Theological term
Docetism
18 sermons · All terms
The Example of the Savior, Part 2
Philippians 2:7 sets forth Christ's incarnation as the supreme argument against selfish ambition and conceit. This expository sermon works through four statements in the verse — Christ made himself of no reputation, took the form of a bondservant, came in the likeness of men, and was found in appearance as a man — with careful attention to the kenotic controversy, the hypostatic union, and the patristic formulations at Nicaea and Chalcedon. The heresy of kenotic Christology (that Christ emptied himself of his divine attributes) is refuted from 2 Corinthians 8:9, John 1:14, and Hebrews 2, while docetism is equally rejected in favor of Christ's true and complete humanity. The doctrinal weight is carried in service of Paul's pastoral concern: the one who was in the form of God and equal with God voluntarily humbled himself, and that reality demolishes every claim to selfish priority among his people.
CTF 2024 Session 4: The Uniting Power of our Reformed Confessions
The ecumenical creeds of the first five centuries — the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Definition, and the Athanasian Creed — form the doctrinal bedrock upon which the Reformation confessions, including the Westminster Confession, the Savoy Declaration, and the Second London Confession of Faith, were deliberately built. This address traces the historical controversies (Arianism, Eutychianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism) that provoked each creed, demonstrates the precise linguistic dependence of the 1689 LBCF upon creedal formulations, and argues that this shared inheritance constitutes genuine theological unity among confessional Reformed and Reformed Baptist churches. The practical conclusion is that ministers must teach these creeds and their underlying doctrines — Trinitarian theology, the hypostatic union — as the bedrock of Christian comfort, not merely as academic curiosity.
The Empty Tomb and the Risen Lord
The empty tomb of Matthew 28:1–10 is not a symbol or a felt experience but a historical event on which the entire Christian gospel stands or falls. Working through the arrival of the women, the descent of the angel, and the appearance of the risen Lord, this exposition shows that the resurrection was predicted by Christ, attested by angels, and confirmed by the physical presence of the one who holds his disciples as brethren even after their desertion. The sermon closes by grounding the believer's freedom from fear, confidence in advocacy, and obligation to proclamation in the fact that Jesus was raised for our justification.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ the Mediator, Part 3
The incarnation of the Son of God — that the eternal, divine Son took to himself a true and complete human nature without ceasing to be God — stands at the centre of the Christian religion and is inseparable from the doctrine of salvation. This confession study works through 2LCF Chapter 8, paragraphs 2 and 7, first clearing away eight historical errors about what the incarnation is not (mutation, docetism, a heavenly body, a bodyless appearance, an animal soul without a human soul, a mixing of natures, a divestiture of divine attributes, and a Nestorian conjunction of persons), then positively establishing the language of assumption, union, and incarnation as the church's consistent witness from the apostolic era forward. The Son did not subtract from nor add to himself; he took to himself that which he was not while remaining fully what he eternally is, and the Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit — acts undividedly in this work, though it terminates on the Son alone.
The Blessings of the Resurrected Christ
Luke 24:36–53 presents the resurrected Christ bestowing concrete blessings upon his disciples before his ascension: peace, bodily proof of his resurrection, exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures, enabling grace for comprehension, and the promise of the Spirit. The physical demonstration Christ offers refutes both ancient Docetism and its modern heirs — if Christ did not truly assume humanity, the unassumed is the unhealed, and salvation itself is a phantom. The sermon calls believers to rest their religious affections upon the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ as the sum and substance of all biblical revelation, finding in him both the ground of present comfort and the power for gospel proclamation.
The Savior of the World
John 4:27–42 traces three interlocking movements — the Samaritan woman's testimony, Christ's teaching on the harvest, and the Samaritans' confession that He is the Savior of the world — to argue that Christ's saving work crosses every ethnic and religious boundary without exception. The passage exposes the active and passive obedience of Christ as the twin grounds of justification: His perfect compliance with the law of God and His atoning death together constitute the righteousness sinners receive by faith alone. The Samaritans' declaration in verse 42 is not merely a first-century curiosity but a standing gospel call — Christ is the Savior of the world, and all who hear are summoned to come and see Him.
The Empty Tomb and the Risen Lord
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is not a cunningly devised fable but a historically attested and theologically necessary event that vindicates Christ's person and work. Expounding Matthew 28:1–10, this sermon examines the discovery of the empty tomb — the descent of the angel, the commission to the women, and the flight of the guards — and then the appearance of the risen Lord to the women, who held him by the feet and worshipped him. The hypostatic union underlies that act of worship: they touch his human feet while adoring the second person of the Trinity. Because Christ is risen, believers need not fear, have an advocate with the Father when they sin, and possess a hope that is grounded in historical reality and not mere sentiment.
The Second Commandment
The second commandment forbids both the manufacture of idols and the worship of the true God by means of visible representations — a distinction the first commandment does not address. Working through Deuteronomy 5:8–10, this sermon grounds the regulative principle of worship in the doctrine of God: because God is incorporeal, incomprehensible, and infinite, any attempt to represent Him in image or statue is a theological assault on His nature, not merely a liturgical irregularity. The sermon applies this principle to Roman Catholic image-veneration, depictions of the Lord Jesus Christ (including the 'Jesus film' and similar media), and the broader failure of evangelical worship to ask what God has actually commanded.
The Importance of the Knowledge of Christ
The most important question ever asked — 'Who do you say that I am?' — exposes a crisis in the contemporary church: a Ligonier survey found that 78% of polled evangelical Christians answered that Jesus Christ is the highest creature of God, effectively the ancient Arian heresy. This sermon works through Matthew 16:13–20 as a launching point, pressing seven reasons why the knowledge of Christ is of supreme importance: He is the scope of Scripture, eternal life hinges on a right knowledge of His person, the gospel is about Him, He is the exclusive way of salvation, all redemptive benefits are found in Him, the church's commission is given by and about Him, and our present and future hope rests in Him alone. The practical import of Christology — rightly defined as the dignity of Christ's person and the virtue of His office — is shown to bear on worship, humility, beneficence, good works, and steadfast confession.
OF Christ the Mediator (2LCF 8)
The doctrine of the Incarnation — that the eternal Son of God took to himself a full human nature, body and soul, yet without sin — is one of the two great mysteries of the Christian faith alongside the Trinity. This confession study works through 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 8, Paragraph 2, establishing first what the Incarnation does not mean (mutation of the divine nature, mere appearance, assumption of body only, full humanity without exception, addition to divine being) before drawing out five positive theological entailments: it is the Son alone who became incarnate through the undivided work of the triune God; it is the divine Son who assumed flesh; the assumed humanity is full and complete; Christ is sinless in that humanity; and the two natures are united in one person without conversion, composition, or confusion. The whole doctrine is shown to be the necessary foundation of the Christian gospel, since only a mediator who is truly and fully God, truly and fully man, and wholly without sin can accomplish the redemption of fallen humanity.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 17, 2017 PM
How do we know the gospel is true? First John 1:1–4 opens with John's answer: the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ is grounded in direct sensory experience — hearing, seeing, and handling the Word of life. This sermon works through the introduction to First John under three headings: the messenger, his message, and the benefits of that message. The exposition confronts early docetism (the denial that Christ came in the flesh), insists that eternal life is found only in the incarnate, crucified, and risen Son of God, and calls hearers to hold fast to the apostolic gospel as the only ground of true fellowship with the Father and the Son and of lasting joy.
The Lord's Prayer in the Garden, Part 1
Matthew 26:36–39 sets the scene of Christ's agony in Gethsemane, and this sermon works through three observations: the setting of the Savior's agony, the sorrow of the Savior, and the supplication of the Savior. The preacher grounds the soul-distress of Christ firmly in His true humanity, engaging the Council of Chalcedon's two-natures Christology and the condemnation of monothelitism to show that Christ's two wills are both affirmed and required by this text. The cup Christ prays to have pass is identified as the cup of divine wrath, which differentiates His anguish from that of any martyr and establishes the necessity of substitutionary atonement. The sermon's primary application is worship and adoration in response to the lengths the incarnate Son went to in order to secure the salvation of His people.
The Hymn to Christ as to God, Part 3
What does it mean that Christ 'emptied himself' in Philippians 2:7? This sermon works through the first clause of Christ's condescension, arguing that the self-emptying was not a divestiture of deity but an addition of humanity — Christ took on what he was not without ceasing to be what he eternally was. The incarnation is treated under two headings: his self-emptying by assuming man's nature, and his self-humiliation in engaging that nature as a bondservant. The sermon closes by drawing out the practical weight of Christ's true humanity for worship, perseverance under suffering, and help in temptation.
An Introduction to Christology
What does it mean to study Christ, and why does it matter above every other theological discipline? This introductory Christology study, anchored in John 20:24–31, argues that the doctrine of Christ is not one branch among many but the integrating center of all Christian theology — the terminus of the Old Testament's canonical trajectory, the non-negotiable content of apostolic proclamation, the sole ground of salvation, and the pattern for the believer's practical life. Hearers are called to fill their minds with precise Christological knowledge so that their hearts may be both warmed in worship and guarded against the errors that have always threatened the church's confession of Christ's full deity, full humanity, and undivided person.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ the Mediator, Part 2
The deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, as confessed in 2LCF Chapter 8 paragraphs 1–3, stand as the twin foundations of orthodox Christology. This session from a series on the 1689 London Baptist Confession works through what the confession affirms — and what it denies — regarding both natures of the one Mediator, showing how its language recapitulates the early church's creedal formulations. The study demonstrates the deity of Christ from his self-identification as the divine 'I Am,' his equality with the Father, explicit New Testament declarations, Old Testament Yahweh texts applied to him in the New Testament, and divine prerogatives predicated of him. The humanity of Christ is then established from the birth narratives, apostolic declaration, and Christ's own evidential self-disclosure, preparing the ground for a subsequent session on the incarnation proper.
Don't Be Antichrist
Philippians 2:6–11, the Carmen Christi, presents in six verses the whole point of the Bible: the person and work of Christ unto the glory of God the Father. This sermon works through that hymn under three heads — the deity and humanity of Christ in his person, the voluntary and obedient character of his work (distinguishing his preceptive and penal obedience), and the exaltation that issues in universal worship. The congregation is pressed to hold a full, undiluted Christology, warned that a defective view of either Christ's deity or his humanity places one outside saving faith, and called to bow the knee now in genuine confession rather than await the compelled confession of judgment.
The Redemptive Focus of the Incarnation
Hebrews 2:14–18 sets forth four redemptive purposes that drove the Son of God to take on flesh and blood: the destruction of Satan's tyranny, the liberation of his people from the fear of death, the assumption of the covenant mediator's role as seed of Abraham, and the execution of the high-priestly office through propitiation and intercession. The incarnation was not incidental but was decreed from eternity in the covenant of redemption, with the Father giving a people to the Son who then assumed their nature as surety of the new covenant. Christ's atoning work — bearing the Father's wrath as the substitute of sinners — is the nerve center of the argument, and the passage calls believers to draw near to a high priest who has suffered and is therefore able to aid every tempted soul.
The Ascension of Jesus Christ
The ascension of Jesus Christ is not a theological footnote but the capstone event that confirms the completion of His atoning work and inaugurates His present reign at the right hand of the Father. Working through Acts 1:9–11, this sermon establishes six observations: the ascension followed Christ's finished atonement, was visible and bodily, was glorious in the Shekinah cloud, sets the pattern for a literal and visible second coming, and resulted in His enthronement as Messiah-King over all nations. The enthroned Christ is the ground of Christian perseverance, bold prayer, and the church's missionary commission — and He is the only refuge for sinners who will otherwise confess Him as Lord on the day of judgment.