After a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, beloved pastor and author Tim Keller took his last earthly breath and entered into the arms of Jesus.
Up until the very end, Tim Keller remained true to his faith, knowing his eternal security was secure thanks to Jesus.
And as we mourn his earthly death yet celebrate his mighty legacy, here are a few of his famous quotes that have inspired countless souls to trust in Jesus.
Obedience
Tim Keller knew obeying Jesus wasn’t an option, but a command.
But he differentiated between obeying God in order to “earn” His love . . .
. . . and explained we obey God because we love Him.
“Traditional religion says, ‘I give God a good moral record, so he has to bless me.’ The gospel says, ‘God gives me a good moral record through Christ, so I want to bless him.’ . . . Religion says, ‘If I obey, then God will love and accept me.’ The gospel says, ‘God loves and accepts me, therefore I want to obey.’”
“When you come to Christ, you must drop your conditions. You have to give up the right to say, ‘I will obey you if . . . I will do this if . . .’ As soon as you say, ‘I will obey you if,’ that is not obedience at all. You are saying: ‘You are my adviser, not my Lord. I will be happy to take your recommendations. And I might even do some of them.’ No. If you want Jesus with you, you have to give up the right to self-determination. Self-denial is an act of rebellion against our late-modern culture of self-assertion. But that is what we are called to. Nothing less.”
Death and the afterlife
While Keller knew death on earth would ultimately lead to eternal life for all who placed their faith in Jesus, he didn’t minimize the sting or pain of death for those who are grieving.
“All death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better.”
“Everything in this life is going to be taken away from us, except one thing: God’s love, which can go into death with us and take us through it and into His arms.”
“While people have many reactions to being in the presence of death, there are two opposite mistakes we can make when we’re in the presence of death: One is to despair too much; the other is to shrug it off and not learn what we should from it. Neither will be of much benefit to you, so we must do as the Bible tells us to do in the face of death: We should grieve, yet we should have hope; we should wake up from our denial and discover a source of peace that will not leave us; and finally, we should laugh and sing.”
“Death is not the way it ought to be. Death is abnormal, it is not a friend. It isn’t right. This isn’t truly part of the circle of life. Death is the end of it. So grieve. Cry. The Bible tells us not only to weep, but to weep with those who are weeping (Rom. 12:15, NASB). We have a lot of crying to do.”
Faithful until the end
In his final days, Tim Keller expressed his strong desire to be with Jesus.
And as he took his last breath, he was with his beloved wife.
Tim Keller lived his life keeping an eternal perspective.
He knew the greatest prize was Jesus, and he couldn’t wait to begin his new life in heaven among the other saints who finished well.
We will miss Tim Keller on this side of this side of heaven, but we praise God for giving him the endurance to end his life with honor while holding strong and true to his faith.
How has Tim Keller impacted your life?
Do you have a favorite quote or sermon by him?
You can post your answers to our Facebook page and join in the conversation with other believers from all around the world.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:16-17
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