If you’re going to deal with the brutal realities of life, the writer of Hebrews says you have to have shepherds in your life.

Hebrews is written to people whose lives are filled with problems. And here, in the last passage of Hebrews, the writer tells us if we’re gonna make it, we have to have shepherding in our lives.

The text tells us 1) our insulting need for shepherds, 2) the surprising identity of shepherds, and 3) the secret power of the shepherds.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 8, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25; 13:17-25.

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When you embrace God by faith two things come into your life: a transforming power and a deep tension. It’s a duality. If you try to resolve the deep tension, you lose the transforming power.

The writer of Hebrews says the great believers in history were resident aliens on earth. In Greco-Roman society, a resident alien was a permanent resident but not a citizen. That is the tension that anyone who wants the transforming power of God must live with.

If we want to understand the message, we need to see four things we learn in this passage: 1) there are two cities, 2) each city has a conflict with the other, 3) only one city is for the other, and 4) how to become citizens of the one city that’s for the other.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 1, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 11:13-16; 13:10-16.

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.

This passage in Hebrews seems like an anti-climax. Throughout the book, the writer gives us something to help us face the brutal realities of life. But then, Hebrews 13 seems different. At first it looks like a to-do list, like miscellaneous ethical prescriptions, but that’s wrong.

This is not an anti-climax. What we’re being told is that we’ll never make it in life without being deeply embedded in a robust community of people who have experienced the grace of God.

This passage tells us about 1) the importance of that community, 2) the intensity of the community, 3) the openness of the community, and 4) where we get the power to create it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 24, 2005. Series: Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). Scripture: Hebrews 12:28-13:9.

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.