Theological term
Advocate
9 sermons · All terms
The Empty Tomb and the Risen Lord
The empty tomb of Matthew 28:1–10 is not a symbol or a felt experience but a historical event on which the entire Christian gospel stands or falls. Working through the arrival of the women, the descent of the angel, and the appearance of the risen Lord, this exposition shows that the resurrection was predicted by Christ, attested by angels, and confirmed by the physical presence of the one who holds his disciples as brethren even after their desertion. The sermon closes by grounding the believer's freedom from fear, confidence in advocacy, and obligation to proclamation in the fact that Jesus was raised for our justification.
The Riches of God's Grace
David's fall into adultery and murder in 2 Samuel 11 sets the stage for one of Scripture's most striking displays of divine grace in 2 Samuel 12:1–15. Nathan's parable exposes David's sin through the unstoppable initiative of God, and the prophet's indictment demonstrates that David's wickedness was aggravated, not mitigated, by the abundant grace God had already shown him. David's two-word confession — 'I have sinned against the Lord' — is met immediately with pardon, not because the confession was elaborate, but because forgiveness rests entirely on the atoning work of Christ, to whom David looked in faith through the promises of the Davidic covenant. The sermon calls both believer and unbeliever to receive the same grace: real forgiveness for real sinners, grounded in the righteousness of Christ imputed through faith alone.
The Forgiveness of Great Sin
Nathan's confrontation of David in 2 Samuel 12:1–15 exposes a man who spent at least nine months settled in unrepentant adultery and murder, yet who receives immediate pardon upon a two-word confession. The sermon works through three movements: God's sovereign initiative in sending Nathan, the detailed indictment that measures David's sin against the backdrop of lavished divine grace, and the demonstration that forgiveness is grounded not in the intensity of repentance but in the atoning work of Christ. The passage presses believers to appreciate that God will not leave his people comfortable in sin, and that when they do sin, the advocate with the Father — not their groveling — is the sole basis of their acceptance.
The Christian's Spiritual State
What is the true spiritual state of God's children, regardless of how they feel in the midst of trials and false teaching? Expounding 1 John 2:12–14, this sermon identifies three present realities that belong to every believer: the forgiveness of sins grounded in Christ's propitiatory work, the knowledge of the gospel through union with Him who is from the beginning, and spiritual strength over the evil one because Christ has conquered the devil on behalf of His people. The application is that these are not aspirational goals but fixed heavenly realities already secured in Christ, and they are to be the source of assurance and courage in daily battle against sin and temptation.
Free Grace Baptist Church - October 22, 2017 PM
First John 2:3–6 confronts a perennial problem: people who claim to know Christ while living in blatant disregard of his law. The sermon works through two tests John gives for genuine knowledge of God — keeping Christ's commandments as an evidence of salvation (not its ground), and walking as Christ walked as a fruit of union with him. Obedience is not the condition for knowing God but the necessary mark and assurance of it, grounded not in human effort but in the imputed righteousness of Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
Free Grace Baptist Church - October 8, 2017 PM
What happens when a believer sins against a holy God? Expounding 1 John 2:1–2 within the broader context of 1 John 1:5–10, this sermon answers that question under two headings: Christ as advocate and Christ as propitiation. The advocate language draws on the high-priestly intercession of Christ at the Father's right hand — distinct from, yet complementary to, the Spirit's advocacy on earth — while the doctrine of propitiation is traced through the Old Testament sacrificial vocabulary of kippur to show that Christ both turns away divine wrath and removes guilt. The sermon closes with a direct call to unbelievers to flee to Christ, the only one under whose blood the wrath of God is turned away and peace with God secured.
Free Grace Baptist Church - March 20, 2016 PM
Hebrews 4:16 invites believers to approach God in prayer with boldness — not a boldness rooted in the fervency or volume of one's own devotion, but a confidence grounded entirely in the finished priestly work of Christ. The sermon works through five headings in the verse: the simple exhortation to come, the christological basis for that coming (the exaltation and sympathy of the great High Priest), the nature of the boldness required, the object of approach (the throne of grace), and the timely mercy and grace promised there. The application presses believers to use prayer as a God-ordained means of grace, especially in seasons of peculiar weakness, assured that their warrant before God is Christ's doing and dying — not the temperature of their own hearts.
1 Samuel 16
God's sovereign election of David over his brothers in 1 Samuel 16 exposes the fundamental difference between divine and human judgment: man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The chapter traces two movements — the private anointing of David at Bethlehem and his providential introduction to Saul's court — demonstrating that God orchestrates every detail of history to advance his kingdom regardless of human failure. The sermon draws three lessons: God's sovereign providence overrules all events; true religion is always internal before it is external; and the coming of the Spirit upon David did not signal the absence of trouble, but the beginning of it — a pattern fulfilled supremely in Christ and inherited by all who are his.
The Lord's Prayer, Part 7
Matthew 6:13 presents the sixth and final petition of the Lord's Prayer: 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' This study works through the meaning, explanation, reasons, and practical scope of the petition, grounding it in the reality of remaining corruption in the believer's heart as described in Romans 7 and Galatians 5. The petition simultaneously acknowledges God's absolute sovereignty over temptation, confesses the Christian's ongoing weakness, and recognizes the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil as constant enemies. The study closes with the doxology of the Lord's Prayer and the sobering exhortation that he who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays.