Theological term
Means of Grace
434 sermons · All terms
The Seventh Commandment
The Seventh Commandment — 'You shall not commit adultery' (Deuteronomy 5:18) — is grounded in God's creation ordinance of marriage as a covenant of companionship, the prevention of uncleanness, and procreation, and it comprehends a far broader category of sexual sins than adultery narrowly defined. Working through eleven specific violations forbidden by Scripture — from adultery and fornication to pornography, rape, sodomy, and unlawful divorce — the sermon demonstrates that sexual sin is never victimless but is first and foremost an offence against God, confirmed by both divine sanction and the wrath of violated human covenants. The law's pedagogical use exposes every hearer's guilt and drives sinners to Christ, in whose name the sexually defiled may be washed, sanctified, and justified (1 Corinthians 6:11). The sermon closes by urging the mortification of sin, faithful biblical marriage, and renewed communion with God through the means of grace as the only sustainable path to sexual purity.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 13, 2015 PM
Psalm 107:1–9 calls the redeemed to give thanks to God for His goodness and mercy — two terms the psalmist binds together to signal covenantal faithfulness. This exposition traces God's goodness through creation, Providence, and redemption, showing that divine beneficence reaches its pinnacle in the saving work of Christ. God's mercy, distinguished from its human counterpart as originating entirely within God's own nature rather than being moved by anything external, is shown to be operative in temporal blessings, in the judgment of the wicked, and supremely in the salvation of sinners. The sermon closes with a direct call to those outside of Christ to flee to Him, that they too might give thanks to the Lord whose mercy endures forever.
God and Man in the 107th Psalm, Part 1
Psalm 107:1–9 opens with a summons — 'Oh, give thanks to the Lord' — that exposes a perennial failure of fallen humanity: thanklessness toward a God of inexhaustible mercy. This sermon works through two headings from the psalm: the call to thanksgiving and the content of that thanksgiving, showing that gratitude is not an optional sentiment but the defining disposition of the redeemed, rooted in God's character and displayed across all of life — blessing, affliction, law, and gospel. The sermon closes with practical means for cultivating thankfulness: corporate worship, prayer, Scripture, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
The Escape from Saul
God's provision for David during his flight from Saul — through bread at Nob, deliverance at Gath, fellowship at Adullam, safety for his parents in Moab, and a prophetic word at the forest of Hereth — is the controlling theological theme of 1 Samuel 21–22:5. The narrative exposes both the reality of severe trial in the life of God's people and the sovereign grace that meets them in and through their own failures. David's response of praise, crystallised in Psalms 34, 56, 57, and 142, rebukes a health-and-wealth theology and models the only fitting reply to affliction. The gathering of the distressed, indebted, and discontented to David in the cave of Adullam functions as a type of Christ, who bids weary sinners come to him as captain and lord.
2LCF Chapter 17 - Of the Perseverance of the Saints
The perseverance of the saints rests not on the believer's free will or moral resilience, but on five immovable pillars: the immutability of God's decree of election, the believer's union with Christ, the oath of God, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of the covenant of grace. This exposition of 2LCF Chapter 17 works through all three paragraphs, distinguishing the genuine saints from temporary believers, refuting both Arminian and Roman Catholic denials of the doctrine, and showing that perseverance is inseparable from divine preservation. The challenges to perseverance — Satanic temptation, the world, and remaining corruption — are honestly confronted, with the vital role of the means of grace pressed upon the hearer as the God-ordained pathway through them.
The Call to Marvel, Part 2
What does it mean that God has 'bestowed' on sinners the right to be called children of God? Expounding the first half of 1 John 3:1, this sermon works through the content and intent of the apostle John's call to marvel — tracing divine love, divine grace, and divine fatherhood as the three constituent elements of the Christian's astonishment. The sermon presses the doctrines of adoption and sovereign grace against any scheme of salvation that credits the creature, and closes by showing that the same behold which exhilarates also obligates: children of God are to pursue practical godliness, avail themselves of the ordained means of grace, and walk in cheerful conformity to the law of their Father.
The Victory of David over Goliath, Part 2
David's declaration in 1 Samuel 17:45–47 is the theological center of the entire chapter: the defeat of Goliath is not primarily a lesson in personal courage but a proclamation that there is a God in Israel who does not save by sword and spear. The sermon traces David's preparation, his confrontation with Goliath, and his victory, reading the decapitation of Israel's enemies throughout redemptive history as typological of Genesis 3:15 — the skull-crushing seed of the woman who will finally destroy the serpent. The congregation is called to trust the means God has ordained — prayer and preaching — rather than the 'horses and chariots' of human ingenuity, and all hearers are urged to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom this protoevangelium finds its fulfilment.
2LCF Chapter 6 - Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof
What is sin, where did it come from, and what has it done to us? This confession study works through 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 6, paragraphs 1–5, examining the origin of sin in the covenantal breach of Adam, the universal solidarity of mankind in that guilt and corruption, and the abiding effects of sin in both the unregenerate and the regenerate. The remedy is shown to be twofold: justification to deal with the guilt of sin and sanctification to deal with its remaining corruption, both secured by Christ as the second Adam who fulfilled what the first Adam failed to keep.
The Victory of David over Goliath, Part 1
1 Samuel 17:1–37 presents the backstory of David's confrontation with Goliath, and this exposition insists that the Valley of Elah is not a mirror for personal struggle but a display of the singular glory of Yahweh over his enemies. Three movements structure the passage: the formidable threat the Philistines pose to Judah, the quiet providential orchestration by which God positions his servant David, and the theological confidence that drives David's determination where Israel only cowers. The sermon closes by drawing the typological line from David's unconventional victory to the greater Son of David, who achieves total victory through the blood of his cross, calling unbelievers to trust in Christ alone.
The Spirit's Application of Redemption
The Holy Spirit's work in applying redemption to sinners is the focus of this exposition of Ephesians 1:13–14, the concluding verses of Paul's great doxology on the blessings of God the Father and God the Son. The Spirit functions both as a seal — impressing upon the heart of the believer the assurance that he is a child of God — and as a guarantee or down payment of the full inheritance yet to be received in glory. Drawing from the 1689 London Baptist Confession's chapter on assurance and the writings of J.C. Ryle, the sermon calls believers struggling with weak faith to rest in the objective work of the triune God, and exhorts them to pursue holiness through the means of grace as the proper fruit of that assurance.
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 18
1 Samuel 18 traces two trajectories simultaneously: the providential rise of David and the accelerating spiritual declension of Saul. The chapter is not primarily a political narrative but a spiritual one — the Lord's presence with David explains his success, his military favour, and the love of all Israel, while the Lord's departure from Saul explains his fear, his envy, and his murderous scheming. The sermon presses three lessons from the text: the danger of spiritual declension through neglect of God's ordained means, the sovereignty of God who turns Saul's every scheme to David's advantage, and the parallel threats to God's kingdom from both external enemies and internal corruption.
The First Commandment
The First Commandment — 'You shall have no other gods before me' (Deuteronomy 5:7) — demands the exclusive covenantal allegiance of God's people to Yahweh alone. The sermon works through both the prohibition and the positive demands of the commandment, exposing atheism (doctrinal and practical), polytheism, syncretism, idolatry, sorcery, and heresy as violations of the first word, while showing that the commandment positively requires the knowledge, love, fear, trust, obedience, and worship of the one true God. The pedagogical function of the law is also pressed: the commandment, taken seriously, drives the believer to repentance and to Christ, the only law-keeper, who gave himself for the sins of all those the Father had given him.
1 Samuel 17, Part 2
1 Samuel 17 is not a self-help narrative about overcoming personal obstacles; it is a demonstration of the sovereignty and majesty of Yahweh, who consistently works through weakness to magnify his own glory. This expository study of the latter half of the chapter — from the arming of David through the rout of the Philistines — traces five movements in the battle account and concludes that the chapter's governing theme is David's declaration in verses 46–47: that all the earth would know there is a God in Israel, and that the Lord does not save by sword and spear. The contrast between Israel's paralyzing fear and David's unwavering trust in Yahweh is shown to be the interpretive key to the whole narrative, and David himself is read as a pattern anticipating the champion from Bethlehem who came in apparent weakness to secure a greater victory.
2LCF Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification
Sanctification belongs to the unbreakable chain of redemption: all whom God effectually calls and regenerates will be sanctified and glorified. This study of 1689 LBCF Chapter 13 traces both a divine and a human chronology of sanctification, distinguishing definitive sanctification — the once-for-all decisive break with sin's dominion accomplished in Christ's crosswork — from progressive sanctification, the ongoing renewal of the whole man by the indwelling Spirit through the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. The sermon insists that conflating sanctification with justification corrupts the gospel no less than denying sanctification's necessity, and calls believers to pursue holiness through joyful, evangelical obedience to the law of Christ.
The Instruction on Marriage
Titus 1:1–9 provides Paul's instructions to Titus for establishing gospel order on the island of Crete, centering on the appointment of qualified elders. The sermon works through the twofold purpose of Titus's ministry — setting things in order and appointing elders in every city — before examining the elder's domestic faithfulness (blamelessness, sexual fidelity, faithful children) and personal faithfulness (five vices to avoid, six virtues to exemplify). The exposition closes with the elder's indispensable giftedness: holding fast sound doctrine so as to both exhort the people of God and silence those who contradict. The whole is applied to the congregation as a call to pray for qualified men, to know the qualifications, and to insist that the church install only those who demonstrably meet them.
Matthew 6:13
The sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer — 'lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one' (Matthew 6:13) — is a plea for divine protection from the solicitation to sin, distinct from the God-ordained trials that conform believers to Christ. This study examines the meaning of temptation in the petition, its two-part structure (negative and positive), and four reasons the church must pray it: remaining corruption, desire for communion with God, zeal for God's glory, and longing for the eschatological state. The Westminster Larger Catechism Q195 frames the petition's full scope, and Owen's warning — 'he who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays' — issues the closing call to integrity between confession and conduct.
The Thief on the Cross
Luke 23:39–43 presents the conversion of the thief on the cross as one of the most remarkable examples of sovereign grace in all of Scripture. Examined under two broad headings — the conversion of the thief and the response of the Savior — the sermon traces five marks of genuine conversion in the criminal's transformation from blasphemer to confessor, and then turns to Christ as willing, able, and glorious Savior. The passage is shown to demolish both works-righteousness and sacramentalism, grounding salvation entirely in grace through faith in Christ alone. Hearers are urged not to defer repentance, to call upon Christ while He may be found, and to come to the Lord's Table with eyes fixed not on their own obedience but on the excellence of the Savior.
The Pursuit of Christian Unity
Ephesians 4:1–3 commands believers to walk worthy of their calling by cultivating four virtues — lowliness, gentleness, long-suffering, and forbearing love — as the means by which the church maintains the Spirit-wrought unity already given to it. The sermon distinguishes this genuine, truth-grounded unity from any ecumenicism that achieves togetherness by dissolving doctrinal conviction. Because the Holy Spirit is the author of church unity and the triune God is its ultimate foundation, to abandon the pursuit of it is to dishonor God himself. Hearers are pressed to give diligent, active effort to preserve what the Spirit has produced, and those outside of Christ are reminded that Christian ethics, including the pursuit of unity, can only flow from salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
The Procedure for Church Discipline, Part 3
Church discipline in Matthew 18:15–17 follows a divinely ordered three-step procedure: private confrontation, the involvement of witnesses, and finally the public action of the gathered church. This sermon works through the second and third steps, examining the Old Testament warrant for the two-or-three-witness requirement (Deuteronomy 19:15) and the nature of the church's decisive judgment to treat the unrepentant as a heathen and tax collector. The goal at every stage remains the recovery of the sinning brother, and excommunication — a corporate act of the whole congregation, not merely the elders — is understood as an expression of love and a means God may use to bring a rebel to repentance. The sermon closes with an evangelistic warning: the church's earthly excommunication is a pale shadow of the final excommunication pronounced by Christ on the last day.
The Minister Approved by God
What does God require of a faithful gospel minister when heresy invades the church? Expositing 2 Timothy 2:14–15, this sermon argues that the approved minister is marked by three things: a diligent commitment to reminding the people of God of gospel truth, a pursuit of God's approval rather than human favor, and an accurate, straight-cut handling of the word of truth. The damning danger of false teaching — whether outright denial of the resurrection or the subtler corruption of justification by works — makes these qualifications not merely desirable but necessary for the health of the church.
1 Samuel 14:24-52
In 1 Samuel 14:24–52, Saul's rash oath forbidding his army to eat during battle exemplifies the folly of extra-biblical, formulaic attempts to manipulate God's blessing — the same instinct that reduces the ark of the covenant to a lucky charm and multiplies prayer vigils and forty-day fasts beyond any scriptural warrant. Jonathan's wisdom and courage stand in pointed contrast, demonstrating that faithfulness to God's revealed means — word, prayer, the ordinary duties of obedience — is the path of true covenantal service. The passage closes with a glowing summary of Saul's military and political achievements, but that very juxtaposition exposes the decisive verdict: Yahweh is not looking for winners but for disciples, and covenant obedience matters far more than vocational achievement. The sermon calls God's people to rest in the means He has ordained, to abandon extra-religious manipulation, and to measure their lives not by earthly success but by fidelity to what Christ asks in the circumstances He gives.
The Incentives for Perseverance, Part 2
Paul's 'faithful saying' in 2 Timothy 2:11–13 supplies three conditional clauses that together form both an encouragement and a warning for the persevering Christian. The sermon exposits the believer's union with Christ in conversion (dying and rising with Him), the present communion that sustains endurance, and the solemn warning that denial of Christ evidences a faithlessness that Christ Himself will not overlook. The means of grace — Scripture, prayer, and corporate worship including the Lord's Supper — are set out as the God-appointed instruments by which believers are kept running the race.
The Incentives for Perseverance, Part 1
Paul's command to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3 — endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ — is not left without support. This sermon expounds 2 Timothy 2:8–10, identifying two of three incentives Paul provides for perseverance: the contemplation of Christ in his true humanity, Davidic lineage, and resurrection, and the conduct of Paul whose imprisonment and suffering demonstrate that the word of God cannot be chained. The doctrine of election underlies Paul's endurance, for he suffers all things for the sake of the elect, knowing that gospel preaching is the God-ordained means by which they obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Hearers are called to feed their souls on Christ through Scripture and to measure their own trials against the apostolic pattern of suffering for the gospel.
2LCF Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
Effectual calling is the sovereign, monergistic act by which God brings his elect out of spiritual death and into saving union with Christ — by his Word and Spirit alone, apart from any foreseen merit or creaturely co-operation. Walking through 2LCF Chapter 10, paragraphs 1–4, this study situates effectual calling within the broader covenant structure of the confession, distinguishing it from the general gospel call that goes forth indiscriminately to all. The session addresses the regenerating work of the Spirit, the doctrinal grounding of infant salvation, the exclusion of the non-elect from saving grace, and the eternal perdition of those outside Christ regardless of moral sincerity — with a sustained application to how these truths ought to shape corporate prayer and gospel proclamation.
The Blessing of Spiritual Liberty
John 8:31–36 confronts every person with a diagnosis before offering a cure: whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. This sermon expounds Christ's words under two heads — the reality of spiritual slavery and the blessing of spiritual liberty — drawing on Romans 1–3, Galatians, and Acts 26 to demonstrate that bondage to sin is universal, that it is not political but moral and spiritual, and that freedom is granted by the Son alone through the truth of His Word. The occasion of the Lord's Supper grounds the application: believers examine themselves against the marks of true discipleship (abiding in the Word) and receive the supper as a joyful remembrance of redemption from sin's penalty, the law's curse, God's wrath, Satan's dominion, and sin's reigning power.
The Church's Duty to Train Pastors
Paul's charge in 2 Timothy 2:1–2 — that Timothy be strong in grace and commit apostolic doctrine to faithful men who can teach others — imposes a binding duty on the church in every generation. This sermon works through two commands: the call to courageous, Christ-dependent strength in gospel ministry, and the church's obligation to identify, instruct, and deploy faithful men for pastoral work. The qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:5–9 supply the objective standard for identifying such men, distinguishing the unqualified (who may yet be fitted) from the disqualified. The sermon closes by locating this four-generation chain of transmission within God's eternal decree to save the elect through the ordained means of faithful preaching.
The Examples of Defection and Devotion
2 Timothy 1:15–18 sets before Timothy two contrasting examples: Phygelus and Hermogenes, who defected from the Apostle Paul and thereby revealed their apostasy from the gospel itself, and Onesiphorus, who sought Paul out in his Roman imprisonment, refreshed him repeatedly, and was unashamed of his chains. The sermon argues that the faithful Christian life requires both the avoidance of those who abandon the gospel and the active cultivation of godly examples drawn from Scripture and the local congregation. Practical application centers on the ordinary, unheroic ministry of encouragement — refreshing suffering brothers — as the pattern every believer is called to imitate.
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.
The Question Concerning Elijah
Matthew 17:9–13 records the disciples' question about the scribal expectation that Elijah must precede Messiah — an expectation derived from Malachi 3–4. Jesus resolves their confusion by identifying John the Baptist as the Elijah-figure who fulfilled Malachi's prophecy, thereby laying unmistakable claim to being Yahweh of hosts, the messenger of the covenant. The sermon moves through three elements: Christ's command to silence until the resurrection, the disciples' question about Elijah, and Christ's authoritative interpretation of Malachi. Throughout, the pattern of cross before crown is pressed upon the congregation as the ordained path to glory for both Christ and his people.