Theological term
Means of Grace
434 sermons · All terms
True Doctrine, Proper Conduct
Colossians 3:1–11 establishes that right belief and right conduct are inseparable: orthodoxy produces orthopraxy. Working through Paul's commands to seek the things above and to mortify sin, this exposition demonstrates that the theological incentives of union with Christ — past death to the old man, present hiddenness in God, and future appearance in glory — are the only sufficient foundation for holy living. The vice lists of verses 5–11, covering both sins of the flesh and sins of the tongue, are shown to flow from a disordered mind rather than a regenerate one, and behavior modification apart from the new birth is exposed as an inadequate remedy. The sermon closes with a call to look to Christ crucified as the only ground for both justification and transformed conduct.
The Baptisms of Jesus Christ
The baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3 and his self-description of an impending 'baptism' in Matthew 20 are not merely biographical episodes — together they map directly onto the two elements every sinner requires for justification before God. Christ's water baptism inaugurates his active obedience, his public commitment to fulfill all righteousness in the place of his people; his baptism unto death at Calvary discharges the passive obedience that satisfies the wrath of God due to sinners. The sermon shows that the believer's baptism is therefore a means of grace that proclaims both the imputed righteousness of Christ and his substitutionary curse-bearing, and concludes with a direct call to trust the only Savior who is sufficient for real sinners.
The Command to Resist Carnal Anxiety
Worry is not a minor personality quirk but a sin — a form of idolatry that displaces God from his rightful throne and sets self at the center. Working through Matthew 6:25–30, this sermon expounds Christ's command to resist carnal anxiety by examining the grammatical connection between kingdom-loyalty and daily trust, the two illustrative arguments from birds and lilies, and the diagnostic verdict of 'little faith.' The remedy offered is not a technique but a theological re-orientation: recognise the absolute sovereignty of God, render obedience to the command not to be anxious, and increase faith through searching the Scriptures.
The Pattern, Mandate, and Context of Baptism
Believers' baptism by immersion rests not on ecclesiastical tradition but on a conspicuous New Testament pattern, an explicit dominical mandate, and the covenantal logic of Jeremiah 31 as expounded in Hebrews 8. Working through the baptism narratives of Acts, the Great Commission of Matthew 28, and the new covenant promises of Hebrews 8, this sermon argues that the proper subjects of baptism are those who have repented and believed — the new covenant community defined by internalized law, experiential knowledge of God, and the forgiveness of sins. The case for credo-baptism is grounded not in a rejection of covenant theology but in a distinctively Reformed Baptist appropriation of it: the new covenant differs from the old precisely in that all its members know the Lord. Baptism is commended not as optional piety but as a commanded ordinance of positive institution carrying ongoing significance as a means of grace.
The Necessity of a Kingdom Focus
Matthew 6:22–23 presents the eye as a metaphor for the soul's orientation: a 'good' eye signifies single-minded devotion to the kingdom of God, while a 'bad' eye signifies a divided, darkened loyalty that amounts not to partial commitment but to deep-seated idolatry. The sermon argues that the believer's every pursuit — treasure, focus, and master — must be ordered wholly toward God, and that divided allegiance is darkness, not a lesser degree of light. Drawing on Philippians 3:12–14 and Psalm 73, the preacher calls hearers to press on with single-eyed determination, to realign priorities through Scripture and the Spirit, and — for those whose darkness is not the remnant sin of a believer but the reigning darkness of an unconverted heart — to flee to Christ alone as the only remedy.
Idolatry and Its Effects, Part 2
Romans 1:18–32 presents a relentlessly bleak anatomy of human sin flowing from the root of idolatry — the suppression of God's self-revelation, the exchange of his glory for images, and his judicial abandonment of sinners to escalating depravity. This application sermon draws out three lines of response for the believer: sober caution against the idols of false religion, Mammon, and self; genuine concern for a world standing under God's wrath; and wholehearted worship and thanksgiving as those who have been justified by the blood of Christ. The antidote to every form of idolatry — including the most pernicious idol of self — is the cross, where Christ frees his people from self-devotion and calls them to live for him who died and rose again.
True and False Religion: Fasting
True religious fasting is assumed by Christ, not commanded as a merit-earning ritual, and is to be practiced in secret before God alone. Expounding Matthew 6:16–18 within the broader Sermon on the Mount context of exceeding Pharisaic righteousness, this sermon examines fasting under three headings: the assumption that the regenerate will fast, the warning against hypocritical display for human approval, and the corrective of ordinary, unannounced normalcy in one's daily conduct. The controlling application is that the believer's religious observances — almsgiving, prayer, and fasting — flow from justifying grace already received, not toward securing acceptance with God, which rests solely on the active and passive obedience of Christ imputed by faith.
The 4th Petition: Provision
Matthew 6:11 — 'Give us this day our daily bread' — sits at the hinge of the Lord's Prayer, transitioning from God-centred petitions to man-oriented ones, yet it remains entirely theocentric in its logic. This sermon works through what the fourth petition does and does not mean, establishing that it is a daily confession of creaturely dependence upon God as the first cause behind every second cause, a repudiation of covetousness, and an acknowledgment of God's comprehensive sovereignty over provision. The theological weight of the petition is drawn out through the Westminster Larger Catechism's teaching that in Adam humanity forfeited all right to temporal blessing, and through Psalm 104, Psalm 136, Ecclesiastes, and Hebrews 13. The sermon closes by turning the physical petition toward its spiritual analogue: Christ as the bread from heaven upon whom the soul feeds and never hungers again.
The First Petition of the Lord's Prayer
The first petition of the Lord's Prayer, 'Hallowed be Your name' (Matthew 6:9), confronts the creature's instinctive self-centeredness with the prior claim of God's glory. The sermon unfolds the meaning of God's name — his triune being, his attributes, and his word — before explaining that the petition does not pray God into holiness but calls the creature to recognize and reflect holiness that already belongs to God essentially. Five practical particulars for praying this petition are drawn out: knowing, professing, depending on, esteeming, and promoting the divine name — with the sobering insistence, drawn from John Owen, that he who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays.
True and False Religion: Prayer
True prayer, according to Jesus in Matthew 6:5–8, is defined not by its outward form but by its inward orientation — a point the Lord makes by exposing two distortions: the hypocrite who prays to be seen by men, and the heathen who babbles to manipulate God. The sermon establishes that Jesus assumes Christians will pray, treating prayerlessness as a mark of unregenerate life. Biblical prayer is neither a performance for human approval nor a technique for divine manipulation, but an exercise of faith directed to the Father alone — communing with the unseen God, conforming to His will, and unburdening oneself to the One who cares supremely.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–20 closes Paul's letter with a summons to active, armored vigilance in the Christian life. Working through the command to stand, the reason rooted in the reality of spiritual warfare against unseen principalities and powers, and the specific pieces of armor Paul describes, this exposition insists that the believer's strength is entirely derivative — drawn from Christ who is already enthroned far above all powers (Ephesians 1:20–23). Each element of the armor — truth, imputed righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit — directs the Christian away from self-sufficiency and back to Christ, whose finished work at Calvary is the only ground on which any saint can stand or withstand in the evil day.
The Ark of God Captured
Israel's defeat at the hands of the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4–5 exposes a perennial temptation: treating God as a mechanism to be manipulated rather than a sovereign to be obeyed. The elders of Israel asked the right question — 'Why has the Lord defeated us?' — but gave the wrong answer, fetching the Ark of the Covenant as a lucky charm rather than humbling themselves in repentance. God refused to be controlled, fulfilled His word of judgment against the corrupt priests Hophni and Phinehas, and then demonstrated His supremacy over the Philistine god Dagon without any help from Israel. The sermon closes with a call to approach God not by religious technique or formulaic bargaining, but through Christ alone, in humble obedience, trusting Him with outcomes.
A Leper Came to Him
Matthew 8:1–4 records a leper approaching Christ and receiving both cleansing and the declaration 'I am willing' — a text that serves as a lens through which to examine what it means to come to Christ in desperate need. The sermon establishes the theological purpose of Christ's miracles: not merely physical restoration, but the authentication of Jesus as Messiah and an illustration of man's spiritual condition as a sinner who is unclean, outcast, and incapable of self-cleansing. The law, like the Levitical regulations for lepers, can diagnose but cannot cure; only the great high priest, Christ Jesus, can accomplish what law, religion, and self-effort cannot. The central application is that sinners must come to Christ just as they are, resting on the warrant of the gospel — 'repent and believe' — assured that He is not only a powerful Savior but a willing one.
The Persecution of the Church and the Power of God
Acts 12 sets the persecution of the early church against the sovereign power of God: Herod executes James, imprisons Peter with an overwhelming guard, and receives divine worship — yet God delivers Peter through angelic intervention, strikes Herod dead for his idolatry, and the Word of God grows and multiplies. The chapter exposes both the reality of suffering for Christ's people and the futility of every human attempt to extinguish the gospel. Four movements structure the exposition: the persecution of the church, Peter's miraculous escape, the judgment of Herod Agrippa, and Luke's progress report on the unstoppable advance of God's Word. The sermon calls hearers to honest reckoning with suffering, earnest corporate prayer, and worship of the God who shares his glory with no one.
The Pure in Heart
What does it mean to be pure in heart, and how can sinners whose hearts are described in Scripture as deceitful and desperately wicked ever attain it? Expounding the sixth Beatitude in Matthew 5:8, this sermon works through four observations: the description of heart purity as single-minded devotion and internal righteousness (in contrast to the Pharisees' meticulous external compliance); the source of that purity in the sovereign, monergistic grace of the triune God — the Father's electing work, the Son's atoning blood and imputed righteousness, and the Spirit's indwelling power; the cultivation of purity through meditation on the gospel, prayer, and Scripture as God's binding command; and the promise that the pure in heart shall see God, a beatific vision already begun in creation, providence, and redemption, and consummated in the new creation of Revelation 21–22. Hearers are called to rest not in civility or external compliance but to flee to Christ, whose blood alone cleanses the heart, and to pursue purity by dwelling deeply in the gospel.
The Missionary Enterprise
Psalm 67 is a missionary psalm that moves from petitions for the church to petitions for the world, grounding the entire missionary enterprise in the mercy, blessing, and presence of God. The psalmist prays first that God's people would know his mercy and communion so that they might then be a vehicle for publishing his salvation to the nations. Worship — not missions itself — is the ultimate end of gospel proclamation, for missions is a temporary necessity that ceases when the redeemed fall before the throne. The sermon calls the church to lift its eyes to the grand promises of Scripture, to pray earnestly for the nations, and to go forth in the authority and presence of the risen Christ.
The Pursuit of Righteousness
Matthew 5:6 pronounces blessing upon those who hunger and thirst for righteousness — a disposition that no fallen person possesses by nature but that the Holy Spirit produces in every regenerate soul. The sermon works through six observations on the text: the metaphor of hunger and thirst, the nature of the righteousness in view (right conduct and godliness flowing from justification, not justification itself), the means by which the spiritually hungry pursue it, the hindrances to avoid, the meek disposition that accompanies the pursuit, and the eschatological filling God promises. Because justification always precedes sanctification, all pursuit of righteousness rests on Christ's finished obedience imputed to the believer — and those who have never hungered for righteousness are called to believe the gospel and receive the righteousness of another.
Corporate Spiritual Poverty
The letter to the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14–22) indicts a congregation that had grown complacent, self-sufficient, and spiritually blind — convinced of its own wealth while Christ declares it wretched, poor, and naked. The sermon works through Christ's threefold self-identification as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the inaugurator of the new creation, before examining the condemnation of lukewarmness and the remedy Christ offers: gold, white garments, and eye salve purchased from him alone. Revelation 3:20 is rescued from its common misuse as an evangelistic appeal and restored to its proper context as Christ's invitation to a wayward covenant community to open the door of corporate worship to his renewed fellowship. The closing application calls the congregation to honest self-assessment, to repudiate pride, self-sufficiency, and spiritual laziness, and to ground every claim to spiritual wealth in the finished work of Christ alone.
The God of Hope
Romans 15:13 announces that God Himself is 'the God of hope' — not a despairing, hand-wringing deity, but the sovereign Lord who makes and fulfils every promise. This sermon expounds three movements in Paul's benediction: the character of the God who hopes, the means by which hope is received (trust in Christ, grounded in the resurrection), and the overflow of joy and peace that results from the Spirit's filling. The closing application calls believers to see themselves as custodians of a message of hope in a world that is, as the preacher puts it, 'on empty.'
The Resurrection in the Book of Acts
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an isolated miracle but the climactic fulfillment of God's covenantal promises to David and Abraham, the ground of every redemptive blessing the church now enjoys. Working through the Book of Acts, this sermon traces five blessings that flow from the risen and ascended Christ: the revealed Word, the sovereignty of his reign, his active direction of the church, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the remission of sins through his blood. Because Christ sits enthroned at the Father's right hand with all authority in heaven and earth, nothing in the church's history is haphazard — every trial, every addition, every missionary advance is governed by the living Lord. The sermon closes with a direct summons to the unforgiven: the empty tomb is the loudest declaration that sin's power is broken and pardon is available to all who believe.
The Place of Preaching in the Church
What is the place of preaching in God's design for the salvation and maturation of his people? Drawing on 1 Corinthians 1:21–23 and a broad sweep of biblical and confessional texts, this sermon argues that preaching is not merely one spiritual activity among many but the divinely ordained, Spirit-attended means by which God calls the elect and strengthens the faith of believers. The Word of God — and specifically its proclamation — is traced from Romans 1 and Psalm 19 through 2 Timothy 4, showing that faith comes by hearing, and that God is pleased with preaching even when men resist it. Hearers are urged to prize attendance upon the preached Word, to pray for biblically qualified preachers, and — if unconverted — to believe the gospel now proclaimed to them.
The Altar We Have
Hebrews 13:7–17 brings the book's sustained exposition of Christ's priestly office to bear on the concrete obligations of the Christian life. Working through five exhortations, the sermon addresses the remembrance of faithful leaders, the immutability of Christ as the ground of doctrinal stability, the exclusive sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice over against all ritual systems, and the sacrifices that flow from the gospel: praise, good works, and submission to church leadership. The controlling argument is that because Christ suffered outside the gate to sanctify his people with his own blood, believers are called to leave behind every competing religious system, bear reproach, maintain a future orientation, and live as a praising and generous people.
The Necessity of Contending for the Faith
Jude 3 commands every believer — not merely theologians or specialists — to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This sermon expounds the command itself, the reason Jude gives (the covert infiltration of ungodly apostates who pervert grace and deny Christ), and the threefold means of defense in verses 20–21: building oneself up in the holy faith through Scripture, praying in the Holy Spirit, and living in hopeful expectation of Christ's return. The sermon closes by urging that contention be conducted with Christian charity, humility, and freedom from pride, in keeping with the pattern of the apostles and the Lord Jesus himself.
The Woman, the Dragon, and the Child
Revelation 12 offers a heaven's-eye view of the cosmic conflict behind the incarnation, revealing the dragon's identity, strategy, and ultimate defeat. The chapter presents three interlocking movements: the woman (true Israel, the Old Covenant church) bearing the male child, the war in heaven resulting in Satan's ejection, and the dragon's consequent fury directed at the church. Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension constitute the decisive blow against the devil — a crushing of the head prophesied in Genesis 3:15 and accomplished at Calvary. Because Satan cannot destroy the ascended King, he turns his rage on the church, making faithful gospel witness and persecution inseparable companions in this present age.
The Apostle's Paternal Appeal to the Galatians
Galatians 4:12–20 presents the Apostle Paul's most personal and emotionally charged appeal in the letter — not a doctrinal argument but a pastoral one, grounded in shared history and genuine affection. The sermon expounds two movements in the passage: a reminder of the filial relationship Paul shared with the Galatians on his first visit among them, and a warning against the Judaizers whose zealous courtship of the Galatians serves not the glory of Christ but the aggrandisement of themselves. Throughout, the preacher presses the point that sound doctrine and warm pastoral affection are inseparable — contending for justification by faith alone must be done with the heart of a nursing mother and a grieving father, not merely the pen of a polemicist.
The Murder of Naboth
God's people suffer injustice at the hands of wicked rulers, as Naboth's murder by Ahab and Jezebel illustrates with searing clarity. This expository treatment of 1 Kings 21 draws four lessons: the common reality of suffering for God's people, the obligation of righteous men to stand against injustice rather than comply in silence, the certainty of divine retribution against oppressors, and the most surprising lesson of all — that God delights to show mercy even to a man as wicked as Ahab. The sermon closes with a direct gospel appeal grounded in the character of God as one who runs toward the repentant sinner, not one who saves grudgingly.
Faith, Hope, and Love
Hebrews 10:19–25 brings the great doctrinal section on Christ's high priestly office to its application: two encouragements and three exhortations that together constitute the whole of the Christian life. The believer's boldness to enter the holiest and the possession of a perfect High Priest over the house of God are not abstract truths but the very engine of sanctification — the gospel must be grasped before the commands can be obeyed. The three exhortations — draw near with full assurance of faith, hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, and consider one another to stir up love and good works — are expounded as the expression of faith, hope, and love respectively, against the persistent errors of emotionalism, legalism, and perpetual self-condemnation.
The Wisdom of the Small
Proverbs 30:24–28 presents four small creatures — the ant, the rock badger (coney), the locust, and the spider — each of which compensates for its weakness through a distinct virtue: preparation, caution, cooperation, and ambition. The sermon draws out the spiritual import of each creature's instinct, pressing the hearer to prepare for the coming day of judgment by faith in Christ alone, to guard against spiritual danger through prayerful dependence on God's Word, to pursue unity in family and church, and to press forward with holy ambition through every trial. Applications are directed with particular warmth toward children and young people, calling them to receive the gospel while youth remains their 'summer.'
The Biblical Husband and Father
What does a man justified by grace alone through faith alone actually look like in the home? This sermon from Proverbs addresses the Christian man as husband and father, drawing on the wisdom literature to define love, provision, protection, leadership, and sexual fidelity in marriage, and instruction, provision, and discipline in fathering. The exposition is set within the framework of the covenant of grace: the law reveals what godly manhood requires, but the ground of the believer's standing before God remains the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. Men are exhorted not toward moralistic self-improvement but toward Spirit-wrought conformity to Scripture, resting on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Restoration of God's People
Zechariah 10 presents a threefold movement — the provision, empowerment, and restoration of God's people — all of which find their ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Covenant. The prophet indicts Israel's idolatry as delusion, contrasting the futility of teraphim and diviners with the sovereign mercy of Yahweh who gathers, redeems, and strengthens His flock. The Immanuel principle — God with His people — is the lifeblood of the church's mission, grounded in Christ's atoning work and the gift of the Spirit. Hearers are called to pray without ceasing, root out idols of every kind, and trust the means of grace God has appointed in His church.