Timothy Keller Quotes

The Gospel is news of what God has done to reach us. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God.

The key question in order to change you is not 'What would Jesus do?' but "What has Jesus done for you?"

The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.

Jesus Christ as only an example will crush you. You'll never be able to live up to it. But Jesus Christ as the Lamb will save you.

The world is a dark place, and yet the coming of Jesus Christ shows us no one and nothing is hopeless.

Grace is to be let into a place that you don't have a right to be.

Faith in God's promises means not always following the expected, rational path.

A Christian is one who stops working to be saved, not one who stops working!

The church is not a museum for pristine saints, but a hospital ward for broken sinners.

Let us preach grace till humility just starts to grow in us.

If God is treated as God during suffering, then suffering can reveal and present him in all his greatness.

Only when our greatest love is God, a love that we cannot lose even in death, can we face all things with peace. Grief was not to be eliminated but seasoned and buoyed up with love and hope.

If this world was made by a triune God, relationships of love are what life is really all about.

Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.

The deeper the experience of the free grace of God, the more generous we must become.

As many have learned and later taught, you don't realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.

Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally.

If there is a God, you owe him far more than a morally decent life.

God's salvation does not come in response to a changed life. A changed life comes in response to the salvation, offered as a free gift.

Jesus's miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming.

Marriage is so much like salvation and our relationship with Christ that you can’t understand marriage w/o looking at the gospel.

Ministry to the poor is a crucial sign that we believe the gospel.

You are worse than you think you are, but also far more loved than you feel you are.

Fear, logic, and tradition are not going to make you live a good life when no one is looking.

There is a direct relationship between a person's grasp and experience of God's grace, and his or her heart for justice and the poor.

If we can't "love the sinner; hate the sin" then how can we relate to ourselves? Love who we are in Christ but still hate the sin remaining.

You should not begin to pray for all you want until you realize that in God you have all you need.

The Gospel is the deepest consolation you can offer to the human heart.

Public faith means going public with what’s in your heart, with humility and respect for others, as we speak of the truth of the gospel.

One of the signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do.

Living is giving....If you spend your money on yourself, you are just surviving. But if you want your life to count, if you want to really live - give.

The Gospel is this: You're more sinful, evil and weak than you'd ever believe. But you're more valued, accepted and loved than you dared hope.

The very fact that we have access to God's attention and presence should concentrate the thoughts and elevate the heart.

The life of faith is not the perfect life; it is the life which clings on to what God has said he will do.

When you say, "Come in Jesus as my caregiver, stay out as my Lord," he can't. He's both.

It is possible to avoid Jesus as Savior as much by keeping all the Biblical rules as by breaking them.

Change happens not just by giving the mind new arguments but also by feeding the imagination new beauties

The gospel shows a God far more holy than the legalist can bear, yet far more merciful than a humanist can conceive

Jesus' claims are particularly unnerving, because if they are true there is no alternative but to bow the knee to him.

Prayer should be done regularly, persistently, resolutely, and tenaciously at least daily, whether we feel like it or not.

The gospel humbles us into the dust and at the very same time exalts us to the heavens.

If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning of life, and identity then it is an idol.

Where you find your significance is where you find your salvation.

Christ's resurrection not only gives you hope for the future; it gives you hope to handle your scars right now.

Truth is more important, freedom is more complex, and Jesus is more liberating than you think.

Faith journeys are never simply intellectual exercises.

What you treasure will ultimately require you die for it, Jesus is the only treasure that died for you.

Your feelings come from where you find your hope. Where is your happiness and your significance?

The common moral framework: Do anything as long as it does no harm to others. Problem: Whose definition of harm?

It's important to remember the Gospel is a story; not a set of bullet points.