Theological term
Effectual Calling
509 sermons · All terms
The Joy Associated with Christ's Departure
John 16:16–24 records Jesus preparing his disciples for the grief of his death and the joy of his resurrection, framing both under the single announcement 'a little while.' This exposition works through two movements: the announcement of Christ's departure and the disciples' confusion (vv. 16–18), and then the benefits of that departure — lasting joy grounded in the resurrection, and direct access to the Father through prayer in Christ's name (vv. 19–24). The sermon argues that the joy promised here is not the absence of suffering or temporal prosperity, but an indestructible joy rooted in Christ's finished work of life, death, resurrection, and ascension, a joy no adversary can strip from the believer.
The Salvation of Sinners on Pentecost
Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:22–42) declares the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus Christ as the exclusive ground of salvation, and calls sinners to repentance and faith. The sermon examines what genuine repentance means — a change of mind inseparable from faith, not a prior moral reformation — and argues that baptism is the sign of what God has already accomplished internally, not the instrument of forgiveness. Acts 2:39 is addressed directly against paedobaptist appeals, with the promise of the Spirit shown to belong to all who are effectually called, not to the physical infants of believers. The sermon closes with an exhortation to follow the Pentecost pattern: preach the gospel, baptize disciples, and teach them in the church.
The Spirit's Ministry to the Apostles
John 16:12–15 presents the Spirit's ministry to the apostles as the continuation and completion of Christ's own self-disclosure to the disciples. The sermon expounds Jesus' promise that the Spirit of Truth will guide the apostles into all truth, situating that promise within the doctrine of the Trinity — specifically the eternal processions of the Son and Spirit and their corresponding temporal missions. The Spirit's 'not speaking on his own authority' is shown to mirror Christ's own language about receiving all things from the Father, testifying not to any inferiority of persons but to the consubstantiality of the three divine persons, each possessing the whole divine essence undivided. The congregation is called to pursue the knowledge of the triune God as the foundation for every other duty of the Christian life.
2LCF Chapter 28 - Of Baptism and the Lord's Supper
2LCF Chapter 28 presents baptism and the Lord's Supper as two ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, the only lawgiver, to be continued in His church until the end of the age. This session traces the confessional groundwork laid in 2LCF chapters 8, 14, 17, 22, and 26 before examining Chapter 28's two brief paragraphs in detail. The particular Baptist choice of 'ordinance' over 'sacrament,' the exclusion of 'seal,' and the inclusion of 'positive' are each shown to be polemically deliberate — asserting that baptism and the Lord's Supper are divine commands to be obeyed only by those who can render obedience, that is, regenerate believers. The session closes by grounding lawful administration of the ordinances in Matthew 28 and the commission given to qualified, called ministers of the gospel.
Ask FGBC #25: How do I handle family members, friends, etc, not believing?
A questioner is grieved by family members and friends who refuse to believe the gospel, citing a theology that demands a prolonged crisis of sin and misery before conversion is credible. The response addresses both the pastoral burden of watching loved ones reject Christ and the theological confusion that treats immediate repentance and faith with suspicion. Practical counsel includes persisting in prayer, reading Scripture together rather than arguing theology, and pointing to the diverse conversion experiences in the New Testament and in works such as Pilgrim's Progress to show that Scripture nowhere requires a prescribed experiential cycle before a sinner may come to Christ.
The Spirit's Conviction of the World
The Holy Spirit's conviction of the world — of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment — is not a promise that every hearer will be saved, but a declaration that the Spirit will confirm the identity and vindication of Jesus Christ through the apostolic proclamation. Drawing on John 16:8–11 alongside Acts 2 and Acts 24, this sermon argues that the Spirit's primary work in the world is to expose unbelief in Christ, to declare the sufficiency of Christ's imputed righteousness, and to announce the judgment already rendered against the ruler of this world at the cross. The church's calling is therefore not to measure success by numerical response but to preach sin, righteousness, and judgment faithfully, trusting the Spirit to do His own sovereign work.
The Spirit's Conviction of the World
Jesus declares to his sorrowing disciples that his departure is to their advantage — not despite the coming persecution, but precisely because it secures the gift of the Holy Spirit. This sermon works through John 16:5–11 under two heads: the departure of Christ (vv. 5–7) and the conviction of the world (vv. 8–11), pausing to develop the first at length. The Trinitarian logic of the temporal missions — the Father sending the Son, the Father and Son sending the Spirit — is shown to be the very theology that sustained the apostles under hostility and that sustains the church today. The sermon closes with a call to rest in the Spirit's power rather than human eloquence or celebrity, because the Paraclete is the disciples' power, protection, and advantage.
The Baptism of Saul of Tarsus
The baptism of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:17–25 demonstrates the proper order of Christian baptism: conversion precedes the ordinance, which then publicly marks the believer as a disciple of Christ. The passage is treated as a direct answer to Stephen's dying prayer in Acts 7:60, with Saul's transformation from chief persecutor to chief preacher serving as a vivid display of sovereign, redeeming grace. The sermon draws out three observations from Saul's early ministry — the immediacy, the effects, and the hostility of his preaching — and closes with the baptism of three new believers, each of whom gives a brief testimony of their own conversion.
The Gospel's Irreplaceable Value
Galatians 1:6–10 confronts every generation with the irreplaceable value of the gospel by exposing three responses to its perversion: astonishment, abhorrence, and anathema. The Judaizers who troubled the Galatian churches were not offering a different gospel but no gospel at all — a metastrophe that renders God less holy than he is, man less sinful than he is, and Christ inglorious and his work useless. Justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, or there is no justification before the God of heaven and earth. The sermon closes with a call to Pauline vigilance in protecting gospel purity and to seek God's approval rather than man's.
The Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts 7:54–8:1 records the martyrdom of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, whose death exposes the murderous hatred that unbelieving Israel bore toward the Messiah and those who bore witness to Him. Standing alone before the Sanhedrin, Stephen receives a vision of the glory of God and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father — confirming his theology of temple, rebuking his executioners, and manifesting the presence of the triune God with His servant in extremity. His dying words, mirroring Christ's own prayers from the cross, demonstrate that true temple worship — the meeting of God and sinners in prayer and forgiveness — is found not in any physical structure but in the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage calls believers to theological preparedness, courageous witness, and dependence on the triune God in the face of opposition, however severe.
2LCF Chapter 26 - Of the Church
What is the church, who belongs to it, and how is it governed? Working through 2LCF Chapter 26, this session surveys the doctrine of the church from its universal and invisible reality in Christ to its visible, local expression — arguing that the church is constituted exclusively of regenerate believers, is headed solely by the Lord Jesus Christ, and is rightly governed by elders and deacons within an independently organized yet associationally connected congregation. The session highlights the sharp departure from the Westminster Confession's inclusion of covenant children in the visible church, grounding the Baptist position in a proper doctrine of covenant theology, baptism, and regenerate church membership.
Gospel Treasure in Human Weakness
Gospel ministry is defined by the preaching of Christ alone, not the self-promotion of the minister. Expounding 2 Corinthians 4:5–7, this sermon traces four marks of faithful gospel ministry: the obscurity of the minister who refuses to preach himself, his bondservice to the congregation for Christ's sake, the divine illumination that enables true proclamation, and the humility of an earthen vessel that magnifies the treasure it carries rather than the vessel itself. The call throughout is for preachers to disappear so that only Christ is seen, and for congregations to demand nothing less.
The World's Greater Liability Before God
Jesus declares in John 15:21–25 that the world's hatred of his disciples flows from a deeper hatred of himself and the Father who sent him, making the rejection of Christ not merely a moral failure but a compounding of guilt before God. Increased revelation brings increased liability: those who witnessed Christ's word and works have no excuse for their unbelief, and their rejection of the Messiah is simultaneously a rejection of the triune God. The sermon argues that right Trinitarian theology is therefore not an academic luxury but a matter of eternal life and death, since to deny the Son is to deny the Father. Believers are called to stand fast in the word of God, rejoice in suffering as those united to Christ the master, and proclaim the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ without apology.
The Love of Christ and Love to One Another, Part 2
John 15:12–17 presents Christ's command that His disciples love one another as He has loved them — self-sacrificially, constantly, and toward sinners undeserving of that love. The sermon works through four elements of the passage: the command to love as a summarizing and comprehensive statement of the second table of the law, the pattern of self-sacrificial love set by Christ's laying down His life, the privilege of friendship with Christ rooted not in conditional obedience but in sovereign grace and divine revelation, and the reminder that election humbles pride and equips disciples for fruitful, costly mission in a world that hates Christ. The application presses believers to love one another with a love that does not wait for the beloved to merit it, and points the unconverted to the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith alone as the only ground of acceptance before God.
The Love of Christ and Love to One Another
John 15:9–11 presents the love of Christ for his disciples as the pattern, precept, and purpose of the Christian life. The Father's love for the Son — infinite, eternal, and unchangeable — is the very measure of Christ's love for his people, a love that is not conditional upon the disciples' obedience but is rather the ground from which obedience springs. Keeping Christ's commandments is not the cause of the disciple's acceptance before God but the consequence of justification freely received: the blood and righteousness of Christ alone secure standing with the Father. The sermon closes with an urgent call to unbelievers to cease searching for joy in creatures and to come to Christ, in whom fullness of joy is found both now and in glory.
CLIP: For many are called, but few are chosen
Matthew 22:14 — 'For many are called, but few are chosen' — is one of the most misread verses in the Gospels. This clip works through five reasons the statement cannot mean that only a small number will ultimately be saved: its immediate covenantal context (old covenant Israel's rejection of the Messiah), the great multitude of Revelation 7, the many who come from east and west in Matthew 8, the wedding hall filled with guests in Matthew 22:10, and Warfield's observation that the statement is an ethical confrontation rather than a prophetic census. The 'many called, few chosen' formula applies first to first-century Israel and then functions as a present warning: hearing the gospel is not the same as being effectually called, and the proper response is to receive and rest in Christ alone.
The Apostle Paul, Part 4: His Doctrinal Legacy
The doctrinal legacy of the Apostle Paul is surveyed across seven theological themes: the comprehensive nature of sin and depravity, the incarnation of the divine Son of God, the sovereignty of the triune God in salvation, amazing grace, justification by faith alone, sanctification in union with Christ, and a simple and glorious eschatology. Paul's writings are shown to move consistently from the gravity of man's ruin to the glory of God's redeeming grace in Christ. The sermon closes with a direct call to believers to be built up in the knowledge of the gospel, and to those outside of Christ to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
2LCF Chapter 20 - Of the Gospel and of the Extent of the Grace Thereof
The gospel was not discovered by human reason but revealed by divine initiative — beginning with the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15 and unfolding through progressive special revelation. This session works through Chapter 20 of the Second London Confession of Faith (1689 LBCF), examining the promise of the gospel, the insufficiency of general revelation for salvation, the sovereign freedom of God in spreading the gospel, and the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit's effectual work upon sinners dead in trespasses. The doctrinal stakes are practical: a right understanding of general and special revelation is the indispensable foundation for evangelical and missionary enterprise.
Ask FGBC #16: What is Free Will?
Free will is affirmed in Reformed Baptist theology, but the crucial question is not whether man has a will, but what that will is capable of choosing given man's location on the continuum of creation, fall, grace, and glory. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (chapters 3 and 9) teaches that God endows man with a will free from coercion, yet after the fall that will is bound toward sin and incapable of inclining toward what is spiritually good. Regeneration liberates the will, and so evangelism does not appeal to free will but to God's free grace, trusting him to open deaf ears and hardened hearts.
2LCF Chapter 16 - Of Good Works
Good works are only such as God has commanded in His holy word, proceeding from a heart purified by faith through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit — never the ground of justification, but the necessary fruit of it. This study of 2LCF Chapter 16 examines the definition, foundation, imperfection, non-meritorious nature, and acceptability of good works, set against Roman Catholic supererogation and any scheme that makes works a cause or increase of justification. Good works are accepted by God solely through union with Christ the mediator, and their purpose is the manifesting of thankfulness, the strengthening of assurance, the edifying of brethren, and the adorning of the gospel.
The Departure of Christ, Part 2
John 14:29–31 grounds the disciples' faith in Christ's predictive prophecy, his victory over the devil, and his loving obedience to the Father. Jesus announces his departure in advance so that when it comes to pass the disciples will believe — both that he is the object of saving faith and that he is the second person of the triune God. The cross simultaneously displays the Father's love for the world and the Son's love for the Father, and the resurrection and ascension secure every blessing the departing Christ promises his people. The sermon closes with a call to find stability not in practical strategies but in the knowledge of the triune God and the peace Christ himself gives by the Spirit.
The Ground of Christian Love
What is the ground and shape of the command to 'love one another fervently with a pure heart'? Expounding 1 Peter 1:22–25, this sermon works through three movements: the exhortation to fervent, sincere Christian love; the foundation of that love in the new birth wrought through the incorruptible Word; and the motivation for that love in the stark contrast between the transient glory of man and the enduring Word of the Lord. The sermon draws on 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 13 to define love's character and content, and closes with the assurance that the divine promise sealed in the gospel is itself imperishable — and therefore the sufficient ground for fervency in loving the brethren.
2LCF Chapter 15 - Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 15, treats repentance not as a human achievement that merits divine favor but as a sovereign gift granted by God in effectual calling, rooted in the covenant of grace, and ratified by the active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ. The chapter distinguishes saving repentance — an evangelical, Spirit-wrought change of mind toward sin — from both mere Judas-like sorrow and the moralistic performance of good works in place of bad. Five structural concerns of the chapter are examined in sequence: the place, necessity, outflow, duration and duty, and result of repentance, culminating in the assurance that no sin is so great as to bring damnation upon those who truly repent. Hearers are called to daily, particular repentance for known sins, to pray for strength and supplies of the Spirit, and to embrace the ministry of reconciliation as the abiding means by which God renews sinners and saints alike.
The Blessing of Gospel Rest
Matthew 11:25–30 grounds the gospel invitation — 'Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden' — in the sovereign will of the Father and the mediatorial office of the Son, so that the call to rest is inseparable from the doctrines of election and definite atonement. Jesus thanks the Father for hiding these things from the self-wise and revealing them to babes, declaring that all sovereign authority over salvation belongs to Him as the God-man and mediator. The 'rest' He offers is not relief from physical toil but deliverance from the crushing burden of sin and the impossible demands of pharisaical religion, received through faith alone. Those who come to Christ in faith are also exhorted to take His yoke — the life of sanctification — which is not oppressive bondage but the glad obedience of those justified freely by grace.
2LCF Chapter 14 - Of Saving Faith
The 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 14 ('Of Saving Faith') teaches that saving faith is entirely a divine gift, wrought by the Spirit of Christ through the ministry of the Word, and not a capacity native to fallen man. The chapter unfolds the origin, content, object, and victory of saving faith: its Trinitarian orientation in paragraph 2 (an expansion unique to the Baptist confession), its exclusive resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace, and its ultimate triumph despite weakness and assault. Believers are exhorted to attend faithfully to the ordained means of grace — Word, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer — as the appointed channels through which faith is not only wrought but continually increased and strengthened.
The Ministry in Iconium, Part 1
Acts 14:1–7 records the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in Iconium during the first missionary journey, and this exposition focuses on God's blessing in verse 1 — specifically the sovereignty of God in salvation and the instrumentality of gospel preaching. Drawing on Acts 13:48, Acts 16:14, Romans 10, 1 Corinthians 1, and 2 Timothy 4, the sermon argues that while God alone opens hearts, He ordains the foolishness of preaching as the ordinary means of saving sinners. The sermon closes by examining the relationship between faith and repentance in Acts, contending that the two are inseparable sides of the same coin and that repentance must never be preached as a work the sinner performs before coming to Christ.
2LCF Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification
Second London Confession of Faith Chapter 13 examines sanctification as an inseparable fruit of justification, rooted entirely in the sovereign grace of God rather than human merit or striving. The confession teaches that sanctification is real and personal moral transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit through the Word, yet remains imperfect in this life — a continual war between flesh and Spirit in which remaining corruption may at times prevail. The critical distinction between justification (Christ's forensic work for us) and sanctification (the Spirit's transforming work in us) guards against both Roman Catholic conflation and Protestant antinomianism, keeping Christ's righteousness alone as the ground of acceptance before God.
The Exceeding Greatness of God's Almighty Power
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:19–23 that believers would know the exceeding greatness of God's almighty power raises the question of what that power actually is and what it has accomplished. This sermon works through three interlocking realities: the supremacy of God's omnipotence as a timeless, self-existent, and inexhaustible divine attribute; its decisive demonstration in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ; and the immensity of that exaltation, whereby Christ reigns as head over all creation and over his church. The practical weight falls on believers — the same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power that calls, regenerates, preserves, and will finally resurrect all who are united to him.
CTF 2024: Welcome and opening
This is the welcome and opening session of the 'Confessing the Faith' conference, an inaugural annual gathering structured around working through successive chapters of the Second London Confession of 1689. The speaker introduces the conference's purpose — fostering fellowship and doctrinal fidelity among Second London Confession churches, particularly in western Canada — reads Psalm 133, leads in prayer, and introduces the guest speakers. The session includes housekeeping announcements, a congregational hymn, and a commendation of the conference's primary resource: an exposition of the Second London Confession of Faith.
2LCF Chapter 17 - Of the Perseverance of the Saints, Part 1
The 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 17 on the perseverance of the saints is examined through its first two paragraphs, grounding the doctrine in the preserving power of the triune God rather than in the free will of the believer. The Confession is shown to be both rigorously doctrinal and remarkably practical, acknowledging the storms, unbelief, and apparent withdrawal of God that saints genuinely experience while insisting that these cannot sever the elect from grace. The foundation of perseverance is traced through the immutability of the decree of election, the merit and intercession of Christ, the abiding of the Spirit, and the nature of the covenant of grace — directly opposing both Roman Catholic and Arminian accounts that make final salvation contingent on human cooperation. Believers are exhorted to feed their souls on the promises of the covenant of grace precisely because perseverance is secured by God's unchangeable love, not by their performance.