Theological term
Intercession
86 sermons · All terms
The Martyrdom of Stephen
The martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 7:54–60 displays the triune God sustaining, comforting, and ultimately receiving His servant in the moment of violent death. The sermon works through three movements: the blessedness of Stephen as he receives a vision of the glorified Christ standing at the right hand of the Father; the murderous rage of the Sanhedrin who stone him outside the city in lawless contempt of Roman authority; and Stephen's dying words — echoing the Savior's own cross-utterances — as he commends his spirit to Christ and intercedes for his killers. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is set before the congregation as the answer to that dying prayer, a monument to sovereign grace, and the entire passage is pressed home with the comfort of Heidelberg Catechism Question 1: Christ alone is the believer's comfort in life and in death.
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 Trial before Pilate, Part 1
Matthew 27:11–14 records the first stage of Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate — his interrogation by the Roman governor. The passage unfolds in three movements: Pilate's opening question and Christ's guarded affirmation that he is indeed King of the Jews, the formal accusations brought by the chief priests and elders against which Jesus remains silent, and Pilate's astonished second question met again with silence. Christ's silence before Pilate is not passivity but purposeful obedience — fulfilling the fourth servant song of Isaiah 53 and accomplishing the active righteousness that is imputed to his people in justification. The sermon drives toward the twin realities of forgiveness and positive imputation: Christ's silence secured not only the remission of sins but the righteousness that avails with God, so that his people stand before the Father clothed in another's merit rather than their own.
Immanuel
Isaiah 7:10–8:10 presents the Immanuel prophecy not as a comfortable seasonal text but as a word of judgment against Ahaz's faithless trust in Assyria and a word of hope for the covenant remnant. The sermon traces two contrasting realities: 'Assyria with us,' the consequence of royal unbelief, and 'God with us,' the promise that anchors the remnant through exile and desolation. The Immanuel sign finds its definitive fulfillment in Matthew 1, where the virgin-born Son saves his people from sin rather than merely political oppression — a truth that remains the ground of steadfastness for the church in every era of suffering and exile.
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 Superiority of the New Covenant
Hebrews 8 presents Christ as the minister of the true heavenly tabernacle and the mediator of a new covenant that is categorically superior to the Mosaic economy. The old covenant was not defective in its essence but in its inability to justify and renew fallen humanity, and its breakability exposed the fatal flaw of any covenant whose continuance depended on human fidelity. The new covenant, announced in Jeremiah 31 and now realized in Christ, is unbreakable, writes God's law on the heart, grants saving knowledge of God to all its members, and secures the full remission of sins — four blessings that belong essentially, not accidentally, to every member of the covenant. Because membership in the new covenant is defined by these regenerate characteristics, believers' baptism by immersion is the only covenant sign consistent with new covenant theology.
The Persecution of the Church and the Power of God
Acts 12:1–24 presents the early church under coordinated assault from the civil state: Herod Agrippa I executes James, imprisons Peter, and accepts divine honors from a crowd — yet the chapter closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the word of God multiplied. The sermon traces three movements in the passage: the persecution of the church, the miraculous deliverance of Peter, and the judicial destruction of Herod, arguing throughout that no civil power can ultimately frustrate the advance of Christ's kingdom. Listeners are called to persistent intercessory prayer for the persecuted church, confident that the same sovereign God who struck down Herod continues to reign over every enemy of his people.
Genesis 18:16-33
Genesis 18:16–33 presents the Lord's evaluation of Sodom and Abraham's intercessory prayer on behalf of any righteous persons within the doomed cities of the plain. The passage establishes two theological axioms: divine omnipotence silences doubt concerning God's promises, and divine justice — 'shall not the judge of all the earth do right?' — silences every charge of divine arbitrariness. Abraham's descent from fifty to ten righteous persons is examined as a model of humble, persistent intercession, set within a wider biblical pattern running from Moses and Samuel through Jeremiah, Daniel, and the New Testament exhortations of 1 Timothy 2. The sermon calls God's people to regular, corporate intercessory prayer for all kinds of men, including civil authorities, grounded not in human merit but in the great mercies of God.
The Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts 7:54–60 records the martyrdom of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, whose death exhibits divine sustaining grace amid murderous opposition. This exposition traces three movements in the passage: the blessedness of Stephen as the triune God fills, illumines, and comforts him; the murderous rage of the Sanhedrin, whose violent reaction to his vision of the exalted Christ exposes their guilt and apostasy; and the death of Stephen, whose dying prayers — for Christ to receive his spirit and to forgive his murderers — mirror the death of the Lord Jesus and further corroborate his entire defense. The sermon closes with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9 as God's answer to Stephen's intercessory prayer, and with a call to trust Christ as the one who hears prayer, forgives sin, and grants access to God.
The Exaltation of Christ
Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:33–36 reaches its climax in the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of the Father. This exposition works through three movements: the supreme dignity conferred on Christ at his ascension, the fulfillment of Psalm 110:1 as ancient prophecy now openly vindicated, and the unavoidable implication for guilty hearers that this Jesus whom they crucified is both Lord and Christ. The current session of Christ — his ongoing reign, intercession, gathering of the church, and conquest of every enemy — is pressed as the ground of the believer's confidence and the urgent call for the unconverted to repent and call upon the name of the Lord.
The Ascension of Christ
The ascension of Christ in Acts 1:9–11 is no mere epilogue to the resurrection but a theologically freighted event with direct consequences for how believers understand Christ's present reign, the Lord's Supper, intercession, and final glorification. Working through the passage, the sermon establishes that the ascension was visible, local, bodily, and glorious — witnessed by the apostles and interpreted by angelic messengers who announce Christ's return in like manner. The ascension completes Christ's earthly mediatorial work, secures the gift of the Spirit, and grounds the believer's assurance in a high priest who always lives to make intercession — the pledge that those whom He justified He will also glorify.
The Sacrifice Remembered
What does it mean to remember the death of Christ at the Lord's Supper? Examining 1 Peter 1:18–20, this sermon traces three dimensions of that remembrance: the incomparable value of Christ's precious blood over all corruptible earthly things, the eternal and love-driven divine purpose behind the atonement foreordained before the foundation of the world, and the singular historical reality of the incarnation and sacrifice. The congregation is called to prize Christ above every earthly attachment and to observe the Lord's Supper with the gravity and joy befitting so great a Savior.
The Mercy of God in the Ministry of Elisha
Four miracles in 2 Kings 4 — multiplied oil, a resurrected son, purified stew, and bread multiplied for a hundred men — demonstrate that Yahweh's mercy extends not only to kings and nations but to nameless, destitute individuals in the most ordinary circumstances of life. The prophet Elisha functions typologically throughout: his inadequacy, importunate prayer, and restorative acts all point forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, the true miracle-worker who alone can save sinners from their sins. Where Elisha can relieve physical need and point Israel to God, only Christ forgives sin through his life, death, and resurrection. The sermon closes with a call to gratitude, trust in God's sovereign provision over everyday anxieties, and faith in Christ alone for salvation.
Free Grace Baptist Church - October 8, 2017 PM
What happens when a believer sins against a holy God? Expounding 1 John 2:1–2 within the broader context of 1 John 1:5–10, this sermon answers that question under two headings: Christ as advocate and Christ as propitiation. The advocate language draws on the high-priestly intercession of Christ at the Father's right hand — distinct from, yet complementary to, the Spirit's advocacy on earth — while the doctrine of propitiation is traced through the Old Testament sacrificial vocabulary of kippur to show that Christ both turns away divine wrath and removes guilt. The sermon closes with a direct call to unbelievers to flee to Christ, the only one under whose blood the wrath of God is turned away and peace with God secured.
The Resurrection and Justification
Romans 4:25 is, as Matthew Poole observed, 'an abridgment of the whole gospel' — binding Christ's penal death for specific offenses to His bodily resurrection for the justification of those who believe. The sermon expounds the redemptive purpose of both events: the Father delivered up the Son to satisfy divine justice for the sins of the elect, and raised Him to testify that the sacrifice was accepted, that satisfaction was rendered, and that redemption was accomplished. Against the moral-exemplary reduction of the atonement, the sermon insists on substitution, propitiation, and particular redemption as the irreducible ground of peace with God. Hearers are called to look away from every incapacity of their own — as Abraham did — and to rest entirely on the one who was delivered up for offenses and raised for justification.
The High Priest of the New Covenant
Hebrews 7:20–28 presents Christ's high priesthood as superior to the Levitical order in three respects: His appointment was confirmed by divine oath rather than hereditary succession, His priesthood is permanent because He lives forever, and His personal sinlessness qualifies Him as the perfect once-for-all sacrifice. The passage presses toward a practical conclusion: believers must actively avail themselves of this High Priest — confessing sin through their Advocate, crying out for aid in temptation, and resting in the unchangeable intercession of the One who always lives to make intercession for them.
The Practice of Family Worship
God commands parents to instruct their children in His Word — not occasionally, but diligently, formally and informally, in every setting of daily life. This sermon surveys the biblical warrant for family worship across both Testaments, from God's covenantal purpose for Abraham in Genesis 18 through Paul's charge to fathers in Ephesians 6, establishing that the propagation of biblical religion through the home is not optional but normative for the covenant community. The elements of family worship are then treated in order: commitment to public worship as the irreducible foundation, the sanctification of the Lord's Day, the use of the family altar (including psalm-singing, prayer, Scripture reading, and catechism), and the usefulness of historic creeds and confessions. The sermon closes with a direct charge to recognize the importance of family worship, implement it without delay, and persevere in it as a primary means of evangelism toward one's own children.
2 Samuel 12:1-14
Nathan's confrontation of David in 2 Samuel 12:1–14 exposes the anatomy of sin, judgment, and grace in the covenant dealings of God with His king. The parable of the ewe lamb springs the trap of conscience, the indictment rehearses the goodness God had lavished on David before his fall, and the consequences announced — a sword that would not depart from his house — demonstrate that divine forgiveness does not abolish temporal chastisement. The two-word confession 'I have sinned against the Lord' and Nathan's immediate assurance 'the Lord also has put away your sin' together illustrate that atonement is the exclusive work of Christ, not the product of the sinner's anguish or penance.
The Massacre at Nob
First Samuel 22:6–23 records one of the darkest episodes in Saul's reign: the massacre of 85 priests at Nob and the destruction of the entire city at the hand of Doeg the Edomite. This exposition traces Saul's paranoid pity party in Gibeah, his contempt for due process and the law of God, and the bloody consequences of political tyranny unchecked by the fear of Yahweh. Yet even in this ghastly scene the sovereignty of God is on display — the carnage at Nob fulfills the word of judgment pronounced on the house of Eli a generation earlier, Abiathar escapes to David, and the kingdom of God advances. The sermon closes by setting David's shelter of the fleeing priest against Christ's eternal high priesthood, urging sinners to flee to the one priest who ever lives to make intercession.
The Importance of the Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper is a divine commandment, not a recommendation, instituted by Christ on the night of his betrayal and binding on his church until he comes again. This exposition of 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 moves through four aspects of the ordinance's importance: its nature as a positive and sovereign institution, its character as a commanded act of remembrance, its object as Christ himself in his person, life, and atoning death, and its quality as a means of grace through which the risen Christ spiritually nourishes his people by his Spirit. The sermon calls believers to joyful, cheerful compliance with the Lord's table — to come, take, eat, and be fed by the exalted Savior who blots out the sins of all who trust in him.
1 Samuel 12
1 Samuel 12 records Samuel's final public address to Israel at Gilgal, functioning as a covenant renewal ceremony in which Samuel vindicates his own integrity, indicts the nation for rejecting Yahweh as king, and summons the people to renewed covenantal obedience. The chapter exposes the characteristic human pattern of forgetting God's past deliverances when a new crisis arrives, a forgetfulness that is answered not by the people's merit but by God's own commitment to his name and to his covenant promises. The anchor of the entire chapter, and of the Christian's assurance, is verse 22: God will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, grounded in his free election and not in their fidelity. Hearers are therefore urged to maintain short accounts with God — confessing sin promptly, forsaking it, and pressing forward in simple, grateful obedience rather than wallowing in guilt as a form of Protestant penance.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ the Mediator, Part 3
The perfection, particularity, and certain application of Christ's saving work — as confessed in 2LCF 8.5, 6, and 8 — is examined through an extended exposition of Hebrews, John, Romans, and related texts. Christ's once-for-all sacrifice fully satisfied divine justice, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance for a fixed and particular multitude given to him by the Father before the world was. The confession's teaching is traced along three coordinates: the pactum salutis (the pre-temporal intra-Trinitarian covenant of redemption), the historia salutis (the historical accomplishment of salvation), and the ordo salutis (the Spirit's effectual application of that finished work to the elect). Believers are called to rest in the certainty that Christ's redemption is not a matter of 'perhaps' but of infallible, sovereign, and free grace from first to last.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ the Mediator, Part 9
Christ alone holds the threefold mediatorial office of prophet, priest, and king — an exclusivity the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith defends in chapter 8, paragraphs 9 and 10 against any claim, ancient or modern, to share or transfer that role. These two paragraphs, unique to the Baptist confession and absent from both the Westminster and Savoy documents, ground the exclusivity of Christ's mediatorship in 1 Timothy 2:5 and unfold its necessity in the threefold frailty of man: ignorance requiring his prophetic word, alienation requiring his priestly sacrifice, and utter inability requiring his kingly rule. The sermon traces each office through Hebrews, Luke, Acts, John, and Revelation, arguing that the old-covenant pattern of separate prophets, priests, and kings points forward to the one God-man who holds all three perfectly and to their fullness. The practical burden is that believers avail themselves of Christ's mediatorial work through the appointed means of grace — preaching, prayer, baptism, and the Lord's Supper — finding in him alone their acceptance before God.
1 Samuel 7
Israel's 20-year lament after the Lord following the return of the ark sets the stage for 1 Samuel 7, a chapter that contrasts the manipulation of God in chapter 4 with genuine covenantal repentance, exclusive worship, and intercessory prayer under Samuel's prophetic and judicial leadership. Three movements structure the passage: the longing for God evidenced in Israel's lament, the preparation for God through tangible repentance and exclusive allegiance to Yahweh, and the presence of God vindicated in miraculous deliverance at Mizpah. Samuel functions typologically as prophet, judge, and intercessor — pointing forward to Christ, who always lives to make intercession for his people. The closing exhortation calls Christians to maintain their own Ebenezers — Scripture, prayer, the Lord's Table — as bulwarks against spiritual amnesia and apostasy.
Prayer and Witness
Colossians 4:2–6 calls the Christian to a life of earnest, watchful, and thankful prayer, and to a witness before the world that is wise in conduct and gracious in speech. Working through Paul's four marks of effective prayer — persistence, vigilance, thanksgiving, and petition — the sermon shows that prayer is normal Christian living, not the province of an elite spiritual class. The exposition then turns to the two elements of faithful witness: a walk of wisdom toward outsiders and a conversation seasoned with grace and salt, grounded in the ability to answer the unbeliever with both meekness and clarity.
Pentecostal Preaching, Part 2
Peter's sermon in Acts 2:22–36 does not rest on myth or legend but on the verified historical reality of Christ's resurrection, attested by the firsthand eyewitness accounts of the apostles and a company of more than five hundred. From that established historical fulfillment, the sermon draws three weighty Christological implications: Christ has been exalted to the right hand of God, He has poured out the Holy Spirit upon His church, and He has been made both Lord and Christ — with authority to crush His enemies and to save all who call upon His name. Hearers are urged to receive the gospel's certainty with the highest confidence and to find in the risen, reigning Christ a champion to whom no earthly rival compares.
Pentecostal Preaching, Part 1
Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:22–36 is examined as a model of apostolic proclamation (kerygma): the announcement that the age of fulfillment has arrived, the rehearsal of Christ's death and resurrection, the citation of Old Testament Scripture, and the call to repentance. The sermon traces three elements of Peter's central message — the bringer, the intent, and the theological content — demonstrating that the gospel is not the invitation to believe but the historical fact that Christ died for sins and rose again according to the Scriptures. The second half explores Peter's appeal to Psalm 16 as scriptural anticipation of Christ's resurrection, showing that the Old Testament has a Christological trajectory the prophets themselves understood. Hearers are exhorted either to flee to the risen and exalted Christ for salvation or, for believers, to rest daily in the intercession of the living Savior.
The Lord's Prayer, Part 7
Matthew 6:13 presents the sixth and final petition of the Lord's Prayer: 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' This study works through the meaning, explanation, reasons, and practical scope of the petition, grounding it in the reality of remaining corruption in the believer's heart as described in Romans 7 and Galatians 5. The petition simultaneously acknowledges God's absolute sovereignty over temptation, confesses the Christian's ongoing weakness, and recognizes the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil as constant enemies. The study closes with the doxology of the Lord's Prayer and the sobering exhortation that he who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays.
The Ministry of the King-Priest
Hebrews 5:5–10 presents Jesus Christ as the divinely appointed King-Priest whose ministry, obedience, and accomplished redemption surpass every dimension of the Levitical priesthood. The sermon traces four elements of Christ's priestly office: his appointment by the Father (Psalms 2 and 110), his ministry of intercession and suffering in Gethsemane, his learned obedience through suffering, and his authorship of an eternal — therefore unlosable — salvation. Because this great High Priest now intercedes at the right hand of the Father, believers are called to hold fast their confession and come boldly to the throne of grace.
The True Son of God
Matthew 14:21–33 culminates not in the stilling of the storm but in the disciples' confession, 'Truly, You are the Son of God' — a declaration that is the goal of Matthew's entire Gospel narrative. The passage demonstrates that Jesus acts with the prerogatives of Yahweh alone: walking on the sea, commanding the wind, and rescuing His people in ways the Old Testament attributes exclusively to God. Running alongside this high Christology are clear lessons on discipleship: Christ prays in solitude, His people are not exempt from trial, and little faith — however weak — is not the same as no faith, for it is the Savior who saves, not the strength of the believer's grip. Hearers are called to be of good cheer and to cast fear aside because the 'I Am' of Exodus and Isaiah is present with them in every storm.