Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life Tim Keller

In this sermon we continue looking at an account of two very important visits: Paul coming down to Jerusalem and Peter coming up to Antioch; Paul coming down to where Peter lived and Peter coming up to where Paul lived. In the first visit, we saw a very important principle laid down as to the nature of the gospel, what it is. We saw that the problem was the message of a certain group of religious teachers.


Their point was believing in Jesus Christ was very important; they weren’t against Christ. But they said you have to add to Jesus Christ, his work, his love; faith and union with his work and his love is not enough to cleanse and beautify you. It’s not enough. You have to believe in Christ, and, in their case, they said you have to adopt the entire Mosaic law, all the ceremonial laws. The important thing is the principle of the gospel: is Jesus Christ’s work and love enough to cleanse and beautify you all by itself? Paul’s answer is “Yes.” For these folks the answer was “No.”


This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 9, 1997. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 2:11-16.


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

One of the great things about this passage from Galatians is that Paul is giving us some very meaty, very important theological teaching exposition, but he’s doing it in the form of a narrative because he’s telling us a story of two visits.


There were all these ceremonial rules in the Mosaic covenant in the Old Testament. There was an extremely influential pressure group of early Christians, and this group was saying that in order to be a Christian, you must not only believe in Jesus Christ, you also have to obey all the ceremonial clean laws. Of course, Paul’s point was, “No, you don’t.” If Paul says we have to honor parts of the Bible but we don’t have to honor another part of the Bible, who’s to say? How do we know?


This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 2, 1997. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 2:6-14.


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 here at one particular truth: Paul is saying in this passage that doctrinal truth is absolutely critical. He’s fighting for a particular truth, the truth of the gospel. It is the mark of our culture right now that we want spirituality without theology. We want some kind of heart intimacy, but we don’t want to have to bring our mind and our entire life. 


Yet you also can’t have theology without spirituality. What is Paul saying over and over again? If you lose the truth of the gospel, the freedom is gone. The liberation is gone. The spirituality is gone. The love, the power, the glory are all gone. That’s why we have to keep the truth.


This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 19, 1997. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 2:1-10.


Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re looking at Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and the thing I hope will strike you is the radical objectivity and subjectivity of Christianity. Almost everybody tends to see the objective and subjective as being at loggerheads. Christianity will not let you make that choice. It says Christianity is radically both. They’re joined in the gospel.


If you take a look at the passage, it may be better here than anywhere. You can see them together. First of all, we see the hard objectivity. We won’t spend as much time on that because this is a continuation of where we were last week. First of all, we see the hard objectivity and the deep subjectivity. You’re really not a Christian unless you accept both, unless you embrace both, unless you really see both.


This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 12, 1997. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 1:10-24.


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 book of Galatians is not for non-Christians. It’s not for unbelievers. It’s not for people who say, “Oh, I don’t believe the gospel.” The whole book of Galatians is a book on the gospel, a book communicating the gospel, explaining the gospel, applying the gospel, and it’s a book for Christians, a book for people who say they believe it.


To break down this passage, first, Paul shows us the need for controversy, essentially why and when we need controversy. Secondly, he tells us what the authority is to appeal to in controversy, the method of conducting it. Again, we’re talking about Christians struggling with beliefs. Thirdly, he tells us how to heal controversy.


This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 5, 1997. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 1:6-12.


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.

If the Bible is not so much a human book reaching up for God, but a divine book reaching out for us, then we’ll only really profit from it if we read it in search of what God has for us rather than reading it to find what we want to find. One of the best ways to do this is to take verse by verse, rather than just jumping to topics that we like. 


One of the things we see right away in the introduction of Galatians is that Paul has to address a church that is losing touch with the gospel. He has to remind his readers how they came into being  and how they became Christians. By doing so, he gives us a little set of tests to know whether or not the gospel is in our own lives. We’re going to look at four things to test ourselves: the power, the content, the drama, and the intimacy.


This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 21, 1997. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 1:3-12.


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.