Theological term
Covenant of Grace
848 sermons · All terms
The Cleansing of the Temple, Part 2
Matthew 21:14–17 presents two responses to Christ's messianic presence in the temple: the blind and the lame receive healing, and the religious leaders respond with indignant fury. The healing of the outcasts carries deliberate Davidic overtones, evoking 2 Samuel 5 and the messianic prophecies of Isaiah 35 and 61, so that Christ's identity as the greater Son of David is confirmed by deed as well as by word. The praise of nursing infants, drawn from Psalm 8, presses the question of Christ's deity — the religious leaders understood the implications and hardened rather than repented. The passage calls unbelievers to abandon the side of Christ's despisers and look to Him as the only ground of mercy, and reminds the church that the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king is the heart of the gospel it is commissioned to preach.
The Cleansing of the Temple, Part 1
Matthew 21:12–17 records Jesus entering the temple and driving out the buyers and sellers — an act that is neither impulsive nor isolated but stands as a prophetically scripted portent of divine judgment on apostate Israel. Drawing on Haggai 2, Zechariah 14, and Malachi 3, the sermon establishes that Christ's entrance into and cleansing of the temple fulfils the office of prophet-king-priest announced across the post-exilic writings, and that the glory of this latter temple infinitely exceeds Solomon's because Christ himself is the temple. Three ecclesiastical implications follow: the purity of divinely authorized worship is a primary concern of God; the church must pursue faithful obedience over popularity; and hypocrisy — living in sin while invoking the covenant — is precisely what the temple cleansing condemns.
2LCF Chapter 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 1
What gives any human being the right to determine how God is to be worshipped? This study of 2LCF Chapter 22, Paragraphs 1–2 argues that the light of nature establishes the creational obligation to worship God, while Scripture alone establishes the acceptable manner of that worship — the regulative principle. The exclusive object of that worship is the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which the confession defends against both the Roman Catholic invocation of saints and the broader normative principle that permits what God has not commanded. Worshippers are called to receive God's own prescribed order of worship rather than supplementing it with the imaginations and devices of men.
2LCF Chapter 21 - Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience, Part 1
Christian liberty, as defined in 2LCF Chapter 21, is not primarily about what believers are permitted to do but about what Christ has accomplished for them — freedom from the guilt, power, and punishment of sin, as well as freedom from the ceremonial yoke of the Old Covenant. The chapter also guards the conscience from two opposing errors: the tyranny of ecclesiastical or civil impositions that bind the conscience beyond God's Word, and the antinomian perversion that treats liberty as license for sin. The sermon calls believers to live under God's Word alone as the Lord of the conscience, neither adding to it nor subtracting from it, walking in holiness and righteousness without fear.
2LCF Chapter 20 - Of the Gospel and of the Extent of the Grace Thereof
The necessity and exclusivity of special gospel revelation for salvation — not natural revelation — is the central concern of 2LCF Chapter 20. Against the errors of incipient deism (which denied the need for special revelation) and General Baptist soteriology (which allowed for salvation via the light of nature), the confession affirms that the gospel promise of Christ, inaugurated at Genesis 3:15, is the sole appointed means of calling the elect in every age. Divine sovereignty governs the dispensation of that gospel to nations and persons, and the effectual, insuperable work of the Holy Spirit upon the whole soul is necessary alongside the outward proclamation for any sinner to be converted.
The Ninth Commandment
The Ninth Commandment forbids bearing false witness, and this sermon works outward from its primary application — perjury in a judicial setting — to the full range of sins committed with the tongue: lying, slander, backbiting, and gossip. The reason God demands truth-telling is rooted in his own character as the God of truth, in man's nature as his image-bearer, and in the stability of the social order, which collapses wherever deception is tolerated. Positively, the commandment calls God's people to speak truth in all areas of life, to exercise charity toward others in thought and speech, and to actively discourage those who would sin with their tongues — while finding in Christ the only sufficient remedy for a history of lies.
The Inclusion of the Gentiles in God's Covenant
Ephesians 2:11–22 addresses the radical transformation of Gentile believers, who were once 'aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,' into full participants in the covenant of grace. The sermon traces three movements in the text: the former plight of Gentile unbelievers (vv. 11–12), their present reception through the blood of Christ (vv. 13–17), and the purchased benefits now belonging to them as fellow citizens, members of God's household, and living stones in his temple (vv. 18–22). Christ is shown to be the one who is peace, who makes peace through the cross by abolishing the ceremonial law's enmity, and who preaches peace through the apostolic gospel. The exposition concludes with a call to prize corporate worship as the special dwelling place of God Most High, in which Jewish and Gentile believers together form one temple indwelt by the Spirit.
2LCF Chapter 19 - Of the Law of God
The law of God — moral, ceremonial, and judicial — is the organising subject of 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 19. This session works through all seven paragraphs, tracing the moral law from its inscription on Adam's heart at creation, through its codification at Sinai, to its perpetual obligation upon every human being under the new covenant. The threefold division of the law (moral, ceremonial, judicial) is carefully distinguished: the ceremonial law is abrogated in Christ, the judicial law has expired with the Israelite theocracy though its general equity retains moral usefulness, and the moral law binds all persons forever — not as a covenant of works, but as a rule of life that sweetly complies with the grace of the gospel. Believers are called to embrace the law as a delight, a tutor pointing to Christ, and a pattern for sanctification rather than a means of justification.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 13, 2015 PM
Psalm 107:1–9 calls the redeemed to give thanks to God for His goodness and mercy — two terms the psalmist binds together to signal covenantal faithfulness. This exposition traces God's goodness through creation, Providence, and redemption, showing that divine beneficence reaches its pinnacle in the saving work of Christ. God's mercy, distinguished from its human counterpart as originating entirely within God's own nature rather than being moved by anything external, is shown to be operative in temporal blessings, in the judgment of the wicked, and supremely in the salvation of sinners. The sermon closes with a direct call to those outside of Christ to flee to Him, that they too might give thanks to the Lord whose mercy endures forever.
God and Man in the 107th Psalm, Part 1
Psalm 107:1–9 opens with a summons — 'Oh, give thanks to the Lord' — that exposes a perennial failure of fallen humanity: thanklessness toward a God of inexhaustible mercy. This sermon works through two headings from the psalm: the call to thanksgiving and the content of that thanksgiving, showing that gratitude is not an optional sentiment but the defining disposition of the redeemed, rooted in God's character and displayed across all of life — blessing, affliction, law, and gospel. The sermon closes with practical means for cultivating thankfulness: corporate worship, prayer, Scripture, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
2LCF Chapter 17 - Of the Perseverance of the Saints
The perseverance of the saints rests not on the believer's free will or moral resilience, but on five immovable pillars: the immutability of God's decree of election, the believer's union with Christ, the oath of God, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of the covenant of grace. This exposition of 2LCF Chapter 17 works through all three paragraphs, distinguishing the genuine saints from temporary believers, refuting both Arminian and Roman Catholic denials of the doctrine, and showing that perseverance is inseparable from divine preservation. The challenges to perseverance — Satanic temptation, the world, and remaining corruption — are honestly confronted, with the vital role of the means of grace pressed upon the hearer as the God-ordained pathway through them.
The Victory of David over Goliath, Part 2
David's declaration in 1 Samuel 17:45–47 is the theological center of the entire chapter: the defeat of Goliath is not primarily a lesson in personal courage but a proclamation that there is a God in Israel who does not save by sword and spear. The sermon traces David's preparation, his confrontation with Goliath, and his victory, reading the decapitation of Israel's enemies throughout redemptive history as typological of Genesis 3:15 — the skull-crushing seed of the woman who will finally destroy the serpent. The congregation is called to trust the means God has ordained — prayer and preaching — rather than the 'horses and chariots' of human ingenuity, and all hearers are urged to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom this protoevangelium finds its fulfilment.
2LCF Chapter 6 - Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof
What is sin, where did it come from, and what has it done to us? This confession study works through 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 6, paragraphs 1–5, examining the origin of sin in the covenantal breach of Adam, the universal solidarity of mankind in that guilt and corruption, and the abiding effects of sin in both the unregenerate and the regenerate. The remedy is shown to be twofold: justification to deal with the guilt of sin and sanctification to deal with its remaining corruption, both secured by Christ as the second Adam who fulfilled what the first Adam failed to keep.
The Conversion of Matthew
What does genuine conversion look like? Expounding Matthew 9:9–13, this sermon traces the call of Matthew the tax collector — one of the most notorious sinners in first-century Jewish society — to show that Christ's power to forgive is precisely suited to the wretched. The three movements of the passage — the call to discipleship, the feast at Matthew's house, and Jesus' confrontation with the Pharisees — together establish that Christ came not for the self-righteous but for sinners, and that His summons produces immediate, costly, and joyful obedience. Five marks of genuine discipleship are drawn out: saving faith, repentance as a consequence (not a condition) of grace, kingdom priority, beholding Christ as altogether lovely, and serious pursuit of sanctification — set alongside an honest account of remaining corruption and the struggles that attend the Christian life.
The Importance of the Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper is a divine commandment, not a recommendation, instituted by Christ on the night of his betrayal and binding on his church until he comes again. This exposition of 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 moves through four aspects of the ordinance's importance: its nature as a positive and sovereign institution, its character as a commanded act of remembrance, its object as Christ himself in his person, life, and atoning death, and its quality as a means of grace through which the risen Christ spiritually nourishes his people by his Spirit. The sermon calls believers to joyful, cheerful compliance with the Lord's table — to come, take, eat, and be fed by the exalted Savior who blots out the sins of all who trust in him.
2LCF Chapter 7 - Of God's Covenant, Part 3
The Covenant of Redemption (pactum salutis) is the pre-temporal, intra-Trinitarian agreement between the Father and the Son in which the Father gives a particular people to the Son and the Son willingly undertakes to be their mediator and surety. This teaching examines the definition, parties, stipulations, and promises of the pactum, traces its exegetical foundations across both Testaments, and shows how it grounds the Covenant of Grace and underwrites definite atonement. Understanding the Covenant of Redemption provides believers with firm assurance, because the immutable and impassible God has covenanted in eternity to save the elect in Christ, and that plan cannot fail.
The Rich Young Ruler
What must a man do to inherit eternal life? This exposition of Matthew 19:16–22 examines the encounter between Christ and the rich young ruler, showing that the young man's question is at once legitimate — every soul must reckon with eternity — and illegitimate, because it proceeds from the assumption that salvation is earned by human merit. Christ answers him on the terms of the covenant of works, pressing the second table of the Decalogue and then the tenth commandment in particular, not to prescribe a new way of salvation by poverty, but to expose the man's covetousness and unmask the bankruptcy of his self-righteousness. The sermon calls hearers to abandon proud self-righteousness, reckon honestly with the spirituality of God's law, and flee by faith to the one who alone kept it perfectly.
The Father's Plan of Redemption
Ephesians 1:3–6 opens a doxology that gives the believer a glimpse into the eternal counsel of the triune God — what Reformed theology calls the covenant of redemption, or pactum salutis. The Father's role in that counsel is threefold: he blesses his people with every spiritual blessing in Christ, he sovereignly elects and predestines a multitude to adoption as sons, and he does all of this to the praise of his glorious grace. The sermon calls believers to respond to this free and sovereign electing love not with presumption but with worship, obedience, and a deepened sense of the gravity of sinning against so gracious a Father.
The Instruction on Celibacy and Children
Matthew 19:10–15 presents two closely linked teachings: Christ's instruction on celibacy and His reception of little children. Against Rome's doctrine of clerical celibacy and any Protestant tendency to exalt singleness above marriage, the sermon argues that celibacy is a sovereign gift of God given to some, not a spiritual superior state to be mandated or celebrated above the married estate. The blessing of the children exposes the disciples' failure to understand that Christ receives the weak and dependent, and the passage calls fathers to the concrete duty of bringing their children to Christ through prayer, Scripture, and faithful church attendance.
Exodus 6:1-13
Exodus 6:1–13 presents God's sevenfold 'I will' promise to Israel as the thesis of the entire book: Yahweh, the covenant Lord who revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, will deliver his enslaved people not because of any merit in them but because he remembers his covenant. This study surveys Exodus 1–18 under three heads — the divine promise to Abraham, the divine destruction of Pharaoh, and the divine provision for Israel — showing that grace precedes law throughout. The typological pattern of Israel's redemption finds its fulfillment in Christ, the true firstborn and greater Mediator, who brings his people out of bondage to sin into the slavery of righteousness.
The First Commandment
The First Commandment — 'You shall have no other gods before me' (Deuteronomy 5:7) — demands the exclusive covenantal allegiance of God's people to Yahweh alone. The sermon works through both the prohibition and the positive demands of the commandment, exposing atheism (doctrinal and practical), polytheism, syncretism, idolatry, sorcery, and heresy as violations of the first word, while showing that the commandment positively requires the knowledge, love, fear, trust, obedience, and worship of the one true God. The pedagogical function of the law is also pressed: the commandment, taken seriously, drives the believer to repentance and to Christ, the only law-keeper, who gave himself for the sins of all those the Father had given him.
The Instruction on Divorce, Part 1
Matthew 19:7–9 presents a Pharisaic challenge to Jesus on the Mosaic permission for divorce, and this sermon works through that challenge under two heads: the Pharisees' objection and Christ's response. The exposition moves through Deuteronomy 24:1–4, demonstrating that its protasis (verses 1–3) assumes the legitimacy of divorce and remarriage, while its apodosis (verse 4) prohibits only return to a first husband — not remarriage as such. Drawing on Leviticus 21, Ezra, Jeremiah 3, and the Westminster Confession 24.5, the sermon argues that porneia (sexual immorality broadly construed) constitutes a lawful ground for divorce and remarriage, and that to forbid what God's law permits is both antinomian and a burden God never intended to lay on innocent parties.
The Preface to the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are not a path to earned standing before God but the covenant stipulations of a God who has already redeemed his people — the indicative of grace always precedes the imperative of law. Expounding Deuteronomy 5:1–6, this sermon examines the summons to obedience Moses issues to the second generation on the plains of Moab, and then the preface to the Decalogue itself, showing that the identity and activity of the Lawgiver are the indispensable foundation for understanding why God's moral law binds his people. The threefold division of the law — ceremonial, judicial, and moral — is defended from the confessional Reformed tradition, and the abiding validity of the Decalogue in the new covenant is grounded in Jeremiah 31 and 2LCF 19. The sermon closes by tracing the law's three uses — civil, pedagogical, and normative — so that hearers neither abuse the law as a ladder to heaven nor discard it as obsolete, but receive it as the Spirit-given pattern for a life of grateful obedience.
2LCF Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification
Sanctification belongs to the unbreakable chain of redemption: all whom God effectually calls and regenerates will be sanctified and glorified. This study of 1689 LBCF Chapter 13 traces both a divine and a human chronology of sanctification, distinguishing definitive sanctification — the once-for-all decisive break with sin's dominion accomplished in Christ's crosswork — from progressive sanctification, the ongoing renewal of the whole man by the indwelling Spirit through the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. The sermon insists that conflating sanctification with justification corrupts the gospel no less than denying sanctification's necessity, and calls believers to pursue holiness through joyful, evangelical obedience to the law of Christ.
2LCF Chapter 12 - Of Adoption
The doctrine of adoption — that God, by free grace, receives the justified into the number and privileges of His sons — is the subject of 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 12, paragraph 1. The teaching works through five aspects of adoption: its origin in God's eternal loving-kindness and decree, its procurement by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit's role as guarantor and testifier, the recipients (the elect alone), and its nature as an objective legal determination made by God as Father. The doctrine is grounded in the ordo salutis, follows logically from justification, and calls believers to be grounded in the joy of adoption, to walk as children of God, to welcome fatherly chastisement, and to love their brothers and sisters in the household of God.
He Saved Us
Salvation by works, whether in whole or in part, is a criminal doctrine — so the Apostle Paul insists in Titus 3:5–7, and this sermon works through that text under four headings: the one at work in salvation (God alone, not man), the nature of salvation (regeneration, renewal, and justification), the foundation of salvation (Jesus Christ exclusively), and the certainty of salvation (grounded in the immutable decree of election and the perfecting work of the triune God). The washing of regeneration is not water baptism but the sovereign operation of the Holy Spirit making dead sinners alive, paralleling the new-covenant promise of Ezekiel 36. Justification is a legal declaration in which Christ's righteousness is imputed to the believer and received by faith alone — not supplemented by any work of the believer's own. Both the regenerate and the unbeliever are called to rest solely upon Christ, the one foundation of all salvation.
The Incentives for Perseverance, Part 2
Paul's 'faithful saying' in 2 Timothy 2:11–13 supplies three conditional clauses that together form both an encouragement and a warning for the persevering Christian. The sermon exposits the believer's union with Christ in conversion (dying and rising with Him), the present communion that sustains endurance, and the solemn warning that denial of Christ evidences a faithlessness that Christ Himself will not overlook. The means of grace — Scripture, prayer, and corporate worship including the Lord's Supper — are set out as the God-appointed instruments by which believers are kept running the race.
2LCF Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
Effectual calling is the sovereign, monergistic act by which God brings his elect out of spiritual death and into saving union with Christ — by his Word and Spirit alone, apart from any foreseen merit or creaturely co-operation. Walking through 2LCF Chapter 10, paragraphs 1–4, this study situates effectual calling within the broader covenant structure of the confession, distinguishing it from the general gospel call that goes forth indiscriminately to all. The session addresses the regenerating work of the Spirit, the doctrinal grounding of infant salvation, the exclusion of the non-elect from saving grace, and the eternal perdition of those outside Christ regardless of moral sincerity — with a sustained application to how these truths ought to shape corporate prayer and gospel proclamation.
The Incentives for Perseverance, Part 1
Paul's command to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3 — endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ — is not left without support. This sermon expounds 2 Timothy 2:8–10, identifying two of three incentives Paul provides for perseverance: the contemplation of Christ in his true humanity, Davidic lineage, and resurrection, and the conduct of Paul whose imprisonment and suffering demonstrate that the word of God cannot be chained. The doctrine of election underlies Paul's endurance, for he suffers all things for the sake of the elect, knowing that gospel preaching is the God-ordained means by which they obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Hearers are called to feed their souls on Christ through Scripture and to measure their own trials against the apostolic pattern of suffering for the gospel.
The Blessing of Spiritual Liberty
John 8:31–36 confronts every person with a diagnosis before offering a cure: whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. This sermon expounds Christ's words under two heads — the reality of spiritual slavery and the blessing of spiritual liberty — drawing on Romans 1–3, Galatians, and Acts 26 to demonstrate that bondage to sin is universal, that it is not political but moral and spiritual, and that freedom is granted by the Son alone through the truth of His Word. The occasion of the Lord's Supper grounds the application: believers examine themselves against the marks of true discipleship (abiding in the Word) and receive the supper as a joyful remembrance of redemption from sin's penalty, the law's curse, God's wrath, Satan's dominion, and sin's reigning power.