Theological term
Believer's Baptism
14 sermons · All terms
2LCF Chapter 28 - Of Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Chapter 28 of the Second London Confession of Faith introduces baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two ordinances of the New Testament church, distinguishing the particular Baptist position from both Roman Catholic sacramentalism and paedobaptist covenant theology. The Baptists' deliberate use of 'ordinance' rather than 'sacrament,' and their inclusion of 'positive institution,' reflects a credobaptist insistence that only regenerate believers can obey these commands of Christ, the sole lawgiver of his church. The confession grounds both ordinances in Christ's mediatorial work, connects them to the means by which faith is increased and preserved (2LCF 14.1, 17.3), and reserves their administration for those qualified and called according to Christ's commission. Neglecting these ordinances is not a minor failure but a forfeiture of appointed means of grace and a disservice to the covenant community.
Baptism in the Old Testament
The washings of the Old Covenant — priestly consecration, the Day of Atonement, and ritual purification — constitute the Old Testament type to which New Testament baptism is the antitype, not circumcision as pedobaptist argument typically asserts. This session of a three-part seminar argues that Jesus' baptism marked his public entry into priestly ministry, and that believers are baptized because they, too, are priests to God who must be consecrated for access into his presence. The session draws on Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Hebrews, and 1 Peter to build a biblical theology of water and cleansing, urging a recovery of genuine appreciation for baptism as a meaningful ordinance rather than a mere formality.
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.
The Command from the Mount
Matthew 28:16–20 presents the risen Christ commissioning his disciples from a mountain in Galilee — a location Matthew treats as theologically laden with the entire biblical theology of mountains, from Eden to Sinai to Zion. The sermon traces that mountain typology across Genesis, Isaiah, Hebrews, and Zechariah to show that the Great Commission is nothing less than the eschatological commencement of the new covenant. Christ's declaration — 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth' — is expounded as the mediatorial kingly inheritance he receives by virtue of the perfection of his redeeming work, not a restoration of suppressed divine glory. The commission therefore binds the church to gospel proclamation, believer's baptism, and the continual instruction of the baptized, all undergirded by the abiding presence of the exalted Christ through his threefold office of prophet, priest, and king.
Baptism - Shannon
Baptism is an ordinance of the New Covenant ordained by Jesus Christ, administered by immersion to those who actually profess repentance, faith, and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Drawing from chapter 29 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, this administration of the ordinance situates believer's baptism within the broader Reformed confessional tradition, noting the Baptists' deliberate alignment with Presbyterian and Congregationalist Brethren on the doctrines of justification, the Trinity, and much else, while differing on the proper subjects and mode of baptism. The outward sign of immersion into water visibly expresses Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, grounded in Romans 6, as the candidate publicly professes faith in Christ alone for salvation.
Baptism service
A baptism service in which three candidates — one raised in the congregation from birth, and a married couple — publicly profess repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ alone and are baptized by immersion. Each candidate gives a brief testimony of conversion: one through Isaiah 55 and the finished work of Christ on the cross, another through a sermon on Mark 5:36 following years of grief over a father's death. The service rehearses the 1689 LBCF paragraphs on the significance, proper subjects, outward element, and mode of baptism, anchoring the visible ordinance in the gospel it pictures.
Baptisms
Two believers are baptized by immersion, following the confessional Baptist conviction that baptism is the outward sign of an inward work of grace belonging to professing believers alone. The service includes brief exposition of the mode and subjects of baptism drawn from the 1689 London Baptist Confession, with reference to Romans 6 as the apostolic grounding for immersion as a depiction of death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. A testimony from one of the candidates reflects on the call to follow Christ in believer's baptism as the completion of a public profession of faith.
The Ministry of Paul in Corinth
What does faithful gospel ministry look like when met with sustained opposition, rejection, and fear? Expounding Acts 18:1–11 within Paul's second missionary journey, this sermon traces four movements: Paul's strategic arrival in Corinth, his testimony in the synagogue, the fierce Jewish opposition and his response, and the Lord's night vision that commands him to speak because God already has a people in the city. The sermon argues that sovereign election and human culpability stand together — the God who predestines the elect also holds every rejector accountable for his own blood. A closing application presses believers toward faithful gospel proclamation, the planting of churches, and the catechesis of covenant children as genuine instruments of the effectual call.
The Second Missionary Journey, Part 8
Acts 18:1–11 records Paul's arrival and eighteen-month ministry in Corinth, one of the most morally degenerate cities of the ancient world. The sermon traces Paul's gospel strategy — reasoning in the synagogue, enduring Jewish opposition, and turning to the Gentiles — before dwelling on Christ's night vision to Paul: 'Do not be afraid, for I have many people in this city.' The doctrine of election explains how Christ could speak with certainty of many yet-unconverted people awaiting the call; the gospel, not moral reform or civil intervention, is the sole instrument for transforming a corrupt culture. The sermon closes with a call to pray for and to be men who preach Christ and Him crucified, stand under opposition, persevere in weakness, and believe the promise that Christ is present with His church in the great commission.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day (2LCF22)
The Sabbath commandment is a moral, positive, and perpetual law binding all men in all ages — not a distinctively Jewish institution abolished with the Mosaic economy, but a creation ordinance blessed and sanctified by God from the beginning and carried forward into the New Covenant era. Working through 2LCF chapter 22, paragraphs 7 and 8, this session traces a biblical theology of the Sabbath from Genesis 2 through Isaiah and Jeremiah, establishing both the moral principle (one day in seven) and its positive element (the particular day). The shift from Saturday to Sunday is grounded in creation and redemption as the twin rationales for the commandment, anticipating the resurrection of Christ as the basis for Lord's Day worship. Hearers are called to receive the Sabbath not as a burden but as a gift given by God for the good of His creatures.
2LCF Chapter 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 3
What does God require of his people in corporate worship, and by what means does he strengthen them in faith? Working through 2LCF Chapter 22, Paragraph 5, this session examines five constituent elements of religious worship: the Word of God (read, preached, and heard), songs to God, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the worshipper's disposition, and occasional worship. The regulative principle governs the whole: only what God has prescribed in Scripture may be brought into worship, and every element is to be engaged with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear. The practical burden is that corporate Lord's Day worship is not liturgical formality but God's ordained means of grace by which the Spirit strengthens and grows the faith of his people.
The Book of Ruth and the Incarnation, Part 1
The book of Ruth is not a romance or a tale of feminine courage — it is a chapter in the history of redemption, tracing the providential thread by which God brought forth the Messiah from the line of Judah through Bethlehem. This sermon works through Ruth 1–2, showing that the famine, the deaths, the return to Bethlehem, and Ruth's confession of faith in Yahweh are not accidents of history but the outworking of God's eternal decree in ordinary providence. Ruth's whole-soul allegiance to Naomi's God — sealed by an oath — is presented as a model of saving faith, a prototypical confession that mirrors believer's baptism, and a foreshadowing of Gentile inclusion in the covenant people. The hearer is called either to make Ruth's confession their own or, if already in Christ, to persevere in faithful commitment rather than growing sluggish under the weight of ordinary providence.
The Pattern, Mandate, and Context of Baptism
Believers' baptism by immersion rests not on ecclesiastical tradition but on a conspicuous New Testament pattern, an explicit dominical mandate, and the covenantal logic of Jeremiah 31 as expounded in Hebrews 8. Working through the baptism narratives of Acts, the Great Commission of Matthew 28, and the new covenant promises of Hebrews 8, this sermon argues that the proper subjects of baptism are those who have repented and believed — the new covenant community defined by internalized law, experiential knowledge of God, and the forgiveness of sins. The case for credo-baptism is grounded not in a rejection of covenant theology but in a distinctively Reformed Baptist appropriation of it: the new covenant differs from the old precisely in that all its members know the Lord. Baptism is commended not as optional piety but as a commanded ordinance of positive institution carrying ongoing significance as a means of grace.
The Ministry of John the Baptist
John the Baptist's ministry in Matthew 3:1–6 is examined as the divinely appointed fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, marking the end of four centuries of prophetic silence and the inauguration of the messianic kingdom. John appears as the promised Elijah-figure whose wilderness preaching summons Israel to genuine repentance — a thoroughgoing change of mind that produces visible fruit — in preparation for the coming of Yahweh himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The sermon presses the doctrinal content of John's call to repentance against shallow professions of faith, asking whether hearers have truly forsaken sin and entered the kingdom of God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.