Theological term
Federal Headship
929 sermons · All terms
The Reaction to Jesus and His Words
John 7:40–53 records the sharply divided public reaction to Jesus's preaching at the Feast of Tabernacles and the private opposition of the Sanhedrin to him and his followers. The crowd fractures over whether Jesus is the promised prophet of Deuteronomy 18 or the Christ himself, while the religious leadership responds not with argument but with contempt, attempting to silence him through force and scorn. The temple officers sent to arrest Jesus return empty-handed, confessing that no man has ever spoken as he has — a testimony that magnifies Christ's divine authority even as the Sanhedrin descends into lawlessness. The sermon calls hearers to abandon the confusion of the crowd and the hardness of the Sanhedrin, and instead to come to Christ in faith, receiving the everlasting life he freely offers.
The Feast of Tabernacles, Part 4
On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried out two declarations that divide all of humanity: 'Where I am, you cannot come,' addressed to those who persist in unbelief, and 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink,' addressed to all who would believe. This sermon expounds John 7:32–39, tracing the murderous intentions of the Pharisees and chief priests, the sovereign rejection of the reprobate by Christ himself, and the astonishing mercy that leads him to offer living water to the very crowd seeking his arrest. The evangelist's commentary in verse 39 is shown to be a post-resurrection theological statement linking the abundant giving of the Holy Spirit to the glorification of Christ, drawing on the Old Testament water-and-Spirit passages and fulfilled at Pentecost according to Joel's prophecy.
The Saving Grace of God, Part 1
Ephesians 2:1–3 confronts the reader with a precise diagnosis of humanity's condition apart from saving grace: spiritual death in Adam, slavery to the world-system, subjection to Satan, and liability to the wrath of God. The sermon grounds this diagnosis in the covenant of works, the doctrine of original sin, and the federal headship of Adam, drawing on Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 to show that all humanity stands condemned either in Adam or justified in Christ. Total depravity is shown to be comprehensive — corrupting not only outward conduct but the mind and heart — making sovereign grace the only remedy for sinners who are, apart from Christ, lifeless, helpless, and hopeless.
2LCF Chapter 17 - Of the Perseverance of the Saints
The perseverance of the saints is not grounded in the will or strength of the redeemed but in the immutable decree of election, the finished work and ongoing intercession of Jesus Christ, the oath of God, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, and the inviolable nature of the covenant of grace. Working through chapter 17 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession, this study traces the "golden chain of redemption" from predestination through glorification, demonstrating that every link is secured by the triune God rather than by human willing. The session also addresses the reality of backsliding — its causes in the world, the flesh, and the devil — while insisting that the means of grace (prayer, the Word, the ordinances, and the fellowship of the saints) are the appointed instruments by which God preserves His people. Christians are called to heed apostolic exhortations to diligence precisely because perseverance is God's work, not a license for antinomian presumption.
The Thief on the Cross
Luke 23:39–43 presents the conversion of the thief on the cross as a concentrated exhibition of sovereign, effectual grace applied to a notorious criminal and insurrectionist in his final hour. The sermon examines the evidences of genuine conversion in the believing thief — fear of God, concern for the honor of Christ, confession of personal guilt, and faith in the Savior's kingdom — then turns to the graciousness and power of Christ's response: 'Today you will be with me in paradise.' The central pastoral burden is twofold: no sinner is beyond the reach of sovereign grace, and no sinner should presume upon a deathbed opportunity for repentance that may never come.
The Idolatry of Solomon
Solomon's idolatry in 1 Kings 11:1–13 exposes how a man richly blessed by God — with the law, direct divine appearances, a faithful father, and transcendent wisdom — can fall into the grossest sin when he fails to guard his heart. The sermon traces the problem, precedent, and practice of Solomon's idolatry before examining God's just and covenant-shaped response: judgment tempered by the unconditional Davidic covenant that finds its telos in the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage issues sober warnings against the assumption that age, experience, knowledge, or good pedigree secure ongoing faithfulness apart from vigilant dependence on the Holy Spirit.
The Arrest of Peter and John
Acts 4:1–12 presents the arrest of Peter and John by the Sanhedrin and Peter's Spirit-filled defense before the council, in which he declares Jesus of Nazareth — crucified and risen — as the sole name under heaven by which men must be saved. The sermon traces two movements: the sovereign advance of God's word despite the imprisonment of its preachers (the number of believers growing to five thousand), and the christological and soteriological content of Peter's address, which grounds salvation exclusively in Christ's active obedience, atoning death, and resurrection. The stone rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone, and those who refuse him will ultimately be crushed by him. The sermon applies these realities to the perpetual persecution of the church, the exclusivity of the gospel, and the urgent call to believe on Christ alone for salvation.
The Conversion of Rahab the Harlot
Joshua 2 presents the conversion of Rahab the harlot as a sovereign interruption of divine mercy within the context of holy war and Israelite conquest. Before Israel kills a single Canaanite, the narrative compels the reader to stand in awe of a God who justifies a pagan prostitute by grace through faith alone — faith that is demonstrated by treason against Jericho and the sheltering of two spies. Rahab's confession that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on earth beneath places her alongside the great confessions of Scripture, and her inclusion in the Messianic genealogy of Matthew 1 reveals that the conquest was always inseparable from the redemptive purposes of God. The sermon calls hearers to resist self-righteous judgmentalism, to trust in a Christ who saves to the uttermost, and to marvel that the ancestress of Jesus was the shady lady of Jericho.
2LCF Chapter 7 - Of God's Covenant
Covenant theology stands or falls on the careful distinction between the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the historical covenants that progressively reveal it. This lesson works through 2LCF Chapter 7, tracing the terms, parties, and rewards of each covenant from Adam through the Abrahamic and Mosaic administrations, and grounding the whole in the eternal covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son. The controlling argument is that the Abrahamic covenant — entered by natural generation, maintained by works, and breakable — cannot be identified with the covenant of grace, and that this distinction exposes the internal contradictions of paedobaptist covenant structures. The practical takeaway is that salvation has always been by grace through faith alone, because Christ as the second Adam is the only one who has met and can meet the terms of the covenant of works on behalf of the elect.
The New People of God: Part 2
The titles given to the church in 1 Peter 2:9–10 — chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, and his own special people — are drawn directly from Old Testament Israel typology and applied to all who believe in Christ. Working through Deuteronomy 32, Exodus 19, 2 Samuel 7, and the Abrahamic covenant, the sermon traces how God's act of separating Israel from the nations at Babel prefigures his rescue of the spiritual Israel — the church — from the dominion of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. The sermon argues that the new covenant fulfils what the old covenant typified: believers now constitute the household of God, the spiritual temple, and a royal priesthood whose commission is to proclaim the excellencies of the one who called them out of darkness. This demands that the church pursue its prophet-priest-king calling not through military or political dominion but through the proclamation of the gospel of King Jesus to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
The Commissioning of the Servant of Yahweh
Isaiah 42:1–13 presents the first servant song of Isaiah as Yahweh's formal commissioning of his servant — the Lord Jesus Christ — to bring righteous rule, freedom from spiritual darkness, and universal dominion to the Gentiles. The sermon traces three movements: the presentation of the servant in his humility, compassion, and unfailing determination (vv. 1–4); the mission given to him by Yahweh the Creator, including the gift of an everlasting righteousness and conquest of the kingdom of darkness (vv. 5–9); and the victorious global praise that flows from his completed mission (vv. 10–13). The listener is called either to look to Christ in faith as the one who will not break a bruised reed, or to reckon soberly with the warrior-king who will prevail against every enemy that remains in rebellion.
Wedding Stream
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14–19 frames the theological heart of this wedding message: that the strength, knowledge, and fullness believers need for godly marriage flow entirely from what God has accomplished in salvation. The sermon moves from the doctrinal foundation of Ephesians 1–2 through the spiritual petitions of chapter 3, arriving at the practical marital responsibilities of Ephesians 5 — the wife's submission and respect, the husband's sacrificial love and leadership after the pattern of Christ and the church. Drawn from Luther's counsel and the creation account in Genesis, the message calls both husband and wife to reflect the mystery of Christ's covenant union with his bride in the daily conduct of their marriage.
The New People of God, Part 1
What does it mean for the church to be built on Christ as a living cornerstone, and how does the Old Testament ground that identity? Expounding 1 Peter 2:6–8, this sermon traces the biblical-theological arc from Adam's failed dominion mandate in Genesis through Israel's typological history—law-giving, exile, and restoration—to the fulfilment of Isaiah's cornerstone prophecy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel's covenant history is shown to be a historical type of the cosmic reality: the broken covenant of works and its restoration by the Messiah, who is now building a global kingdom of redeemed image-bearers out of every tribe and tongue. Believers are called to marvel at God's sovereignty over history, over the kingdom of darkness, and over the unified message of Scripture that runs from Genesis 3:15 to the church as the true Israel of God.
The Call for Christian Growth
Unrepentant sin and a failure to desire the Word of God are the chief hindrances to Christian growth — and that growth is not merely a personal blessing but a corporate responsibility. Working through 1 Peter 2:1–5, this sermon argues that believers are living stones being built into a spiritual house, and that weak, doctrinally shallow Christians produce a structurally unsound church. The exhortation is concrete: mortify the sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander; cultivate an insatiable hunger for the pure milk of the Word; and do so knowing that justification rests on faith alone while sanctification calls every believer to steady, disciplined growth.
The Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ
How can a perfectly just God forgive guilty sinners without compromising his justice? Romans 3:21–28 answers that question by tracing the righteousness God provides in the gospel: revealed in Christ, received through faith, and grounded in a propitiatory sacrifice that fully satisfies divine justice. The sermon expounds the forensic declaration of justification, the redemption accomplished by Christ's blood, and the vindication of God's righteousness at the cross — showing that boasting is excluded entirely because the righteousness that avails before God is supplied by Christ alone and received freely by grace through faith. Hearers are called to trust in Christ's finished work as the sole ground of their standing before God, and to come to the Lord's Supper remembering that in our place condemned he stood.
The Greatest Commandments
Matthew 22:34–40 records a Pharisaic lawyer testing Jesus with the question of which commandment is greatest. Jesus answers by citing the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4–5 and the neighbor-love command from Leviticus 19:18, thereby summarizing the entire Decalogue under two heads: love to God and love to man. This sermon argues that Christ's endorsement of these two commandments confirms the abiding validity of the moral law for New Covenant believers, who are called to keep it not as a means of justification but as the Spirit-wrought response of those already justified by faith alone. The hearer is pressed to recognize that the law's demand — to love God with the whole self and the neighbor as oneself — drives the believer perpetually to Christ, in whom alone that demand has been perfectly met.
The Apostle's Prayer for the Ephesians, Part 2
Ephesians 1:19–23 presents the climax of Paul's apostolic prayer: that believers would know the exceeding greatness of God's power. This sermon expounds three demonstrations of that power in Christ — his resurrection from the dead, his current session at the right hand of the Father, and his dominion over all things for the sake of the church. The doctrines of inseparable operations and appropriations ground the Trinitarian account of these events, while the universal and eternal sovereignty of the enthroned Christ is set forth as the foundation for perseverance, praise, and fearlessness in the face of hostile spiritual and civil powers.
The Apostle's Prayer for the Ephesians, Part 1
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:15–18 opens a window into apostolic intercession and its theological priorities. The sermon expounds the occasion of Paul's prayer — rooted in the Ephesians' justifying faith and the love that necessarily flows from it — and the content of his first two petitions: that God would give the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that the saints would know the hope of God's effectual calling and the riches of the glory of their coming inheritance. Sovereign grace underlies both: the eyes of the Ephesians' understanding had already been enlightened by God at conversion, and Paul's prayer builds on that accomplished work toward ongoing sanctification. The sermon calls believers to reshape their prayer lives after the apostolic pattern, prioritizing growth in the knowledge of God above all other petitions.
The Ministry of Paul in Corinth
What does faithful gospel ministry look like when met with sustained opposition, rejection, and fear? Expounding Acts 18:1–11 within Paul's second missionary journey, this sermon traces four movements: Paul's strategic arrival in Corinth, his testimony in the synagogue, the fierce Jewish opposition and his response, and the Lord's night vision that commands him to speak because God already has a people in the city. The sermon argues that sovereign election and human culpability stand together — the God who predestines the elect also holds every rejector accountable for his own blood. A closing application presses believers toward faithful gospel proclamation, the planting of churches, and the catechesis of covenant children as genuine instruments of the effectual call.
Book introduction: The Mystery of Christ, His Covenant, and His Kingdom
Samuel Renihan introduces his book 'The Mystery of Christ, His Covenant, and His Kingdom,' explaining its origins in his seminary-era dissatisfaction with both pedobaptist and Baptist covenantal literature. He argues that historical particular Baptist covenant theology has been largely forgotten, and that modern Reformed Baptist literature has suffered from poor historical theology, excessive polemicism, and conclusions stated without premises. The book is structured by biblical theology rather than systematic theology, tracing three covenantal kingdoms — creation, Israel, and Christ — and contends that the concept of mystery in Paul is essential to a properly calibrated covenant theology that distinguishes the old covenants from the new covenant without collapsing the progressive development of divine revelation.
2LCF Chapter 12 - Of Adoption
Adoption into the family of God is a sovereign act of grace grounded entirely in union with Christ and received only by those who are justified. Drawing on 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 12, this exposition distinguishes the creational sense in which all men are God's offspring from the redemptive grace of adoption that belongs to the justified alone. The benefits of adoption — inclusion in God's family, the Spirit of adoption, boldness of access to the throne of grace, God's fatherly pity, protection, provision, discipline, and the inheritance of everlasting salvation sealed by the Holy Spirit — are unfolded through an extensive range of Scripture passages. Adopted sons and daughters are called to walk in love, light, and wisdom, resting in the indicative of the cross as the foundation for all obedience.
The Bread of Life Discourse, Part 4
John 6:48–59 brings the Bread of Life discourse to its conclusion, with Christ pressing upon unbelieving hearers the absolute necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood — a sustained metaphor for saving faith in His atoning sacrifice. The sermon demonstrates that this language is not eucharistic or literal but is the equivalent of coming to, receiving, and believing on Christ as the one who gives His flesh for the life of the world. The exposition draws out five doctrines of grace embedded in the discourse — total depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, irresistible grace, and the preservation of the saints — and closes by tracing the glory of Christ seen in the incarnation, His power to save, His divine origin, and His patient mercy in repeating the same call to faith before a rejecting audience.
2LCF Chapter 11 - Of Justification, Part 2
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 11 (Of Justification), paragraphs 3–6 are expounded in this Sunday school session, building on an earlier treatment of paragraphs 1–2. The study examines the basis of justification in Christ's penal substitutionary atonement and the satisfaction of divine justice (paragraph 3); the ordering of justification in time against the error of eternal justification (paragraph 4); the ongoing forgiveness of post-conversion sin in light of remaining corruption, with David's Psalm 51 as a case study (paragraph 5); and the uniformity of justification across both testaments, showing that Old and New Covenant saints are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (paragraph 6). The Westminster Larger Catechism's distinctions between justification and sanctification are brought in to guard against both antinomianism and perfectionism, and the session closes urging justified sinners to run to their Advocate rather than wallow in guilt.
The Bread of Life Discourse, Part 3
John 6:41–51 records the Jews' grumbling rejection of Jesus as the bread of life and his pointed rebuke of their unbelief. This sermon expounds that rejection in two movements: the nature of the Jews' complaint against Christ's divine origin, and Christ's twofold response — his assertion of the Father's sovereign, efficacious drawing of sinners and his appeal to the prophetic scriptures that learning from the Father issues in coming to the Son. The doctrines of total depravity and total inability are drawn from verse 44 and grounded in parallel texts from John 1, Romans 8, and Ephesians 2, establishing that salvation is possible only because the Father draws whom he will. The sermon closes with an exhortation to look to Christ in faith for everlasting life, the sole remedy for the problem of human sin.
2LCF Chapter 11 - Of Justification, Part 1
What does it mean to be justified before a holy God, and on what basis does that standing rest? This confession study works through paragraphs one and two of Chapter 11 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, examining the forensic nature of justification against both Roman Catholic infused righteousness and Baxterian neonomianism. The twin foundations of justification are established: the pardon of sins through Christ's passive obedience and the imputation of righteousness through his active obedience, both received by faith alone as a gift of God. The lecture closes by showing that justifying faith, though the sole instrument of justification, is never alone in the person justified but is always accompanied by sanctification.
The Bread of Life Discourse, Part 2
John 6:35–40 presents Christ as the Bread of Life whose identity, sovereignty, and redemptive mission are inseparable. The sermon expounds three movements in the text: Christ's self-identification as the Bread of Life with its attendant promise that those who come to Him will never hunger or thirst; the declaration of divine sovereignty in verse 37, grounding the certainty of salvation in the Father's eternal gift of a people to the Son; and the revelation of the Father's will in verses 38–40, encompassing the Son's mediatorial mission, the preservation of all given to Him, and the call to every sinner to see the Son in the preaching of the Word and believe. The doctrines of grace — total depravity, unconditional election, definite atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance and preservation of the saints — are shown to arise directly from the text, and the sermon closes by pressing the free offer of the gospel against both Arminian uncertainty and hyper-Calvinist paralysis.
The Redemptive Work of the Son, Part 1
Ephesians 1:6–7 sets forth the redemptive work of the Son within the triune economy of salvation, moving from the Father's electing purpose in eternity past to Christ's historic accomplishment of redemption in time. The sermon expounds two interlocking realities: the Father's sovereign initiative in bestowing grace upon the elect in the Beloved, and the Son's purchase of redemption through the shedding of his blood. Redemption is shown to be not a mere exercise of divine power but the payment of a ransom price, with the forgiveness of sins as its primary blessing — all flowing from the inexhaustible riches of God's grace. Hearers are called to respond with worship, gratitude, and increasing love for Christ, the Beloved of both the Father and the redeemed.
The Bread of Life Discourse, Part 1
John 6:22–34 records the opening exchange of the bread of life discourse, in which Jesus confronts a crowd whose pursuit of Him is driven entirely by physical appetite rather than spiritual need. The sermon works through three movements: the exposed motive of the people (vv. 22–26), the Savior's exhortation to labor for food that endures to everlasting life (vv. 27–29), and the crowd's demand for a sign to rival Moses (vv. 30–34). Central to the exposition is Jesus' declaration that the 'work of God' is faith in the One the Father has sent — a faith that is itself God's gift — and His identification of Himself as the true bread of God who comes down from heaven to give life to the world, surpassing the manna of the wilderness and extending to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
2LCF Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
Effectual calling is the first step in the application of redemption — the sovereign act by which God, through His Word and Spirit, brings the elect from a state of total spiritual death into union with Christ. This session works through 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 10, situating effectual calling within the broader ordo salutis and showing how it alone accounts for the biblical data on God's absolute sovereignty, the total spiritual inability of fallen man, and the uncoerced freedom of the believer's response. The result guards against both the Arminian error of grounding salvation in the foreseen decisions of the creature and the hyper-Calvinist error of denying man's responsibility to repent and believe, while grounding evangelism in confidence that God can revive the deadest of hearts.
The Gracious Purpose of the Father, Part 2
Ephesians 1:5–6 presents predestination not as cold metaphysical fate but as an act of divine love, wherein God in love predetermined his elect unto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his own will and not any foreseen merit in the creature. The sermon works through the motive of predestination (the love of God), the means (adoption as sons by Christ, grounded in the covenant of redemption), and the goal (the praise of the glory of God's grace), drawing extensively on parallel Pauline and Johannine texts. Against both Arminian and Pelagian objections, the preacher demonstrates that predestination to adoption is precisely what makes Christian praise coherent — the creature contributes nothing, and God receives all glory. Believers are called to live out their adopted status by walking in love, light, and wisdom as members of the household of God.