Theological term
Creation Ordinance
19 sermons · All terms
The Laws of the Unsolved Murder, Family Matters, and Dead Criminals
Deuteronomy 21 addresses five distinct legal ordinances governing the covenant community of old covenant Israel: the unsolved homicide, female captives taken in war, the firstborn son in a polygamous household, the stubborn and rebellious son, and the hanged criminal. Running beneath all five is a single theological concern — the prevention of blood guiltiness defiling the land God has given his people as an inheritance. The passage is read typologically: the heifer sacrificed for the unsolved murder foreshadows penal substitutionary atonement, the charge of 'glutton and drunkard' leveled at Jesus in Matthew 11 echoes the indictment for the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21, and Paul's citation of Deuteronomy 21:23 in Galatians 3:13 makes explicit that Christ became a curse for his people by hanging on a tree. The session closes with a Q&A discussion of polygamy, slavery, and the relationship between creation ordinances and post-fall civil legislation.
2LCF Chapter 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 2
The perpetual moral obligation of the Christian Sabbath is grounded not in Sinai alone but in the creation ordinance of Genesis 2, where God blessed and sanctified the seventh day as a reflection of his own divine perfections. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 22, paragraphs 7 and 8, frames the Sabbath as a positive-moral commandment — moral in its trans-covenantal, creation-rooted character, and positive in its covenantal form, shifting from seventh-day to first-day observance upon the resurrection of Christ as the inauguration of the new creation. The day belongs to God before it belongs to man: the governing question is not what may be avoided on the Lord's Day, but how near to God the worshipper may draw. Paragraph 8 calls for whole-souled preparation, rest from works, words, and thoughts entangled in worldly concerns, and the filling of the day with public and private worship, works of necessity, and works of mercy.
Getting the Garden Right — Dr. Richard Barcellos | Why Genesis 1–3 Matters for Everything
Genesis 1–3 is not merely the Bible's opening chapter but the theological foundation upon which the covenant of works, the divine rest, and the entire eschatological structure of Scripture are built. Richard Barcellos surveys the argument of his book 'Getting the Garden Right,' contending that New Covenant theology and progressive covenantalism go wrong precisely where they fail to reckon with Adam's probationary status under the covenant of works and the eschatological significance of God's Sabbath rest as a state into which the obedient image-bearer was to enter. The discussion ranges from hermeneutical method — the necessity of allowing the New Testament to illuminate the Genesis narrative — to the typological continuity of the Sabbath from creation ordinance through the resurrection of Christ to the weekly Lord's Day. Listeners are pressed to take the primary sources of the Reformed tradition seriously and to see that whatever Adam failed to attain, Christ secured, bringing many sons to the glory that is better than the beginning.
The Seventh Commandment, Part 3
Deuteronomy 5:18 forbids adultery, but the scope of the Seventh Commandment extends to every form of sexual disorder — from fornication and homosexuality to the surging contemporary phenomenon of transgenderism. Drawing on the Westminster Larger Catechism questions 138 and 139, this study moves from the commandment's prohibitions to its positive duties: the preservation of chastity, watchfulness over the senses, the practice of temperance, the pursuit of biblical marriage, diligence in one's calling, and the rejection of all occasions of uncleanness. The three uses of the law — civil, pedagogical, and normative — frame the closing application: the law exposes the corruption of the heart, drives the sinner to the imputed righteousness of Christ, and then regulates the redeemed life.
The Seventh Commandment, Part 2
The seventh commandment's prohibition against adultery extends, by the interpretive principle of the Decalogue, to every form of sexual sin Scripture addresses. This study works through homosexuality, bestiality, unlawful divorce, immodesty, polygamy, prostitution, and lust — demonstrating from the Old and New Testaments that each represents a violation of God's creation ordinance for marriage. The study closes with the recognition that the law's exposure of sexual sin drives the believer back to the cross, where the imputed righteousness of Christ and free and sovereign grace provide both forgiveness and the motive for sanctification.
The Seventh Commandment, Part 1
The seventh commandment — 'You shall not commit adultery' (Deuteronomy 5:18) — presupposes and protects the divinely ordained institution of marriage, which Scripture grounds in three purposes: the mutual help of husband and wife, the increase of mankind through procreation, and the prevention of uncleanness. This study examines the basis of the commandment in the creation ordinance of Genesis 2, the law of God in the Decalogue and apostolic teaching, and the sanctions attached to its violation in Leviticus and Proverbs. The prohibition extends beyond adultery to fornication, incest, rape, and related sexual sins, with particular attention given to the difficult case legislation of Deuteronomy 22 and the critical difference between seduction and rape in that text.
2LCF Chapter 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 1
The abiding validity of the Fourth Commandment is defended through a biblical theology of the Sabbath that traces the institution from creation through the old covenant. The sermon argues that Sabbath rest is grounded not in the Mosaic economy alone but in the creation ordinance of Genesis 2 and the redemption of Exodus, making it binding upon all humanity — not Jews only — as Christ himself teaches in Mark 2:27. The positive and moral character of the commandment is distinguished from its ceremonial and positive elements, with the day change to the Lord's Day deferred to the following session. Hearers are called to receive the Sabbath as the gift it is declared to be in Isaiah 58, not as a Judaizing imposition.
Ask FGBC #27: Why the shift from Saturday to Sunday worship?
Why did Christian worship shift from the seventh day to the first day of the week? This Q&A response argues that Sunday observance is not an abolition of the fourth commandment but its new-covenant fulfillment, grounded in Christ's resurrection as the inauguration of new creation. The moral principle embedded in the fourth commandment — one day in seven set apart for the worship of God — transcends any particular covenant, while the positive element specifying which day shifts from Saturday to Sunday in light of Christ's finished work and rest. Drawing on Hebrews 4, the eighth-day Sabbath typology of the Old Testament, and the 1689 LBCF's treatment of the Lord's Day, the speaker urges believers to receive Sunday worship not as a burden but as the highest delight and privilege available to the people of God.
2LCF Chapter 25 - Of Marriage
Marriage as a divine institution is examined through the four paragraphs of 2LCF Chapter 25, with Matthew 19:5–6 as the anchor text where Christ grounds marriage in the creation of male and female. The sermon argues that marriage is not a social construct or ecclesiastical sacrament but a creation ordinance ordained by God before the fall, designed for the union of one man and one woman in monogamous covenant. A threefold providential purpose is unfolded — companionship, the inhabitation of creation, and a hedge against sexual immorality — and the regulative bounds of marriage regarding consanguinity, affinity, and Christian marital duty are applied against both contemporary sexual confusion and Roman Catholic sacerdotalism.
Exodus 20:14, the 7th Commandment, Part 2
Expounding the seventh commandment (Exodus 20:14), this study completes a survey of the sins the commandment prohibits — polygamy, prostitution, pornography, transvestitism, and transgenderism — before turning to the manner in which the commandment is violated: externally through the act, internally through lustful imagination, and verbally through corrupt speech. The Westminster Larger Catechism frames the duties required: chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behavior. The threefold use of the law (civil, pedagogical, normative) is applied to contemporary sexual ethics, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is held out as the ground of gospel hope: the same sinners who practiced these things were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The Christian Sabbath, Part 3
Three passages in the New Testament — Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2 — are commonly marshalled against the abiding validity of the Fourth Commandment, but careful exegesis reveals that none of them address the weekly Lord's Day Sabbath. Romans 14 concerns Christian liberty over matters indifferent, principally Jewish dietary laws and Israel's feast calendar; Galatians 4 rebukes the Judaizers' demand that calendar observance supplement faith in Christ for justification; and Colossians 2 warns against a syncretistic heresy that mingled Christ, Judaism, and angel worship. In each case Paul is dealing with Israel's ceremonial calendar, not the moral Sabbath commandment rooted in creation and redemption, which remains binding on the new covenant people of God and is observed on the first day of the week in light of Christ's resurrection.
The Seventh Commandment
Deuteronomy 5:18, the seventh commandment, prohibits adultery and by extension the full range of sexual sins Scripture condemns throughout both Testaments. This sermon works through the basis of the commandment in God's threefold purposes for marriage, catalogs the specific sexual sins the commandment forbids — adultery, fornication, incest, rape, sodomy, bestiality, unlawful divorce, polygamy, prostitution, and pornography — and then treats the internal disposition of heart lust that Jesus expounds in Matthew 5. The sermon concludes with practical counsel drawn from Proverbs 5 and 6 on the three means of protection against sexual sin, and closes by applying the civil, pedagogical, and normative uses of the law to the contemporary church and culture.
The Fourth Commandment
The Fourth Commandment's call to observe the Sabbath is not a Mosaic innovation for Israel alone but a creation ordinance rooted in God's own rest and ratified across redemptive history. This sermon surveys Old Testament Sabbath theology — from Genesis 2 through the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah — arguing that the Ten Commandments carry trans-covenantal moral force and that the Sabbath commandment retains binding validity for New Covenant Christians. Christ's defense of Sabbath in Mark 2 is shown to confirm rather than abolish the commandment, clearing away Pharisaic distortion while pointing back to the creational gift given for man as man, not Jew as Jew. Hearers are called to call the Sabbath a delight, to work diligently the six days, and to gather with the covenant community on the Lord's Day in holy worship.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 2 (2LCF 22)
The Christian Sabbath is not a Puritan invention but a moral, perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, now observed on the first day of the week in light of Christ's resurrection. This session of the 1689 London Baptist Confession study works through the ministry of Christ, the resurrection accounts, the apostolic pattern of first-day gathering, and the typology of Hebrews 4 to establish that a weekly Sabbath rest remains for the people of God in the new covenant era. The change of day from the seventh to the first reflects the inauguration of the new creation by the risen Christ, just as the Father rested on the seventh day of the old creation. Hearers are urged to receive the Lord's Day as a gracious gift — a weekly 'market day of the soul' pointing forward to the consummated rest that has not yet fully come.
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.
The Seventh Commandment
The seventh commandment, 'You shall not commit adultery' (Deuteronomy 5:18), is neither a narrow prohibition of one act nor a relic of Mosaic theocracy — it is the summary of God's creational design for sexual integrity, binding on all people in every age because it reflects the law first written on Adam's heart and confirmed throughout both Testaments. This exposition examines the basis of the commandment (God's law, the purposes of marriage, and the severity of its sanctions), then moves through ten specific sins the commandment forbids, from adultery and fornication to pornography and unlawful divorce. The three uses of the law are applied: the civil use demands that governing authorities punish gross sexual sin; the pedagogical use drives sinners to confess their guilt before a holy God; and the normative use calls believers to active mortification of sexual sin, the faithful practice of biblical marriage, and close communion with God as the surest guard against violating the second table.
The Fourth Commandment
The Fourth Commandment, as confessed in the 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 22, binds all men in all ages to set apart one day in seven for the worship of God. This exposition of Deuteronomy 5:12–15 traces the Sabbath from its creation ordinance grounding in Genesis 2, through its Sinaitic rationale of creation and redemption, into its prophetic anticipation in Isaiah 56 and 58, and finally to its New Covenant fulfillment on the first day of the week as the Lord's Day. The sermon argues that the Sabbath's moral principle — one day in seven devoted to God — is permanent and continuous across the covenants, while the positive element (the particular day) shifts from Saturday to Sunday in light of Christ's resurrection. Hearers are called to receive the Sabbath not as a legalistic burden but as God's gift, and to guard equally against Pharisaic rigidity and antinomian dismissal.
The Seventh Commandment, Part 2
Matthew 5:31–32 sits within Jesus' exposition of the Seventh Commandment, where He corrects not the Mosaic legislation of Deuteronomy 24 but the Pharisaic distortion of it that permitted divorce for virtually any cause. The sermon argues that Jesus' exception clause — 'except for porneia' — establishes sexual immorality as the one lawful ground for divorce, and that the final clause of verse 32 ('whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery') must be read as applying only to unlawfully divorced women, not as a universal prohibition on all remarriage after any divorce. Deuteronomy 24:1–4 is examined at length to demonstrate that remarriage after a lawful divorce was never treated as adultery under the Mosaic economy — a point confirmed by the death penalty for adultery in Leviticus 20 and Deuteronomy 22. The sermon closes with pastoral implications: upholding the sanctity of marriage as a creation ordinance, extending genuine gospel mercy to those who have sinned or been sinned against in divorce, and calling God's people to fidelity that surpasses the world's standards.
A Biblical View of Homosexuality
Scripture condemns homosexuality not as a cultural accident or genetic condition but as a transgression of God's creational order, a sin judged in Sodom, legislated against in the Old Covenant, and confirmed in the New Testament. This sermon works through four biblical categories — creation, Sodom and Gomorrah, Mosaic legislation, and New Covenant confirmation — to establish that homosexuality is a moral offense against the triune God, not merely a violation of Jewish or sectarian code. The consistent refrain of Scripture is that this sin, like all sins catalogued in 1 Corinthians 6, is answered by a real Savior who washes, sanctifies, and justifies sinners — making a properly biblical view of homosexuality the only view that can offer genuine hope to those in bondage to it.