35 sermons · All speakers
Christ's Precious Gem Collection
What does it mean that believers are 'living stones' built into a spiritual house? This sermon traces a single biblical-theological theme from Genesis 2 to Revelation 21: God gathering his elect — his precious gems — out of the scattered nations to build a temple where he will dwell with his people forever. The identity of those gems (God's chosen people), their location (scattered among every nation under the dominion of spiritual darkness), and the means of their gathering (Christ's victory over the strong man, and the church's commission to carry the gospel-light into the darkness) are each examined in turn. The sermon presses its hearers toward a missional 'spiritual gold fever' — a willingness to spend and be spent in the divine treasure hunt Christ has commissioned.
Divine Protection for Weary Travelers
Psalm 121, a Song of Ascents, is read against the sweep of redemptive history: from Adam's failure to fulfill his mandate in the garden to the Last Adam, Christ, who descends, redeems, and ascends to bring his people into the presence of God. The sermon traces the 'climbing the mountain' motif through Eden, Israel's temple worship, and the new covenant church to show that every believer is presently on a pilgrimage toward glory. Because Yahweh — the self-existent Creator of heaven and earth — is the keeper of his people, they are promised protection from stumbling, shade from the heat of affliction, and preservation from the very judgment their sins deserve. The practical call is to look to Zion rather than to the surrounding mountains of fear, to value the Lord's Day as a weekly foretaste of that final rest, and to press on in the strength God supplies.
The Free Offer of Eternal Life
Paul's defense of his ministry in 1 Thessalonians 2:1–4 is not merely self-vindication but a demonstration that the gospel he preached is categorically different from the self-serving philosophies of his day — it came without error, without moral corruption, and without deceit. The message cost Paul greatly to deliver, yet it costs the hearer nothing to receive, because Christ paid the full price. God himself, through appointed ambassadors, freely offers eternal life to sinners who will lay aside their rebellion and receive the gift by faith alone.
Live Stream - January 07, 2024
Hosea 7:8 declares that Ephraim is 'a cake unturned' — an image of something prepared but ruined through neglect and wrong ingredients. This sermon expounds that analogy to show that Israel's mixing with surrounding nations, their violation of God's moral, civil, and ceremonial law, made them as displeasing to God as a half-baked, burnt pancake. The sermon then turns the mirror on every human being: God created us as image bearers, demands perfect conformity to his law, and every sin — however small — renders us unacceptable before him. The remedy is not moral improvement but faith in Christ alone, whose perfect life of obedience and atoning death constitute the only offering God accepts, so that all who trust him are received as 'accepted in the Beloved.'
Israel, the Unturned Pancake
Hosea 7:8 delivers a striking verdict against Israel: 'Ephraim is a cake unturned' — a half-baked pancake, burnt on one side and raw on the other, displeasing and fit to be pushed away. The sermon expounds this image as God's indictment against a people who had mixed the practices of surrounding nations into their moral, civil, and ceremonial life, violating the law that was meant to reflect the character of Yahweh. The analogy is then pressed upon every hearer: all humanity, created as image-bearers, has similarly mixed sin into the batter of life and stands displeasing before a holy God who demands perfect obedience. The remedy is not self-reformation but Christ alone — the one who lived in perfect obedience, presented himself as a sweet-smelling offering, and paid for every failure of his people, so that all who believe are accepted in him and then called to pursue intentional conformity to his image.
Live Stream - October 29, 2023
Hosea 3 presents the redemption of Gomer as a mirror of God's unconditioned love toward his covenant people — a love not conditioned by the worthiness of its object but by who God is in himself. Hosea's purchase of his adulterous wife from bondage at the price of silver and barley points directly to Christ's redemption of his bride from the slavery of sin at the cost of his own life, meeting the covenantal demand that the wages of sin is death. The sermon traces three movements in the chapter: the display of unconditioned love, the call to fidelity during the betrothal period, and the promise of final consummation when Christ returns for his people. Hearers are called to pursue holiness not as legalism but as the fitting response of a bride who has been purchased at infinite cost, and unbelievers are urged to flee now to the only Savior who can free them from the bondage that leads to destruction.
The Gospel According to Hosea: Part 1
Hosea 2:14–23 presents the gospel in the form of an ancient Near Eastern marriage sequence — courtship, betrothal, and consummation — in which Yahweh pursues His unfaithful bride with an offer of abundant and eternal life. The passage is read as a mirror, not a window: the same spiritual harlotry that defined Israel before God defines every human being who has followed Adam into exile from God's presence. Justification is the legal transaction by which the sinner entrusts herself to God as husband, not master — received by faith alone, sealed by Christ's atoning work as the bride price of righteousness and mercy. The sermon closes with an urgent call to the unbeliever to accept the offer of eternal life, and with an exhortation to the believer to press on in anticipation of the consummation still to come.
The Gospel According to Hosea: Part 2
Hosea 3 presents the redemption of Gomer by her husband Hosea as a typological mirror of Christ's redemption of His people from the bondage of sin. God's love for His adulterous people is unconditional not because covenantal conditions go unmet, but because He meets those conditions Himself — the wages of sin is death, and Christ pays that price in full. The sermon calls believers to faithful perseverance in the betrothal period between justification and glorification, and urges the unconverted to flee from the bondage of sin to the Savior who offers full and free salvation.
Live Stream - June 26, 2022
Isaiah 42:1–13, one of the great servant songs, presents the commissioning, mission, and victory of the Servant of Yahweh—the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage moves from the Servant's humility and compassion toward the bruised and broken, through Yahweh's sovereign upholding of him as Creator, to the certain, universal advance of his spiritual kingdom to the coastlands and ends of the earth. Christ is no meek idealist but a divine warrior who will not fail nor be discouraged until every last one of his people is conquered out of the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom is presented whole to the Father.
Live Stream - June 26, 2022
What does it mean that the church is a 'chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people'? Expounding 1 Peter 2:9–10, this sermon traces those titles through their deep roots in the Abrahamic covenant, the tower of Babel, and Mosaic Israel, arguing that the church is the true Israel of God — the spiritual nation God rescued from the kingdom of darkness to be his special possession. Peter's Jewish audience is shown that their comfort does not rest in a plot of land in the Middle East but in an incorruptible, eternal inheritance secured by Christ the last Adam, the greater Son of David and true cornerstone. The sermon closes by calling believers to rejoice in election, to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to all nations, and to offer spiritual sacrifices as a holy priesthood under their mediator.
An Introduction to Covenant Theology (2LCF7)
Covenant theology stands or falls on the careful distinction between the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the historical covenants that progressively reveal it. This lesson works through 2LCF Chapter 7, tracing the terms, parties, and rewards of each covenant from Adam through the Abrahamic and Mosaic administrations, and grounding the whole in the eternal covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son. The controlling argument is that the Abrahamic covenant — entered by natural generation, maintained by works, and breakable — cannot be identified with the covenant of grace, and that this distinction exposes the internal contradictions of paedobaptist covenant structures. The practical takeaway is that salvation has always been by grace through faith alone, because Christ as the second Adam is the only one who has met and can meet the terms of the covenant of works on behalf of the elect.
The Commissioning of the Servant of Yahweh
Isaiah 42:1–13 presents the first servant song of Isaiah as Yahweh's formal commissioning of his servant — the Lord Jesus Christ — to bring righteous rule, freedom from spiritual darkness, and universal dominion to the Gentiles. The sermon traces three movements: the presentation of the servant in his humility, compassion, and unfailing determination (vv. 1–4); the mission given to him by Yahweh the Creator, including the gift of an everlasting righteousness and conquest of the kingdom of darkness (vv. 5–9); and the victorious global praise that flows from his completed mission (vv. 10–13). The listener is called either to look to Christ in faith as the one who will not break a bruised reed, or to reckon soberly with the warrior-king who will prevail against every enemy that remains in rebellion.
The New People of God: Part 2
The titles given to the church in 1 Peter 2:9–10 — chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, and his own special people — are drawn directly from Old Testament Israel typology and applied to all who believe in Christ. Working through Deuteronomy 32, Exodus 19, 2 Samuel 7, and the Abrahamic covenant, the sermon traces how God's act of separating Israel from the nations at Babel prefigures his rescue of the spiritual Israel — the church — from the dominion of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. The sermon argues that the new covenant fulfils what the old covenant typified: believers now constitute the household of God, the spiritual temple, and a royal priesthood whose commission is to proclaim the excellencies of the one who called them out of darkness. This demands that the church pursue its prophet-priest-king calling not through military or political dominion but through the proclamation of the gospel of King Jesus to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
Live Stream - June 19, 2022
What does it mean that Christ is the 'chief cornerstone' laid in Zion, and how does that ancient prophecy from Isaiah 28 apply to the church today? Working through 1 Peter 2:6–8, this sermon grounds the doctrine of the church firmly in the Old Testament by tracing the biblical-theological arc from Adam's failed dominion mandate in Genesis, through Israel's covenantal history as a type of that failure and restoration, to Christ as the one who has come to accomplish what Adam could not — building a global kingdom of redeemed image-bearers out of the darkness of sin and death. The sermon applies the doctrines of God's sovereignty in history, the unity of the biblical storyline, and the believer's unshakeable standing in Christ to encourage the church that those who trust in this cornerstone will never be put to shame, while those who reject him do so to their own ruin.
The New People of God, Part 1
What does it mean for the church to be built on Christ as a living cornerstone, and how does the Old Testament ground that identity? Expounding 1 Peter 2:6–8, this sermon traces the biblical-theological arc from Adam's failed dominion mandate in Genesis through Israel's typological history—law-giving, exile, and restoration—to the fulfilment of Isaiah's cornerstone prophecy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel's covenant history is shown to be a historical type of the cosmic reality: the broken covenant of works and its restoration by the Messiah, who is now building a global kingdom of redeemed image-bearers out of every tribe and tongue. Believers are called to marvel at God's sovereignty over history, over the kingdom of darkness, and over the unified message of Scripture that runs from Genesis 3:15 to the church as the true Israel of God.
Brotherly Love - 1 Peter 1:22-25
What does it mean to love the brethren, and what is the source of that love? Expounding 1 Peter 1:22–25, this sermon works through three interlocking realities: the common Christian experience of soul-purification through Spirit-wrought faith alone, the command to love one another with a fervent, self-sacrificial agape love, and the regenerate new birth through the incorruptible word of God that grounds and generates that love. The exhortation is concrete: foster genuine fellowship, receive as well as give, and resist the tendency to confine brotherly love within the narrow boundaries of denomination, theological system, or Christian liberty — for our identity is in Christ, not in any confessional tradition.
God the Righteous Judge
Psalm 94 presents God as the righteous judge who hears the cry of His oppressed people, sees the wickedness of their persecutors, and will not ultimately abandon His inheritance. This expository treatment works through the chiastic structure of the psalm, showing how the cry for justice (vv. 1–3) is answered by justice administered (vv. 20–23), and how the folly of those who deny God's omniscience mirrors the divinely-given wisdom of His people. The sermon draws out the covenant comfort of God's chesed — His steadfast faithfulness to those He has chosen — as the ground of peace in the midst of affliction, and closes with a direct call to repentance for any who remain outside of Christ.
Live Stream - June 12, 2022
Spiritual growth is not merely a personal benefit but the primary means by which the church of Christ is built up as a strong, enduring structure. Expounding 1 Peter 2:1–5, this sermon argues that believers are called to mortify the self-serving sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking — all of which collapse the very foundation upon which other believers must stand — and to cultivate an insatiable desire for the pure word of God as their appointed means of growth. Christ is the chief cornerstone and the ultimate builder of his church; believers are living stones whose solidity or weakness determines what the next generation inherits. The congregation is exhorted to press on in sanctification and doctrinal growth not to earn their justification — which rests on faith alone in Christ alone — but to be the solid building blocks upon which children, new believers, and future generations of the church may be securely built.
Live Stream - June 12, 2022
Psalm 29 presents Yahweh's sovereign majesty over creation through the imagery of a Mediterranean storm tracking north to south across the land of Israel. The psalm functions as a polemic against Baal, the Canaanite weather god, demonstrating that Yahweh alone is the uncreated Creator while all rival 'gods' are derivative, created beings. The sermon draws this ancient conflict forward into the present spiritual warfare Paul describes in Ephesians 6, calling believers to neither panic nor despair at the apparent power of the kingdom of darkness, because the same God who sent Baal fleeing sits enthroned above every principality and power. The concluding application warns that a coming storm of divine wrath is approaching, from which only the righteousness of Christ provides shelter.
The Sovereignty of Yahweh of Israel
Psalm 29 is a polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, written by David to demonstrate that Yahweh alone is Creator and sovereign King over all powers—heavenly and earthly. The seven-fold repetition of 'the voice of the Lord' traces a storm from the Mediterranean through Lebanon, the supposed abode of Baal, into the wilderness of Kadesh, showing at each point that Baal is no rival but a fleeing creature before the Creator. The same sovereignty that sent Baal running and that enthroned God over Noah's flood is the ground of the church's peace amid the spiritual and geopolitical chaos of the present age. Those outside Christ are warned that a greater storm—the wrath of God—is coming, and the only shelter is repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Call for Christian Growth
Unrepentant sin and a failure to desire the Word of God are the chief hindrances to Christian growth — and that growth is not merely a personal blessing but a corporate responsibility. Working through 1 Peter 2:1–5, this sermon argues that believers are living stones being built into a spiritual house, and that weak, doctrinally shallow Christians produce a structurally unsound church. The exhortation is concrete: mortify the sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander; cultivate an insatiable hunger for the pure milk of the Word; and do so knowing that justification rests on faith alone while sanctification calls every believer to steady, disciplined growth.
Live Stream - June 05, 2022
Romans 3:21–28 is expounded in the context of a communion service, grounding the Lord's Supper in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The sermon traces Paul's argument that all humanity stands guilty before God, that God's own righteousness demands the punishment of sin without exception, and that the cross of Christ is the propitiation by which God is both just and the justifier of the ungodly. The righteousness credited to the believer is entirely the work of Christ — received through faith, purchased by blood, and offered freely to all without merit or prerequisite.
The Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ
How can a perfectly just God forgive guilty sinners without compromising his justice? Romans 3:21–28 answers that question by tracing the righteousness God provides in the gospel: revealed in Christ, received through faith, and grounded in a propitiatory sacrifice that fully satisfies divine justice. The sermon expounds the forensic declaration of justification, the redemption accomplished by Christ's blood, and the vindication of God's righteousness at the cross — showing that boasting is excluded entirely because the righteousness that avails before God is supplied by Christ alone and received freely by grace through faith. Hearers are called to trust in Christ's finished work as the sole ground of their standing before God, and to come to the Lord's Supper remembering that in our place condemned he stood.
Chap. 14 - Of Saving Faith
Saving faith is the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit, worked in the hearts of the elect through the ministry of the Word, enabling them to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. This study of 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 14 distinguishes true saving faith from temporary or false faith, establishes that faith is built on knowledge rather than religious emotion or experience, and traces the three classical elements of faith — notitia, assensus, and fiducia — while guarding against both the mysticism that smuggles emotion into the essence of faith and the rationalism that mistakes bare intellectual assent for it. The practical burden throughout is that the proper object of saving faith is Christ and his work alone, and that assurance, while distinct from faith itself, grows through the appointed means of grace.
Brotherly Love
What grounds the command to love fellow believers, and what does that love look like in practice? Expounding 1 Peter 1:22–25, this sermon argues that brotherly love among believers is not merely a moral duty but flows necessarily from regeneration — the purification of the soul through faith worked by the Holy Spirit. The sermon carefully distinguishes passive, receiving faith from any works-based or neonomian construal of 'obeying the gospel,' grounding the command to love in the incorruptible seed of the new birth. Application presses toward sincere, unhypocritical, self-sacrificial love that crosses denominational and theological-liberty lines, because the bond of the brethren is founded on the eternal word of God, not on natural or doctrinal affinity.
Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
Effectual calling is the first step in the application of redemption — the sovereign act by which God, through His Word and Spirit, brings the elect from a state of total spiritual death into union with Christ. This session works through 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 10, situating effectual calling within the broader ordo salutis and showing how it alone accounts for the biblical data on God's absolute sovereignty, the total spiritual inability of fallen man, and the uncoerced freedom of the believer's response. The result guards against both the Arminian error of grounding salvation in the foreseen decisions of the creature and the hyper-Calvinist error of denying man's responsibility to repent and believe, while grounding evangelism in confidence that God can revive the deadest of hearts.
Redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ
God is an impartial judge who will call every person to account for every transgression of his law, and no corruptible thing — no silver, gold, religious ritual, or moral effort — can satisfy the demands of that justice. Redemption comes exclusively through the precious blood of Christ, the spotless Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world, whose death made propitiation for sin and whose perfect obedience is imputed to the believer's account. Drawing from 1 Peter 1:17–21, this sermon expounds the condition, command, reason, and result of the Christian's call to conduct life in reverent fear: not a slavish terror born of misunderstanding God's character, but a reverent awe that flows from knowing the God who is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful. The believer's ongoing faith and hope are to rest continually in God — grounded in Christ's resurrection, confirmed by his ascension to glory, and oriented toward the certain hope of the new heaven and new earth.
Exhortations in light of so Great a Salvation
Peter's exhortations in 1 Peter 1:13–16 are grounded in the prior theological indicatives of the epistle: the elect have been saved by the triune God, unto an incorruptible inheritance, and must now respond with corresponding imperatives. Two commands govern this passage — set your hope fully on the grace to be revealed at Christ's return, and live a holy life in all your conduct — each requiring mental intentionality, self-control, and an understanding of the regenerate nature as 'children of obedience.' The sermon argues that sanctification involves both mortification of former lusts and vivification of the new nature of obedience, while insisting that this holiness contributes nothing to justification, which rests wholly on Christ's perfect active obedience and atoning death.
The Magnitude of Salvation
1 Peter 1:10–12 raises a question that magnifies the gospel: if the Old Testament prophets searched so carefully for what believers now possess, how great must this salvation be? The sermon traces three witnesses to that greatness — the prophets who inquired but did not receive the full disclosure, the apostles who proclaimed what the Spirit now made plain, and the angels who bend over in perpetual wonder at a redemption they themselves never needed. The pattern of Christ's sufferings followed by glory is shown to be the shape of every believer's life, grounding present endurance in the certainty of future inheritance.
A Practical Example for the Suffering Christian
Psalm 61 presents David at the edge of the wilderness — heart overwhelmed, throne usurped, kingdom collapsing — as a concrete example of what it looks like for a suffering believer to cry out to God, refocus on covenant faithfulness, and be brought from despair to joyful praise. The sermon traces three movements in the psalm: the cry for help from the brink of despair (vv. 1–2), the deliberate refocusing on God's past faithfulness, the Davidic covenant, and the eternal inheritance of the Messiah's kingdom (vv. 3–7), and the resulting resolve of praise (v. 8). David's process is not mystical — it is conscious, disciplined engagement with the means of grace: prayer, meditation on covenant promises, and fixing the mind on the eternal kingship of Christ. Suffering Christians are exhorted to follow that same pattern rather than abandoning the means of grace at the very moment they are most needed.