The Way, the Truth, and the Life
John 14:1–6 presents Jesus preparing his disciples for his imminent departure by addressing their soul trouble with both an exhortation and an encouragement. The preparation of heaven is not a logistical arrangement but the accomplishment of the cross, resurrection, and ascension — Christ himself is the way to the Father, the truth that undergirds every promise, and the life that sinners desperately need. The exclusivity of the gospel ('no one comes to the Father except through me') is inseparable from its accessibility: there are many mansions, and the door is the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The sermon calls believers to vanquish soul trouble through faith, to persevere in light of the certain return of Christ, and to offer the way of salvation freely to all who are dead in trespasses and sins.
The Whole Armor of God, Part 1
Ephesians 6:10–17 calls the believer to armed, active resistance against a spiritual enemy whose power and cunning exceed any merely human opposition. The sermon works through three movements in the passage: the necessity of the armor (vv. 10–11a), the reason for it in the reality of demonic spiritual warfare (vv. 11b–12), and the meaning of each defensive piece — truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, and salvation — drawn from both Old Testament background and Paul's wider corpus. Against the tendency toward either passive Christianity or an obsessive preoccupation with demonic activity, the text calls every believer to stand, hold ground, and advance, doing so entirely in dependence on the power of the risen and ascended Christ who reigns over all principalities and powers.
Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics
What does it mean to interpret the Bible correctly, and how does the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith guide that task? Working through paragraphs 5 to 10 of Chapter 1, this study introduces the discipline of hermeneutics — the science of biblical interpretation — by tracing six principles the Confession sets forth: the scope of Scripture (the glory of God in the salvation of sinners through Christ), the sufficiency of Scripture (expressly stated and necessarily implied), the perspicuity of Scripture (clear enough for the unlearned on all saving matters), the translation of Scripture (grounded in divine inspiration and providential preservation), the interpretation of Scripture (the analogy of Scripture and the analogy of faith), and the finality of Scripture (Holy Scripture as the supreme judge over all councils, creeds, and private opinion). The practical burden is that a faulty hermeneutic produces bad doctrine, and that reading the Old Testament through the lens the New Testament apostles themselves provide is not optional but the pattern Christ himself commanded.
CLIP: Cultivating self-control in this evil age
Self-control is the foundation beneath all rightly ordered relationships — between spouses, parents and children, and masters and servants. Drawing from Ephesians 6:5–9 and the wisdom literature of Solomon, this clip argues that every level of human government — federal, provincial, familial, and ecclesiastical — rises or falls on the quality of self-government in individuals. The church must recover a robust biblical ethic of self-discipline as the antidote to social and moral disorder.
The Servant and Master Relationship
Ephesians 6:5–9 concludes Paul's household code by addressing the obligations of both bondservants and masters in first-century Greco-Roman society. The passage insists that redemption in Christ does not dissolve temporal social obligations: the slave must obey with a heartfelt, Christ-centered, and eschatologically grounded sincerity, while the master must forsake threatening and govern with the knowledge that he too stands under an impartial heavenly Master. The sermon applies this to the modern employer-employee relationship through four principles drawn from Proverbs and the parallel passage in Colossians 3: the condemnation of laziness, the commendation of diligence, the consideration of Christ in all things, and the cultivation of self-control as the Spirit-wrought fruit that undergirds every godly social relation.
2LCF Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
2LCF Chapter 10 expounds the doctrine of effectual calling — the sovereign, monergistic act by which God brings elect sinners from spiritual death to life in Jesus Christ. The chapter is read in full and examined in four paragraphs, with sustained attention given to the definition of effectual calling (paragraph 1) and its exclusively divine power (paragraph 2). God calls none but the predestinated, acts in his own appointed time, works through Word and Spirit, and employs no less power than that which raised Christ from the dead — leaving no room for human agency or merit in salvation. The session closes with brief pastoral notes on elect infants and the non-effectual gospel call, followed by congregational questions on infant salvation and the theology of divine simplicity undergirding unconditional election.
The Necessity of Brotherly Love
John 13:31–38 presents Jesus addressing his disciples immediately after Judas's departure, speaking with striking intimacy on three subjects: the glory of the Son secured through the cross, the new commandment to love one another, and the foretelling of Peter's denial. The new commandment does not merely repeat the Levitical call to love one's neighbor as oneself — its newness lies in the standard, the self-sacrificial, constant, sinner-directed love of Christ himself. The passage closes with an irony the sermon drives home: Peter boasts he will lay down his life for the Savior, but the entire point of the hour is that the Savior lays down his life for Peter — a pattern that distinguishes the Christian religion from every other.
Book recommendations related CTF 2024 and the Holy Scriptures
Two teachers discuss book recommendations for those preparing for or following up on a conference treating the Holy Scriptures, with particular focus on expositions of the relevant confession chapter and works on the doctrine of Scripture. Recommendations span classical Reformed confession commentaries, treatments of divine inspiration and inerrancy, and a sixteenth-century disputation on Scripture by William Whitaker. The conversation is a brief supplementary resource guide rather than an expository sermon.
About the speaker – Dr Jim Renihan
This is a brief pre-conference introduction in which a pastor recounts his personal experience studying under Dr. Jim Renihan at the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies at Westminster Theological Seminary California. The conversation commends Renihan's command of Baptist history, his knowledge of particular and general Baptist theology, and his teaching on the 1689 Confession of Faith. No sermon or Scripture exposition is present; this is biographical and promotional context for an upcoming conference event.
CTF - Introducing Chilliwack
This brief recording is a logistical introduction to a conference hosted in Chilliwack, British Columbia, covering travel directions, airport options, ground transportation, and accommodation arrangements for attendees. No Scripture is expounded and no theological content is presented. The recording does not constitute a sermon.
Introducing the Confessing the Faith Conference
This introductory video presents the Confessing the Faith Conference, a new Reformed Baptist conference based in Western Canada. The conference is structured around the 1689 Second London Confession of Faith, beginning with Chapter 1 on Holy Scripture, and features Dr. Richard Barcelos and Dr. James Renahan as speakers. Its three stated aims are: fostering unity among Reformed Baptist pastors in Western Canada, promoting fraternal relations with the broader Reformed church, and providing a confession-centered gathering open to all believers — not limited to pastors or scholars.
The Lawful Use of Vows in Israel
Leviticus 27 addresses the Israelite practice of making vows to God — acts of religious zeal, often rash or imprudent, by which persons consecrated people, animals, houses, or land to the Lord. The chapter does not license vow-breaking but rather underscores the gravity of vowing by legislating a costly redemption mechanism, warning the would-be vower to count the cost before speaking. The sermon situates the passage within the 1689 LBCF chapter 23 framework distinguishing oaths from vows, then draws three applications against popish monastical vows, Protestant legalistic vows, and pietistic circumventions of God's law — all forms of man-made religion condemned repeatedly in Scripture.
The Child and Parent Relationship, Part 2
Ephesians 6:4 commands fathers not to provoke their children to wrath, but to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord — a positive obligation grounded in the fifth commandment and the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the believer's life. This sermon expounds that single verse within the broader household code of Ephesians 5:22–6:9, situating Christian parenting as a fruit of sovereign grace rather than a means of earning it. The prohibition against provoking children is unpacked through five practical failures — unrighteous anger, unbiblical discipline, inconsistency, partiality, and imbalance of law and gospel — before the exhortation to train and admonish is developed from the book of Proverbs under four marks of a faithful parent. The sermon closes with concrete applications: pray for children, provide for them, protect them, preach law and gospel to them, and be present with them.
The Announcement of the Betrayal
John 13:18–30 records Jesus announcing the betrayal of Judas Iscariot in the upper room, and this exposition works through the passage in two movements: the announcement of the betrayal (vv. 18–20) and the identification of the betrayer (vv. 21–30). Three features of the announcement receive careful attention — the fulfillment of Psalm 41:9 in Christ's passion, the absolute divinity of Christ declared in the repeated 'I am' of verse 19 (grounded in Exodus 3:14), and the nature of apostolic discipleship as delegated ambassadorship. The removal of Judas from the disciple group exposes the distinction between holding church office and possessing saving grace, a distinction pressed as a question of self-examination for every hearer.
The Promise of Blessings and Cursing, Part 2
Leviticus 26:14–46 sets forth the covenant curses God threatened against Israel for breaking the Mosaic Covenant — a covenant of works — escalating through drought, wild animals, war, cannibalism, wholesale destruction, and exile. These curses came to historical fulfillment in the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria in 722 BC, the fall of the Southern Kingdom to Babylon in 586 BC, and the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in AD 70 — events prophesied in the Olivet Discourse and confirmed by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2. The chapter closes with a promise of restoration conditioned on Israel's humble repentance and God's fidelity to the Abrahamic covenant. Believers under the New Covenant are freed from these covenant curses because Christ bore them fully, fulfilling the demands of the law and standing as the surety of a better covenant.
Live Stream - February 04, 2024
John 13:1–17 presents the foot washing not merely as an act of hygiene but as a layered emblem pointing to the Incarnation, the passion of Christ, and the ongoing realities of regeneration, justification, and sanctification. The Son of God who stoops to wash the dirt from disciples' feet is the same one who goes to the cross to wash the guilt from their hearts, fulfilling the servant-song Messianism of Isaiah and the promised cleansing of Ezekiel and Zechariah. Peter's impetuous refusal and subsequent wholehearted submission illustrate the sinner's need for a part with Christ — union and communion grounded in spiritual washing, received through faith. The discourse then turns practical: those who have been so served by their Lord are obligated to advance his cause not through power or coercion but through humble, self-sacrificing service to one another and to the world.
The Ministry in Pisidia Antioch
Paul's evangelistic address in the synagogue at Pisidia Antioch reaches its climax in Acts 13:38–43 with two inseparable gospel blessings: the forgiveness of sins and justification by faith alone apart from the works of the law. The sermon traces the inability of the Mosaic law to justify — not because the law is defective, but because sinners cannot render the perfect, entire, and perpetual obedience it demands — and shows how Christ's active and passive obedience supply precisely what the law exposes as lacking. The response of the Gentiles, who begged to hear the gospel again, is held up as a rebuke to any preaching that substitutes self-help or moralism for the proclamation of free acceptance with God through Christ alone.
CLIP: Jesus is the Best
The supremacy of Christ over all things is the ground on which sinners must rest. Drawing from Peter's response to foot-washing in John 13 and Paul's declaration in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, this clip argues that what Jesus accomplished is not merely ceremonial cleansing but the total washing, sanctification, and justification of guilty sinners. To possess Christ by faith is to receive every spiritual blessing, because he saves to the uttermost.
The Demonstration of Servanthood
John 13:4–17 presents the foot washing not merely as an act of hospitality but as an emblem pointing simultaneously to the incarnation, the passion, regeneration, justification, and sanctification. The Son of God who stoops to wash the dirty feet of dirty men is the same Son of God who goes to the cross to wash the dirty hearts of dirty sinners. Peter's initial refusal and subsequent capitulation illustrate the sinner's need for union with Christ — a union granted only through being washed, born again, and cleansed by the blood of Christ. Disciples who have received this washing are therefore obligated to go and serve others in humility, self-sacrifice, and love as the means by which they advance the gospel.
2LCF 9 - Of Free Will
The 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 9, 'Of Free Will,' is examined through its four-paragraph structure, which moves from a definition of the will that applies to all rational creatures, through the progressive states of humanity in relation to sin and grace. The chapter distinguishes the natural faculty of free will from the moral bondage introduced by the fall, the sovereign liberation effected by regenerating grace, and the final confirmation of the redeemed will in glory. Understanding these distinctions guards against both Pelagian overconfidence in human ability and fatalist despair regarding the will's genuine activity in salvation.
The Promise of Blessings and Curses (Part 1)
Leviticus 26:1–13 opens with a promise of blessing conditioned on Israel's obedience — a structure that raises the question of how the Old Covenant relates to the New. This study expounds the covenantal framework underlying Leviticus 26, arguing that the Old Covenant operated as a covenant of works at the national level, distinct from the covenant of grace realized in Christ. The blessings of rain, peace, and God's presence promised to Israel find their fulfillment in the New Covenant, where the obedience that secures blessing is Christ's own, imputed to his people by faith alone.
Live Stream - January 28, 2024
John 13:1-3 introduces the entire Upper Room discourse by establishing three governing realities: the arrival of Christ's hour, the opposition of the devil through Judas, and the resolute authority and mission of the Son of God. The passage centers on the declaration that Christ, knowing his hour had come, loved his own to the end — an unchanging, constant, and infinite love grounded not in the moral superiority of its objects but in the electing purpose of the Father. The sermon argues that trinitarian theology, not self-help or emotional manipulation, is the doctrinal fuel that empowers the church for gospel ministry, corporate worship, and faithful endurance under persecution.
The Year of Jubilee, Leviticus 25
John 13:1–3 introduces the Upper Room discourse by establishing three realities that govern everything Christ says to his disciples in chapters 13–16: the arrival of his appointed hour, the opposition of the devil through Judas, and the sovereign authority and mission of the Son. The passage centres on the love of Christ for his own — a love that is unchanging, constant, and infinite — as the motivating force behind every word he speaks in the upper room. The sermon presses toward a single application: it is robust trinitarian and Christological doctrine, not self-help or guilt, that moves the church to worship, evangelism, and endurance under opposition.
The Child and Parent Relationship, Part 1
Ephesians 6:1–3 addresses children directly within the gathered congregation, a detail that itself carries ecclesiological weight: Paul assumes children are present under the preaching of the Word, not segregated from it. The sermon works through two movements — the rightness of obedience grounded in the light of nature and created order, and the requirement of God's law grounded in the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16), which Paul universalizes from Old Covenant Israel to Gentile children in Ephesus and, by extension, to every generation. The three uses of the law are carefully distinguished: the law cannot justify, but it restrains, reveals sin and the need for Christ, and then normatively patterns the sanctified life of the believer. Children are urged to search their hearts, see their failure to honor and obey, and flee to Christ for the righteousness they lack.
The Introduction to the Upper Room Discourse
John 13:1–3 functions as the theological introduction to the entire Upper Room Discourse (John 13–16), establishing three controlling realities: the arrival of Christ's appointed hour, the opposition of the devil through Judas, and the resolute authority and mission of the Son of God. The love of Christ for his own — unchanging, constant, and infinite — is the motivating force behind everything he teaches his disciples in those chapters. Those whom the Father gave to the Son are not a morally superior class but guilty sinners chosen in sovereign grace, loved to the uttermost through the cross, resurrection, intercession, and into eternity. Sound Trinitarian doctrine, far from being merely academic, is the very fuel that moves the church to worship, witness, and perseverance.
The Year of Jubilee
Leviticus 25 sets forth the sabbatical year and the Year of Jubilee as divine legislation governing the rhythms of rest, property redemption, and the release of indentured servants within Old Covenant Israel. The laws are grounded in the theological principle that the land belongs to God, who allotted it as gift to his people and therefore retains final authority over how it is held and transferred. The chapter points typologically beyond itself: the Jubilee's proclamation of liberty, initiated on the Day of Atonement, finds its antitype in Christ, who fulfills Isaiah 61 by proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord through his atoning work. The practical summons of the passage is to express the fear of God in concrete generosity toward covenant members who fall into poverty, resisting every form of oppression.
Live Stream - January 21, 2024
Proverbs 6:20–35 contains Solomon's urgent warning to his sons against adultery, situated within the broader framework of the seventh commandment. The sermon traces Solomon's argument from the necessity of God's law as a guide and guard, through the internal lust condemned alongside the external act, to the inevitable and devastating consequences — spiritual, relational, and societal — that adultery brings. The application turns to three means of protection: removal from temptation, rejoicing with one's covenant spouse, and remembering the omniscience of God; the sermon closes with the gospel assurance that even these sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ for the repentant.
The Warning Against Adultery
Proverbs 6:20–35 presents a father's urgent warning against adultery, grounding it in the necessity and blessing of God's law as a constant guide and protector. The passage moves from the internal heart lust prohibited by the Tenth Commandment, through vivid analogies of fire and hot coals, to the devastating consequences adultery brings upon the adulterer, the violated party, and society. Solomon's contrast between the pitied thief who steals from hunger and the despised adulterer who steals from pure wickedness sharpens the moral weight of the Seventh Commandment. The sermon closes with three practical means of protection — remove, rejoice, remember — and with the gospel assurance that the blood of Christ cleanses even these sins upon repentance and faith.
The Sanctity of Life
The sixth commandment's prohibition of murder rests on the foundation that man is made in the image of God — a dignity that attaches to every human being at every stage of life, including the preborn child in the womb. Exodus 21:22–25 addresses the case of a pregnant woman injured during a fight, and the Hebrew text's use of normal birth language rather than miscarriage terminology establishes that the child in the womb is covered by the same lex talionis as any other person. The sermon works through the biblical witness to the imago Dei across the whole of human life — pre-fall, post-fall, in infancy, disability, sickness, old age, and the womb — before turning to the passage in Exodus as concrete civil legislation protecting that dignity. The law condemns the sin of abortion without reservation, yet the sermon closes by directing the guilty to the gospel: the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, including this one.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ, the Mediator (Part 5)
The work of Christ as Mediator — his active and passive obedience, definite atonement, and threefold office as prophet, priest, and king — is the subject of this exposition of 2 London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 8, paragraphs 4 through 10. The confession traces Christ's voluntary humiliation, his satisfaction of divine justice as a propitiation, and the retroactive efficacy of that work for Old Covenant saints who looked forward to him through promises, types, and sacrifices. Paragraph 8's teaching that Christ certainly and effectually applies redemption to all for whom he obtained it grounds the assurance of salvation entirely in the sovereign purpose of God rather than foreseen conditions in the sinner. The threefold office — prophet to instruct the ignorant, priest to reconcile the alienated, king to subdue and preserve the unwilling — frames the believer's comprehensive dependence on Christ alone.