Cited in sermons
John Murray
170 sermons · All people cited
The Place of Preaching in the Church
What is the place of preaching in God's design for the salvation and maturation of his people? Drawing on 1 Corinthians 1:21–23 and a broad sweep of biblical and confessional texts, this sermon argues that preaching is not merely one spiritual activity among many but the divinely ordained, Spirit-attended means by which God calls the elect and strengthens the faith of believers. The Word of God — and specifically its proclamation — is traced from Romans 1 and Psalm 19 through 2 Timothy 4, showing that faith comes by hearing, and that God is pleased with preaching even when men resist it. Hearers are urged to prize attendance upon the preached Word, to pray for biblically qualified preachers, and — if unconverted — to believe the gospel now proclaimed to them.
The Riches of Christ
What does it mean that the eternal Son of God, though rich beyond comprehension, became poor for sinners? Expounding 2 Corinthians 8:9 in the context of Paul's appeal for generous giving, this meditation traces three movements: the pre-incarnate riches of Christ as Creator, Lord of angels, and second person of the Trinity; the poverty he assumed by addition — taking on humanity, lowly condition, and the curse of the cross — without ever ceasing to be God; and the inexhaustible spiritual riches that flow to believers through that poverty: forgiveness, justification, sanctification, the Spirit, perseverance, sympathetic intercession, and advocacy. Delivered prior to the Lord's Supper, the sermon calls believers to reflect on every spiritual blessing secured by Christ's humiliation and to respond with generous, worshipful hearts.
A Biblical View of Abortion
Exodus 21:22–25 presents a case of accidental premature birth caused by fighting men, and the lex talionis applied to any resulting harm — including harm to the child — establishes that the pre-born bear full legal and moral standing under the law of God. This sermon argues that abortion is first and foremost a theological issue, an assault on the imago Dei, and that the church is without excuse in its silence or ambiguity on this question. Drawing on texts from Genesis through the New Testament, the preacher demonstrates that the pre-born are persons from conception, that the civil use of God's law restrains even unregenerate society, and that the church must respond with weeping, prayer, witness, and gospel proclamation.
Capital Punishment
Romans 13:1–4 and Genesis 9:6 together establish that capital punishment is not a relic of Mosaic theocracy but a creation-order institution grounded in the doctrine of the image of God. The sermon traces a biblical theology of capital punishment from Noah through the Mosaic economy into the New Testament, demonstrating that Paul's command to 'give place to wrath' in Romans 12 flows directly into his description of the civil magistrate as God's minister and avenger in Romans 13. Common biblical and pragmatic objections are examined and answered in turn, and the sermon closes with a call to hold together the sanctity of life, the duty of civil justice, and the proclamation of justification by faith alone in Christ.
Redemption Accomplished
The dying cry of Jesus in John 19:30 — 'It is finished' (Greek: tetelestai) — is not a cry of defeat but a perfect-tense declaration of completed redemptive work with abiding results. The sermon examines this sixth word from the cross under three headings: the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, the glory of the Son displayed in his obedience, the redemption of his people, and the defeat of Satan, and the comfort this finished work secures for the church. Five concrete benefits flow to believers from this single cry: the wrath of God is exhausted through propitiation, peace with God is established, the enemies of sin and death are defeated, death itself is swallowed up in victory, and a prepared place in heaven awaits all who trust in Christ alone.
The Exceeding Riches of God's Grace
Ephesians 2:8–10 sets forth the full plan of salvation — its origin in God's grace alone, its recipients as sinners who are spiritually dead and helpless, its instrument of faith as itself a divine gift, and its character as entirely excluding human merit. Preached on Reformation Day 2010, this exposition traces the theological convictions recovered by Luther and Calvin back to their Pauline roots: that salvation is not a cooperative enterprise between God and man but the sovereign, unilateral act of divine grace. The sermon closes by showing that good works are the necessary fruit, not the ground, of justification, and calls the unconverted to believe on Christ without delay.
Spiritual Liberty
John 8:31–36 presents two realities that Jesus sets before his hearers: the universal bondage of unregenerate humanity to sin, and the liberating freedom that comes through knowing the truth as disciples abiding in his word. Every person outside of Christ is a slave — not to political or economic systems, but to sin itself, to Satan, and to the curse and wrath of God. The gospel remedy is not a technique or a campaign but the truth of Christ crucified, risen, and enthroned, received by faith — a truth that frees from condemnation, from the curse of the law, from divine wrath, and from the dominion of sin, and that restores the redeemed to their created purpose of worshiping God.
The Words of Truth and Reason
Acts 26:18, which B. B. Warfield calls 'the summation of the gospel,' records Christ's commission to Paul: to open blind eyes, to turn sinners from the power of Satan to God, to grant forgiveness of sins, and to bring them to an eternal inheritance — all by faith alone. The sermon expounds these five gospel blessings in their natural order, showing that each presupposes the severity of the human condition: spiritual blindness, satanic bondage, guilt before a holy God, and the inability to merit anything. The application presses believers toward constant gospel-mindedness rather than a merely occasional sacramental recollection, and calls every unregenerate hearer to see their need for Christ as the only Savior.
The Biblical Husband and Father
What does a man justified by grace alone through faith alone actually look like in the home? This sermon from Proverbs addresses the Christian man as husband and father, drawing on the wisdom literature to define love, provision, protection, leadership, and sexual fidelity in marriage, and instruction, provision, and discipline in fathering. The exposition is set within the framework of the covenant of grace: the law reveals what godly manhood requires, but the ground of the believer's standing before God remains the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. Men are exhorted not toward moralistic self-improvement but toward Spirit-wrought conformity to Scripture, resting on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Defense of Justification by Faith Alone
Galatians 2:17–21 presents one of Paul's sharpest defenses of justification by faith alone, and this exposition works through three movements in the text: the proper and improper uses of the law (vv. 17–19), the personal experience of crucifixion with Christ as the ground of the justified life (v. 20), and the exclusivity of grace that renders any supplementation of the gospel a nullification of Christ's death (v. 21). The sermon exposes the logic of the objection that justification by faith makes Christ a 'minister of sin,' refutes it from the text, and shows that legalism — not antinomianism — is the true transgression of God's law. The central application is that any 'Christ-plus' system, whether formal theology or informal churchly shibboleths, empties Calvary of its meaning and must be resisted.
Biblical Manhood in the Book of Proverbs, Part 1
Proverbs 3:1–12 and its surrounding chapters frame what it means for a man justified by faith alone to live a life devoted to Christ. This sermon insists that Christian ethics flows from the indicative of justification — not toward it — so that every exhortation to discipline is grounded in Christ's imputed righteousness, not in moralism. Two of four announced characteristics of the Christian man are treated in full: devotion to Christ in worldview, possessions, and acceptance of divine chastening, and discipline in life through the restraint of the tongue, physical passions (alcohol, food, and sex), and the spirit. The congregation is called to own their failures before God, flee to the Redeemer, and pursue sanctification as men who will not go to heaven because they obeyed but because Christ obeyed perfectly in their place.
Justification, Faith, and the Law
Galatians 2:15–16 drives Paul's sharpest declaration that justification is a forensic act — a legal declaration by God — received through faith alone in Christ alone, entirely apart from works of the law. This sermon expounds that doctrine in four observations: justification is a legal declaration, not by works of law, by faith as instrument not merit, and impossible by law for any flesh. The sermon then addresses the three classic uses of the law — civil, pedagogical, and normative — demonstrating that rejecting the law as a ground of justification does not entail antinomianism. The believer who has been justified by faith is directed back to God's law as a pattern and rule of life, the ground of genuine assurance being the doing, dying, and rising of Christ alone rather than personal obedience or inner experience.
Introduction to Galatians
Paul's letter to the Galatians stands as a polemic defence of justification by faith alone — a truth so foundational that its corruption, however subtle, constitutes the destruction of the gospel itself. This introductory exposition surveys the authorship, dating, and destination of the epistle, arguing for the South Galatian theory and an early date of AD 48–49, while tracing the theological threads that run through the letter: the integrity of the gospel, justification sola fide, the atoning work of Christ, and Paul's apostolic authority. The Judaizing error that provoked Paul's letter is shown to be perennially recurring — in Roman Catholic merit theology, in the New Perspective on Paul, in Federal Vision, and in the subtler forms of works-righteousness embedded in church culture. Hearers are called to rest their entire standing before God on the imputed righteousness of Christ received through faith alone, and to contend earnestly for that doctrine as Paul did.
The Sanctity of Life
The sanctity of human life is grounded not in sentiment but in the biblical doctrine that God created man in his own image — a dignity that persists after the fall and extends to every category of person, including the preborn. Exodus 21:22–25 is examined as a text that directly addresses the legal standing of the unborn: the lex talionis applied to a premature birth demonstrates that God's law protects prenatal life with the same weight it protects any other. The sermon then takes up the wickedness of murder across its biblical dimensions — divine prohibition, divine hatred, divine observation, and divine punishment, including eternal judgment — while insisting that the church's primary instrument against these evils is the preaching of the gospel and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, under which even those guilty of abortion may find forgiveness in Christ.
The Purpose of Proverbs
Proverbs 1:1–7 sets out both the purposes of the book and the indispensable prerequisite for benefiting from it. The sermon traces five interlocking purposes — general, judicial, formative for the young, moral, and intellectual — showing that the Proverbs are not a self-help manual but a comprehensive word-and-life guide for those already justified by grace and now pressing on in sanctification. The ruling principle that unlocks the entire book is the fear of the Lord, which is not a slavish terror but a covenant grace implanted in the regenerate heart — 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear. The sermon closes with an urgent call to believe the gospel first, and then to take up Proverbs daily, chapter by chapter, as the God-given instrument for growing in practical wisdom.
The Attributes of Scripture
The attributes of Scripture — its extent, character, and usefulness — form the doctrinal foundation the Apostle Paul sets before Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16–17 as the antidote to the godlessness of the last days. The sermon argues that 'all Scripture' encompasses both Old and New Testaments, that the word 'God-breathed' (theopneustos) denotes divine inspiration rather than human religious sentiment, and that an inspired Bible is necessarily infallible and inerrant. Believers are therefore called to immerse themselves in the whole counsel of Scripture, to develop a consistent systematic theology, and to be ready to proclaim and defend the gospel without hesitation.
The Riches of Christ
2 Corinthians 8:9 situates a mundane financial appeal within a profound Christological argument: because Christ voluntarily exchanged the riches of his pre-incarnate glory for the poverty of humiliation and crucifixion, his people have been made spiritually rich beyond measure. The sermon traces three movements — the pre-incarnate riches of Christ, the depths of his humiliation, and the spiritual blessings he secures for his people — drawing on parallel passages in Philippians 2, Ephesians 1, and 1 Corinthians 1 and 30. The application presses believers to reckon daily with their possession of imputed righteousness, sanctification, and redemption as the only sufficient motive for generous, gospel-driven obedience.
A Biblical View of Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is not merely a contested social policy but a divine ordinance rooted in the Noahic covenant, grounded in the doctrine of the imago Dei, and confirmed throughout the whole of Scripture into the New Testament. This sermon traces a biblical theology of capital punishment from Genesis 9 through the Mosaic law, the example of the apostle Paul before Festus, and the role of the civil magistrate in Romans 13:1–4. The argument is that nations and magistrates are in sin when they fail to execute murderers, because blood-guilt defiles the land, and that no ransom may substitute for the life of a murderer. Hearers are called to pray for civil rulers to wield the sword as God's ministers of wrath, and unbelievers are confronted with the reality that the death penalty is a foretaste of the eternal wrath that awaits the unrepentant.
The Lawful Uses of God's Law
The law of God is good when used lawfully — and Scripture identifies three distinct lawful uses that the church must recover. Drawing from 1 Timothy 1:8–11 and ranging across Romans, Galatians, and the Westminster Larger Catechism, this sermon exposits the threefold use of the law (civil, pedagogical, normative) as the historically Reformed framework for understanding law and gospel. The civil use restrains wickedness in society; the pedagogical use exposes sin and drives sinners to Christ; the normative use provides the regenerate with a pattern of holy conduct that the indwelling Spirit enables them to pursue freely. The central burden of the sermon is that stripping law from gospel preaching produces a generation that wants comfort rather than righteousness, and that a high view of the law is inseparable from a high view of the Redeemer.
The Incarnation and Our Salvation
Galatians 4:4–7 sets before the reader three privileges secured for sinners through the incarnation of the Son of God: redemption from the curse of the law, adoption into the family of God, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who enables the cry 'Abba, Father.' The sermon argues that the incarnation was no divine afterthought but the execution of an eternal covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, initiated entirely by divine grace and not by any human merit or seeking. The triune God acts in perfect unity — the Father sending the Son to secure the rights of sonship, and the Father sending the Spirit to give the power of using them. Hearers are called to meditate on these three blessings, to grow in knowledge of the triune God, and to resist discouragement by taking an active hold of these gospel truths.