Cited in sermons
John Gill
1,025 sermons · All people cited
The Supper on Betrayal Night
On the night of his betrayal, Christ instituted the Lord's Supper within the context of the Passover meal — a deliberate act of covenantal timing that pressed upon his disciples the reality of what his broken body and shed blood would accomplish. This sermon works through Luke 22:19–20 under two heads, the bread and the wine, tracing the biblical theology of each element: the bread overturning the curse of Genesis 3 by providing divine nourishment freely, and the cup of the new covenant corresponding to the third Passover cup of redemption in Exodus 6. The sermon calls Christians away from coldness and neglect of the Lord's Supper toward a warm, particular reception of the truth that Christ's body was given for you and his blood was shed for you.
The Sanctifying Benefit of the Gospel
Romans 6:1–4 confronts the objection that justification by faith alone licenses continued sin, and Paul's answer is grounded not in moral resolve but in the gospel itself. The sermon traces the inextricable link between justification and sanctification: those united to Christ by faith have died, been buried, and been raised with him, and Christian baptism is the appointed sign and symbol of that union. Because the Christ who secured justification gives his Spirit to effect sanctification, the two benefits are inseparable — the same gospel that frees believers from the penalty of sin is the power that breaks sin's dominion. The primary application is that believers fight sin first by reckoning themselves dead to it in Christ, not merely by external restraint.
The Conversion of the Apostle Paul
Paul's gratitude in 1 Timothy 1:12–14 is inseparable from the radicalism of his own conversion. Working through these three verses, this exposition traces the apostle's pre-conversion state — blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent man — as deliberately set up to magnify the sovereign mercy that overthrew him on the road to Damascus. The sermon gives careful attention to the nature of Paul's ignorance in unbelief, distinguishing it from the willful, light-rejecting sin of those who witnessed Christ's signs and wonders firsthand, and shows how effectual calling brought not only forgiveness but a hermeneutical key that unlocked the entire Old Testament. The governing application is that every believer, like Paul, stands before God not on the ground of moral reformation or law-keeping but solely on received mercy and exceedingly abundant grace — and that this reality is the wellspring of genuine Christian gratitude.
The Goodness of God's Law
The law of God is good — but only when used lawfully. Expounding 1 Timothy 1:8–11, this sermon defends the goodness of the moral law against both antinomian dismissal and legalistic distortion, situating Paul's argument within the classical Reformed framework of the law's three uses: civil, pedagogical, and normative. The false teachers in Ephesus had neither understood the law nor handled it properly, and Paul's corrective is not to demote the law but to demonstrate its proper function — restraining lawlessness in society, exposing the sinner's need for Christ, and directing the justified believer in the path of sanctification.
The Psalmist's Description of Depravity
Psalm 14 furnishes a comprehensive doctrine of total depravity, showing that man's rejection of God is not merely intellectual but ethical — a practical atheism that issues in universal corruption and abominable works. The psalmist's two-part structure moves from the description of the ungodly (vv. 1–3) to the deliverance of the godly (vv. 4–7), with Paul amplifying the same argument in Romans 1–3 by citing and structurally imitating the psalm. The only remedy for the corruption of the heart is not behavioral modification but the righteousness of Christ received through faith — the salvation that comes out of Zion — which gives believers both ground for evangelism and comfort in a sin-cursed world.
The Apostle's Charge to Timothy
Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3–7 commands the silencing of false teachers in Ephesus who taught other doctrine, devoted themselves to fables and endless genealogies, and generated disputes rather than godly edification. The charge is not motivated by power or animosity but by love flowing from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith — the fruit of regeneration. The false teachers compounded their error by combining ignorance of the law with arrogant confidence in their own assertions, a combination the apostle deems disqualifying. Churches today must hold the same line: qualifying teachers rigorously, refusing platforms to the heterodox, and measuring all teaching against the truth as it is in Jesus.
The Central Demand of the Covenant
Deuteronomy 10 presents the central demand of the Mosaic covenant — that Israel fear, love, and serve the Lord with all their heart and soul — set against the backdrop of the golden calf incident and the covenant's renewal. The sermon traces this demand from its roots in Deuteronomy 10:12–13 through its echoes in Genesis 18, Proverbs 21, Hosea 12, Zechariah 7, Micah 6, and Matthew 23, demonstrating that obedience rooted in heart religion has always been God's requirement of His people. The threefold division of the law is expounded, with the moral law established as perpetually binding while the ceremonial law finds its fulfillment in Christ and the judicial law expires with the Israelite theocracy. The sermon closes by pressing believers to hold fast to God, keeping His law not as a means of justification but as the pattern for sanctification purchased by Christ, the true Israel who alone fulfilled the covenant.
The Courage of the Righteous One
Psalm 11 presents the righteous man — supremely the Lord Jesus Christ — facing the temptation to abdicate his calling when wicked enemies ready their arrows and the foundations of moral order appear destroyed. The sermon expounds two movements: the temptation to flee (vv. 1–3) and the fortification found in contemplating God's sovereignty, omniscience, and justice (vv. 4–7). Because Christ steadfastly set his face toward Jerusalem and drank the cup of divine wrath to its dregs in the place of his people, believers have every reason to resist the same temptation to cowardice and unbelief, and to stand firm in the Lord.
CTF 2026 - Dr Richard Barcellos Book Presentation - A Faithful Steward
At a seminary conference, colleagues and friends present Dr. Richard Barcellos with a festschrift titled 'A Faithful Steward,' compiled in his honor. The presentation draws on 1 Corinthians 4:2 — 'it is required of stewards that they be found faithful' — as the governing theme of his decades of ministry in preaching, writing, and theological education. John Gill's exposition of that verse is read as a description of Barcellos's own ministry: preaching the pure gospel without human mixture, declaring the whole counsel of God, seeking the honor of Christ rather than the applause of men.
CTF 2026 - Session 3: Is God the Author of Sin?
Two difficult theological questions frame this conference session: Is God the author of sin, and do a believer's sins work together for good? Drawing on 1689 LBCF 3.1, Acts 2:23, Acts 17:28, and Romans 8:28, the session argues that God's comprehensive, eternal decree encompasses all things — including sin — without making God personally culpable for evil, because sin is a privation of good rooted in the creature's deformed nature rather than in God's infinitely good being. The session closes by showing from Romans 8:28, with support from Robert Haldane and Genesis 50:20, that God's overruling providence turns even the believer's own sins toward their ultimate good and his glory — not as license to sin, but as ground for humility, dependence, and hope.
Ask FGBC Batch 7: Anabaptists, Calvinism, Sincere Offer & More | Reformed Baptist Theology
This panel discussion brings together three Reformed Baptist pastors to address questions submitted to Free Grace Baptist Church on confessional identity, soteriology, covenant theology, and Lord's Day worship. The conversation distinguishes Particular Baptists from Anabaptists on historical-documentary grounds, examines the relationship between Calvinism and confessional Reformed Baptist identity, and evaluates the free and sincere offer of the gospel against what the panelists regard as the theological liabilities of well-meant-offer language. The discussion also treats the threefold division of the law, prosopological exegesis, and the scriptural rationale for two Lord's Day services, consistently grounding each answer in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession and the exegetical tradition of the Particular Baptists.
The Opened Sanctuary
Mark 15:33–39 presents three interlocking realities at the crucifixion: the forsaken Son bearing divine wrath, the torn veil opening the sanctuary to God's presence, and a Roman centurion's confession inaugurating the gospel's reach to the nations. The noontide darkness fulfills Old Testament types — the Egyptian plague of darkness and Amos 8:9 — while Christ's cry of dereliction, drawn from Psalm 22, expresses not a severing of the Trinity but the full weight of divine justice borne substitutionarily by the Son as mediator. The tearing of the veil declares that the shadowy Old Covenant order is fulfilled, the true high priest has acted, and access to the holy presence of God is secured through the veil of Christ's flesh. Those who gather at the Lord's Supper are exhorted to glory in the Savior who bore the wrath His people deserved so that they need never cry out in God-forsakenness themselves.
The Commendation of the Philippian Church
Philippians 4:14–23 closes Paul's letter with a commendation of the Philippian church for their constant and consistent financial partnership in his apostolic ministry. The sermon works through four observations: the apostle's commendation of the church's sacrificial generosity, his contentment that transcends material circumstances, his confidence that God will supply the church's needs according to his infinite riches, and the concluding greetings — including the remarkable note that believers within Caesar's own household send greetings to Philippi. The central application is that everything praiseworthy in the Philippians — their fellowship, their sacrifice, their fruitfulness — is itself the fruit of divine grace, so that God alone receives the glory.
Pastoral Preparation and Seminary Training for Church Leaders
What level of theological education does Scripture require of a pastor, and does the answer change depending on whether the role is full-time or supported by another vocation? Drawing on 1 Timothy 3 and 5, John 21, and the example of Ezra, this Q&A response argues that while formal seminary training is not an absolute biblical requirement, the pastoral calling demands rigorous, ongoing preparation in the Word and doctrine — not merely a pleasant personality or a willingness to serve. The discussion distinguishes between men called to primary preaching ministry and those serving in a supportive elder capacity, and closes with a frank exhortation that mediocrity in the pulpit has eternal consequences.
The Believer's Contentment
Philippians 4:10–13 presents the contentment of the Apostle Paul not as an innate virtue but as a learned conviction forged through diverse and often severe circumstances. Working through Paul's expression of gratitude to the Philippians, his present situation, his learned conviction, his diverse circumstances, and his source of strength, this sermon argues that Christian contentment is utterly independent of circumstances because it is grounded in union with Christ — in justification, sanctification, and promised glorification. The practical exhortation confronts the common error of tying contentment to circumstances ('when I get married, then I will be content') and calls believers instead to submit sweetly to divine providence, rejoice in God's sovereign ownership of all things, and find their settled rest in Christ alone.
2LCF Chapter 21 - Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience
Christian liberty, as defined in chapter 21 of the Second London Confession of Faith (1689), consists in deliverance from the guilt, power, and punishment of sin — purchased by Christ and applied by the Spirit to every believer in every age. The chapter further distinguishes Old Covenant from New Covenant worship, affirming that while salvation blessings were shared across both covenants, New Testament believers enjoy freedom from the ceremonial law, greater boldness of access to God, and fuller communication of the Holy Spirit. Liberty of conscience means God alone is Lord of the conscience, freeing believers from ecclesiastical tyranny, civil totalitarianism, and the moral impositions of men — whether popes, parliaments, or fellow professors. Christian liberty is not license to sin but the freedom to serve God in holiness and righteousness, delivered unto righteous obedience rather than from obligation to it.
The Glorious Proverb
The Gospel can be stated with stunning brevity: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Expounding the 'faithful saying' of 1 Timothy 1:15, this sermon examines why the apostolic proverb is trustworthy and deserving of universal acceptance — rooting its reliability in the character of the God who speaks it and the Christ who performs it. The condescension of the eternal Son is explored with care, guarding against any notion that the omnipresent God vacated heaven to visit earth, while insisting that he genuinely assumed human nature for the redemption of sinners. The sermon closes with three applications: the sinner may rest on this saying because its foundation is the faithfulness of the triune God, the Incarnation should produce deep humility, and no degree of personal sin places a soul beyond the reach of Christ's saving power.
The Presence of the God of Peace
Philippians 4:8–9 presents two inseparable imperatives — meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, and then do what has been learned, received, heard, and seen in the Apostle Paul — with the promise that the God of peace will be with those who obey. The sermon argues that orthodoxy and orthopraxy are not alternatives but are inextricably bound: the failure to practice truth indicts the practitioner, not the doctrine. The source of right thinking is both the light of nature (general revelation accessible to all men) and the special revelation of Scripture, which governs and clarifies all truth. The hearer is called to fill the mind with God's word, live consistently with it in a pagan society, and trust that the grace which saves also teaches and equips for godly conduct.
2LCF Chapter 19 - Of the Law of God
What role does the law of God play for the Christian now that Christ has come and the old covenant has been superseded? This confession-study exposition of 2LCF Chapter 19 works through seven paragraphs on the law of God, distinguishing moral universals from positive precepts, tracing the threefold division of the law (moral, ceremonial, judicial), establishing the creational and trans-covenantal abiding validity of the moral law, and demonstrating its divinely designed obsolescence in its ceremonial and judicial aspects. The three uses of the moral law — civil, pedagogical, and normative — are then applied to the Christian life, with Christ's active and passive obedience shown to be the only ground of righteousness before God.
The Ratification of the Old Covenant
Exodus 24:1–8 records the ratification of the Old Covenant at Sinai through blood sacrifice, a mediator, and the sworn fidelity of the people — all of which anticipate and are surpassed by the New Covenant inaugurated in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant is identified not as an administration of the covenant of grace but as a covenant of works, in which Israel's standing depended upon their own obedience: 'all that the Lord has commanded we will do.' The New Covenant contrasts sharply: Christ, the true Israel of God, fulfills every covenantal obligation in the place of his people, so that the ground of the believer's standing before God is not their performance but his finished work. The sermon closes with a practical call to live at the foot of Calvary rather than at the foot of Sinai, resisting the legal temptation to ground either justification or sanctification in personal obedience.
The Central Confession of Israel's Faith
The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 — 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one' — is examined as the central confession of Old Covenant Israel's faith, carrying both theological and polemical force for a people about to enter a land saturated with polytheism and syncretism. The sermon traces the purpose of God's commandments (obedience secured tenure in the land), the theological content of the Shema (divine unity of singularity and simplicity, and its compatibility with Trinitarian confession), and the fitting response of wholehearted love toward the one living and true God. The application presses New Covenant believers to the same totality of devotion — presenting themselves as living sacrifices — grounded in the redemption God has accomplished in Christ, the true Israel who kept the covenant His people perpetually broke.
The Believer's Joy and Moderation
Philippians 4:4–5 contains two imperatives that together define the outward shape of the Christian life: a command to rejoice in the Lord always, and a command to let moderation — or equity — be known to all men. The sermon argues that joy is not a feeling to be waited upon but a non-negotiable duty grounded in the objective realities of justification, sanctification, and glorification. The Greek word rendered 'gentleness' (epieikēs) is examined through Aristotle, Zanchi, and Gill to establish that it denotes reasonableness in judging and willingness to forgo one's rights in interpersonal matters — not a blanket disposition of quietness that would contradict the examples of Joshua, Elijah, Christ driving out the money-changers, and Paul's anathema on false gospels. Both commands are made possible only through the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith and the indwelling Spirit.
The Exhortation to Perseverance and Unity
Philippians 4:1–3 sets before the church two inseparable obligations: standing fast in the Lord and pursuing unity among the saints. Working through the apostle's affection for the Philippians, his call to perseverance, and the concrete dispute between Euodia and Syntyche, this sermon shows that the absence of unity both destroys the church and renders perseverance a near-impossible task. The biblical remedy for conflict — private confrontation, appeal to witnesses, and involvement of the church — is traced from Proverbs 18 and Matthew 18:15–20, with a complementarian reading of 1 Timothy 2 clarifying the nature of Euodia and Syntyche's gospel labor. Hearers are called to fasten their grips on Christ, his doctrines, and one another for the long haul of the Christian life.
Christ in the River Jordan
The baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 3:13–17 is not merely a biographical episode but the inaugural step of the incarnate Son of God in His mediatorial mission to fulfill all righteousness for sinners. Tracing a rich theology of water through creation, the flood, the Exodus, and Joshua's crossing of the Jordan, the sermon demonstrates that Christ enters the river as the antitypical fulfillment of every prior act of divine cleansing, conquest, and covenant ratification. The descent of the Spirit like a dove and the Father's voice of approbation publicly inaugurate the new creation and identify Jesus as the obedient second Adam, the suffering servant, and the Davidic king. The sermon closes by drawing the believer's baptism directly from this pattern: only those who are the recipients of Christ's substitutionary righteousness, indwelt by the Spirit, and adopted into sonship are candidates for baptism by full immersion.
The Believer and Trials
James 1:1–8 confronts believers with a counterintuitive command: count trials as pure joy. This exposition works through the believer's required response to trials (vv. 2–4) and the believer's required request during trials (vv. 5–8), grounding both in the theological truth that the testing of faith produces endurance and conformity to Christ. The sermon argues that ignorance of God's remedial purposes in affliction is the root cause of disordered responses — panic, complaint, and double-mindedness — and calls believers to ask God for wisdom to navigate suffering in faith, confidence resting on the character of a God who gives liberally and without reproach.
The Confidence of the Believer
Micah 7 presents the prophet lamenting the moral and covenantal collapse of Israel — corrupt leaders, treacherous neighbors, fractured households — only to pivot on a single word: 'therefore.' Rather than despair, Micah models the posture of the godly remnant: looking to God, waiting on God, and confessing sin without self-defense. The sermon traces the chapter's three movements — lamentation (vv. 1–6), exhortation (vv. 7–13), and doxological prayer (vv. 14–20) — and presses the question of what genuine faith looks like when the church and civil society have both gone far astray. The closing doxology, 'Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity,' is held up as the ground of the believer's confidence and the fitting frame for the Lord's Supper.
2LCF Chapter 16 - Of Good Works
Good works, as defined in chapter 16 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, are only those things God has commanded in his holy word — not deeds devised by men from blind zeal or good intentions. They are not the ground or cause of justification, which is by faith alone through Christ alone; rather, they are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith, flowing from hearts purified by that faith and enabled wholly by the Spirit of Christ. The confession targets both the Roman Catholic doctrine of supererogation and any merit-based soteriology, insisting that even the believer's best works, mingled with weakness and imperfection, are acceptable before God only through the mediation of Christ. Believers are therefore called to freely and cheerfully perform good works — including proper worship — not to secure salvation but as the grateful and Spirit-enabled response of those already justified by Christ's perfect obedience imputed to them.
The Defense of the Faith
Jude 3 commands every believer — not merely church officers — to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This sermon works through the exhortation (v. 3), the motivation supplied by the reality of internal heresy (v. 4), and the disposition required of faithful contenders (vv. 17, 20–21). The defense of objective Christian truth is grounded not in combative temperament but in the knowledge that God loves his people, and is sustained through the study of Scripture, prayer, and a forward orientation toward the return of Christ.
Who Are the Heirs of the Promise?
Galatians 3:29 and 4:6–7 together answer the question of who truly inherits the promises made to Abraham: not those physically descended from him, nor those who observe Mosaic ceremonies, but those who are united to Christ by saving faith. The sermon traces the covenant-theological distinction between Abraham's physical seed and his spiritual seed, showing that membership in the covenant of grace is coextensive with those who receive the definite atonement of Christ. The Trinitarian shape of redemption — the Father sending the Spirit of the Son into the hearts of adopted sons — seals the argument, and the sermon draws out implications for believer's baptism and the enlarged liberty of the new covenant age.
What Is Faith? When Should I Be Baptized? & more| Ask FGBC Batch 6
This Q&A episode from a confessional Reformed Baptist church addresses twelve questions spanning baptism, faith, church membership, Scripture interpretation, seminary training, and the heresies of Federal Vision and Baxterianism. Particular attention is given to the definition of saving faith — distinguishing the objective content of the faith from the act of believing, warning against loading faith with feelings, faithfulness, or love as its ground, and insisting that faith is the empty instrument through which God-given grace lays hold of Christ alone. The episode closes with treatments of conviction of sin, catechetical instruction of children, and the importance of an educated ministry.