Theological term
Imputation
654 sermons · All terms
The Cross and the Crown of Christ, Part 1
Psalm 22 is the suffering Messiah speaking in his own voice — a depth of self-disclosure that the prophet Isaiah 53 approaches but does not match. This sermon works through the first two of three laments in verses 1–11: Christ's desolation under judicial desertion by the Father, and the reproach heaped upon him by his enemies. The cry of dereliction is neither a rupture in the Trinity nor a dissolution of the hypostatic union, but a penal desertion in which the Father withdraws his favorable countenance from the one who has been made sin as mediator. Throughout each lament Christ models the pattern of honest complaint before God followed by confident recourse to the Father's holiness, covenant faithfulness, and sovereign purpose — a pattern the church is called to imitate in its own far lesser sufferings.
More than a Greeting
Titus 1:1–4 is far more than a standard epistolary greeting: compressed into four verses is a complete theology of the apostolic commission, the sovereignty of God in salvation, and the unchangeable hope of the elect. The sermon traces seven movements in Paul's salutation — from the commissioned servant and his appointed course, through the changeless confidence grounded in divine immutability, the chosen season of gospel proclamation, the committed charge, the common confession, and the consummate blessing of grace, mercy, and peace. Hearers are pressed to own the gospel publicly, to adorn it by godly conduct, and — if outside of Christ — to cast off misery and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The King's Exaltation and Future Triumph, Part 2
Psalm 21:8–13 presents the church's confident expectation of Christ's return in final triumph over all who hate God. The sermon expounds two movements: the certainty and finality of the judgment of the wicked (vv. 8–12), grounded in the sovereign righteousness of God and fulfilled in the mediatorial office of the enthroned Christ, and the church's doxological response in verse 13. The sermon traces verse 10's destruction of the enemies' seed back to the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15, arguing that Christ's second advent is the consummation of the skull-crushing conquest promised there. Believers are called to know the terror of the Lord, to persuade the unconverted, and to praise God for the justice that the cross has satisfied on their behalf.
The Saving Grace of God
Ephesians 2:8–10 presents the saving grace of God as entirely sovereign, with man described in verses 1–3 as dead in trespasses and sins — not merely wounded or hindered — and therefore incapable of initiating his own salvation. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, where faith itself is the gift of God and not a human contribution, excluding all boasting and rendering works irrelevant to justification. Verse 10 confirms rather than supplements verses 8–9: the good works believers walk in were prepared beforehand by God, demonstrating that even sanctified living flows from divine grace rather than native human capacity. The sermon concludes with an application to believers' baptism, which testifies outwardly to God's inward work of regeneration and justification, identifies the baptized with the triune God, and marks entry into Christ's church-building project.
The Regulation of Priests and Prophets
Deuteronomy 18 governs the two offices through which God communicated with Old Covenant Israel: the Levitical priesthood and the prophetic ministry. The chapter moves from the material provision owed to priests and Levites, through a comprehensive prohibition of pagan divination, to the promise of a succession of prophets culminating in one greater than Moses — the Lord Jesus Christ, identified explicitly in Matthew 17 and Acts 3. The sermon draws out the typological and redemptive-historical unity of the chapter, showing that what Israel sought illegitimately through witchcraft and necromancy, God supplied legitimately through his Word-bearing offices, and that the old covenant's pattern of 'do this and live' finds its fulfillment in Christ who kept the covenant perfectly on behalf of his people.
The Psalmist's Contemplation on the Revelation of God, Part 3
Psalm 19:9–14 presses the believer to consider both the benefits of Scripture and the right response to divine revelation. The fear of the Lord, pure and enduring, is the fruit of sovereign grace working through a word that is perfect, sure, right, and pure — a word more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey. David's closing petitions in verses 12–14 trace a graduated reckoning with sin — secret faults, presumptuous sins, and the dominion of sin — answered not by human resolve but by pardoning, preventing, and restraining grace grounded in God as rock and redeemer. The sermon calls believers to prize Scripture above every temporal good, to deal honestly with remaining corruption, and to rest the whole petition for acceptance on Christ, the true David, whose imputed righteousness alone makes the prayer of Psalm 19 fully and finally ours.
The Psalmist's Contemplation on the Revelation of God, Part 2
Psalm 19:7–11 presents four attributes of Scripture — perfect, sure, right, and pure — and traces the effects each produces in the souls of those the Spirit converts. The sermon argues that 'law' in this psalm comprehends the entirety of God's Word, including the gospel, and that the attributes ascribed to Scripture are inseparable from the perfections of its divine Author. Against a merely convicting or condemning view of the law, the preacher demonstrates that the same Word that exposes sin is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit effectually converts, enlightens, and rejoices the heart of the sinner. Hearers are pressed to receive the Word with joy rather than religious duty, and any who are yet dead in sin are called to cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom a willing and rejoicing Savior stands ready to save.
The Holy Confidence
Jeremiah 9:23–24 confronts the hollow complacency of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches — the carnal securities that cannot avert the certain judgment of God — and calls God's people instead to a holy confidence whose sole ground is the knowledge of the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness. The sermon traces a threefold structure: the folly of earthly boasting illustrated from Scripture and the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the necessity of glorying in God alone as the antidote to every false confidence, and the hallowed contemplations — lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness — that are to fill the believing mind. The Christward trajectory of the passage is pressed home: Christ secures the lovingkindness, bears the judgment, and provides the righteousness that alone avails before God, so that the promise 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved' is as certain as every judgment God has already executed.
The Conversion of Lydia
Acts 16:6–15 presents the Macedonian call and the conversion of Lydia as twin demonstrations of divine sovereignty in the advance of the gospel. The Holy Spirit's redirection of Paul's itinerary, the night vision, and the sovereign opening of Lydia's heart at the Philippian riverside together show that gospel missions proceeds by God's appointment, not human initiative or chance. Lydia's conversion illustrates the full ordo of grace: effectual calling, forgiveness in Christ's blood, and the imputation of his righteousness received by faith alone — all confirmed outwardly in her immediate baptism and hospitality. The sermon presses the church to embrace both the means of gospel preaching and confidence in God's sovereign grace as the only ground of missionary hope.
The Deliverance of the Psalmist, Part 3
Psalm 18:31–50 brings the psalm's three-part structure to its close, presenting Christ's resurrection, heavenly session, and sovereign reign over all nations as the fulfilment of what David celebrated in type. The sermon expounds four movements in the text: the divine power equipping the King for battle (vv. 31–42), the submission of peoples to the King (vv. 43–45), the praise due to the God of the King (vv. 46–49), and the covenant promise that undergirds the King's advance (v. 50). Throughout, David's victories serve as historically grounded prefigurations of Christ's definitive triumph over sin, death, and every opposing power. The application presses the congregation to lean on God's strength in spiritual warfare, to guard the church against both internal and external threats, and to rest in the alien righteousness of Christ credited to every believer by faith alone.
The Gospel's Precious Liberty
Galatians 5:1–6 commands believers to stand fast in the liberty Christ has purchased, refusing any entanglement with a yoke of bondage. This sermon traces the full weight of Paul's argument through Galatians to show that Christian liberty is freedom from the dominion, guilt, and condemnation of sin, from the grip of the devil, and from the yoke of the ceremonial law. The forfeiture of that liberty — by adding circumcision or any other work to the ground of justification — renders Christ of no profit and leaves the soul estranged from grace. Seven means by which believers stand fast in this liberty are set out, all grounded in the Spirit's sustaining work through the means of grace.
The Deliverance of the Psalmist, Part 2
Psalm 18:20–30 presents the righteousness of the psalmist not primarily as David's own moral record but as a prophetic description of the Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam and covenantal representative. David's language of blamelessness and perfect obedience in verses 20–24 transcends anything David himself could claim, pointing forward to the active obedience of Christ, whose spotless life and atoning death constitute the sole ground of justification for all who believe. The sermon argues that the deliverance celebrated in verses 1–19 is grounded in the righteousness declared in verses 20–24 — precisely as Romans 5:18–19 teaches — so that the church reads this psalm not as a moral target to reach but as the righteousness of their surety freely imputed to them by faith. The vivid illustration of Zechariah 3 anchors the application: filthy garments removed, rich robes bestowed — justification by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
The Conversion of Rahab the Harlot
Joshua 2 presents the conversion of Rahab the harlot as a deliberate theological interruption in Israel's conquest narrative — not incidental color, but a magnification of the sovereign, free grace of Yahweh toward a Gentile prostitute. The sermon works through her fear, confession, and covenant with the spies to demonstrate that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, a faith that inevitably produces works, as James 2 and Hebrews 11 confirm. Rahab's inclusion in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 seals the point: the God of heaven and earth is also the God of sinful Gentile harlots, and His grace toward her is a standing summons for sinners to come immediately to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Instructions of Calvary
Luke 23:32–43 presents, in twelve verses, a concentrated display of the doctrines that define the gospel: total depravity, effectual grace, justification by faith alone, the hypostatic union of Christ's two natures, assurance, and immediate conscious glory at death. The sermon traces seven theological loci arising from the conversion of the penitent thief, demonstrating that the entire redemptive narrative of Scripture converges at Calvary. The penitent thief is not an extreme case or a last-minute exception but a paradigm of every sinner who comes to Christ with nothing in hand and receives everything by sovereign, irresistible grace.
The Blood of the Unblemished Lamb
What makes the blood of Christ 'precious'? Expounding 1 Peter 1:18–21, this sermon works through Peter's characteristic rhetorical pattern — negation followed by assertion — to establish that no corruptible thing, whether material wealth or old covenant religious observance, can redeem a soul bound under sin and condemnation. The sermon then unfolds why the blood of Christ is precious: because of the dignity of the God-man who shed it, what it infallibly accomplishes in the redemption of the elect, what it cost the Father to give his own Son, and its eternal appointment in the counsel of the triune God before the foundation of the world. Preached in the context of a Lord's Supper service, the sermon closes by examining the typological significance of the unblemished Passover lamb, showing that the holiness of God, the depth of human sinfulness, and the logic of penal substitution each demand a perfectly spotless sacrifice — which Christ alone is and was.
The Gospel Committed to the Apostle Paul
1 Timothy 1:15–17 contains one of five 'faithful sayings' in the Pastoral Epistles, and Paul deploys it here to contrast the life-giving gospel with the idle speculations of the false teachers troubling the church at Ephesus. The sermon works through three elements: the faithful saying as a standard confession received and guarded by the church; the glorious content of that saying — the incarnation of the Son and his effectual, definite work to save sinners; and the merciful application illustrated in Paul himself, who as the chief of sinners functions as a pattern of Christ's longsuffering for all who will believe. The doxology of verse 17 demonstrates that rightly understood soteriology issues in worship, and believers are called to keep this faithful saying at the centre of their hearts and to press it upon the unconverted.
The Sanctifying Benefit of the Gospel
Romans 6:1–4 confronts the objection that justification by faith alone licenses continued sin, and Paul's answer is grounded not in moral resolve but in the gospel itself. The sermon traces the inextricable link between justification and sanctification: those united to Christ by faith have died, been buried, and been raised with him, and Christian baptism is the appointed sign and symbol of that union. Because the Christ who secured justification gives his Spirit to effect sanctification, the two benefits are inseparable — the same gospel that frees believers from the penalty of sin is the power that breaks sin's dominion. The primary application is that believers fight sin first by reckoning themselves dead to it in Christ, not merely by external restraint.
The Active Obedience of the Righteous One
Psalm 15 poses the question of who may dwell in the presence of God, and this exposition argues that the answer is not a moral prescription for the believer but a description of the active obedience of Jesus Christ alone. The psalm's portrait of the righteous man — pure in works, words, company, and commitments — indicts every reader who imagines it describes them, and points instead to the one man in human history who satisfied every demand of God's law with perpetual, exact, entire obedience. Justification is God's act of pardoning all sin and imputing that accomplished righteousness to the believer through faith alone, so that sinners described in Psalm 14 enter the holy hill of God solely on the merits of the Savior described in Psalm 15.
The Conversion of the Apostle Paul
Paul's gratitude in 1 Timothy 1:12–14 is inseparable from the radicalism of his own conversion. Working through these three verses, this exposition traces the apostle's pre-conversion state — blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent man — as deliberately set up to magnify the sovereign mercy that overthrew him on the road to Damascus. The sermon gives careful attention to the nature of Paul's ignorance in unbelief, distinguishing it from the willful, light-rejecting sin of those who witnessed Christ's signs and wonders firsthand, and shows how effectual calling brought not only forgiveness but a hermeneutical key that unlocked the entire Old Testament. The governing application is that every believer, like Paul, stands before God not on the ground of moral reformation or law-keeping but solely on received mercy and exceedingly abundant grace — and that this reality is the wellspring of genuine Christian gratitude.
The Psalmist's Description of Depravity
Psalm 14 furnishes a comprehensive doctrine of total depravity, showing that man's rejection of God is not merely intellectual but ethical — a practical atheism that issues in universal corruption and abominable works. The psalmist's two-part structure moves from the description of the ungodly (vv. 1–3) to the deliverance of the godly (vv. 4–7), with Paul amplifying the same argument in Romans 1–3 by citing and structurally imitating the psalm. The only remedy for the corruption of the heart is not behavioral modification but the righteousness of Christ received through faith — the salvation that comes out of Zion — which gives believers both ground for evangelism and comfort in a sin-cursed world.
The Goodness of God's Law
The law of God is good — but only when used lawfully. Expounding 1 Timothy 1:8–11, this sermon defends the goodness of the moral law against both antinomian dismissal and legalistic distortion, situating Paul's argument within the classical Reformed framework of the law's three uses: civil, pedagogical, and normative. The false teachers in Ephesus had neither understood the law nor handled it properly, and Paul's corrective is not to demote the law but to demonstrate its proper function — restraining lawlessness in society, exposing the sinner's need for Christ, and directing the justified believer in the path of sanctification.
The Promise of Blessing or Curse
Deuteronomy 11 sets before Israel a stark covenantal choice: blessing conditioned upon obedience to the Lord, or curse consequent upon idolatry and rebellion. Working through the chapter's three sections — the works of God rehearsed in history, the requirement of covenant fidelity, and the promise of blessing or curse — the sermon traces how Israel's failure to meet the covenant's demands is precisely the ground upon which Christ, as the true Israel and last Adam, fulfills all righteousness and absorbs the covenant curse on behalf of his people. The exhortation closes by connecting Deuteronomy 27:26 to Galatians 3, showing that the Mosaic covenant of works for Israel becomes the ground of Christ's redemptive obedience and that justification has always been by faith alone in the one who kept what Israel could not.
The Psalmist's Cry in an Age of Deceit
Psalm 12 presses the question Psalm 11 leaves open: not what becomes of the wicked in the end, but how the people of God survive and remain faithful in the present evil age. The sermon traces two movements in the psalm — the destruction of foundations (vv. 1–4), marked by idle speech, flattery, and the proud autonomy of godless men, and the preservation of the righteous (vv. 5–8), grounded in God's arising to deliver the oppressed and in the utter purity of his Word. David's prayer is read through a Christological lens: the psalm is supremely the prayer of Christ in his earthly ministry, opposed at every step, yet sustained by the Father's Word and promise. The congregation is urged to respond to cultural and ecclesiastical decay not by retreat or despair but by theology, prayer, and dependent trust in the pure and preserving Word of God.
Ask FGBC #63: What is Baxterianism?
Baxterianism, drawn from the teaching of 17th-century minister Richard Baxter, replaces the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith alone with a scheme in which God justifies the believer on the ground of evangelical obedience to a relaxed 'law of the gospel.' This Q&A exposition identifies Baxterianism as a conflation of justification and sanctification, a departure from the imputation of Christ's active and passive obedience, and an implicit relaxation of the moral law — errors addressed directly by 1689 LBCF chapters 11, 13, and 19. The discussion grounds its critique in Galatians 2:16 and the consistent witness of Paul that sinners are justified by faith alone, not by any human obedience, through the sole and finished work of Christ.
Being Strengthened
Colossians 1:11 describes one of four characteristics of a life that pleases God: being strengthened — a passive reception of divine power, not a self-generated act of will. The sermon expounds the action, the gift, the measure of the gift, and the goal of the gift, arguing that God infuses his people with all needed power according to the inexhaustible measure of his own glorious might. This strengthening is the mechanism by which believers endure patience and longsuffering under any and all circumstances of life. Sinners who have not yet come to Christ are invited to the only Savior who both grants entrance into the Christian life and sustains his people all the way to glory.
Ask FGBC #62: What is Federal Vision?
Federal Vision theology, originating largely within Presbyterian and broader Reformed circles, conflates the covenant of works with the covenant of grace into a mono-covenantalism that mingles works and grace. The result is a doctrine of justification dependent on grace-assisted covenantal faithfulness rather than the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. This Q&A response argues that Federal Vision constitutes not a subtle revision but an outright rejection of the historic doctrine of justification by faith alone, grounded in both Christ's active obedience imputed to the believer and his passive obedience bearing the wrath of God in the sinner's stead.
The Justice and Mercy of the Lord, Part 2: God's Judgment and Refuge
Psalm 9:13–20 presents two petitions that mirror the psalm's earlier doctrinal foundation: a cry for mercy grounded in God's proven faithfulness, and a cry for judgment grounded in the certainty of divine justice. The preacher traces both petitions through their Christological fulfillment — the man of sorrows who prays from the gates of death and the appointed judge of the world in righteousness — demonstrating that David's psalm finds its true subject in Christ. God's justice toward the wicked and His mercy toward the oppressed are not in tension but are two sides of the same covenantal reality: the overthrow of God's enemies is itself the preservation of God's people. Hearers are called to pray these psalms with theological weight, to assemble corporately as those delivered from the gates of death into the gates of Zion, and to seek the Lord while He may be found.
2LCF Chapter 21 - Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience
Christian liberty, as defined in chapter 21 of the Second London Confession of Faith (1689), consists in deliverance from the guilt, power, and punishment of sin — purchased by Christ and applied by the Spirit to every believer in every age. The chapter further distinguishes Old Covenant from New Covenant worship, affirming that while salvation blessings were shared across both covenants, New Testament believers enjoy freedom from the ceremonial law, greater boldness of access to God, and fuller communication of the Holy Spirit. Liberty of conscience means God alone is Lord of the conscience, freeing believers from ecclesiastical tyranny, civil totalitarianism, and the moral impositions of men — whether popes, parliaments, or fellow professors. Christian liberty is not license to sin but the freedom to serve God in holiness and righteousness, delivered unto righteous obedience rather than from obligation to it.
The Justice and Mercy of the Lord
Psalm 9 presents the Lord as both righteous Judge of the wicked and secure refuge for the afflicted — realities that are inseparable and must be held together. Interpreted through a Christocentric lens consistent with Luke 24:44, the psalm is understood as the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry, with David functioning typologically to foreshadow the sufferings and vindication of the Son of Man. The first half of the sermon (vv. 1–12) expounds the psalmist's confidence in God: his declaration of whole-hearted praise, his affirmation that God judges the nations, and his assurance that God is an unfailing refuge for those who seek him — grounded ultimately in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Hearers are called to seek their refuge in God rather than in circumstance, and to rejoice openly in the justice and mercy that belong inseparably to the character of the Most High.
Ask FGBC #59: What is Faith?
Faith is defined in two senses in Scripture: as the objective content of the Christian religion (the propositions of the gospel to be believed) and as the subjective act of believing. In its saving sense, faith is the Spirit-given, empty-handed instrument by which a sinner rests upon and receives the Lord Jesus Christ and all the redemptive benefits secured by His obedient life, atoning death, and resurrection. Because regeneration precedes faith and faith itself is a divine gift, the strength of one's faith — or the feelings accompanying it — is never the ground of salvation; Christ alone is that ground. The discussion warns against distortions that load faith with feelings, smuggle faithfulness or love into its definition, or ground justification in evangelical obedience rather than in Christ received through faith alone.