Cited in sermons
G.K. Chesterton
7 sermons · All people cited
The Christian Sabbath, Part 3
Three passages in the New Testament — Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2 — are commonly marshalled against the abiding validity of the Fourth Commandment, but careful exegesis reveals that none of them address the weekly Lord's Day Sabbath. Romans 14 concerns Christian liberty over matters indifferent, principally Jewish dietary laws and Israel's feast calendar; Galatians 4 rebukes the Judaizers' demand that calendar observance supplement faith in Christ for justification; and Colossians 2 warns against a syncretistic heresy that mingled Christ, Judaism, and angel worship. In each case Paul is dealing with Israel's ceremonial calendar, not the moral Sabbath commandment rooted in creation and redemption, which remains binding on the new covenant people of God and is observed on the first day of the week in light of Christ's resurrection.
The Utility of Confessions and Introduction to the Second London Baptist Confession
Confessions of faith are not competitors to Scripture but are faithful summaries of biblical doctrine, and the church has historically depended on them for good reason. This address introduces the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, tracing its historical origins among the Particular Baptists of the 17th century and its relationship to the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration. Five interlocking uses of a confession are then examined: defining church doctrine, defending it against error, discriminating between members and officers on doctrinal grounds, disciplining departures from orthodoxy, and distinguishing confessed doctrine from matters of Christian liberty. The goal is not confessional enslavement but confessional clarity — guardrails that protect the church and free her members to worship and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
Joshua 23
Joshua 23 records Joshua's farewell address to the assembled leaders of Israel, structured around three movements: a reminder of God's demonstrated presence and power in the conquest, the necessity of careful obedience to the written law of Moses, and a solemn warning that Yahweh's covenant faithfulness extends equally to judgment as to blessing. The sermon traces how Joshua grounds his exhortation in theology proper — who God is and what He has done — before applying that foundation to the dangers of idolatry, intermarriage with Canaanites, and departure from the written Word. A sustained application draws out the regulative principle that God's written Word alone is the standard for His people's obedience, and warns that the same covenant fidelity that blessed Israel in the land will curse those who transgress it.
The Lord of the Sabbath, Part 2
Matthew 12:9–14 presents a second Sabbath conflict in which the Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus with the question of whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, while themselves plotting murder on that same day. The sermon traces Jesus' fourfold response — a rhetorical question, a contrast between sheep and man, a drawn implication, and a commanding word of healing — demonstrating that the Pharisees' opposition is not ultimately about Sabbath details but about the authority of Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath and therefore Lord over all. The healing of the man with the withered hand confirms Jesus' assertion in verse 8 and points forward to the cross, where the sin that hardens men's hearts against Christ is finally and fully addressed. Hearers are called to rest in Christ alone, who heals not only withered hands but withered souls, and to receive the Sabbath as a gift rather than a burden.
The Blessed Yoke of Discipleship
Matthew 11:29–30 presents the 'blessed yoke of discipleship' — the claim that coming to Christ in justification is inseparable from taking up His yoke in sanctification. The sermon moves through three considerations: the command to submit to Christ's rule, the demand to learn from Christ as both teacher and lesson, and the description of discipleship as a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light compared to the bondage of sin and Pharisaic legalism. Antinomianism is directly refuted: the grace that justifies is the grace that sanctifies, and the law of God in the hand of Christ remains the believer's rule of life. The hearer is pressed to either believe on the meek and lowly Christ for rest, or continue in the hard and heavy way of sin.
The Old Testament and Jesus: Specific Warnings
Matthew 5:19–20 presents two specific warnings that frame Christ's exposition of the law in the Sermon on the Mount: a warning against antinomianism and a warning against legalism. Both errors, though apparently opposite, share a common root — a contempt for God's law as he actually gave it, whether by subtracting from it or by supplementing it with human tradition. The sermon argues that the righteousness required for entrance into the kingdom of heaven is not produced by moral effort nor excused by doctrinal sleight of hand, but is found only in Christ, whose imputed righteousness is received through faith alone.
Gospel Liberty and the Law of Love
Gospel liberty, rightly understood, is not freedom from responsibility but freedom for the service of God and neighbour. Expounding Galatians 5:13–15, this sermon argues that Paul is no antinomian: believers called to liberty are simultaneously called to fulfil the moral law through love, and the gospel of free justification is the very source of genuine sanctification, not its enemy. Four theological implications of Paul's appeal to Leviticus 19:18 are drawn out — Paul's rejection of antinomianism, the threefold distinction in the law, the continuity of the moral law from creation through Sinai into the new covenant, and the complementary rather than antithetical relationship of Spirit and law — before the sermon closes with a sober warning that biting and devouring within the church betrays a failure of gospel-wrought love. The congregation is exhorted to pursue loving service of one another as the God-appointed antidote to both legalism and licentiousness.