Theological term
Divine Election
4 sermons · All terms
The Examples of Defection and Devotion
2 Timothy 1:15–18 sets before Timothy two contrasting examples: Phygelus and Hermogenes, who defected from the Apostle Paul and thereby revealed their apostasy from the gospel itself, and Onesiphorus, who sought Paul out in his Roman imprisonment, refreshed him repeatedly, and was unashamed of his chains. The sermon argues that the faithful Christian life requires both the avoidance of those who abandon the gospel and the active cultivation of godly examples drawn from Scripture and the local congregation. Practical application centers on the ordinary, unheroic ministry of encouragement — refreshing suffering brothers — as the pattern every believer is called to imitate.
The Cross of Christ in the Book of Acts, Part 2
The cross of Christ is not one truth among many in the book of Acts but the central content of apostolic proclamation, divinely purposed, promised, and accomplished before being heralded to the nations. This sermon completes a two-part topical study by examining two final aspects: divine proclamation, the reality that God sends his own heralds to declare a message of divine origin, and divine proficiency, the certainty that the cross efficiently accomplishes the salvation of every sinner appointed to eternal life. The governing text is Acts 13:26–49, where Paul's sermon at Pisidian Antioch displays both the content and the electing power of gospel preaching. Hearers are called to glory in the cross as the wisdom and power of God and to observe the Lord's Supper as a living symbol of that cross.
The Apostle's Fear for the Galatians
Paul's alarm over the Galatian churches' drift toward the Judaizers' doctrine serves as the occasion for examining three realities: the degradation of man's former state apart from God, the divine initiative that constitutes saving knowledge, and the spiritual equivalence of all false religion — whether pagan ritualism or Mosaic ceremony — as a return to bondage. The sermon works through Galatians 4:8–11, pressing the claim that any addition to Christ as the ground of justification — whether circumcision, holy days, or any human merit — renders the cross of no effect. The hearer is called to rest in Christ alone, to worship God for the sovereign grace by which he is known before he knows, and to pray for faithful ministers who will not soften the apostolic warning against gospel corruption.
Paul's First Missionary Journey
Acts 13 records Paul's sermon in Pisidian Antioch, the first extended exposition of the gospel in the New Testament missionary narrative, and provides the historical backdrop for understanding why Paul wrote the epistle to the Galatians. Paul's address in the synagogue moves from Israel's redemptive history through the Davidic promise to its fulfillment in Christ's death and resurrection, culminating in a declaration that justification comes by faith alone, apart from the law of Moses — the very claim the Judaizers would later attack. The sermon also establishes that the local church, not para-church organizations or individual initiative, is the God-ordained sending structure for gospel missions, and that divine sovereignty in election (Acts 13:48) underlies every evangelistic endeavor.