Cited in sermons
Irenaeus
20 sermons · All people cited
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures (Paragraphs 1-3)
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith opens with the doctrine of Holy Scripture because all subsequent confessional theology stands or falls on this foundation. This session works through paragraphs 1–3 of Chapter 1, establishing first the necessity of Scripture — grounded in the insufficiency of general revelation for saving knowledge and the cessation of direct prophetic revelation — and then the identity of Scripture, treating the question of canon (which books belong) and the exclusion of the Apocrypha. Three criteria for canonicity are examined: the providential exposure of books, the divine attributes Scripture bears, and apostolic origin broadly understood.
The Gospel of Christ in the Valley of Elah
David's victory over Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 is not merely an episode in Israelite history but a Christological shadow pointing forward to the greater conquest of Christ over Satan at Golgotha. This sermon works through twelve points of typological correspondence between David and Christ — from Bethlehem's birthplace, to the shepherd-king, to vicarious representation, to the skull motif of Genesis 3:15 — demonstrating that the whole of Scripture is organically unified around the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The exposition serves as a Lord's Supper meditation, calling believers to rejoice in their conquering substitute and urging the unconverted to flee to the champion who uses death itself to destroy death.
Very man: "Now my soul is troubled"
John 12:27–28 records the Son of God incarnate declaring 'Now my soul is troubled' — words that are simultaneously a window into his true humanity and a display of his sinless obedience at the threshold of Calvary. This sermon works through the four clauses of those verses, arguing that Christ's soul-trouble was real and holy, arising not from cowardice before mere bodily suffering but from his contemplation of the divine wrath he would bear as the substitute for sinners. Drawing on Cyril of Alexandria's principle that 'what is not assumed is not healed,' the sermon shows that Christ's sinless experience of grief, agitation, and soul-anguish recapitulates every stage of fallen human experience so that he might procure both the forgiveness of guilt and the positive righteousness his people need in every circumstance of life. The congregation is called to rest its entire confidence — prayer life, grief, daily obedience — in the blood and righteousness of the one who said 'For this purpose I came to this hour.'
CTF 2024 Session 6: Further Explorations in Scripture Interpretation
Christ is the scope of the whole of Scripture — this is the claim Peter makes in Acts 3 and unpacks theologically in 1 Peter 1:10–12, and it is the claim this session presses upon interpreters of the Bible today. Beginning with Peter's sermon in Acts 3 and moving to his mature reflection in 1 Peter 1, the lecture traces how God spoke through the writing prophets from Moses onward concerning the sufferings and glory of Christ, how those prophets studied one another's writings in search of a fuller understanding, and how the coming of Christ together with the New Testament's explanatory revelation made explicit what was implicit in the Old Testament all along. The session closes with several hermeneutical implications: the analogy of Scripture is not a Reformation invention but a prophetic practice; the Old Testament contains a surplus of divinely embedded meaning that awaits later revelation to unveil; and subsequent revelation does not reinterpret the Old Testament but fulfils and illuminates the meaning that was always there.
The Authority of the Church
Christ's promise in Matthew 16:19 to give 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven' to the church raises two perennial dangers: authoritarian abuse of ecclesiastical power and the outright abdication of it. This sermon expounds the identity of those entrusted with these keys (apostles, elders, and the gathered congregation together), the nature of the authority delegated (binding and loosing through preaching and discipline), and the proper ground of confidence when the church acts — not sacerdotal infallibility, but the assurance that heaven ratifies the church's faithful obedience to Scripture. The practical conclusion is that the keys are exercised through the proclamation of the Word, the admission and exclusion of members, and the administration of the sacraments — never through entertainment, self-help, or moral do-goodery.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ the Mediator, Part 4
The person of the Lord Jesus Christ — his true humanity, sinlessness, and mediatorial office — is examined through paragraphs 2, 3, and 7 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 8. The session works through the Virgin birth by the power of the Holy Spirit, the essential properties and common infirmities of Christ's assumed human nature, his sinlessness according to that nature, and the role of the Holy Spirit in equipping him for his mediatorial task. Paragraph 7's doctrine of the communicatio idiomatum is then treated, establishing what may and may not properly be said of Christ given the hypostatic union of two natures in one person.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
Paragraphs 5–10 of the Second London Confession's first chapter contain an implicit hermeneutical program that governs all responsible reading of Scripture. This session works through those paragraphs to identify six distinct interpretive principles: the Christocentric scope of all Scripture, the extent and finality of Scripture's sufficiency, the perspicuity of Scripture for salvation, the availability of Scripture through faithful translation, the analogy of Scripture and faith as the rule of interpretation, and the supreme judicial authority of Scripture over all human councils and traditions. The practical thrust is that every reader, learned or unlearned, is equipped by ordinary means and the Spirit's illumination to understand what God has revealed — and that bad presuppositions inevitably produce bad theology.
The Unsurpassed Value of Scripture
Second Timothy 3:16–17 grounds the entire ministry of the Word in two foundational claims: that all Scripture is God-breathed in its origin, and therefore profitable in its use for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. The sermon establishes the identity of Scripture (Old Testament and apostolic New Testament writings), defends verbal, organic inspiration as distinct from mere human literary inspiration, and distinguishes the attributes of inspired, infallible, and inerrant as three interlocking properties of Scripture. The practical force of the passage is pressed on both the congregation and the minister: a church that neglects biblical doctrine, reproof, and correction will be stunted and vulnerable, while the man of God who saturates himself in the Word is thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The Introduction to Ephesians
Ephesians 1:1–2 introduces one of the richest doctrinal letters in the New Testament canon, and this sermon surveys the authorship, historical context, and theological purpose of the epistle before examining Paul's greeting to the saints. The apostle's self-identification as one sent by Christ 'by the will of God' grounds his authority not in self-appointment but in sovereign divine commission, while his description of the recipients as 'saints' and 'faithful in Christ Jesus' defines sainthood in purely biblical terms — all who are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The sermon traces Paul's founding ministry in Ephesus through Acts 18–19, showing how the gospel's triumph over witchcraft, idolatry, and the cult of Diana provides the backdrop for the letter's emphasis on Christ's supremacy over all powers. The epistle is previewed as a two-part structure — doctrinal foundation (chapters 1–3) followed by practical application (chapters 4–6) — aimed at grounding believers in both the indicatives and imperatives of redemption.
The Appointment of the Seven
Acts 6:1–7 records the Jerusalem church's response to a logistical crisis that threatened to pull the apostles away from prayer and the ministry of the Word. The passage establishes the diaconate in seed form: men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, appointed to serve the practical needs of the congregation so that those charged with preaching and teaching may be undistracted. Expounding 1 Timothy 3:8–13 alongside the Acts text, this sermon examines the qualifications, function, and appointment of deacons, and the connection between a biblically ordered church — with both elders and deacons — and the advance of the gospel.
The Conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts 8:26–40 records the Spirit-directed encounter between the evangelist Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch, a man doubly excluded from Israel's assembly by Deuteronomy 23:1 yet drawn by God's sovereign grace into the new-covenant community. The sermon traces three movements in the narrative — the providential meeting, the expository dialogue from Isaiah 53, and the eunuch's confession and baptism — arguing that the passage is not merely a quotation but a fulfillment of Isaiah 56, in which eunuchs and foreigners are brought near through the blood of Christ. Against any notion of baptism as a converting ordinance, the preacher grounds believers' baptism in the pattern of faith preceding baptism throughout Acts, Calvin's own concession that immersion was the ancient mode, and the 1689 LBCF's definition of baptism as an ordinance primarily for the party baptized. The sermon closes with an indiscriminate call to all sinners to relinquish their own righteousness and rest in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.
The Appointment of the Seven
Acts 6:1–7 presents the early Jerusalem church navigating a threat not of persecution or corruption but of distraction — the risk of the apostles being pulled from prayer and the ministry of the Word to adjudicate a dispute over the daily distribution to widows. The passage reveals two offices in the church, each with distinct responsibilities: those called to preach and pray, and those appointed to serve. The sermon traces the problem, the apostles' proposal of qualified men to oversee the practical need, and the resulting provision — a gospel that spreads and even inveterate priestly enemies who are overcome by efficacious grace.
Genesis 3:14-24
Genesis 3:14–24 records the consequences of the fall, and the heart of this study is the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15 — the first gospel promise in Scripture. God's curse upon the serpent contains within it an announcement of the Messiah: the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head, accomplishing total victory through suffering and death. The sermon traces this skull-crushing seed through the biblical narrative — from the typological head-wounds of Judges and David's defeat of Goliath, to New Testament fulfillment in Colossians, Hebrews, 1 John, and Revelation 12 — demonstrating that the cross of Christ is the decisive blow against the devil foreshadowed in Eden. The study closes by examining the consequences for the woman and the man in verses 16–19, situating the tensions of marriage and labor in a post-lapsarian world that Christ's redemptive work is already beginning to address.
Introduction to the Book of Acts
The book of Acts is not merely a record of human achievement but theological history — the continuing acts of the risen and ascended Christ, who builds his church by the Spirit through apostolic agency. This introductory sermon on Acts 1:1–3 examines the authorship, date, purpose, and major themes of Acts, defending the apostolicity of Luke as a non-apostle who nonetheless wrote under apostolic oversight and companionship with Paul. The sermon anchors the entire book in three great themes: the glory of the triune God, the normative practice of the early church, and the unstoppable spread of the gospel — all driven by the necessity of the Christian gospel for sinners under a holy God.
The Conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts 8:26–40 records the Spirit-orchestrated conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch through Philip's proclamation of Christ from Isaiah 53. The passage is set within the fulfillment of Isaiah 56's promise that eunuchs and Gentiles would be brought near to God in the messianic age — a promise Luke deliberately highlights as the risen and exalted Christ builds his kingdom to the uttermost parts of the earth. The sermon expounds the substitutionary suffering of the servant of Yahweh as the content of Philip's evangelism, the great exchange of 2 Corinthians 5:21 as the ground of justification, and the proper order of faith then baptism as the pattern of apostolic practice. Hearers are pressed to ask whether they understand the gospel, to believe it without delay, and — if already believing — to submit to baptism as an act of obedience and a means of grace.
Free Grace Baptist Church - December 27, 2015 PM
What makes the Bible the word of God, and how should that conviction shape the way believers read and live by it? This expository sermon on 2 Timothy 3:16–17 examines three interconnected questions: what Scripture is, where its authority comes from, and why it is indispensable. Working through Paul's claim that 'all Scripture is God-breathed,' the sermon establishes that this includes both Testaments, defends the unique apostolic authority that underwrites the New Testament writings, and argues that the doctrines of inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy are inseparable. The sermon closes with a call to imitate the psalmist of Psalm 119—hiding the word in the heart, meditating on its precepts, and rejoicing in its testimonies as in great treasure.
Divine Simplicity 2 - Of God and the Holy Trinity (2LCF 2.1-3)
What does it mean to say God is 'without parts,' and why does it matter for every other divine attribute? This second session on divine simplicity (2LCF 2.1–3) continues an expository study of the Second London Baptist Confession's opening chapter on God, working through the classical doctrine that God is not composed of physical, metaphysical, or logical parts — a doctrine historically attested from the church fathers through the Reformation and represented in every major Reformed confession. The session focuses especially on God's pure actuality (the denial of act-and-potency composition), the inseparability of God as knower, knowing, and things known, and the impossibility of God being both agent and patient — showing that divine simplicity is the ontological foundation for God's immutability, independence, absoluteness, unity, and infinite love.
Divine Simplicity - Of God and the Holy Trinity (2LCF 2.1-3)
Divine simplicity — the classical doctrine that God has no parts, no composition whatsoever, and that all that is in God is God — is examined through its confessional, definitional, historical, and doctrinal dimensions. The 1689 London Baptist Confession's phrase 'without body, parts, or passions' serves as the entry point, with 'without parts' identified as the direct expression of divine simplicity. The doctrine is shown to be the ontological foundation for God's aseity, infinity, immutability, and the unity of his attributes, and is traced through an unbroken stream of witnesses from Irenaeus and Augustine through Aquinas, the Reformers, and the Reformed scholastics. Hearers are pressed to resist any conception of God as a composite being whose attributes are properties inhering in a subject, and to affirm instead that God is identical with his own essence, being, and every perfection predicated of him.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
What gives the church the right to declare these 27 books—and no others—the Word of God? This session works through 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 1, paragraphs 2 and 3, to answer that question by examining the origins of the New Testament canon and the three attributes by which canonical books are recognized: divine qualities, corporate reception, and apostolic origin. Drawing extensively on Michael Kruger's scholarship, the lesson demonstrates that the canon was neither a fourth-century political invention nor a community preference, but a self-authenticating body of Scripture whose recognition by the church was providentially prepared for from within the structure of redemptive history itself. The closing application presses the hearer to see that no argument for canonicity finally persuades apart from the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 1
What does it mean that 'all Scripture is given by inspiration of God'? This study of 2 Timothy 3:16–17 examines the doctrine of Scripture under three headings: its extent (the full Old and New Testaments as God-breathed canon), its character (Theopneustos — God-breathed, not merely humanly inspired), and its utility (profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness). The apostolic authority undergirding the New Testament canon is traced through the writings of Peter, Paul, and the early church fathers, establishing that the closed canon is the sufficient and final Word of the Covenant Lord. Hearers are called to give themselves to private Scripture reading, memorization, family worship, and faithful attendance upon the preached Word.