Jesus’ first sign was not feeding the poor. It wasn’t healing the sick or raising the dead. It was keeping a party going. 

In the book of John, there’s a series of miracles that are called signs. That’s important because it means Jesus’ miracles weren’t naked displays of power. They signify. They’re symbolic. They point to who Jesus is and what he came to do. And the first sign of Jesus’ ministry is turning water into wine. What does that say about him? 

Let’s take a look and ask 1) what do the jars point to? 2) what does the brusque exchange with his mother point to? 3) what does the wine point to? and 4) what does this mean for us?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 19, 2014. Series: Seeing Jesus. Scripture: John 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.

People come up to John the Baptist and say, “What is your identity? What is your self-understanding?” That has a very contemporary ring to it. And it has quite a bit to do with us. 

We’re looking at the life of Jesus and who Jesus is. In the second half of John 1, in this encounter with John the Baptist, we learn that Jesus is the Lamb of God. So we ask, “What does that mean for us?” 

Let’s take a look at 1) John’s view of himself, 2) John’s view of Jesus, 3) the resulting personality and character that flows from those two views, and 4) what that means for us.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 12, 2014. Series: Seeing Jesus. Scripture: John 1:19-34.

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.

You can’t really understand the real Jesus if you only look at his birth and his death. You must also look at his words and his deeds during his life.

To study the words and deeds of Jesus, we’re going to look in the Gospel of John, starting with John 1. It’s one of the most famous passages of the Bible, with too much great stuff to possibly discuss it all.

So I’d like to give a top-level view of it, looking at the three main parts: 1) a radical, amazing claim, 2) the rejection of the claim, and 3) the answer to the objections to and rejection of the claim.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 5, 2014. Series: Seeing Jesus. Scripture: John 1:1-14.

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.

In ancient architecture, the cornerstone was the first stone laid, and it had to be the most perfectly cut stone and the strongest stone. Because, you see, what the cornerstone is, the house is. If the dimensions of the cornerstone are off, the house is off. If the cornerstone is true, the house is true. If the cornerstone crumbles in any way, the entire house will be compromised or lost.

All of this is the background to when Peter says this about Jesus: “Come to him, to that living Capstone which is the Cornerstone, rejected by men but chosen by God, for it is written, ‘Whoever trusts in him will never be put to shame.’”

This metaphor of the cornerstone tells us 1) Jesus is to be our life’s foundation, 2) Jesus is our federal head, and 3) Jesus is to be the love of our life.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 12, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-8.

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 December 5, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3.

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 28, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3.

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 21, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3.

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 14, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3.

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 don’t have a desire for a transformation of character from the inside out, it’s because you just haven’t faced yourself.

There is in all of us a selfishness, a lack of self-control, a dysfunction. And yet God calls us to, “be ye holy.” Being holy does not just mean to keep the rules. Being holy means you are wholly reoriented in your thinking, in your feeling, and in your behavior. It means to be totally changed in mind, heart, and will. To be holy is to wholly belong to God.

Let’s look at these verses in 1 Peter and ask 1) what does this text tell us a holy person looks like? And 2) how can we want a holy life so that we get it?

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 7, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-21.

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.

To be a holy person is not what people popularly think it is these days. In modern English we often use the word “holy” to mean “holier than thou”—inaccessible, condescending, and self-righteous. Or at best, people will think of a holy person as somebody who keeps all the rules. 

But holiness is not about keeping all the rules. Holiness is an attitude of the heart in which you look at God and you say, “Use me.” Therefore, to be holy means more than just to give him your mind; you have to give him your life. In 1 Peter 1, there is a contrast shown between a life without God and a holy life. And this contrast shows us a depiction of a holy life.

These verses show us that 1) a life without God is ignorant, but a life of holiness integrates the thought and the life, 2) a life without God is an imitative life, but a holy life is an examined life, and 3) a life without God is a life of slavery without authority, but a holy life is a life of freedom under authority.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 31, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-16.

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.

Many Western people today think that Christianity is for people who don’t want to use their minds, that if you’re educated and thoughtful you wouldn’t believe. They think that to be Christian you’d have to jettison your thoughts and surrender to a realm of feeling, to a leap of faith.

But the Bible tells us the opposite. In 1 Peter, when it calls us to holiness, it says we must prepare our minds. Holiness includes the whole person—including the mind. In fact what Peter says and what it says all through the Bible is not only “May Christians think,” but “Christians must think.” It’s fundamental.

Let’s look at how 1 Peter shows us that 1) Christianity requires you to use your mind, to be thinking and rational, and 2) Christianity is the only thing that really encourages thinking and gives a basis for it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 24, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-16.

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.