Secret Treason

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Tim Keller

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

4.8 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What gets God angry? Romans 1 tells us: ingratitude. If there’s a God who created you, do you work for his goals or do you take all that he’s given you and live for your own interests? My friends, that is ingratitude of the highest order, and this passage says it is secret treason. The reason this is a secret treason is because you keep it secret from yourself. Romans 1 says even though we know deep down that there is a God who created us, we all suppress that truth to some degree. We know we’re committing treason, but we keep it secret even from ourselves. We know it and we don’t know it. This passage looks at the structure of this secret treason: it says 1) ingratitude leads to repression, 2) repression leads to darkness, and 3) darkness leads to all of the problems in your life. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 19, 1989. Series: Ten Commandments 1989. Scripture: Romans 1:18–24. 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 and Life. During January, we're inviting our listeners to consider becoming a Gospel and Life monthly partner.
0:10.7	Monthly partners are an important part in helping us to plan for how we can be the most effective in reaching people all over the world with the gospel.
0:19.1	If you'd like to become a monthly partner, just visit
0:21.7	gospelonlife.com slash partner. That's gospelonlife.com slash partner. What comes to mind when you
0:30.6	hear about the Ten Commandments? For many people, they bring up feelings of guilt and shame, or they
0:35.9	seem like a list of rules that are impossible to follow.
0:39.1	In today's sermon, Tim Keller shows us how God didn't give us the Ten Commandments to crush us
0:43.9	with unattainable moral standards, but to appoint us to Jesus Christ, the only one who perfectly
0:49.6	fulfills God's law.
1:05.0	The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them for since the creation
1:11.0	of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
1:16.1	seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. For although they
1:23.3	knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile,
1:28.7	and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
1:33.6	and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and
1:39.1	animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
1:52.0	And suppressing the truth is not admitting there's a God there, and the reason that people are suppressing the truth is because what's it say in verse 21?
2:01.3	They won't thank him.
2:03.6	The thing that gets this God angry, a God as great as this,
2:08.8	a creator God who sifts the stars through his fingers like sand,
2:14.1	to whom the milky way is a piece of lint.
2:18.0	What gets this great and good being angry?
	...

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