To be able to handle life, there’s nothing more practical than to know that Jesus is your advocate. This isn’t just an abstract doctrinal issue. Because this whole book of Hebrews is written not as a theological treatise, but as a piece of intense pastoral counseling. So let’s ask three questions: 1) why do we need an advocate? 2) how is Jesus Christ the advocate we need? and 3) what difference will it make in your life if you receive him as such? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller a...
Jan 10, 2025•38 min•Ep. 1169
The book of Hebrews is telling us we’ll never make it through life without counseling—daily counseling. A main theme of Hebrews is that life in this world is a journey, spiritually speaking, through a wilderness. In verse 13, it says the only way we’re going to get through it is with this little word: the Greek word, parakaleō. It’s often translated as encouragement, but it comes closest to what we today would call counseling. Let’s ask the text these questions: 1) why do we need counseling? 2) ...
Jan 08, 2025•40 min•Ep. 1168
Hebrews is written to first-century, urban people who are so weary with troubles and difficulties that they’re in danger of giving up. What do they need? It’s pretty obvious from this passage what the writer is trying to get across: because eight times in eleven verses we see the word “rest.” It’s not just a crucial message for them, but for us too. We live in a culture that’s probably more in need of this message than any other culture in history. This passage shows us 1) the importance of rest...
Jan 06, 2025•42 min•Ep. 1167
The book of Hebrews is written to a group of urban, first-century Christians who were struggling with fear and discouragement because their lives were so filled with troubles. The question this book asks is if God loves us so much, why are our lives so hard? In almost every passage, the answer it gives is that fear and discouragement can be dealt with by looking at Jesus. Hebrews 2 says if you really want to deal with fear and discouragement in your life, you need to see that Jesus is 1) the kin...
Jan 03, 2025•36 min•Ep. 1166
If God is so committed to our joy and our glory, if he loves us so much, why is our life so hard? That’s what the book of Hebrews is about and the answer, in a nutshell, is life is a journey. It’s a journey from weariness into rest. It’s a journey from alienation into the presence of God. It’s a journey from isolation into the city of God. And the only way you’re going to get home is by fixing your eyes on Jesus. The whole idea of Hebrews is you don’t get home through bursts, through sprints, bu...
Jan 01, 2025•39 min•Ep. 1165
Psalm 126 has always helped me. It has never filled my soul with glory. It has always made me quiet and reflective. Because it’s a perfect overview of the emotional life that the life of faith brings. You’re going to weep. In this world, you will weep. But how are you weeping? What are you doing with your sorrows? They need to be sown. They need to be invested. They need to be planted, in a sense, or they need to water. Psalm 126 tells us 3 things about how we’re supposed to address our sorrows:...
Dec 30, 2024•41 min•Ep. 1164
Jesus tells his disciples that no one will take away their joy. Now that’s pretty amazing. He knows to whom he is talking. He is speaking to men who are going to be persecuted. They’re going to be robbed of everything they own. They’re going to be tortured. They’re going to be put to death. The Bible says there is a joy that is not subject to circumstances, that the deepest troubles can’t put out, that can coexist and overwhelm the greatest grief. And these three verses in Romans 8 have the hear...
Dec 27, 2024•42 min•Ep. 1163
Jesus was about to come into Joseph’s life, and Joseph thought he was doing the right thing to arrange things so it wouldn’t happen. Joseph was going to dismiss Mary quietly. But the angel comes to Joseph and says, “Your problem is you’re a coward. Do not be afraid.” This passage shows us that you can’t be a Christian unless you have courage. Or put another way, to let Jesus into your life, to receive Jesus into your life, takes courage above all. Another way to put it is you will not receive Je...
Dec 25, 2024•21 min•Ep. 1162
The meaning of Christmas is that God got flesh and blood. In Jesus Christ the holy and transcendent God became really and fully and truly human. He shared in our humanity. I submit to you that the traditional, moralistic religion has completely forgotten this whole idea. In fact, I submit to you that if you and I really undertstood the fact that Jesus Christ shares in our humanity, we’d live differently. What does that teach us about God? It teaches us three things: 1) God has a concern for the ...
Dec 23, 2024•24 min•Ep. 1161
In the Christmas stories, a theme that’s more important than you might think is the theme of exile and home. The book of Isaiah is filled with prophecies about a future messianic age brought by a future messianic king who would put all things right. Because Christians believe that messianic king was Jesus, we’re looking at these prophecies to help us grasp the richness of what Christmas means and who it was who was born in the manger. Let’s take a look at Isaiah 35 to see 1) what the text means,...
Dec 20, 2024•36 min•Ep. 1160
The themes of Christmas, if grasped, are life-transforming. We’re looking at the book of Isaiah, at the prophesies of the messiah. Because Christians believe the messianic king that Isaiah prophesied was Jesus, we believe these prophecies help us understand the richness of the meaning of Christmas and who Jesus is. Isaiah 11 tells us three things about this great prophesied king: 1) the justice of the king, 2) the wisdom of the king, and 3) the identity of the king. This sermon was preached by D...
Dec 18, 2024•31 min•Ep. 1159
What does Christmas mean? The Old Testament book of Isaiah helps us come to grips with the riches of Christmas. If I could put it in one sentence, it tells us that Christmas means the unexpected, ultimate light comes through the God-man, which can only be received by grace. Let’s look at it: Christmas means 1) God does something unexpected, 2) the salvation has to do with the ultimate light, and 3) the hope you get can only be received as a gift of grace. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy ...
Dec 16, 2024•30 min•Ep. 1158
The end of a worship service is always about mission. A minister says, “Let us go forth to serve the world as those who love our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Then the people say, “Thanks be to God.” Do you realize how significant this is? You are being sent out into the world to give your life in service, now reshaped by the knowledge that Jesus Christ is your Savior, and you’re filled with his love. Let’s look at Psalm 67 to learn about 1) the fact of mission, 2) the character of mission, 3)...
Dec 13, 2024•37 min•Ep. 1157
What is a benediction? Is it a little perfunctory ceremony that helps everybody know it’s time to find your purse and get ready to leave? No. I’d like to show you tonight that the benediction is the meaning of your whole life. If you understand the benediction, when it’s said to you, your whole life should flash before your eyes. A benediction is a blessing. So let’s look at 1) what God’s blessing is, 2) how it comes, and 3) how it reshapes your life. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Kell...
Dec 11, 2024•34 min•Ep. 1156
This is a sermon on how to listen to sermons. Psalm 19 is a great Psalm, and it can teach us a lot about what it means to listen to the Scripture be read and taught. How do we listen to the Scripture read and taught? We’re going to learn three things here: 1) we need a real word from God, 2) why we need that word, and 3) how to receive that word. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 7, 2008. Series: Liturgy: What we do in Worship. Scripture:...
Dec 09, 2024•35 min•Ep. 1155
Every week we gather for worship, and we move through the same order of service. But after a while, do we realize what we’re doing? We’re going to look at each of the elements of our services, so we can understand them and catch ourselves when we’re going through the motions. This week let’s look at the call to worship: what does it mean to be called to worship? In Psalm 147, we can see 1) what we’re called to do, 2) why we’re called to do it, 3) how we’re called to do it, and 4) when we’re call...
Dec 06, 2024•40 min•Ep. 1154
Psalm 103 is about how to handle life in general. It, in a sense, gives you the key approach to handle all of life’s circumstances, all of life’s situations, no matter what they are. And at first, this key feels anticlimactic. What does it say the whole problem of our hearts is? That we need to praise the Lord with our entire souls. How? By not forgetting his benefits. David is saying, “The main thing I need to do, the main thing you need to do, is to not forget.” I know that’s anticlimactic. Bu...
Dec 04, 2024•41 min•Ep. 1153
If we’ve experienced God as a God of grace, how does that change our attitude toward money? The early church was an economic subculture that was radically different from the culture around it. In fact wherever the early church is described, we see the Christians’ drastic generosity—so drastic that it seemed unreasonable to those outside the church. Why were they so different? The answer is an experience of God’s grace. Grace revolutionizes 1) our attitude toward money, 2) our procedure, and 3) t...
Dec 03, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1152
Guilt and shame, having your heart broken under a sense of failure and general unworthiness—I feel this is probably more rampant in places like New York than anywhere else. Do you know why? Because we have so many successful people in New York, people who, in many ways are driven more acutely than other people by this fear of failure or unworthiness. In Psalm 130, we see guilt and shame likened to a hole, to something we’ve sunk down in. And then we’re shown a way out that’s available for a pers...
Dec 02, 2024•46 min•Ep. 1151
Your first sound, our first sound, is a wail of fear. The baby comes out saying, “Why is it so cold? Who has a finger down my mouth? Who’s grabbing me? What’s going on?” That’s the way you come into the world. Fear, therefore, is maybe the most primal of all emotions. In Psalm 3, David has something to be afraid of. He has literal armies after him, trying to kill him. But right in the middle of the psalm, he says he will not fear and he will sleep in the midst of this. He’s found a way of prayin...
Nov 29, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1150
What do you do with your tears? This is a psalm about weeping, about suffering, about grief. If you were to break the 150 psalms into categories, one of the categories will will be lamentations: psalms of tears, psalms of weeping and grieving. There are many other kinds of psalms, but I’ll tell you, every commentator says there are more lamentations than any other kind. This is the biggest piece of the Psalter. Tears. What do we learn here what to do with our tears? We’re told three things: 1) e...
Nov 27, 2024•38 min•Ep. 1149
The anger, the fear, the hostility, the rawness, the white heat of the emotions expressed in the Psalms really just disturb people today. You look at it, and you say, “What is that doing in the Bible?” The answer is the psalmists are not discussing feelings, and they’re not expressing feelings. They’re praying their feelings. They’re processing their feelings in the presence of God. What we’re going to look at today is doubt. Doubt always masquerades as more intellectual than it is, but doubt is...
Nov 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 1148
If you want the flourishing, thriving life depicted in Psalm 112, you need to know the God of Psalm 111. They can’t be separated. They are linked. These two psalms are each 10 verses. Psalm 111 describes the great God, and Psalm 112 describes a great, happy human life. If you know the unshakeable God of Psalm 111, you become unshakeable yourself. To truly know the God of Psalm 111 leads to the life seen in Psalm 112. Looking at Psalm 111 itself, we see a key link between knowing God and having a...
Nov 22, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1147
Psalm 96 is an astonishingly happy psalm. It depicts the whole human race and even the trees, the earth, and the sea just filled with joy and rejoicing. That actually raises a question. This isn’t the world the way we know it. Not everybody is filled with joy, and the world itself is a broken place with natural disasters, disease, and death. How could we get from where we are to what we see in this psalm? Is this nothing but just an inaccessible, crazy idea of a world like this, or is it possibl...
Nov 20, 2024•36 min•Ep. 1146
On the weekend before I had surgery for thyroid cancer, I wrestled with this question: “How do you face troubles with peace?” I came to realize it’s not petitionary prayer that helps you face troubles. Of course the Bible is filled with petition, where you go to God and make your needs known. And you should do that. But the ultimate and main way to handle the troubles of life is not just through petitionary prayer, but through worship. Psalm 95 is the classic text about worship. It tells us almo...
Nov 18, 2024•47 min•Ep. 1145
Adoration is a practical skill, one we need to engage in if we’re going to grow into the people God designed us to be. Psalm 27 teaches us about individual, personal, contemplative adoration. And in the center of Psalm 27, it says, “one thing I ask, one thing I seek.” What is that one thing? We learn three things from this psalm about this one thing: 1) why it’s so important, 2) what it is, and 3) how to do it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on Jun...
Nov 15, 2024•45 min•Ep. 1144
Psalm 81 tells us how to handle the wilderness times of life. It tells us how to use various spiritual disciplines as practical skills in order to handle our times of suffering, our times of pain, our times of difficulty. There are four things we learn here: 1) life is a wilderness, 2) there’s a rock in the wilderness, 3) there’s honey in the rock, and 4) there’s something else that I’ll tell you when we get to it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on...
Nov 13, 2024•45 min•Ep. 1143
When you know you’ve screwed up, when you know you’ve failed, how do you get up again in such a way that you have more joy and power than before? There’s a secret basis of confession: it’s a secret only because most of us don’t know about it. And it’s a crucial missing piece in most people’s thinking. Let’s look at what Psalm 32 says about 1) the need for confession, 2) the way of confession, and 3) the secret basis of confession. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presby...
Nov 11, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1142
What are you going to do with the anger that comes when you face serious mistreatment, serious injustice? Modern readers expect the Psalms to give inspiration, so when they read the searing pain and anger in Psalm 137, they say, “What’s this doing in the Bible?” But this passage, in spite of how disturbing it is, tells us some important things about how to handle our anger over mistreatment. Let’s look at 1) the context of this psalm within the message of the Bible, 2) the three things the psalm...
Nov 08, 2024•43 min•Ep. 1141
For physical health, we have trainers and doctors. Through nutrition and exercise, trainers help you get further than you were. And when you get sick or injured, doctors help get you back on track. It’s the same thing spiritually. There are spiritual disciplines that are like training and spiritual disciplines that treat problems. We look now at a discipline that is a way of dealing with a problem that can be disastrous. Let’s look at Psalm 42 and 43 and see 1) there’s a condition that is certai...
Nov 06, 2024•48 min•Ep. 1140
