Gospel in Life
with Tim Keller
Secret Treason
Friday, January 16, 2026
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.
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