Theological term
Confession
5 sermons · All terms
CTF 2025 - How Did the 2024 Conference Go?
A brief post-conference reflection on the April 2024 Reformed Baptist conference on Chapter 1 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Attendees and a Free Reformed pastor both expressed that the exposition of the confession aligned closely with sound catechetical teaching, underscoring the doctrinal solidarity that exists across confessional traditions. The gathering is described as an occasion for edification, fellowship, and the opening of Scripture in a spirit of unity rather than controversy.
When The Rooster Crows
Peter's three denials of Christ in Mark 14:66–72 expose the depth of the fear of man lodged in every human heart — a fear so strong that one of the Lord's closest disciples crumbled before a servant girl's accusation. The sermon traces the two stages of Peter's denial against the backdrop of Christ's own bold confession before the Sanhedrin, pressing the contrast between the Lord's fidelity and the disciple's cowardice. Yet the controlling note is not condemnation but grace: the risen Christ's two-word restoration in Mark 16:7 — 'and Peter' — demonstrates that denial is not the unforgivable sin, and that God forgives the tears of his people as readily as their formal confessions. Believers are urged to pray now, while things are well, for the strength to stand under pressure, and to marvel at the sovereign mercy that forgives what no man would.
The Problem of Sin and the Mercy of God
Proverbs 28:13 sets the problem of sin and the mercy of God in sharpest relief: the one who covers his sin will not prosper, while the one who confesses and forsakes it will have mercy. Working through biblical examples — Adam, Achan, Saul, David, Aaron, Ananias and Sapphira — the sermon exposes the instinctive human strategies for concealing sin: outright denial, minimizing its gravity, blame-shifting, religious compensation, and abandonment of moral categories altogether. The solution is not Roman Catholic penance but genuine confession that sides with God's indictment and genuine forsaking that constitutes the inseparable twin of saving faith — what Christian theologians call conversion — received only through Christ, the surety upon whose head the confessing sinner lays his hand by faith.
The Covering of Sin
Proverbs 28:13 presents both the ruin of the one who covers sin and the mercy awaiting the one who confesses and forsakes it. This exposition works through the problem of sin-covering under four heads — the scriptural assumptions behind it, biblical examples of it, the various means sinners employ to conceal transgression, and the cursed result in this age and the age to come. The solution is penitential faith in Christ alone: genuine confession lays the hand on the great sacrifice, and true forsaking proves the sincerity of that confession. Believers and unbelievers alike are called to stop concealing sin and to cast themselves upon the mercy of God, which is the only covering that satisfies divine justice.
Covering Sin
Proverbs 28:13 presents two contrasting responses to sin: concealing it and confessing it. Beginning from the doctrine of total depravity, this sermon exposes six means by which sinners attempt to cover their sin — denial, minimization, blame-shifting, rationalization, multiplication, and abandonment — and demonstrates from Scripture why each strategy ends in ruin. The necessary alternative is not moral reformation but faith in Christ and repentance toward God, through which the sinner receives mercy: the covering of sin not by one's own vain efforts but by the blood of Jesus.