) it gives us three resources for suffering, and 3) it tells us how we can be sure those resources will work. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 10, 2006. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 8:13-27. 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.
What does the prodigal son have to do with Christmas? In this episode, Dot and Cara look at Jesus' parable in Luke 15 through the lens of the Christmas story and the “prodigal God” who lavishly gives us everything, even His own Son. They talk honestly about our desire to live life on our terms and the grace that awaits us when we turn back to the Father. This conversation will remind you that Jesus left heaven to bring you home, so grab your Bible, a cozy drink, and settle in with us.Got a question about today's episode or something else you'd like to hear us talk about on the show? Let us know! Episode recap:Start by writing down Luke 15:11-19 (0:08)God was recklessly extravagant by giving us Jesus (3:39)We all have a bit of the older son and a bit of the younger son in us (6:55)) The word ‘prodigal' means recklessly extravagant (11:41)This story is a picture of God's love for us through Jesus (13:00)The younger son doesn't care about the Father's provision (22:32)We tend to hide behind shame and guilt and can get comfortable there (24:39)Are you interested in having Dot come and speak to your community? Email us at hello@dotbowen.com.Watch Write this Down! on YouTubeFind Dot Bowen on Instagram and Facebook The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller: https://amzn.to/44Qrj71Scripture Verse: Luke 15:11-19 (ESV) “And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”'
When I first embraced the Christian faith, there were a number of things in my life that profoundly needed changing. But nothing seemed to work until some Christian writers took me to Romans 6, 7 and 8. When I began to understand the teaching of these chapters, my life began to change. In this brief series, I'm sharing these teachings with you as we ask this question: how does faith in Christ actually lead to real change in one's life? In Romans 8, we see that in Jesus, you get three things: 1) you get the freedom to know yourself, 2) you get a new method to change yourself, and 3) you get a new power to be yourself. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 3, 2006. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 8:1-13. 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.
How does change really happen in somebody's life? And how does faith in Christ concretely and practically lead to change? In Romans 7 we see, in very starkly and shockingly realistic terms, a depiction of the human heart. And what we really see is the very heart that any principles about change have to be applied to. When we look at Romans 7, I think we learn three things: 1) what our biggest problem is, 2) what won't address that problem, and 3) what will. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 26, 2006. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 7:1-9, 18-25. 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.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 19, 2006. Series: In Christ Jesus: How the Spirit Transforms Us. Scripture: Romans 6:1-7, 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.
In his book, "The Freedom of Self-forgetfulness", Timothy Keller does a wonderful job of talking about our pride and how it impacts so much of our life. He also talks about the freedom we have when we let it and all the things associated with it, go. I believe you will have a different view of both pride and self when you are done listening!www.sitstillmydaughter.comMusic by:The Flow Of Time by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
How should Christians view their money and their possessions? We're looking at the Gospel of Luke, because Luke has much to say on this subject. How does God want us to think about money in general? What should our attitude be toward it? How should we relate to giving and spending? In Luke 14, we see two things: 1) Jesus Christ lays out a standard for sacrificial giving that's so astonishing it will seem unreasonable, and 2) Jesus actually shows how reasonable this kind of giving is. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 20, 2010. Series: Money and Possessions – In the Teaching of St. Luke. Scripture: Luke 14:7-24. 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.
As we end our series on the Holy Spirit, we come to maybe the most astonishing thing the Holy Spirit does for us. We've looked at a number of well-known things the Holy Spirit does in us and for us. He calls us and enables us to believe. He regenerates us, creates Christ-like character in us, unites us inside the church, and empowers us with his gifts so we can serve people around us. But now we look at a passage that tells us about the ultimate, the final thing the Holy Spirit does for us. Let's notice from the text 1) what the Spirit will do for us in the future, 2) what the Spirit, therefore, can do for us in the present, and 3) how we can let the Spirit do that in our lives. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 12, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Romans 8:17-25. 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've seen the pendulum in the church swing to extreme places over spiritual gifts—sometimes giving obsessive focus to them, and sometimes ignoring them. There's nothing more practical for helping us avoid extremes and understand what a Christian church should actually look like than to embrace what the Bible gives us here, a theology of spiritual gifts. Let's ask three questions of this text: 1) what are spiritual gifts, 2) what are the practical implications for church life, and 3) how can we rightly use spiritual gifts? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 29, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 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.
Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/timschmoyerComment on the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/business-makes-kingdom-men----I used to believe business existed mostly to fund ministry, that the people in the pews wrote checks so the people on staff could do the real Kingdom work.I grew up in a pastor's house. Ministry shaped everything: Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, and the hours between. I went to Bible college and seminary fully expecting to spend my life in full-time ministry. Business was necessary, sure, but it was for other people.However, as I read Luke 19 more carefully today, I realize Jesus doesn't tell his servants to plant churches or care for the poor or grow in spiritual disciplines. In the parable of The 10 Minas, Jesus says this:Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Engage in business until I come.”… When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. -Luke 19:13, 15The master doesn't hand his servants a theology quiz or a spiritual gifts assessment. He gives them money and says, “Engage in business.”Not prayer. Not Bible study. Not ministry. Business.This Parable Ruins My CategoriesWhen the master returns as king, he asks about ROI (return on investment). The servant who turned one mina into ten gets authority over ten cities. The one who made five gets five cities. The one who buried his mina?He's slaughtered.Not demoted. Not reassigned to a lesser role. Killed. Jesus puts these words in the mouth of the returning king: “As for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.”I want to soften this. I want to explain it away as hyperbole or limit it to the political enemies mentioned earlier in the parable. But the servant who buried his mina is grouped with those who rejected the king's reign entirely. Playing it safe wasn't neutral. It was rebellion.Apparently, Jesus believes something I struggle to accept: fruitfulness isn't optional. Multiply what the Master entrusts to you and receive cities. Bury it? You've declared whose side you're on.To the master, one's fruitfulness in business today seems to determine one's fitness to rule cities in the age to come.I realize this makes most Christian men uncomfortable. Some of us have been trained to see business as secular, something we do to fund ministry or a necessary evil to provide for our family while we wait for the real work of the Kingdom to begin. But Jesus presents business itself as a proving ground for eternal authority.Subscribe to join me and other Christian men in pursuing the noble task of eldership (1 Tim 3:1).Why Business?When I think about my experience in starting, growing, and ultimately selling my business, a few reasons come to mind.* Business forces you to create value where none existed. It requires you to manage resources, assess risk, lead others, and bear the weight of both success and failure. It tests whether you can be faithful with what's entrusted to you when no one is watching and the outcome is uncertain.* Business reveals character like few other pursuits. You can fake spirituality in a prayer meeting. You can coast on charisma in ministry. But business is ruthlessly honest. Did you create value or didn't you? Did people freely exchange their resources for a solution you offered or didn't they? Did you multiply what was given or let it stagnate?* Business joins God in His mission of being fruitful and multiplying, and his subsequent blessing to us to do the same. Any successful business revolves around solving problems for people. The whole endeavor focuses on turning someone's chaos into order, exactly what God did when he took an empty and formless earth and turned it into something orderly and beautiful.The Bigger StoryWhen God created man, his first words to us were not “be holy” or “worship me” or “evangelize.” His first words were, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” Not only was it a command, but it was also a blessing. Genesis 1:22 starts the command by saying, “He blessed them…” We were created to work. And it's good (until work is cursed in Genesis 3; it's still a blessing, but now it's toil).This is the original job description for us: Take what God has made and make it more fruitful. Extend order into the chaos. Multiply goodness. Create culture and civilization from raw materials. Take the garden and grow it until cities like it cover the face of the earth.This is what business does at its core. It takes resources, applies our creativity and effort, and produces something more valuable than what existed before. It's subduing the earth. It's multiplying fruitfulness. It's fulfilling the original design for manhood that God stamped into us at creation.The Master's command to engage in business isn't an arbitrary test. It's reconnecting His servants to their primal purpose as image-bearers. It's asking:“Can you do what men were made to do? Can you take what I've given you and make it fruitful?”Training Ground for CitiesIn Luke 19, the servants who succeed in business receive cities to govern.This is the connection I missed while in Bible college and seminary. Business is not an end in itself. The goal isn't only to make money. It's preparation for rule. It's the fulfillment of the Genesis 1 blessing had sin not entered.When I build a business, I was learning to:* Assess people and situations accurately* Make decisions that impact my family' life, my employee's lives, and our customers* Bear responsibility for outcomes that affect others* Multiply resources rather than merely preserve them* Lead people toward productive ends* Create order and value in a small domainThese are precisely the skills required to govern a city. The man who can make one mina into ten has demonstrated he can take a small domain and multiply its fruitfulness. He's ready for a larger domain.The man who buried his mina revealed he's a steward who preserves but never increases. He maintains but never multiplies. He's risk-averse, suspicious of his master, and content to merely survive rather than grow. It appears that this man is not fit to rule anything.Subscribe to join me and other Christian men in pursuing the noble task of eldership (1 Tim 3:1).What This Means for Men TodayIf business is the training ground for Kingdom rule, then our work as a Christian man is not a necessary evil or a distraction from real ministry. It's the arena where we're being tested and trained for eternal authority.The faithfulness we show in building our businesses, managing assets, creating value—this is not separate from our spiritual formation. It is our spiritual formation.Every hard decision we make is teaching us judgment. Every risk we take is training us in faith mixed with wisdom. Every person we lead is preparing us to shepherd a city. Every failure we endure and recover from is forging the resilience we'll need to govern in the age to come.This has implications for how I father my sons. I'm not just teaching them to love Jesus and be nice people. I'm training them to be fruitful, to multiply what's entrusted to them, to take dominion over small things so they'll be ready for greater responsibilities. And every day that my 15 year old son gets excited to see his hard-earned money growing in mutual funds, and the patience he shows when it looses money and he doesn't pull it out, he's learning to have a long-term perspective on ROI.The Master Cares About ROI, so I Should, Too.To the seminary version of myself many years ago, the most unsettling part of this parable is how much the master cares about return on investment. He's not impressed with the man who played it safe. He's furious with him.The master calls him wicked for not even putting the money in the bank to earn interest. He demands fruitfulness, not just faithfulness in the sense of careful preservation. He rewards multiplication, and he punishes stagnation.This reveals something about the heart of God that shapes how I think about my life right now. The Kingdom is not coming to men who merely showed up and didn't make too many mistakes. It's coming to men who took what they were given—gifts, opportunities, resources, time—and took risks to make them more fruitful.God is not honored by when I play it small. He's not glorified by my risk-averse self-protection. He's entrusting me with minas today because he's preparing me for cities tomorrow.The question is whether I'm engaging in business or burying what I've been given.Every hard moment I face in business, in leadership, in leading a family, and multiplying—that's not a distraction from the Kingdom. That's training for cities. And the Master is watching to see what kind of return I'll bring Him when He comes back as King.P.S. In 2013 I was in the startup grind, trying to grow a brand new business with a wife and three small kids depending on me. During that season of life, Timothy Keller's book, “Every Good Endeavor,” completely shifted my understanding of what I was doing. I wasn't just trying to survive financially or even grow a business. I was seeking the Kingdom and joining the Master in His work. I highly recommend this book. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit read.timschmoyer.com
Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit. Paul doesn't say, “It would be a great thing to attain if you could. Try really hard.” No, he commands that we “be filled with the Spirit.” Let's ask this short text three questions: 1) what is being filled with the Spirit? 2) how do we know if we are filled with the Spirit? and 3) how can we become filled with the Spirit? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 22, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-21. 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 what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit. My impression is there are an awful lot of churches in the world that talk about nothing but spiritual experience, and there are an awful lot of churches that are absolutely afraid of the subject and talk only about truth and knowing the right things. I think the remedy for that imbalance is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, because the deeper you get into it, the more you realize Spirit and truth go together. Let's look now at what John 14 tells us about 1) who the Holy Spirit is, 2) what the Holy Spirit does, and 3) how you can receive what he gives. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on July 4, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: John 14:16-26. 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 all have a problem with self-control. You can't be circumspect without coming to the end of a day and looking back and saying, “Why did I say that? Why did I follow that impulse?” The Greek word used here for self-control translates to self-command. It's a synonym for being free, because if you're not self-controlled, then you're out of control. If you're out of control, then you're a slave to some other forces. Paul knew a lot about self-discipline and self-control, and here's what he tells us: 1) what it is, 2) how it's born in you, and 3) how it can grow. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 30, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:23-10:13. 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.
Contemporary people stare at the biblical concept of humility the way a cow stares at a new gate. The approach of our culture is expressive individualism, and it completely flies in the face of what the Bible says about the importance of humility. So let's look in Philippians 2 at this concept of humility. This magnificent passage tells us about 1) a sickness we have, 2) what we would look like if we were healthy, and 3) how to get the cure. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 23, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11. 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.
There couldn't be a more relevant topic than faithfulness—a word that means honesty, integrity, and truthfulness. Americans' trust of their institutions—business, government, church—is at an all-time low. All the studies show that. There's a sense that there has been a failure of integrity in our society at all levels. Therefore, what does the Bible have to say about this all-important subject? Ephesians 4 shows us 1) there's a problem of practicing truthfulness, 2) there's a problem of abusing people with the truth, and 3) how we solve both problems. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 16, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 4:15-16; 25-30. 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.
How do you talk about kindness? Depending on the context, the Greek word can be translated as fitting, pleasing, honest, or compassionate. How do you talk about a word with that kind of lexical range? The answer is you can't do it abstractly. You have to look at a kind of relationship that combines all those traits. The kind of relationship that combines them is friendship. And nothing is more humanizing and life-changing than friendship. John 15 is a unique passage about friendship. It tells us 1) the character or nature of friendship, 2) how you forge friendship, and 3) where you get the power for friendship. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 9, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: John 15:6-15. 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've ever read a translation like the King James Version, you know when you get to the word “patience,” the older English translation will use the word “longsuffering.” This is because the Greek word for patience literally means to suffer a long time, which doesn't sound very promising. What it's saying is that patience is the trait by which you are able to bear up under difficulty without giving up or giving in to bitterness. There are two kinds of patience: there's patience under difficult circumstances and there's patience with people. And Romans 12 is a remarkable passage about how to be patient and gracious to people who are opposing you. This passage gives us 1) a principle of showing patience, 2) some ideas on how to practice it, and 3) how to get the power to do it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 2, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Romans 12:9-21. 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.
There's a difference between controlling or suppressing the natural self-centeredness and insecurity of the heart through willpower and seeing it permanently changed through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5, there's a list of the traits or characteristics of a supernaturally changed heart. They're called the fruit of the Spirit. We're in a series trying to understand how we can have more of that supernaturally changed heart in our own lives. Today we look at peace. We're going to learn three things from this classic passage in Philippians 4: 1) the character of peace, 2) the three disciplines of getting peace, and 3) the secret of peace. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 25, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Philippians 4:4-12. 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 https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
How do you know whether you're just trying to be good, or whether the Holy Spirit has really brought transformation into your life? The way to know is to look at what's called the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. There's a whole set of characteristics of a supernaturally changed heart. We're looking now at the first of these: joy. Romans 5 tells us three things about joy. It tells us 1) joy is important, 2) Christian joy is unique, and 3) where Christian joy comes from. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 18, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Romans 5:1-11. 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.
Almost all of us have parts of our lives we really want to see changed, but change is really hard. And it's very possible to mistake a morally restrained heart for a supernaturally changed heart. If you squeeze a rubber ball and then take your hand away, it snaps right back to where it was. You restrained the rubber ball temporarily, but you didn't really change it. Almost all of us have that rubber ball experience. We try to change parts of our lives, and we put a lot of willpower behind it. Then as soon as circumstances change, it snaps right back. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that a supernaturally changed heart 1) is not the same as a busy life in service of others, 2) is not the same as a morally committed life, but 3) is meeting love as a power and as a person. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 11, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. 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.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 14, 1999. Series: What's Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 49:8-21. 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've lost connection with part of what the Bible teaches about sin: that God gets angry at sin. And I'm here to tell you that losing that is a bad thing. In fact, I'll go this far: you need an angry God. If you don't believe in an angry God, a really angry God who hates sin and is going to punish it, you're impoverishing yourself. You're taking away all sorts of hope and humility and love. Isaiah 64 and 65 show us 1) God's anger is not like our anger usually is, 2) you need an angry God if you're going to live in hope, 3) you need an angry God if you're going to live in humility, and 4) you need an angry God if you're going to understand how loved you are. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 7, 1999. Series: What's Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9, 65:17-18. 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.
When people in the West were faced with the atrocities of World War II, the culture's prevailing optimistic views of human nature were devastated. Two questions kept coming up: what's wrong with us that we're capable of this, and what are we going to do about it? Isaiah 52 to 53 was written to answer those same two questions. It was written to a nation facing exile, to people who were about to face captivity, atrocities, and prison. And it has maybe the most well-known answer in the Bible to the question about human evil: God is sending somebody, the servant of the Lord. In this passage, we learn 1) who he is, 2) why he came, and 3) what he did. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 28, 1999. Series: What's Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 52:13-53:12. 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 https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
In Isaiah 61, we have one of the great prophecies about the Messiah. It tells us the Messiah is going to deal with the problems of life—and that shows us something about sin. Sin is not just breaking God's scale and breaking God's heart; it's also breaking God's design for us. God's law is also the design print of your heart, the way you were built to work. So when you break God's law, you're trampling on yourself. In Isaiah 61, we can see 1) what the problem is, 2) what God is going to do about it, and 3) how we should respond. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 21, 1999. Series: What's Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-11. 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.
Even when we feel vaguely guilty for things in our past, or when we feel outraged by what we see other people doing, we have trouble talking about sin and evil. In our society, we've been taught that words like “sin” or “evil” are oppressive or meaningless. Yet we sense something out there that we don't have the vocabulary for. But the Bible gives us a far richer vocabulary and helps us understand sin in far more nuanced ways. In Jeremiah 2, there's a prophesy from Jeremiah to a nation in spiritual decline. And in it, we'll see how sin is replacing God, and the result is addiction of spirit. Jeremiah's telling us about 1) the dynamics of spiritual attraction, 2) the dynamics of spiritual addiction, and 3) the dynamics of spiritual restoration. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 14, 1999. Series: What's Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:1-8. 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.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 7, 1999. Series: What's Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Judges 17:1-13. 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.
When people see the evidence of great evils and atrocities, they automatically turn into philosophers. They start to ask the metaphysical questions. How could this have happened? Why doesn't God do something about evil, about the wickedness and violence that's here? Why doesn't God do something about the brokenness of the world? Exodus 17 tells us that God has. This passage tells us about a trial that happened years ago, and it was the most remarkable trial in the history of the world. Look at it carefully: 1) there's a lawsuit, 2) then there's a trial, and 3) then there's an execution. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 9, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7. 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.
The story of Jacob and Esau is a great example of how anger works out in a family situation. Esau and Jacob were twins, and Esau was the oldest. When their father is fooled into giving Jacob the birthright, Esau can't get ahold of his anger. We're told that Esau held a grudge against Jacob and consoled himself with thoughts of killing Jacob. And when Esau's father does pronounce a blessing on Esau, he predicts that Esau is going to be driven by anger all of his life. How can you make sure your anger does not imprison and control you? How can you make sure that you control it? This passage in Hebrews gives us some principles: 1) it tells you what anger is, and then, 2) it tells you three ways to handle it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 2, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-17. 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.
The rich young ruler looked like he had it made. He's characterized by moral excellence and he's financially wealthy. He's got it so together that he even admits he doesn't have it all together—that there's still something he lacks. He isn't sure what it is. He's gotten to the top and realized, “I've almost made it.” So he comes to Jesus and says, “I just need that one more step.” And Jesus gives him an outrageous, strong answer. Jesus tells him he's on a completely wrong road—that he's totally outside the kingdom of God. Unless we understand why the rich young ruler went away from Jesus grieved, we might be in danger of also being sent away. The rich young ruler went away grieving because 1) he talked to the real Jesus, 2) Jesus smashed two of his basic assumptions about how religion works, 3) Jesus got personal, and 4) he didn't understand treasure in heaven. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 19, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Matthew 19:16-25. 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.
Joseph's career was going along fairly well. He'd risen from servanthood to becoming, in a sense, the Chief Operating Officer of a huge estate. And then sex came. He wasn't even looking for it, but it came at him. Things may be going very well for you, but sex will come—and it's such a powerful force that how you handle it can make or break you. From Genesis 39, we can learn about what we're going to call lust. We learn something from what we see Potiphar's wife doing, we learn something from what we see Joseph doing, and we learn from what we see God doing. Let's look at 1) how to understand lust, 2) how to handle it, and 3) how to heal it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 12, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Genesis 39:4-21. 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.
In the Middle Ages, theologians said there are different forms of gluttony—that you can eat and drink excessively, sumptuously, daintily, or impulsively. Technically, gluttony means to eat and drink immoderately. But gluttony also tells us something about each of us. Gluttony is taking something good and then cramming it in until we're sick of it. Our desires are disordered so that good and necessary things become cravings. Sin, in other words, makes us all addicted to something. We all crave something, and we do it in such a way that it is very, very bad for us. Let's look at three things this Scripture teaches us about craving: 1) the depth of our craving, 2) the structure of our craving, and 3) the healing. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 5, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Joshua 7:19-26, Hosea 2:13-15. 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 a sickness in us. We are cruel to each other in ways we cannot seem to heal. We have an inveterate kind of unhappiness in our hearts we can't seem to put out. For the last hundred years, the reigning Western understanding of why we are so cruel and unhappy has been that it comes from outside of us, that it comes from conditions. But in the last few decades, the intelligentsia have increasingly admitted there's something deeper than that. The Bible says the problem with human beings is not environmental—that there is a poison in us that's called sin. And we need to understand the symptoms of that poisoning, the symptoms of sin. Let's look today at 1) the symptom of envy, 2) the root cause, and 3) the antidote. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 26, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Numbers 11:4-6. 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.
After he broke his promise to Jesus, Peter wept bitterly. Peter was an absolutely broken man in the profoundest possible way, and yet within weeks he was poised as the leader of a new movement, about to become one of the most influential leaders in the history of the world. What broke Peter like this, and then what restored him so quickly? The answer is the same: promises. Promises are the reason he was broken, and promises are the reason he was restored. And the case of Peter tells us more about the power of commitments than, I think, any other incident in the Scripture. Let's look at what Peter learned: 1) how promises make us, and 2) how we can make promises. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 12, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Matthew 26:69-75. 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 sixth century B.C., Nebuchadnezzar was the absolute monarch of the Babylonian empire. He'd built maybe the most incredible city in history. He was at the pinnacle of power, and his life fell apart anyway. And here's the incredible part: he's glad it happened! He praises God for having done it. Do you know why? Because he says, “There was a spiritual cancer in me. There was something in me that was so bad, it was so dangerous, it had poisoned my soul so deeply that even as drastic as the treatment was, it was worth it to get it out of my soul.” What was it? Pride. Spiritual pride. Could it be that we need to know the same lesson he learned? This text teaches us four things: it tells us about 1) the sleep of pride, 2) the heart of pride, 3) the outcome of pride, and 4) the healing of pride. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 5, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Daniel 4:24-37. 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.
Jeremiah is speaking at a time when his society was literally falling apart—politically, psychologically, socially and culturally. Everybody was asking, “What's wrong?” And the answer of God through Jeremiah, was, “It's not the economy. It's sin.” The Bible shows us that sin is a dislocation of the soul. The soul should be centered on God, and all of our problems come from our unwillingness to center on him because we don't want to lose control. So what happens? What are the effects of centering on something else? Jeremiah gives a metaphor of us falling in love with other gods, meaning these other things we center our lives on. And he shows that there are two major consequences: 1) our lover gods will always enslave us, and 2) our lover gods will always leave us empty. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 29, 1995. Series: The Seven Deadly Sins. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:19-32. 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.