Cited in sermons
John Gill
1,025 sermons · All people cited
Judges 19
Judges 19 confronts the reader with the full horror of moral degeneracy in Israel during the period before the judges, deliberately mirroring the account of Sodom in Genesis 19 to indict an entire covenant people. The chapter traces a personal marital rupture between a Levite and his concubine through social disintegration in Gibeah — where hospitality has collapsed and women are treated as expendable — to the gang rape and murder of the concubine by the sons of Belial. The sermon presses two lessons: the root of lawlessness is always the absence of a governing king and the rejection of God's covenant law, and covenant membership offers no immunity from the depths of human depravity — the Levite himself is as culpable as the perverts of Gibeah.
The Ministry of the King-Priest
Hebrews 5:5–10 presents Jesus Christ as the divinely appointed King-Priest whose ministry, obedience, and accomplished redemption surpass every dimension of the Levitical priesthood. The sermon traces four elements of Christ's priestly office: his appointment by the Father (Psalms 2 and 110), his ministry of intercession and suffering in Gethsemane, his learned obedience through suffering, and his authorship of an eternal — therefore unlosable — salvation. Because this great High Priest now intercedes at the right hand of the Father, believers are called to hold fast their confession and come boldly to the throne of grace.
The Ministry in Gentile Territory
Matthew 15:29–39 records Jesus healing and feeding great multitudes in Gentile territory, and this expository sermon argues that these twin miracles are not accidental repetitions of Matthew 14 but a deliberate theological demonstration: the covenant promises given to Abraham—that all nations would be blessed in him—are being fulfilled in Christ's ministry beyond Israel's borders. The Gentiles who cast their sick at Jesus' feet and glorified the God of Israel embody the faith the religious leaders of Israel refused. The sermon applies this to the unconverted by pressing the urgency of spiritual need over physical need, and to believers by calling them to renewed wonder at Christ's sovereignty, compassion, and sufficient provision.
The Baptisms of Jesus
Christian baptism is grounded not merely in ecclesiastical command or apostolic precedent, but in the two baptisms of Christ himself: his water baptism in Matthew 3, where he publicly undertook to 'fulfill all righteousness' through perfect active obedience to the law, and the baptism of divine wrath he endured at Calvary — the cup of God's fury poured out upon him as the substitute for his people. Justification rests on both the doing and the dying of the Redeemer: his active obedience provides the righteousness sinners lack, and his passive obedience absorbs the condemnation they deserve. Those who go into the baptismal waters go not on the basis of their own achievement but because Christ was overwhelmed in their place, and they are called from that point forward to follow the Lamb wherever he goes — into service, suffering, and fidelity to his Word.
Judges 16
Judges 16 presents the concluding episode of Samson's judgeship, closing the largest section of the book (chapters 3–16). Working through three movements — the removal of Gaza's gates, the departure of the Lord, and the destruction of the Philistines — the study argues that Samson is consistently misread as a brute driven by lust, when the narrative instead presents him as a purposeful, faith-walking servant of God raised up to crush Philistine oppression. The typological resonance of Samson's death — killing more enemies in death than in life — points forward to the greater Deliverer whose death and resurrection accomplish what no judge could complete.
The Duties Toward Elders: Honor
The church's duty to honor elders who rule well, as commanded in 1 Timothy 5:17–18, centers on financial remuneration — not merely esteem or respect. The sermon establishes that 'double honor' carries the same economic weight as 'honor' in 1 Timothy 5:3 (the support of widows), and that the laboring elder who works hard in the Word and doctrine has a legitimate claim on the church's material provision. Paul seals the command with a double appeal to Scripture — Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7 — demonstrating canon-consciousness in the early church and the co-equal authority of Old and New Testament texts. The congregation is called to count itself blessed when God grants it men who preach faithfully, to honor them materially and with esteem, and to see their ministry as a divinely ordained means for the salvation of sinners.
The Majestic Maker
Genesis 1:1 declares that in the beginning, the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — created the heavens and the earth ex nihilo, by the word of his omnipotent power, in six literal twenty-four-hour days. The Hebrew term Elohim, a plural of majesty used with a singular verb, identifies the Creator as the sole rightful object of worship, the sovereign lawgiver, and the one to whom all creatures owe praise. The sermon draws out five lessons from the opening verse: the world had a beginning; the triune God is the active agent; creation was ex nihilo by divine speech; the Creator is the rightful lawgiver and proper object of worship; and mankind possesses unique dignity as image-bearers. Unbelievers are warned that creation renders them without excuse before the judgment seat of God, and are called to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who fulfilled the law and died as the perfect sacrifice.
The True Son of God
Matthew 14:21–33 culminates not in the stilling of the storm but in the disciples' confession, 'Truly, You are the Son of God' — a declaration that is the goal of Matthew's entire Gospel narrative. The passage demonstrates that Jesus acts with the prerogatives of Yahweh alone: walking on the sea, commanding the wind, and rescuing His people in ways the Old Testament attributes exclusively to God. Running alongside this high Christology are clear lessons on discipleship: Christ prays in solitude, His people are not exempt from trial, and little faith — however weak — is not the same as no faith, for it is the Savior who saves, not the strength of the believer's grip. Hearers are called to be of good cheer and to cast fear aside because the 'I Am' of Exodus and Isaiah is present with them in every storm.
The Comprehensiveness of Salvation
Jude 1–2 presents a compressed theology of salvation — the called, sanctified, and preserved — that serves as the launching pad for a full-orbed defense of the perseverance of the saints. Drawing on the golden chain of Romans 8:29–30, the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31 and 32, the priestly intercession of Hebrews 7, and the doxology of 1 Peter 1:3–5, the sermon argues that perseverance is grounded not in the believer's own holiness but in the inviolable, triune work of God from election to glorification. The doctrine is presented under four heads — the perfect plan, promise, performance, and power of God — and applied as the only sure ground of soul comfort, soul-stirring doxology, and gospel-worthy conduct.
The Content of Doxology
Jude's closing doxology (vv. 24–25) is not mere liturgical ornament but a theologically loaded ascription of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ that answers the heresy Jude has been combating throughout the epistle. The sermon works through three observations: Christ's exclusive preservation of his people, his singular greatness as the only God, the only Savior, and the only wise one, and the deserved praise that flows from those realities. The practical force is that the Christian's confidence under trial and the church's resistance to false teaching both rest on this one Christ, who keeps, presents faultless, and reigns with glory, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever.
The Appointment of the Seven
Acts 6:1–7 presents the appointment of the first seven men set apart to serve the Jerusalem church, men whom later apostolic instruction in 1 Timothy 3:8–13 would identify as deacons in the formal sense. The sermon works through three movements: the temporal problem of neglected widows that threatened to consume the apostles' calling, the apostolic proposal demanding spiritually qualified men of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and the divine provision confirmed by the spread of the Word. The governing argument is that the diaconate exists precisely to guard the church's primary ministries of prayer and gospel proclamation, freeing elders to devote themselves continually to those ends. The sermon concludes by directing both the newly installed deacons and any unconverted hearer to Christ, the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.
The One Who Justifies the Ungodly
Romans 4:5 announces that God justifies the ungodly — a declaration that seems to violate the standard of Proverbs 17:15, which condemns justifying the wicked. The doctrine of imputation resolves the apparent tension: God reckons, credits, and accounts righteousness to sinners not on the basis of moral transformation but on the basis of Christ's active and passive obedience received through faith alone. Three acts of imputation structure the biblical argument — Adam's sin imputed to his posterity, the elect's sin imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness imputed to the elect — establishing that the gospel upholds rather than undermines divine justice. This sermon was preached in the context of a Lord's Supper service, directing communicants away from any sense of personal worthiness and toward the finished work of Christ as the sole ground of acceptance before God.
Judges 11:29-40
Judges 11:29–40 presents one of the most disputed passages in the Old Testament: Jephthah's vow and its fulfillment. This study argues, against the view that Jephthah's daughter was merely consecrated to perpetual virginity, that the plain meaning of the text — confirmed by the language of burnt offering, the grief of the father, the lamentation of the daughters of Israel, and the brevity of the narrative's account of her death — demands the literal interpretation that Jephthah carried out a human sacrifice. The vow is shown to be unnecessary, manipulative, presumptuous, and wicked, yet God's sovereign deliverance of Israel is not thereby frustrated, and Jephthah's presence in Hebrews 11 demonstrates that the sins of the godly do not utterly extinguish their faith. The episode ultimately points beyond Jephthah to the perfect Deliverer who, in Gethsemane, made no rash bargain with his Father but submitted in full obedience.
The Significance of the Resurrection
Romans 4:25 presents what Charles Hodge called 'a comprehensive statement of the Gospel': Christ was delivered up because of our offenses and raised because of our justification. This sermon expounds the two parallel clauses of that verse, arguing that the death of Christ was a particular, substitutionary, propitiatory sacrifice for the definite sins of God's elect, and that the resurrection is the Father's public attestation that the atonement was fully accepted and justification secured. The practical implication is that justified sinners — not improved moralists — have peace with God and an unshakeable hope grounded not in exemplary preaching but in the historical, redemptive work of Christ.
The Excellence, the Wonder, and the Glory
Hebrews 1:1–4 presents the glory of Jesus Christ as the culmination and surpassing excellence of all divine revelation, redemption, and reign. This sermon works through the opening verses of Hebrews under three headings: the excellence of Christ's revelation over the partial and preparatory word of the prophets, the wonder of his redemption accomplished by one who is simultaneously the radiance of the Father's glory and the sovereign upholder of the universe, and the glory of his present reign at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Believers are called to rejoice in the removal of the guilt of sin through Christ's exclusive and perfectly executed atoning work, while those outside Christ are warned that to neglect so great a salvation leaves no escape.
The Deliverance of Israel by Barak (and Jael)
Judges 4 presents the recurring cycle of Israel's sin, oppression, and God-wrought deliverance — here through Barak and Jael against the Canaanite commander Sisera. The chapter resists two common misreadings: that Deborah is the judge-deliverer, and that Jael's act was treacherous murder. Both women serve as agents of Yahweh's sovereign agenda, not champions of social revolution. The sermon traces how God's sovereign grace operates through improbable instruments, always ensuring that the glory of victory belongs to Him alone, and calls the congregation to faithful obedience while trusting Christ, the second Adam, to subdue the nations.
The Parables of the Dragnet and Scribe
Matthew 13:47–53 closes the kingdom parables with two final teachings: the dragnet and the scribe. The dragnet parable presses the certainty of coming judgment — at the end of the age, angels will separate the wicked from the just and cast the wicked into the furnace of fire — a reality Jesus repeats deliberately so that no hearer can ignore it. The parable of the scribe then turns to those entrusted with the mysteries of the kingdom: disciples who have understood these truths bear a corresponding responsibility to function as faithful householders, bringing out of the treasure things new and old. The sermon calls every hearer either to flee to Christ as the only refuge from the wrath to come, or, if already a believer, to take seriously the stewardship of gospel knowledge.
Judges 7
Judges 7 recounts God's reduction of Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300 men before Israel's victory over 120,000 Midianites — a disparity that is not incidental but theologically deliberate. The controlling principle of the entire chapter is verse 2: God whittled down Israel's forces so that the nation would not claim glory for itself, demonstrating that divine strength is perfected through human weakness. The lappers and kneelers are not to be distinguished by vigilance or virtue; the selection is simply a sovereign means to reduce the army to a number that makes self-congratulation impossible. God's patient encouragement of the fearful Gideon along the way reveals not only His sovereignty but His kindness, and the judges as a whole point typologically to the Lord Jesus Christ, the final deliverer who saves His people from sin rather than merely from earthly oppressors.
The Gospel's Prophetic Prologue
Mark 1:1–4 introduces the gospel not as a literary convention but as the announcement of a real, historical event: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This passage establishes that the gospel's ministerial beginning is rooted in prophetic fulfillment, as both Malachi 3 and Isaiah 40 foresaw a wilderness messenger who would prepare the way of Yahweh himself. The identity of Jesus as the divine Son of God is not incidental to the gospel but is its very foundation — without his deity, there is no sufficient Redeemer. The sermon closes with a call for believers to know and proclaim the gospel precisely, to walk in a manner worthy of it, and for unbelievers to turn from sin and believe on Christ alone.
Judges 4 & 5
Judges 4 exposes the recurring cycle of Israel's sin, oppression, and divine deliverance, demonstrating that God is the sovereign architect of both judgment and rescue. The narrative centers on Barak as the appointed judge-deliverer, with Deborah functioning as prophetess and Jael as instrument of God's final blow against Sisera — neither woman is a proto-feminist heroine but an agent of the divine agenda against oppressive Canaanites. God's sovereignty over history is traced from the raising up of Jabin's iron-chariot army to the flooding of the Kishon River and the tent peg in Sisera's temple, with the summary of verses 23–24 deliberately crediting no human agent. The study calls hearers to rest in the warrior-God who delivers His people by means as minute as a relocated tent and as decisive as a sleeping general's death.
The Parables of Seed and Leaven
The two briefest parables in Matthew 13's kingdom discourse — the mustard seed and the leaven — address a perennial temptation: to judge the kingdom of God by its small and seemingly insignificant beginnings. This exposition argues that both parables teach the same essential truth: the kingdom inaugurated by Christ begins imperceptibly but grows inevitably and pervasively, and its lowly origin in the incarnation, ministry, and crucifixion of Jesus is not a contradiction of royal power but its very pattern. The sermon concludes with a threefold application — the parables explain Christ's ministry, call the church to resist discouragement, and confront the unconverted with the call to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Conduct of the Good Minister, Part 1
What marks a minister as truly 'good' in the sight of God? Expounding 1 Timothy 4:6–11, this sermon argues that ministerial faithfulness is defined not by popularity, giftedness, or leadership skill, but by the diligent instruction of the congregation in sound doctrine — the words of faith and good teaching. The pursuit of godliness, understood as rigorous training for the unhindered service of God, surpasses all bodily discipline because it carries promise for both the present life and the age to come. The sermon concludes by addressing the contested phrase 'Savior of all men' in verse 10, rejecting universalism and unlimited atonement in favour of a reading grounded in God's common grace and providential preservation, with special and saving grace belonging distinctively to those who believe.
The Parable of the Wheat and Tares
Matthew 13:24–30 presents the parable of the wheat and tares, in which Christ teaches that his kingdom advances through a world — and a visible church — where genuine believers co-exist with those sown by the devil. The sermon addresses the theodicy embedded in the parable: God's sovereignty over evil does not mean the immediate expulsion of wickedness, but its certain, final judgment at the eschaton. Hearers are called to grow as wheat, to resist an overly censorious spirit toward apparent tares, and to trust that the Master has the harvest entirely under his control.
Introduction to Judges
The book of Judges is not primarily a dark catalogue of human failure but a sustained testimony to the deliverance God works on behalf of a sinful, covenant-breaking people. This introductory study of Judges 2 surveys the book's date, authorship, literary structure, and governing cycle of sin, oppression, and deliverance, arguing that the judges themselves are typological pointers to the Lord Jesus Christ — the one deliverer who is without blemish and who executes the demands of the covenant through perfect obedience. The study draws out three dimensions of Israel's sin (failure to obey Deuteronomy 7, failure to transmit the faith of Deuteronomy 6, and outright rejection of Yahweh for Baal), and closes with the charge that the character of God displayed in Judges — patient, initiating, long-suffering — is the same grace that saves sinners through Christ today.
The Family of Christ
Matthew 12:46–50 presents Christ identifying his true family not by bloodline but by faith — those who do the will of his Father in heaven. The sermon expounds this text in two movements: the approach of Jesus' physical family (vv. 46–47) and his instruction concerning his spiritual family (vv. 48–50), demonstrating that entry into this family is by faith alone in Christ alone, not by moral achievement. The doctrine of adoption grounds the exposition: chosen in eternity, secured by the Son, sealed by the Spirit, the believer is called brother, sister, and mother by the holy Lord of heaven — not begrudgingly, but because of sovereign grace. The sermon closes with a threefold application: marvel at the privileges of belonging to God's family, bear its responsibilities faithfully, and above all behold the glory of the Christ who is not ashamed to call sinners his own.
Joshua 22
Joshua 22 narrates the potential fracture and ultimate preservation of unity among the tribes of Israel over a misunderstood altar erected by the Transjordanian tribes near the Jordan. The chapter turns on the regulative principle of worship — Israel's requirement to sacrifice only at the central sanctuary — and the Western tribes' willingness to investigate before making war reveals both the gravity of corporate apostasy and the wisdom of disciplined diplomacy. The Eastern tribes' explanation exposes a legitimate pastoral concern: preserving covenant identity and the fear of the Lord across generations. The resolution, where Phinehas perceives the Lord's presence through the obedience and unity of his people, carries a direct word for the New Covenant church.
The Qualifications for Deacons
What qualifies a man to serve as a deacon in the church of Christ? Expounding 1 Timothy 3:8–13 in the context of Acts 6 and Philippians 1:1, this sermon argues that the diaconate is a divinely instituted office of service whose holders must meet specific biblical qualifications — not merely be willing volunteers or practically skilled men. Five categories of qualification are examined in sequence: personal character, doctrinal conviction, proven faithfulness, domestic situation, and the promised standing and boldness that belong to those who serve well. The sermon closes with a call for every Christian, not only aspiring deacons, to pursue the virtues Paul sets forth here.
The Qualification for Elders
What does Scripture require of a man before he can lawfully serve as an elder in Christ's church? Working through 1 Timothy 3:1–7, this exposition first establishes five elements of a genuine call to the ministry — desire born of right motives, graces indicating genuine Christian experience, gifts indicating divine provision, providential opportunity, and recognition by the local church — before moving through the text's qualifications under five headings: personal holiness, domestic faithfulness, experience in the faith, testimony toward outsiders, and the one indispensable gift of being able to teach. Throughout, the point is pressed that these virtues are not merely a checklist for candidates but the standard of godliness every Christian man and woman ought to be pursuing.
The Tree and Its Fruits
Matthew 12:33–37 confronts every hearer with the inseparable connection between the inner condition of the heart and the words that proceed from it. Working through Christ's fourfold address to the Pharisees — exhortation to repent, condemnation of their wickedness, explanation of the heart's role as the source of speech, and anticipation of the Day of Judgment — the sermon establishes that words are not morally neutral but are the public evidence of what a person truly is before God. The doctrines of total depravity and total inability undergird the exposition: no one can speak good things from an evil heart, and only sovereign regeneration — God removing the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh — can change the root so that the fruit changes. The only shelter from that coming day of accounting is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one man who never spoke an idle word, whose righteousness alone justifies the ungodly.
The Unpardonable Sin
Matthew 12:31–32 contains Christ's solemn warning about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit — the one sin that will not be forgiven in this age or the age to come. This exposition sets the saying in its Matthean context: the Pharisees, having witnessed the Spirit-empowered works of the Davidic Son, willfully and self-consciously attributed those works to Beelzebub. Drawing on parallel passages in Mark 3, Hebrews 6, Hebrews 10, and 1 John, the sermon distinguishes this sin from sins of ignorance and ordinary moral failure, showing that the unpardonable sin is not a moment's rashness but a settled, knowing rejection of the gospel accompanied by an irreversible hardening of heart. The sermon closes with a dual application: believers are urged to use the means of grace and guard against spiritual stagnation, while unbelievers are warned that persistent rejection only hardens the heart, and are called to flee to Christ while there is still time.