Theological term
Natural Law
24 sermons · All terms
The Conduct of Women in Corporate Worship (Adornment)
Paul's instruction in 1 Timothy 2:9–10 on the adornment of women in corporate worship is not a blanket condemnation of ornamentation but a call to modesty and moderation governed by the priority of Christ in public worship. A biblical theology of adornment — from Genesis through Revelation — establishes that adorning is assumed and even commanded by God; what Paul prohibits is the ostentatiousness that draws attention to oneself and away from the Lord. The sermon works through four observations: the operating assumption that women will adorn, the general principles of propriety and moderation, the particular prohibitions against elaborate hairdressing, gold, pearls, and costly clothing, and the positive exhortation to adorn with good works befitting a profession of godliness.
Laws Concerning Debt, Slaves, and Firstborn
Deuteronomy 15 sets out three bodies of legislation governing Old Covenant Israel: the sabbatical release of debts, the release and provision for indentured servants, and the sanctification of the firstborn. The sermon traces how each law flows from a divinely ordered reciprocity — God prospers his covenant people so that prosperity rolls downward to the poor and the victim — while insisting that outward compliance must be driven by an internal disposition of genuine covenantal loyalty. The firstborn legislation is read as pointing forward to the unblemished firstborn Son of God, whose sacrifice fulfils what the animal offerings could only foreshadow.
2LCF Chapter 24 - Of the Civil Magistrate
2 London Baptist Confession Chapter 24 examines the divine origin, proper scope, and Christian obligations relating to civil government. Civil magistrates are ordained by God, under his authority, for his glory and the public good, with their power limited to maintaining justice and peace through the sword — encompassing criminal punishment, capital justice, and defense against foreign invasion. The sermon argues that Christians may lawfully serve as magistrates or soldiers, directly contra the Anabaptist tradition, and that the Confession's three paragraphs provide a sufficient framework for navigating contemporary political crises. Believers are called to submit to lawful commands, resist unlawful ones, and pray persistently for governing authorities so that the church may worship freely.
Ask FGBC 69: Is the Threefold Division of the Law Biblical?
The threefold division of the law — moral, ceremonial, and judicial — is examined as a biblically grounded framework rooted not in Westminster Assembly invention but in the canonical structure of Scripture itself, traceable through the patristics and medieval scholastics. The discussion distinguishes natural or moral law (written on the heart by virtue of creation) from positive laws that are covenantally bounded and therefore terminable, using circumcision, dietary laws, and the Sabbath as test cases. The conversation addresses how the apostolic hermeneutic applies the moral principle behind positive laws (such as the ox-muzzling text) without collapsing into theonomy. Listeners are pressed to engage the exegetical evidence rather than dismissing the framework as "too tidy."
The Sixth Commandment, Part 3
The sixth commandment, 'You shall not murder' (Deuteronomy 5:17), prohibits unlawful killing with premeditation and malice, but the Bible distinguishes murder from lawful taking of life in capital punishment, self-defense, and just war. This study works through the Old Testament legal framework for self-defense, particularly Exodus 22:2–3, alongside several narrative examples, to establish that defensive homicide is not forbidden by Scripture. The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:38–42 is examined carefully to show that the Sermon on the Mount addresses personal, interpersonal ethics — not a universal prohibition on self-defense — and that Jesus himself assumes people will protect themselves and others. The study concludes with a call to think with biblical clarity on these matters in an age of muddled Christian ethics.
The 5th Commandment
The fifth commandment — 'Honor your father and your mother' (Deuteronomy 5:16) — demands far more than a recipe for happy families; it is a covenantal obligation rooted in God's own authority and binding on every generation. This study examines the command under three heads: its explanation (the Hebrew word for 'honor' connoting weightiness and reverence), its scope (extending beyond the family to all superior-inferior relationships in church, workplace, and commonwealth), and its sanction (from the rod of correction in Proverbs to the capital sentence of Deuteronomy 21). The promise appended to the command — long life and general wellbeing — is understood as a principle of divine providence, not an absolute guarantee, and the study closes with the duty of superiors to govern those beneath them in a godly and nurturing way.
The Trial Before the Jews
John 18:13–27 presents the trial of Jesus before the Jewish authorities alongside Simon Peter's three denials, and John's deliberate interweaving of the two scenes forces the reader to measure Peter's cowardice against his Master's composed, unflinching faithfulness. Jesus, the true high priest, stands before the illegitimate proceedings of Annas and Caiaphas — proceedings marked by false witnesses, unprovoked violence, and a verdict predetermined by envy — and yet he defends his disciples, demands lawful evidence, and maintains his identity without wavering. Peter, by contrast, cannot acknowledge his Lord to a servant girl, illustrating the fickleness that characterises even redeemed sinners. The sermon closes by calling believers to remember both the rooster's rebuke of unfaithfulness and the grace of a Saviour who restores the very disciples who forsook him.
The Introduction to the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments stand apart from all other Mosaic legislation as the moral law of God — written by God himself on two tablets of stone, binding on all humanity in every age, and distinct from the ceremonial and judicial laws that have either been fulfilled in Christ or expired with the Old Covenant commonwealth. This study works through the introduction to the Decalogue in Deuteronomy 5, establishes the threefold division of the law, and then traces the threefold use of the moral law: its civil function as a restraint on sin in society, its pedagogical function in driving sinners to Christ, and its normative function as the pattern for the believer's sanctification. Four classical principles for interpreting the commandments are introduced to guide the series ahead, drawn from the Westminster Larger Catechism and Reformed exegetical tradition.
2LCF Chapter 19 - Of the Law of God
2 London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 19 sets forth a comprehensive doctrine of the law of God, tracing its origin in the covenant of works given to Adam, its threefold division into moral, ceremonial, and judicial law under the Mosaic economy, and its continuing role in the life of the New Covenant church. The moral law, rooted in creation and specially revealed at Sinai in the Ten Commandments, retains its binding force for all persons, while the ceremonial law finds its divinely designed terminus in the person and work of Christ, and the judicial law expired with the dissolution of the Israelite state. The sermon closes with a christological summary: Christ alone actively obeyed the whole law in the room and stead of the elect, bore the law's curse in his passive obedience, and now governs the hearts of his people by his Spirit according to that same law.
Death Penalty, Part 3
Romans 13:1–7 furnishes the New Testament's clearest warrant for civil government bearing the sword, including capital punishment — yet common objections, both biblical and pragmatic, continue to challenge this teaching. This third installment of a study arising from Leviticus 20 addresses the two most significant biblical objections: the pacifist misreading of Matthew 5:38–42 and the attempt to leverage John 8:1–11 against lawful execution. The sermon argues that Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is correcting the misapplication of the lex talionis to personal relationships, not dismantling civil jurisprudence, and that his handling of the woman caught in adultery actually upholds Mosaic evidentiary law rather than nullifying capital punishment. Five pragmatic objections — that the death penalty is incompatible with Christian forgiveness, lacks mercy, risks executing the innocent, fails to deter, and forecloses salvation — are each answered from Scripture and reason.
2LCF Chapter 24 - Of the Civil Magistrate, Part 2
The institution of monarchy in Israel, recorded in 1 Samuel 8, exposes the perennial danger of substituting a new form of government for trust in God—a sin Israel had already committed in 1 Samuel 4 and against which God had vindicated himself in chapter 7. The passage illustrates that total depravity applies not only to individuals but to corporate institutions, and that governments possessing legitimate divine sanction can nonetheless exploit those they govern. The sermon concludes with a survey of four historic approaches to the church-state relationship—Erastianism, Roman Catholic theocracy, theonomy, and the two-kingdoms framework—arguing that the two-kingdoms distinction, wherein Christ rules the church by his Word and the civil order by natural law, provides the most scripturally defensible framework for Christian citizenship.
The 5th Commandment
Exodus 20:12, the fifth commandment to honor father and mother, stands as the first commandment of the second table of the law and governs the entire structure of human authority relations — in the family, the church, the workplace, and the civil commonwealth. The command's scope extends beyond parent-child dynamics to all lawful superior-inferior relationships, a point the Westminster Larger Catechism makes explicit. The sermon traces the commandment's explanation, scope, and sanctions through the Old Testament case laws, the prophets, and the New Testament vice lists, before treating the covenant promise of longevity as a general principle of divine providence rather than an unconditional guarantee. The application presses parents to discipline their children by word and rod, warns of the social consequences of failing to do so, and qualifies submission to authority where superiors command sin.
Wednesday Night Bible Study (Feb 23, 2022) - 4th Commandment, Part V
This concluding session on the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) surveys the entire biblical-theological arc from creation through the new covenant, demonstrating that the weekly sabbath is a perpetual moral obligation rooted in creation and redemption, not a ceremonial shadow abolished at the cross. The lecture reviews the progression from Genesis 2, Exodus 16, and Sinai through the prophets, the ministry of Christ, apostolic practice, and Hebrews 4, before working through the 1689 LBCF chapter 22, paragraphs 7 and 8, on the Christian sabbath. Application addresses the threefold use of the law with respect to sabbath, answers objections from alleged anti-sabbatarian texts in Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2, and closes by grounding sabbath keeping in the active obedience of Christ imputed to believers.
2LCF Chapter 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 1
The fourth commandment, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy' (Exodus 20:8–11), is grounded not in Mosaic legislation alone but in the creational ordinance of Genesis 2:1–3, where God's sabbathing after six days of work establishes the one-in-seven pattern binding upon all his image-bearers. The Deuteronomy 5 parallel adds redemption alongside creation as a second rationale, and these twin foundations carry into the New Covenant. Surveying Genesis 2–4, Exodus 16, Mark 2, Isaiah 56 and 58, and Jeremiah 31, this exposition demonstrates the trans-covenantal utility of the Decalogue and argues that the Sabbath is not a burdensome restriction but a gracious gift through which God's people enter into fellowship with their Creator.
The Christian Sabbath, Part 2
The Christian Sabbath, grounded in both creation and redemption, does not cease in the New Covenant but is transformed by the resurrection of Christ from the seventh day to the first day of the week. Working through the ministry of Christ in Matthew 5 and 12, the resurrection accounts across all four Gospels, and the apostolic teaching in Hebrews 4, Acts 20, 1 Corinthians 16, and Revelation 1, this exposition argues that the moral obligation of one day in seven for the worship of God remains perpetually binding on the church. The shift from Saturday to Sunday Sabbath is grounded in Christ's completed redemptive work, which mirrors the Father's rest at the close of creation, establishing the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath. Believers are called to receive this day not as a legal burden but as a gracious gift from God, a weekly foretaste of the consummate rest that awaits the people of God.
Sunday School - Sept 6 - Self-Defense, Part 1/2
What does Scripture teach about the right of individuals to use lethal force in self-defense? Working through Exodus 22:2–3, a range of Old Testament illustrations, and the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, this study argues that defensive homicide is not murder and is consistent with the whole counsel of God's law. The session also draws on Francis Turretin's four conditions for lawful self-defense and the Westminster Larger Catechism's treatment of the sixth commandment, situating the biblical case within the broader Reformed and historic Christian tradition. The study closes by distinguishing private revenge — which Scripture forbids — from necessary defense of life, family, and property, which Scripture assumes and authorizes.
2LCF Chapter 20 - Of the Gospel and of the Extent of the Grace Thereof
The gospel is necessary, revealed only through special revelation, and made effectual solely by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit — natural law and general revelation are wholly insufficient for salvation. This session expounds 2LCF Chapter 20, tracing why John Owen and the Congregationalists added this chapter to address both the rise of salvation-through-natural-law teaching and the false charge that Reformed and Baptist churches were anti-missional. The sermon argues that the gospel advances to the ends of the earth through preaching, according to God's sovereign will, as the Spirit regenerates the elect who are dead in trespasses and sins. The practical burden is confidence and perseverance in gospel proclamation, grounded not in human ability or ecclesial authority but in the sovereignty of God.
2LCF Chapter 4 - Of Creation
The doctrine of creation as confessed in chapter 4 of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (2LBCF) establishes that the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — created all things ex nihilo in the space of six literal days, for the primary purpose of manifesting His own glory. Man was made in the image of God, constituted as a dichotomous being (body and soul), endowed with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, and placed under a probationary covenant arrangement that sets the stage for all subsequent redemptive history. This session surveys all three paragraphs of the chapter — the overview of creation, the creation of man, and the probation of man — before drawing out ethical implications concerning vocation, the sanctity of human life, marriage, gender, and the rejection of Gnosticism in all its forms.
The Fifth Commandment
The Fifth Commandment, 'Honor your father and your mother' (Deuteronomy 5:16), is the first commandment of the second table of the law and governs not merely the parent-child relationship but all relationships between superiors and inferiors in family, church, and civil society. The command to 'honor' (Hebrew: to treat as weighty and burdensome) carries covenantal significance for Israel and is extended by Paul to Gentile believers in Ephesians 6, demonstrating that the moral law transcends any particular covenantal administration. The sanction attached to its violation — from the rod and reproof of Proverbs to the death penalty of Deuteronomy 21 — underscores the gravity God assigns to lawful authority. Pedagogically, the commandment exposes the universal failure of all people to render perfect obedience and drives sinners to Christ, who alone fulfilled this word by continuing in subjection to Joseph and Mary throughout his earthly life.
2LCF Chapter 19 - Of the Law of God
The moral law of God — summarized in the Ten Commandments, written on the heart of man at creation, and codified at Sinai — remains perpetually binding on all persons, regenerate and unregenerate alike. This study of 2LCF Chapter 19, paragraphs 1, 2, 5, and 6 traces the law from its origin in the covenant of works with Adam through its threefold use (civil, pedagogical, and normative) for believers under the covenant of grace. Christ did not abolish the law but fulfilled it, thereby confirming rather than dissolving its authority. The session closes with a call to avoid antinomianism, to obey the law from proper gospel motives, and to delight in it as the revealed will of God.
2LCF Chapter 4 - Of Creation
The doctrine of creation, as confessed in chapter four of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, encompasses far more than the sheer scale of the cosmos — it demands precise theological definition on every point from the time and agent of creation to its purpose and result. This study works through three sections of the chapter: the overview of creation (paragraphs on creation ex nihilo, the triune authorship, divine purpose, the full extent of all things visible and invisible, the literal six-day duration, and the verdict 'all very good'), the apex of creation (the constitution, identity, and integrity of man made in God's image in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness), and the fulcrum of creation (the covenant of works in the garden as the hinge upon which God's redemptive purpose to save sinners by Christ Jesus turns). Creation is neither an emanation nor a reshaping of pre-existent matter, but a free act of the triune God out of nothing, ordered ultimately to the manifestation of his glory and the redemption of his elect to the praise of his glorious grace.
The Murder of John the Baptist
Matthew 14:1–12 narrates the imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, and this exposition argues that the account is ultimately about Jesus Christ — the fate of the forerunner foreshadows the fate of the Coming One. The sermon traces three movements: the imprisonment of John for faithful law-preaching, the morally depraved celebration that occasions his murder, and the execution itself, which Matthew frames as a typological preview of the crucifixion. The characters of Herod and Herodias are examined as New Testament counterparts to Ahab and Jezebel, whose guilt-driven conspiracy to silence God's law illustrates that no sin can be covered except through the death of Christ. Hearers are called to forsake self-made coverings for sin and to believe on the one in whom alone is forgiveness and the gift of righteousness.
A Biblical View of Homosexuality
Scripture condemns homosexuality not as a cultural accident or genetic condition but as a transgression of God's creational order, a sin judged in Sodom, legislated against in the Old Covenant, and confirmed in the New Testament. This sermon works through four biblical categories — creation, Sodom and Gomorrah, Mosaic legislation, and New Covenant confirmation — to establish that homosexuality is a moral offense against the triune God, not merely a violation of Jewish or sectarian code. The consistent refrain of Scripture is that this sin, like all sins catalogued in 1 Corinthians 6, is answered by a real Savior who washes, sanctifies, and justifies sinners — making a properly biblical view of homosexuality the only view that can offer genuine hope to those in bondage to it.
The Fall of Nineveh
Nahum 2–3 presents one of Scripture's most vivid and theologically precise announcements of divine judgment: the total destruction of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire. The sermon works through chapter 2 as a prophetic description of the city's fall — its siege, compromise, plunder, and humiliation — and chapter 3 as a theological explanation, identifying the specific sins (murder, deceit, false religion) that called down God's wrath. The sovereignty of God over history is the governing doctrine: it is Yahweh, not merely the Babylonian-Median-Scythian coalition, who scatters Nineveh and fulfils every detail Nahum foretold a generation before 612 BC. The sermon closes with a call to consider the final judgment, to reject the comfortable lie that God's patience signals indifference, and to flee to the mercy of Christ before that mercy gives way irrevocably to justice.