Cited in sermons
J. A. Alexander
38 sermons · All people cited
The Healing of the Lame Man
Acts 3:1–10 records the healing of a man lame from birth at the gate called Beautiful, and this exposition argues that the miracle is not an isolated wonder but a typological and redemptive event that displays the name and power of Jesus Christ while setting the stage for apostolic gospel proclamation. The man's condition — congenital, public, and long-standing — ensures that the miracle is conspicuous and undeniable, functioning to authenticate the apostles as God's spokesmen and to magnify the glory of the enthroned Christ. The church's calling, illustrated by Peter's declaration that he possesses no silver or gold but only the name of Christ, is the proclamation of the gospel and the forgiveness of sins, not the amelioration of every temporal need society presents. Those genuinely conquered by sovereign grace, like the healed man, are marked by worship, praise, and desire for the public means of grace.
The Response to Peter's Sermon, Part 2
Acts 2:43–47 describes the ordinary but Spirit-wrought practice of the early Jerusalem church, and this exposition presses that description as a prescription for church life today. The sermon examines steadfastness in apostolic doctrine, fellowship, the Lord's Supper, and prayer; the fear of God that attends his presence; the voluntary charity of believers toward one another; and the public and private conduct of a congregation living under sovereign grace. Against both charismatic enthusiasm and worldly accommodation, the sermon argues that faithfulness in ordinary, Word-regulated worship and mutual edification — not signs, programs, or radical individualism — is the enduring mark of a church built by Christ.
The Call to Repentance
Acts 2:37–40 records the crowd's response to Peter's Pentecost sermon and his command to repent and be baptized. This exposition examines the nature of genuine conviction of sin, the inseparable relationship between repentance and faith, the proper place of baptism as an outward sign of inward grace rather than a means of salvation, and the comprehensive scope of God's electing call that reaches Jerusalem sinners, their children, and Gentiles afar off. The sermon presses the hearer to embrace conviction of sin as a mercy, to understand that repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, and to respond by believing the gospel and submitting to baptism without delay.
The Prologue and Commission
Acts 1:1–8 opens with a prologue establishing that the book of Acts is not merely the acts of the apostles but the continuing acts of the risen, enthroned Christ — carried out by the Spirit, through the Word, and by means of the apostles he himself commissioned. The sermon examines what Luke signals by the phrase 'Jesus began both to do and teach,' arguing that faithful Christianity holds doctrine and good works together as an inseparable knot, neither collapsing into social-gospel activism nor retreating into a purely intellectual faith. The apostolic commission is shown to be authoritative and externally given, grounding the church's mission in Christ's own mandate rather than human initiative.
The Preaching of Peter on Pentecost
Acts 2:37–42 records the first gospel sermon of the apostolic church and the conversion of three thousand souls on the day of Pentecost. This exposition works through Peter's proclamation — centering the gospel in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ — and his call to repentance and baptism, showing that sin must be named plainly before the Savior can be received gladly. The sermon draws on John Bunyan's 'The Jerusalem Sinner Saved' to press the point that Christ's mercy is offered most conspicuously to the vilest of sinners, and closes with a direct call to believe, repent, and be baptized.
The King's Wedding
Psalm 45 is a royal wedding psalm that the New Testament applies directly to Christ, identifying the king as God incarnate whose throne is forever. This sermon works through four movements: the psalmist's overflowing intention, the glory and divine-human person of the king, the call for the bride to forsake all competing allegiances, and the declaration of the king's everlasting dominion. The congregation is pressed to enter the Lord's Supper — and every Lord's Day gathering — with the gladness and rejoicing that befits a bride coming into the presence of the one who is fairer than the sons of men.
The Enthronement of the Priest-King
Psalm 110, the most-quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament, sets forth the Messiah under three aspects: divine king enthroned at the right hand of Yahweh, eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek, and conquering warrior who shatters every enemy of God. The sermon argues that Christ's enthronement at the ascension inaugurates a reign that cannot fail, grounded in the unbreakable oath of the covenant of redemption, and that his priestly office is inseparable from his role as both offerer and offering — the seed of the woman crushed on Golgotha so that he might crush the serpent. The congregation is called to hold this warrior-king vision without embarrassment, to grieve sin without shock at its prevalence, and to press forward as a willing people in the day of his power.
A Fourfold Promise to Zion
Isaiah 54 follows directly from the fourth servant song of Isaiah 53, and on the basis of Christ's substitutionary atonement the Lord God makes four distinct promises to his church: increase, stability, blessing, and security against enemies. The chapter addresses the church as Zion — barren, forsaken, and tossed with tempest — and calls her to sing because the servant's atoning work secures a covenant of peace that cannot be removed. These promises require faith, since the visible condition of the church often contradicts them, yet God's everlasting kindness toward his people is grounded not in their faithfulness but in the finished work of the servant of the Lord. The sermon closes with a call to bold evangelism drawn from Isaiah 55, the gospel invitation that flows naturally from the church's promised prosperity in chapter 54.