How Sin Makes Us Addicts

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Tim Keller

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Spirituality

4.8 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Even when we feel vaguely guilty for things in our past, or when we feel outraged by what we see other people doing, we have trouble talking about sin and evil. In our society, we’ve been taught that words like “sin” or “evil” are oppressive or meaningless. Yet we sense something out there that we don’t have the vocabulary for. But the Bible gives us a far richer vocabulary and helps us understand sin in far more nuanced ways. In Jeremiah 2, there’s a prophesy from Jeremiah to a nation in spiritual decline. And in it, we’ll see how sin is replacing God, and the result is addiction of spirit. Jeremiah’s telling us about 1) the dynamics of spiritual attraction, 2) the dynamics of spiritual addiction, and 3) the dynamics of spiritual restoration. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 14, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Jeremiah 2:1-8. 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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Gospel in Life.
0:05.7	Why is the world so broken?
0:07.5	And why are we capable of inflicting such harm even toward those we love?
0:11.9	People point to politics, poverty, or psychology, but none of these fully explain what we see in ourselves and in history.
0:19.4	This month on the podcast, Tim Keller is teaching from a series exploring the question,
0:24.0	What's wrong with us?
0:25.3	Showing us how the Bible's teaching on sin offers the only explanation deep enough to face the truth
0:31.1	in all its complexity, and the only hope powerful enough to transform us.
0:38.3	Thank you. hope powerful enough to transform us.
0:47.3	Jeremiah 2, 1 to 8 and 23 to 32. It's printed there.
0:48.3	This is the beginning and the ending of this great chapter in the book of the prophet Jeremiah. The word of the Lord came to me.
0:59.7	Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem. I remember the devotion of your youth. How as a bride you
1:07.2	loved me and followed me through the, through a land not sown.
1:13.4	Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.
1:16.2	All who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them, declares the Lord.
1:21.8	Hear the word of the Lord, O House of Jacob, all you clans of the House of Israel.
1:25.9	This is what the Lord says. What fault did your
1:28.4	fathers find in me that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became
1:33.5	worthless themselves. They did not ask, where is the Lord who brought us up out of Egypt and led us
1:39.9	through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness,
1:43.8	a land where no one travels and no one lives.
1:47.5	I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce, but you came and
	...

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