Theological term
Cessationism
196 sermons · All terms
The Conversion of the Philippian Jailer
Acts 16:16–34 presents the arrest and imprisonment of Paul and Silas as the God-ordained means by which a Roman jailer was brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon traces two movements: the exorcism of a python spirit that provoked false charges and a severe beating, and the subsequent earthquake and gospel conversation that issued in the jailer's conversion and household baptism. Paul and Silas's midnight prayers and hymns amid unjust suffering demonstrate that Christ is worth all suffering, while the jailer's question — 'What must I do to be saved?' — receives the apostolic answer: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The sermon closes with three baptisms that embody the same gospel the Philippian jailer heard, illustrating that believers' baptism by immersion is the fitting public sign of union with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The Qualifications of Elders, Part 4
The elder's qualification 'able to teach' (1 Timothy 3:2) is not an arbitrary requirement but the inevitable expression of a word-centered religion. This sermon traces the centrality of the proclaimed Word from the Mosaic covenant through the prophetic institution, the earthly ministry of Christ, the apostolic mission, and the pastoral epistles, demonstrating that teaching and governing in the church have always been inseparable. The third main point applies this theology practically: men aspiring to eldership must demonstrate proven faithfulness as churchmen before the church recognizes, tests, and formally approves them by common suffrage according to 2nd London Confession chapter 26, paragraph 9.
The Qualifications for Elders
What qualifications does Scripture require of a man before he may serve as an elder in a local church? Expounding 1 Timothy 3:1–7, this sermon establishes that the elder, overseer, and pastor are three terms for one office, and that the qualifications Paul lists are not recommendations but binding mandates. The sermon works through the first qualification — a genuine, rightly-motivated desire for the office — and frames it within four criteria for evaluating a call to ministry: right motives, graces indicating genuine Christian experience, gifts indicating divine provision (especially aptness to teach), and providential opportunity. The congregation is exhorted to apply these standards carefully and not to install any man, however virtuous or personable, who lacks the God-given ability to preach and teach the word.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
Hermeneutics — the science of biblical interpretation — stands at the center of this study through paragraphs 5 to 10 of Chapter 1 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. The session works through five principles: the scope of Scripture (Christ as its organizing center), the sufficiency of Scripture (including good and necessary consequences), the perspicuity of Scripture, the availability of Scripture through faithful translation, and the two classical interpretive rules — the analogy of Scripture and the analogy of faith. The study closes by defending the proper use of creeds, confessions, and the writings of faithful theologians as gifts Christ has given to his church, while insisting that Holy Scripture alone is the supreme and final judge in all controversies of religion.
2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) - Sunday School Study - July 18, 2021
The self-authenticating authority of Scripture cannot be separated from sound principles for reading it. This 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Sunday school study works through chapter one, paragraphs five through ten, drawing out the hermeneutical principles the divines embedded there: the scope of Scripture (all glory to God through Christ), the sufficiency of Scripture (confined to God's glory, man's salvation, faith, and life), the perspicuity of Scripture (salvation truths are plain even to the unlearned), and the availability of Scripture in translation. The session also addresses textual criticism, the transmission history of the biblical manuscripts, and the distinction between necessary inference and explicit statement as sources of scriptural authority. Hearers are called to come to the biblical text with humility, the illumination of the Spirit, and a due use of ordinary means rather than intellectual pride or lazy avoidance.
The Defense of the Faith
Jude 3 commands every believer — not merely pastors or theologians — to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This sermon examines the exhortation itself, the internal threat posed by sneaky, ungodly apostates who pervert grace and deny Christ, and the practical preparedness Jude prescribes: remembering apostolic warning, building up on the most holy faith through Scripture and prayer, and resting in the assurance that God himself preserves his people. The defense of the faith is not pessimistic trench-holding but confident advance grounded in Christ's promise to build his church against which the gates of Hades shall not prevail.
The Ministry of the Word
What is the basis and method of God's ordained means for saving sinners? This sermon on 2 Timothy 4:2 argues that the preaching of the Word stands as the primary instrument through which God saves the lost and builds his church, grounding that claim in the logical chain of Romans 10, the divine pleasure announced in 1 Corinthians 1, and the final apostolic charge of Paul to Timothy. The sermon challenges the contemporary drift toward audience-driven church strategies, calling both preachers and hearers to fidelity to the proclaimed Word as the irreplaceable means of grace.
The Conversion of Cornelius
Acts 10:34–48 records the official inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of God — a watershed moment in redemptive history. Peter's sermon before Cornelius and his household sets forth the peace, person, work, and prophetic witness of Jesus Christ, culminating in the declaration that through His name, whoever believes will receive remission of sins. The sovereign Holy Spirit falls upon the hearers before Peter has even finished speaking, confirming that salvation is of the Lord and that divine initiative — not human free will — drives the conversion of sinners. The passage concludes with the baptism of the entire household, a commanded public identification with the Triune God that pictures, but does not accomplish, the inward work already wrought by grace through faith.
The Lord Jesus and the Demoniacs
Matthew 8:28–34 presents Christ's authority over demonic powers as a ground for confident trust in him as the Son of God. The demons' own confession — 'You Son of God' — exposes what the disciples have not yet grasped: that Jesus holds sovereign dominion over every spiritual power, including the devil himself. The exorcism at Gerasa is set within Matthew's sustained demonstration, across chapters 8–9, that the one who teaches with authority also acts with authority. If Christ has conquered death and the devil, every lesser affliction that threatens the people of God lies well within his sovereign reach.
The Mission of the Word, Part 1
John 1:6–9 introduces John the Baptist not as an independent figure but as a divinely commissioned witness whose entire ministry exists to point to the Word made flesh. This sermon examines the origin, nature, and function of that witness ministry, demonstrating that the Baptist's testimony belongs to a network of overlapping witnesses — Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Scripture, and signs — that ground saving faith in historical reality rather than a blind existential leap. The function of John's witness is inseparable from its purpose: that sinners would believe on Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, not merely imitate him as a moral example. The sermon closes with a call to keep law and gospel in their proper places, so that sinners driven by the law's killing power may look by grace to the one who is both the true light and the only hope of the world.
The Practice of the Church
Acts 2:41–47 describes the first-century church's response to apostolic preaching and, when read in light of the whole New Testament, is prescriptive for churches today. The sermon traces two main movements: the power of the gospel that produces faith, repentance, and baptism, and the fourfold practice of the church — steadfast continuation in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Cessationism is applied to the signs and wonders of the apostolic era, while the ongoing marks of the church are drawn from the Belgic Confession's articles on the true church and the obligations of her members. The practical burden is that believers must resist both the reduction of church life to entertainment and the temptation to substitute online participation for embodied, corporate worship.
The Defense in Jerusalem
Acts 22 records Paul's defense before the Jerusalem mob and his invocation of Roman citizenship before the commander, and this exposition traces both movements as a pattern for how believers engage hostile civil and religious authorities. Paul's account of his conversion — his Jewish upbringing under Gamaliel, his confrontation with the risen Christ on the Damascus road, his instruction through Ananias, and his temple vision — demonstrates that he is not an enemy of Israel but rather the fulfillment of what a faithful reading of the Old Testament demands. The crowd's fury erupts not over Paul's biography but over Christ's commission to the Gentiles, exposing their rejection of covenant promises made to Abraham and repeated through the Psalms and prophets. The sermon closes by pressing Paul's gospel — blood atonement, imputed righteousness, and salvation by grace through faith — upon every hearer, including the worst of sinners.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 8
Acts 21:1–16 concludes Paul's third missionary journey with his determined journey to Jerusalem in the face of repeated prophetic warnings and the tearful pleas of fellow believers. The passage grounds Paul's resolve not in stoic courage but in his consuming vision of the gospel: men and women under God's wrath and curse, and Christ alone as the remedy. The sermon draws out Paul's love for the gathered people of God, his complementarian ecclesiology (defending male leadership in church office from 1 Timothy 2 and the cessation of revelatory gifts), and his example of a missionary strategy that planted self-governing, elder-led churches across the Roman Empire.
Bible Study - Exodus 4
Exodus 4 continues the call narrative begun in chapter 3, tracing Moses' repeated reluctance to accept the commission to deliver Israel from Egypt and God's patient, sovereign response to each objection. God confirms Moses' authority through three authenticating signs — the rod becoming a serpent, the leprous hand, and water turned to blood — not as ends in themselves but as instruments to authenticate Moses as God's spokesman, consistent with the function of signs throughout Scripture. The chapter's second half traces Moses' return to Egypt, including the judicial hardening of Pharaoh's heart as an act of divine justice rather than injustice, Israel's identification as God's firstborn, and the concluding scene of Israel's elders bowing in worship upon receiving Moses and Aaron's testimony. The sermon calls hearers to find comfort in the absolute sovereignty of God over nature, disease, human speech, and pagan rulers, and to let that knowledge shape reverent, joyful corporate and private worship.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 4
Acts 20:1–16 narrates Paul's closing movements on his third missionary journey — through Macedonia and Greece, into Troas where Eutychus falls to his death and is raised, and then south toward Jerusalem. The passage is used to argue that the early church's pattern of worship is not merely descriptive but carries prescriptive force: the Lord's Day (the first day of the week), corporate assembly, the Lord's Supper, and the preaching of God's Word are the God-ordained elements of Christian worship, regulated by Scripture alone. Cessationist and confessional commitments frame the reading throughout, and the sermon closes with a direct call to sinners to trust in Christ's imputed righteousness and atoning blood as the only ground of salvation.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 2
Acts 19:11–22 presents four movements in Paul's ministry at Ephesus: the unusual miracles God works through him, the humiliating defeat of the itinerant Jewish exorcists who invoke Christ's name without saving faith, the voluntary burning of occult books by Ephesian believers as fruits of genuine repentance, and a Lukan progress report declaring that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. The sermon argues for cessationism — that the apostolic sign-gifts authenticated the apostles and their message and have ceased with the closing of the canon — while exposing the fraudulence of those who imitate them today. Believers are called to examine all teachers by Scripture, to expect progressive fruits of repentance throughout the Christian life, and to take confident hope from the unstoppable advance of the gospel.
Waging the Good War
First Timothy 1:18–20 charges Timothy to wage the good warfare of the Christian faith, grounded in faith and a good conscience. This exposition identifies two weapons of the faithful minister—trust in the living God and a conscience calibrated by sound doctrine—set against the backdrop of false teachers who have shipwrecked the faith by rejecting the gospel of free and sovereign grace. The sermon then turns to the solemn consequence of neglecting that warfare, tracing the excommunication of Hymenaeus and Alexander as a case study in church discipline executed for the purity of the church and the potential restoration of the offender. Hearers are pressed to examine whether they possess genuine discernment regarding the gospel and genuine sensitivity toward sin, waging the warfare not to earn salvation but in response to the grace already secured in Christ.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 1
Acts 19:1–10 opens Paul's extended ministry in Ephesus on the third missionary journey. The sermon works through three exegetical questions: the identity of the disciples Paul encounters (argued to be genuine Christian believers, not pre-Christian inquirers), the relationship between John's baptism and Christian baptism (argued to be one and the same ordinance), and the significance of the Spirit's coming with tongues and prophecy (argued to be a salvation-historical confirmation of Pentecost's fulfillment, not a normative pattern for all believers). The exposition concludes by drawing out Paul's ministry at the school of Tyrannus as a model of bold, reasoned, expositional gospel preaching that God uses to spread the word across an entire province.
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.
The Rejection of Heretics
Titus 3:9–15 closes Paul's letter to Titus with a sharp command to avoid unprofitable disputes and to reject the divisive man — a command the broader pastoral epistles and the apostolic witness consistently reinforce. The sermon distinguishes heresy from damnable heresy, identifying denial of the Trinity, the hypostatic union, and justification by faith alone as the errors that condemn, while pressing the church not to confuse the struggling saint with the proud, self-serving false teacher. Church discipline for doctrinal error is treated with the same gravity as discipline for moral sin, and the concluding emphasis on good works is grounded in the confession that such works are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith, not the grounds of justification.
The Second Missionary Journey, Part 2
Acts 16:6–15 traces the divine hand behind the second missionary journey's westward turn into Macedonia and the conversion of Lydia in Philippi. The Spirit's successive prohibitions of ministry in Asia and Bithynia are not judgments on those regions but demonstrations that God actively directs the missionary enterprise according to his sovereign purpose. The conversion of Lydia — a woman whose heart was dead in trespasses until God opened it to receive Paul's preaching — illustrates that the efficient cause of every conversion is divine grace, not human ingenuity, while the instrumentality of gospel proclamation and the responsibility of hearers to believe remain fully intact. The sermon calls the church to define missionary work precisely as the Spirit-sent, church-commissioned preaching of Christ crucified, rejecting both Arminian confidence in the sinner's free will and hyper-Calvinist reluctance to call sinners to faith.
The Appointment of Elders
Titus 1:5–9 gives the apostolic mandate for appointing elders in every city, a task Paul left Titus to complete on the young and unstructured island churches of Crete. The sermon works through two main divisions: the purpose of Titus's ministry as setting things in order (v. 5), and the qualifications for elders in terms of domestic faithfulness, personal faithfulness, and the gift of sound teaching (vv. 6–9). Elders are not essential to the existence of a church but are essential to its well-being, and their appointment must involve the common suffrage of the congregation under the direction of existing leadership. The sermon closes with a call to pray for a plurality of qualified elders, to enforce the qualifications without compromise, and to trust in a willing Savior who gathers a great multitude from every nation.
The Council at Jerusalem, Part 4
Acts 15:22–35 records the Jerusalem Council's formal response to the Judaizing heresy: the drafting of a letter, the commissioning of Judas Barsabbas and Silas, and the delivery of that letter to the churches of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. The passage is expounded to show that the council's decree condemning the addition of circumcision and Mosaic ceremony to faith in Christ constitutes a decisive affirmation of justification by faith alone — not by infusing righteousness, but by pardoning sin and imputing Christ's active and passive obedience. The sermon draws out the unity achieved through doctrinal deliberation, the guidance of the Holy Spirit through ordinary means, and the courage of those who risk their lives for the name of Christ, closing with a call to look to Christ alone for salvation.
The Qualifications for Elders, Part 2
What does Scripture require of a man before a church installs him as an elder? Expounding 1 Timothy 3:1–7 alongside Titus 1:5–9, this sermon completes a two-part treatment of the biblical qualifications for elders, focusing on the elder's maturity in the faith, his good testimony before outsiders, and his indispensable ability to teach. The danger of rushing a novice into office is pressed from multiple angles — pride, the church's welfare, and the man's own protection — before the sermon closes with practical exhortations to the congregation on praying for, identifying, examining, and where necessary excluding candidates for eldership.
The Qualifications for Elders (Part 1)
What qualifies a man to serve as an elder in the church of Jesus Christ? Expounding 1 Timothy 3:1–7 as an excursus from a series through Acts, this sermon establishes that the New Testament uses 'elder,' 'overseer,' and 'pastor' as synonymous titles for one office, and then works through five of the six qualifications Paul sets out for that office: the man's desire, his personal holiness, and his domestic faithfulness. The sermon is equally concerned with what these qualifications are not — they are not a standard of sinless perfection, nor a popularity contest, nor a direct transfer of worldly competence — and applies the passage by urging the church to vet candidates by Scripture alone, not by affection or likability.
The First Missionary Journey, Part 10
Acts 14:8–18 presents Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, where a miraculous healing of a congenitally lame man provokes the crowd to mistake the apostles for Zeus and Hermes. The sermon moves through three movements: the healing and its spiritual significance, the apostles' repudiation of pagan worship, and Paul's proclamation of the living God to a purely pagan audience. Particular attention is given to the doctrine of divine impassibility — the classical confession that God is without passions — as the necessary corollary of divine immutability, with pastoral argument that this doctrine secures rather than undermines the believer's confidence in God's unchanging love and justice. The sermon closes with an appeal to repent of all idolatry and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior for sinners.
The First Missionary Journey, Part 9
Acts 14:2–7 records the apostolic ministry in Iconium: Jewish opposition, the faithful perseverance of Paul and Barnabas, and the eventual division of the city. The sermon expounds these three movements in the text while devoting extended attention to a doctrinal excursus on the proper relationship between faith and repentance in gospel preaching — arguing that repentance is not a preparatory work the sinner performs before coming to Christ, but the inseparable companion of faith, both being gifts of God in the covenant of grace. The practical conclusion calls the church to faithful, courageous, wise, and Spirit-dependent proclamation regardless of mounting opposition.
Isaiah 49:1-6
Isaiah 49:1–6 presents the second of Isaiah's four servant songs, in which the servant of the Lord addresses the nations directly, announcing that his mouth — made like a sharp sword and a polished shaft — is the weapon by which God will accomplish worldwide redemption. The servant is identified as the true Israel, fulfilling what national Israel failed to do, and his conquest extends not merely to the restoration of Jacob but to the Gentiles and the ends of the earth. Apparent failure and rejection, seen both in Isaiah's own ministry and in the Lord Jesus Christ's earthly preaching, do not negate the servant's mission, because his reward is with God. The sermon presses the church to faithfulness in preaching and hearing the Word of God as the appointed means by which the servant's conquest advances.
The First Missionary Journey, Part 1
Acts 12:25–13:3 marks the launch of the first missionary journey and the pivotal moment when the church at Antioch, directed by the Holy Spirit, formally separates Barnabas and Saul for organised gospel mission to the Gentiles. The sermon traces this appointment back to the divine plan announced in Acts 9:15–16, showing that Paul's calling, suffering, and relentless preaching were purposed by Christ from the moment of his conversion on the road to Damascus. A sustained application argues that the local church — not parachurch agencies, mission boards operating independently, or individual self-appointment — is the proper centre for identifying, qualifying, and sending missionaries. The sermon closes with an appeal grounded in covenant theology: God's promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his seed is the very engine driving the missionary enterprise recorded in Acts.
The Church at Antioch
Acts 11:19–30 presents the founding and early life of the church at Antioch as a model for faithful ecclesiology. The sermon traces three features of that church's first days: the gospel preaching that gathered a diverse congregation, the apostolic oversight exercised through Barnabas, and the year-long teaching ministry of Barnabas and Saul that catechised those converts in Christian doctrine. The passage is read through the lens of divine sovereignty — it was the hand of Yahweh that produced the conversions, working through the ordinary means of preaching — and closes with an application of six characteristics that every church should emulate: evangelism, converted membership, doctrinal instruction, Christ-centredness, charity, and dependence on the grace of God alone.