Theological term
Law and Gospel
18 sermons · All terms
The Christian Husband and Father
Proverbs 4:1–9 opens a sermon that traces the pattern of transgenerational wisdom-transmission from David to Solomon to Solomon's children, and uses it as the framework for a thorough biblical account of what faithfulness looks like for a Christian husband and father. Drawing extensively from Proverbs, the sermon argues that a godly husband fears the Lord, deals honestly with his sin, loves his wife as a gift, provides for and protects her, communicates with kindness, and maintains sexual fidelity; and that a godly father extends that same godliness toward his children through love, instruction, and both verbal and corporal discipline exercised within an orbit of affection. The sermon is marked throughout by a Reformation soteriology — salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, not by exemplary parenting — and closes with direct exhortations to fathers, mothers, and young men preparing for marriage.
Pray for Buckets of Courage to Stand Up for Jesus
The church is called to proclaim the word of God with boldness, not to capitulate to cultural pressure or the fear of man. Drawing on the example of Paul before Festus and the rulers who secretly believed yet feared the Pharisees, this clip argues that a feeble, accommodating church fails its Lord and its neighbors. The remedy is not relevance or likability but buckets of wisdom, courage, and faith — and the preaching of law and gospel in season and out of season.
The Husband and Wife Relationship, Part 1
Ephesians 5:22–24 presents the duty, reason, and practice of a wife's submission to her husband within the covenant of marriage. The passage is expounded within the broader Pauline household code of Ephesians 5:21–6:9, which itself flows from the Spirit-filled life commanded in verse 18. The sermon grounds wifely submission in both the created order (the husband as head by divine indicative, not negotiation) and in the analogical relationship of Christ and the church. Husbands and wives are called to embrace their respective obligations — loving leadership and willing, comprehensive submission — as an act of obedience to God, knowing that the grace enabling this obedience flows from the gospel of Jesus Christ alone.
The Healing of a Blind Man, Part 3
John 9:35–41 records the climax of the healing of the man born blind: not the restoration of his physical sight, but his salvation through faith in the Son of God. This sermon argues that providence and miracles do not save — only grace through faith in Christ does — and that Christ's coming pronounces both salvation on the spiritually blind who see their need and judgment on the self-righteous who claim to see but remain in their sin. The exposition closes with a direct appeal: the self-righteous require both the law, to expose the bankruptcy of their works-confidence, and the gospel, to offer the righteousness of Christ received by faith alone.
The Freedom in Receiving the Son, Part 2
John 8:33–36 sets two irreconcilable conditions before every person: slavery to sin or freedom in the Son. Working through Jesus' response to the objecting Jews — His declaration of spiritual slavery in verse 34, His illustration from the household in verse 35, and His promise of true liberty in verse 36 — this sermon argues that sin's bondage is total, that the sinner is constitutionally blind to his own condition, and that freedom comes exclusively through the only-begotten Son who abides in the Father's house forever. The law of God must be pressed upon the conscience so that sinners know their malady before they can receive the remedy: the Son who makes men free indeed.
If you aborted your baby, there is hope!
Abortion is a violation of the sixth commandment, but the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin — including this one. Preaching the law faithfully means following it immediately with the gospel, offering the forgiveness and rest Christ promises to every sinner who comes to him. The church's duty is not only to resist abortion politically and socially but to herald the sovereign grace of God to those broken by guilt and regret. There is hope in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Clip: If You Aborted Your Baby, There Is Hope
The sixth commandment exposes abortion as a grievous violation of God's law, but the law's condemnation does not have the final word. This clip applies the gospel directly to those who have participated in abortion, grounding the offer of forgiveness in the atoning blood of Christ, the faithfulness of God to cleanse all unrighteousness, and the universal call of Christ to come to him. The church's responsibility is to preach both law and gospel together — the law that wounds and the gospel that heals.
The Elements of Family Worship
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 commands parents to teach God's word diligently to their children in every season of daily life, and this sermon traces that mandate across both Testaments — from Abraham's household religion in Genesis 18, through the Psalms and Proverbs, to Paul's charge in Ephesians 6:4 and the example of Timothy's mother and grandmother. The preacher argues that family worship is a clear biblical obligation whose specific form is left to the conscience, and that failure to instruct children in the fear of God — illustrated negatively by Eli and Samuel's sons — leaves them unguarded against a culture actively hostile to Christ. Fathers and mothers are exhorted to commit first to public Lord's Day worship, to honour the sanctification of the Sabbath, and then to establish a family altar consisting of Scripture reading, prayer, and singing — scaled appropriately for their household — as the primary means of passing covenant knowledge to the next generation.
The Christian Husband/Father
The duties of the Christian husband and father are examined through the book of Proverbs, with Proverbs 4:1–9 as the anchor text and wide-ranging support from Deuteronomy and the New Testament. The sermon sets forth the godly husband as one who fears the Lord, deals with sin, provides for his household, protects his wife, communicates faithfully, and maintains sexual purity. The Christian father is then treated under four heads — being a godly man, loving his children, instructing them in word and life, and disciplining them with both verbal correction and, when necessary, the rod — all exercised in love rather than anger or indulgence. The closing application calls fathers to confess sin before their households, pray for and preach law and gospel to their children, and rest not in their own performance but in the imputed righteousness of Christ.
The Third Commandment
The Third Commandment — 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain' (Deuteronomy 5:11) — grounds its prohibition and its positive demands in the theological weight of the divine name itself: God's name is the vehicle by which He reveals His nature, being, and attributes to His creatures, so every misuse is a direct offense against God. The sermon works through five concrete violations (blasphemy, false oaths, magic and sorcery, misapplication of providence, and misinterpretation of Scripture) before turning to the positive duties of reverent use, worshipful fear, and a sincere profession of faith matched by answerable conduct. Throughout, the law-gospel distinction is maintained: no sinner is accepted by God on the basis of keeping this commandment, but on the basis of Christ's perfect obedience rendered in the sinner's place; those united to Christ by grace through faith are then pointed back to the law as a rule of grateful living.
The Worship of God in Private Families
Family worship — the regular practice of reading Scripture, praying, and singing with one's household — is grounded in a consistent biblical pattern running from Abraham in Genesis 18 through the Apostle Paul's commands in Ephesians 6. This topical survey traces the biblical warrant for family worship through key Old Testament figures and texts, examines the elements that should mark it, and presses the duty home with both positive examples and negative warnings. Parents and grandparents are called to diligent, consistent instruction of their children in law and gospel, with the sobering reminder that neglect — not busyness — is the real obstacle.
The Duties of Christian Women
Titus 2:3–5 sets forth concrete duties for older and younger women within the covenant community, grounded not in cultural expectation but in the doctrine of grace. This exposition works through the instructions Paul gives to older women — reverence in conduct, guarded speech, sobriety, and the charge to teach younger women — before examining the cluster of virtues prescribed for younger women: love for husband and children, discretion, chastity, homemaking, goodness, and submission to their own husbands. The complementarian order is defended exegetically from 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 11 and 14, and 1 Peter 3, with creation and fall established as the theological foundation rather than cultural accommodation. The gospel itself is the undergirding motive: women are not saved by fulfilling these duties, but those redeemed by the grace that appeared in Christ are equipped by that same grace to adorn the doctrine of God their Savior in every sphere of life.
The Preaching of Peter on Pentecost
Acts 2:37–42 records the first gospel sermon of the apostolic church and the conversion of three thousand souls on the day of Pentecost. This exposition works through Peter's proclamation — centering the gospel in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ — and his call to repentance and baptism, showing that sin must be named plainly before the Savior can be received gladly. The sermon draws on John Bunyan's 'The Jerusalem Sinner Saved' to press the point that Christ's mercy is offered most conspicuously to the vilest of sinners, and closes with a direct call to believe, repent, and be baptized.
The Murder of the Preborn, Part 2
Exodus 21:22–25 grounds a biblical answer to the hardest objections raised against the prohibition of abortion. The sermon establishes that Scripture recognises exactly three instances of lawful killing — self-defense, just and necessary war, and capital punishment — and demonstrates that abortion satisfies none of them. The death penalty, far from contradicting the sanctity of life, is its strongest legal expression, grounded in the imago Dei of Genesis 9:6 and confirmed for the new covenant era by Romans 13:1–4. The church's response to abortion requires preaching the law of God without apology, loving neighbours through practical compassion, and declaring the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only remedy for guilt.
The Bible and Abortion, Part 2
Scripture consistently treats the unborn as image-bearers of God, and this sermon works through four questions designed to test that conviction: whether abortion is ever lawful, how to handle hard cases such as rape and incest, how to avoid abortion altogether, and what the church is called to do. Drawing on the biblical categories of lawful killing — self-defense, legitimate war, and capital punishment — the sermon demonstrates that abortion satisfies none of these conditions and therefore remains sin without exception. The hard cases do not alter the status of the conceived, and Deuteronomy 22 establishes that in rape the criminal, not the child, bears the penalty. The church's answer is the whole counsel of God: law that restrains sin and gospel that offers genuine hope to those who have already committed it.
The Parent/Child Relationship
Colossians 3:20–21 addresses both children and fathers as morally responsible members of the household of faith, calling each to a distinct duty within the domestic sphere. Children are commanded to obey their parents in all things — a command grounded in the moral law written at creation, codified in the Fifth Commandment, and motivated by the pleasure of Christ. Fathers are warned against provoking their children to discouragement, and are exhorted positively — drawing on Ephesians 6:4 — to nourish, instruct, and discipline with love, consistency, and dependence upon God. The sermon presses both charges as inseparable from the new life described throughout Colossians 3: orthodoxy must issue in orthopraxy, beginning in the home.
The Christian Father
Colossians 3:21 delivers a single, pointed command to fathers: do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. This sermon exposits that verse within the broader household code of Colossians 3:18–4:1, arguing that redemption in Christ does not dissolve familial distinctions but rather furnishes the spiritual capacity to fulfill them rightly. Drawing on positive examples from Abraham and Joshua and the negative example of Eli, the sermon identifies specific forms of provocation — unrighteous anger, unbiblical discipline, favoritism, inconsistency, and gospel-less child-rearing — before turning to the positive exhortation of Ephesians 6:4. The sermon closes with five concrete duties of the Christian father: presence, provision, protection, prayer, and preaching sound doctrine in the home.
The Ethics of the Messianic Kingdom
The Sermon on the Mount is not a program for moral self-improvement or a blueprint for social reform, but a messianic manifesto addressed primarily to disciples — those already saved by grace — describing what they are and how they are to live. Five historical approaches to the Sermon on the Mount are surveyed and evaluated, with the 'normative' interpretation established as the proper hermeneutic: Jesus expounds the ethics of the kingdom for those who have first believed on the King. The Beatitudes are treated as indicatives of saving grace, not imperatives for earning it, and the pedagogical function of the law is retained as a secondary purpose — crushing the unconverted and driving them to Christ.