Theological term
Image of God
68 sermons · All terms
Capital Punishment
Romans 13:1–4 and Genesis 9:6 together establish that capital punishment is not a relic of Mosaic theocracy but a creation-order institution grounded in the doctrine of the image of God. The sermon traces a biblical theology of capital punishment from Noah through the Mosaic economy into the New Testament, demonstrating that Paul's command to 'give place to wrath' in Romans 12 flows directly into his description of the civil magistrate as God's minister and avenger in Romans 13. Common biblical and pragmatic objections are examined and answered in turn, and the sermon closes with a call to hold together the sanctity of life, the duty of civil justice, and the proclamation of justification by faith alone in Christ.
The Ninth Commandment
The ninth commandment, 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor' (Exodus 20:16), is examined through its prohibition, its underlying reasons, and its positive demands. The sermon identifies seven specific violations — perjury, lying, backbiting, slander, gossip, hypocrisy, and the willing reception of evil speech — and grounds them in the character of God, who is truth, and the dignity of man made in His image. The three uses of the law frame the exposition: the law convicts the unconverted liar and guides the regenerate believer toward a life of truthfulness. Hearers are called to speak truth in every domain of life, to swear to their own hurt, to exercise charity toward others, and to actively discourage the gossip and slanderer.
The Sanctity of Life
The sanctity of human life is grounded not in sentiment but in the biblical doctrine that God created man in his own image — a dignity that persists after the fall and extends to every category of person, including the preborn. Exodus 21:22–25 is examined as a text that directly addresses the legal standing of the unborn: the lex talionis applied to a premature birth demonstrates that God's law protects prenatal life with the same weight it protects any other. The sermon then takes up the wickedness of murder across its biblical dimensions — divine prohibition, divine hatred, divine observation, and divine punishment, including eternal judgment — while insisting that the church's primary instrument against these evils is the preaching of the gospel and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, under which even those guilty of abortion may find forgiveness in Christ.
Slaves and Masters
Colossians 3:22–4:1 addresses the final relationship in the household code — slaves and masters — and Paul's instructions cut against both first-century Aristotelian contempt for slaves and twenty-first-century assumptions about social action. The passage unfolds in three movements: the duty of slaves (obedience in action and sincerity of heart, not eye-service), the incentives for slaves (the promise of an eternal inheritance from the Lord Christ), and the duty of masters (to give what is just and fair, governed by the knowledge that they too answer to a Master in heaven). The governing theological claim is that heavenly-mindedness produces, rather than withdraws from, faithful earthly labor — so every Christian employee and employer is called to work as unto the Lord, fearing God rather than men, whether recognized by their master or not.
The Need for Biblical Mindedness
Colossians 3:1–4 grounds every practical exhortation in the chapter — about marriage, work, and social relations — in a prior command: set your mind on things above. This sermon argues that Christianity is fundamentally a religion of knowledge, that the image of God in man is expressed chiefly through rational thought, and that biblical mindedness is the necessary foundation for worship, sanctification, and faithful witness. The command to seek heavenly things is rooted in three theological realities — the believer's past death with Christ, present hiddenness in Christ, and future appearing with Christ in glory — and is pursued not through legalism, mysticism, or asceticism, but through prayerful study of Scripture.
A Biblical View of Criminal Punishment Part 2
Ecclesiastes 8:11–13 frames the whole inquiry: when punishment is not swiftly executed, sinners are emboldened. This second installment in a series on biblical criminal justice critiques the modern prison system on five scriptural grounds, expounds the case of the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21:18–21, and argues that biblical punishment — including corporal punishment, restitution, and capital sanction — preserves the dignity of the image-bearer in ways that humanitarian penology cannot. The sermon closes by grounding the entire discussion in the necessity of fleeing to Christ, since the law's severity exposes human guilt and points to the Saviour.
A Biblical View of Private Property
The eighth commandment — 'You shall not steal' (Exodus 20:15) — grounds a comprehensive biblical ethic of private property that reaches far beyond street crime into fraud, extortion, currency debasement, and even the withholding of tithes. This sermon works through the prohibition in its many forms, then sets out four theological reasons for the command rooted in God's sovereignty, man's dignity as image-bearer, and the positive law of Scripture. The exposition closes by calling hearers to diligent labor, charitable giving, and contentment — and by pointing thieves and extortioners alike to the justifying blood of Christ, under which such sinners have been washed and sanctified.
A Christian View of Abortion
Abortion is not a political question but a theological and ethical one, answered definitively by Scripture. This sermon works through the biblical case for the sanctity of human life from creation to law, grounds the personhood of the pre-born in texts from Genesis through Luke, and then expounds Exodus 21:22–25 to show that God's law affords full legal protection — including the lex talionis — to the unborn child and the mother alike. Christians are called to weep over this ongoing atrocity, to arm themselves with Scripture, to pray and witness faithfully, and to proclaim both the law that condemns and the gospel that saves to all who have participated in it.