Alive With Christ (Part 1)

Tim Keller opens with a blunt diagnosis: "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." The claim is not that people are sick, struggling, or in need of a little improvement. They are dead. And the reason most people recoil from that language, Keller argues, is the same reason some people refuse to see a doctor—they are afraid to hear what is actually wrong with them. The sermon builds a case for why the doctrine of sin is not a downer but the only framework that makes sense of human experience, political dysfunction, and personal misery.

The Problem with Airbrushing Sin

Keller begins by noting a trend in large churches: the word "sin" has been removed from sermons in favor of softer language like "recovery" or "hurt." Market research shows people hate being told what is wrong with them. Keller compares this to people who refuse to see a doctor because "all you ever hear is what's wrong with you." The irony is obvious: the doctor exists precisely to diagnose what is wrong. Refusing to hear the diagnosis does not make the disease go away. Spiritually, the same logic applies. "They will die terrible and untimely deaths," Keller says, "spiritually speaking."