by Timothy J. Keller
The following sermons are in MP3 format. To download right-click link and save to your hard drive.
War and Peace
All of us are at war with God,whether we admit it or not. Finding peace comes from being shocked by God's love into a new relationship. Being a peacemaker is sharing this good news and letting God's glory shine out of your life.Scripture: Matthew 5:9-12; Romans 5
God in the Dock
The natural inclination of the human heart is to put God on trial. We demand that God explain why we have suffered and we threaten God if he cannot explain His actions to our satisfaction. In a passage from the Exodus,the Israelites enact such a trial. Though God was innocent,we found Him guilty. And when God made Himself vulnerable by becoming human,we killed him. Scripture: Exodus 17:1-17; 1 Corinthians 10:2-4
Nakedness & the Holiness of God
We were created perfect in a perfect world. Adam and Eve rebelled against God's rule,which resulted in sin,shame,and nakedness. Ever since,we have been trying to cover our nakedness and hide our true selves from God,ourselves,and other people. We can never adequately deal with our nakedness,but God has come into our wrecked world to provide a perfect cover for us. Scripture: Genesis 3:7-24
Tamar
Near the beginning of Matthew's genealogy we see Tamar - a most unlikely ancestor of Jesus. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and had sex with her father-in-law Judah. But this is a tale of two sinners. Judah neglected to materially provide for Tamar despite the fact that she was a helpless widow,driving her to desperate measures. This story shows that the Bible is not a book about moral people who lived perfect lives worthy of emulation. Instead,we see how God uses broken people to bring about the only righteous person who has ever lived - Jesus. ScriptureL Genesis 38:11-19, 24-30, Psalm 146:7-9; Psalm 68:4-5; Isaiah 1:17,24-25; Hosea 4:14; Genesis 37; Genesis 44:33-45:3; Matthew 1:3
Reconciliation
Near the end of his life,Joseph displays his hard-earned wisdom. He shows us that we need to leave all righting of wrongs to God; we must see God's providing hand in man's malice; and we must never repay evil with evil,but instead we must meet evil with forgiveness,and even affection. Scripture: Genesis 50:12-21, 2 Kings 5
The Sickness Unto Death
It is our nature to seek our identity in the praise of others and in the praise of self. But the praise doesn't last,and we are never satisfied. God has provided,through Jesus' death,a new identity to all who know him. This new identity is built on Jesus' performance rather than on our own; we receive the praise that He deserved. The more we know God,the more our new identity is strengthened and our old identity dies away. Scripture: Jeremiah 9:21-26
The Healing of Anger (YouTube)
Anger has the power to disintegrate our health,our communities,and our individual wisdom. However,anger can be a good thing; it is an attribute of God and of anyone who loves. The key to healing anger is to find out what you truly love and why your anger is out of control. Proverbs 14:29-30; 15:1,18; 16:32; 19:11,19; 24:28-29; 25:21-22; Jeremiah 45:5
David and Bathsheba
People are often surprised at how sinful all the Biblical "heroes" are. One of the Bible's greatest characters,King David,commits one of the vilest sins ever recorded in its pages. We should learn from this that even a converted member of God's family can commit truly evil deeds. Yet,we also learn that the hope of the Bible is not that we have to become morally superior to the main Biblical characters. The hope of the Bible is that Jesus paid the penalty for David's sin and for our own.