Theological term
New Birth
24 sermons · All terms
The Qualifications for Elders, Part 1
What qualifies a man to lead Christ's church as an elder, and how is a genuine call to ministry recognized? Expounding 1 Timothy 3:1, this sermon works through four elements of a man's call to eldership drawn from Albert N. Martin's Pastoral Theology: the desire of the man, the graces of the man, the gifts of the man, and the opportunity for the man. The internal, subjective desire for ministry must be checked by external, objective criteria — the qualifications of verses 2–7 and the common suffrage of the local church as confessed in the Second London Baptist Confession, chapter 26. The sermon closes with exhortations to the congregation to pray for gospel laborers and to take the qualification process seriously, and with a call to unbelievers to trust the Christ whom these ambassadors proclaim.
The Crucifixion of Christ
How did it come to pass that the only holy, harmless, and undefiled man who ever lived was led out to be crucified between two criminals? John 19:16–24 answers on two levels: on the surface, the wickedness of men — Pilate's cowardice, the Sanhedrin's envy, the multitudes' manipulation — and beneath it, the sovereign, predetermined purpose of God who sent His Son to be the Lamb of God, the substitute for sinners. The sermon traces the location at Golgotha as the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, the charge written by Pilate as an unwitting confession of Christ's kingship, and the conversion of the dying thief as the paradigm case of saving faith — seeing nothing but a bloodied, dying man on a cross and confessing Him as Lord of a kingdom.
The Ground of Christian Love
What is the ground and shape of the command to 'love one another fervently with a pure heart'? Expounding 1 Peter 1:22–25, this sermon works through three movements: the exhortation to fervent, sincere Christian love; the foundation of that love in the new birth wrought through the incorruptible Word; and the motivation for that love in the stark contrast between the transient glory of man and the enduring Word of the Lord. The sermon draws on 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 13 to define love's character and content, and closes with the assurance that the divine promise sealed in the gospel is itself imperishable — and therefore the sufficient ground for fervency in loving the brethren.
The Context of John 3:16, Part 1
John 3:16 opens with the word 'for,' marking it as a continuation of a preceding argument — yet the verse is almost universally quoted without its Old Testament context. This sermon expounds Numbers 21:4–9, the account of the bronze serpent in the wilderness, which Jesus himself cites in John 3:14 as the direct backdrop for his declaration of the gospel to Nicodemus. The sin of Israel — grumbling against a gracious God despite his continual provision — brought deadly judgment in the form of fiery serpents, and the God-ordained remedy was not the removal of the snakes but a look of faith toward a bronze serpent lifted on a pole. Hearers are called to repent of complaining against God and the authorities he has appointed, and to return for the evening service where the typological fulfillment in the lifting up of the Son of Man will be applied to the gospel.
The Context of John 3:16, Part 2
John 3:14–16 is set against the backdrop of Numbers 21, where God appointed a single, unlikely remedy for snake-bitten rebels in the wilderness — a bronze serpent lifted on a pole. The sermon argues that humanity's condition before God is morally terminal, that God alone has planned the only rescue in His Son, and that this rescue is as unlikely in human reckoning as a bronze snake healing the dying. Saving faith is a gift from God, its sole object is Jesus Christ the only begotten Son, and the imputed righteousness He secured is the believer's standing before God — sufficient ground for perseverance and the rejection of every false remedy.
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
What is the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Father and the Son, and why does it matter that Christians understand this precisely? Working through Ephesians 1:13–14 as the destination, this sermon first establishes the full personal divinity of the Holy Spirit by tracing his presence and activity across both Testaments — from creation in Genesis 1 through the baptism of Christ, Pentecost, and the apostolic letters — demonstrating that the Spirit is not a force or a lesser deity but the third person of the one undivided triune God. The sermon draws on the 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 2 paragraph 3, the Nicene Creed, and a wide range of triadic New Testament texts to guard against the heresies of Sabellianism and Arianism. The congregation is called to pursue the knowledge of this triune God as the irreplaceable foundation of assurance, evangelism, and Christian perseverance.
The Meeting with the Samaritan Woman, Part 2
John 4:16–26 presents Jesus exposing a Samaritan woman's sin through the law in order to drive her to the living water of eternal life, then correcting the corrupted worship of Samaria and declaring the arrival of new covenant worship. The sermon argues that true worship of God is irreducibly Trinitarian: the Father is the object, the Son is the mediator and the truth through whom access is granted, and the Holy Spirit is the enabling power. Jesus' self-disclosure as the great I Am — the fulfillment of Exodus 3:14 and the prophetic expectation of Deuteronomy 18 — confirms that the Messiah the woman anticipated is the very one speaking to her. Hearers are called to receive the living water freely offered and to engage in the distinctly Trinitarian worship that Christ here commands.
The Testimony Concerning the Bridegroom
John 3:22–30 presents the final recorded testimony of John the Baptist in the Fourth Gospel, in which John responds to his disciples' anxious complaint that all are coming to Jesus rather than to him. John's response is structured around four declarations: the sovereignty of God governs the origin and success of every ministry; his own role was never to be the Christ but the forerunner sent before him; his joy is that of the friend of the bridegroom who delights simply to stand in the presence of the bridegroom and hear his voice; and therefore Christ must increase while he must decrease. The sermon draws out both the Christological weight of the bridegroom image — rooted in the Old Testament covenant between God and Israel and fulfilled in Christ and his church — and its practical implications for how ministers and all God's people resist pride by being increasingly occupied with Christ rather than with themselves.
The Discourse on God's Salvation, Part 1
Jesus answers Nicodemus's question — 'How can these things be?' — by pointing to three realities: his own incarnation as the one who descended from heaven, the Old Testament typology of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, and the necessity of his crucifixion as the antitype to whom sinners must look in faith. The sermon works through John 3:11–15, examining Christ's authority to speak of heavenly things, the doctrine of the hypostatic union and the communication of idioms, and the parallel between Israel's look-and-live prescription in the wilderness and saving faith in the crucified Son of Man. The application is direct: the antidote to sin is not moral reformation but faith in the lifted-up Christ, who alone secures justification and eternal life for believing sinners.
The Meeting with Nicodemus, Part 2
John 3:4–10 confronts every hearer with the absolute necessity of regeneration before any entrance into the kingdom of God. Working through Nicodemus's proud misunderstanding and Christ's patient explanation, this exposition argues that the new birth is entirely God's sovereign work — initiated by the Holy Spirit, prefigured in Ezekiel 36 and Deuteronomy 30, and entirely prior to saving faith. The sermon also draws out the Trinitarian theology embedded in Christ's wind analogy, showing that the Spirit's sovereign, effectual work in regeneration reveals who God is, not merely what He does.
The Meeting with Nicodemus
John 3:1–10 presents Jesus confronting Nicodemus — a ruler of the Sanhedrin sent by the Jerusalem religious leadership — with the doctrine of regeneration: that a man must be born again, born from above, before he can see or enter the kingdom of God. The sermon argues that the new birth is entirely a sovereign act of God Most High, not a command for the sinner to obey by his own power, and that regeneration logically precedes and produces saving faith rather than following it. Those born of God will evidence that new life through faith in Christ, a practice of righteousness, love for the brethren, and an overcoming of the world.
Bible Study - Exodus 8
Exodus 8 records the second, third, and fourth plagues against Egypt — frogs, lice, and flies — each following a recurring pattern: divine command, Pharaoh's refusal, the plague's execution, a show of compliance, and a return to hardness of heart. The plagues are not merely natural disasters but a direct assault upon the gods of Egypt, demonstrating that Yahweh alone is the true and living God in the midst of the land. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is an act of divine justice against an already guilty sinner, not arbitrary cruelty, and the distinction God draws between Goshen and Egypt anticipates the covenant blessing that separates his people from those under his wrath. The repeated failure of miracles to produce repentance in Pharaoh — even when his own magicians confess 'this is the finger of God' — establishes that new birth, not spectacle, is what makes a believer.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 3
Acts 19:21–41 records Paul's final days in Ephesus, culminating in a riot instigated by the silversmith Demetrius, whose financial interests were threatened by the gospel's advance against idolatry. The passage is examined under four headings: Paul's strategic plans for further ministry, the anger of the silversmiths rooted in profit dressed as piety and patriotism, the confused uproar in the theater, and the intervention of the city clerk whose cool legal reasoning protected the church. The exposition draws out the apologetic purpose of Luke's account — demonstrating that Roman civil authority found no legal fault with Christianity — and closes with an urgent call to forsake every idol and trust the righteousness of Christ alone.
2 Kings 12
The reign of Joash in 2 Kings 12 presents an ironic arc: a king who labours to repair the temple of the Lord ultimately strips it bare to bribe a foreign invader. This study traces the regnal formula of verses 1–3 as testimony to the faithfulness of the Davidic covenant promise of 2 Samuel 7, the mechanics and moral lessons of the temple-repair programme in verses 4–16, and the swift depletion of what was restored when Hazael threatens Jerusalem in verses 17–21. The parallel account in 2 Chronicles 24 fills out Joash's apostasy after the death of Jehoiada, underscoring that external restraint cannot produce saving faith, and that every failing king in David's line points forward to the one descendant who does not disappoint.
Dr. Steven Lawson - "How Blessed is the Man" - November 8, 2015 PM
Psalm 1 sets two paths before every person who enters the house of God: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. This exposition moves through the psalm's four movements — the pronouncement of blessing, the prerequisites for blessing, the picture of blessing, and the prohibition of blessing — arguing that the blessedness declared in verse 1 belongs exclusively to those who have been sovereignly transplanted by the new birth and who are sustained by the inexhaustible streams of divine grace. All the blessings of Psalm 1 are mediated through Christ alone: his active obedience supplies the righteousness imputed to the believer, and his atoning death reconciles the sinner to God. Hearers are called to examine whether they are on the narrow way of the righteous or the broad way of the wicked, and to sink their roots deeper into the Word of God as the primary means of sanctifying grace.
1 Samuel 6
First Samuel 6 records the return of the Ark of the Covenant from Philistine territory to Israel, exposing both the sovereignty of God over pagan nations and the terrifying holiness of God that no sinner can approach unaided. The chapter moves through the Philistines' carefully devised test, the miracle of the lowing milk cows, the judgment on the men of Beth Shemesh who looked into the Ark, and the Ark's final lodging at Kirjath-Jearim — each episode demonstrating that God will not be manipulated, conquered, or treated with casual familiarity. The central question the men of Beth Shemesh cry out — 'Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?' — is the perennial question of every soul that has truly glimpsed the majesty of God, and the sermon answers it directly: Jesus Christ alone, the mediator of the new covenant, who by his obedience, death, and resurrection brings the elect into the presence of a consuming fire.
A Lofty Confession of Faith
Thomas's refusal to believe the apostolic witness to the resurrection exposes a posture common to all people: dictating the terms by which they will believe. Yet Christ condescends with sovereign grace to meet Thomas in his obstinance, drawing from him the highest Christological confession in the fourth Gospel — 'My Lord and my God.' John's purpose in recording these events is stated explicitly: that readers would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so receive life in his name. The sermon presses every hearer to ask whether they can claim Christ with Thomas's personal possessive — 'my Lord and my God' — and warns against every attempt to negotiate terms with God before believing.
The Amazing Son of David
Matthew 12:22–23 presents a man who is demon-possessed, blind, and mute — and whom Jesus heals instantly and completely, prompting the crowd to ask whether he could be the Son of David. This sermon argues that the miracle is not merely a historical curiosity but a divinely ordered proof of Christ's messiahship and a living picture of every sinner's spiritual condition before grace: blind to God, mute in his praise, and enslaved to Satan. The exposition moves from the messianic significance of the healing, to the spiritual blindness and muteness that characterise all natural men, to the sufficiency of Christ's atoning work to deliver the most desperate of sinners. Hearers are called to come to Christ without delay, assured that no case is too hopeless for the Son of David.
The Necessity of Family Religion
Joshua 24:15 — 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord' — is not a slogan but a covenant demand that defines the believing household. This sermon expounds the husband's responsibility to lead, love, disciple, and nourish his wife after the pattern of Christ and the church in Ephesians 5, the father's responsibility to train and admonish his children without provoking them to wrath, and the subject matter that must fill family worship: the events of Sinai and, for new-covenant households, the events of Calvary. The governing disposition is sincerity and truth — a whole-soul commitment to Yahweh that is infectious to children precisely because it is genuine.
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.
The Believer's Inheritance
What does the believer's inheritance consist of, and how is it secured against every threat? Expounding 1 Peter 1:4–5, this sermon examines the three negative descriptions of the believer's heavenly inheritance — incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading — before turning to the divine preservation that guarantees the heir will actually receive it. The inheritance is secured not by the believer's own resolve but by the power of God working through the gift of faith, so that even amid persecution, trial, and the triple enmity of the devil, the world, and the flesh, the Christian presses on in confident, heavenward hope.
Be Clothed With Humility
Pride is the greatest enemy of the Christian life, and 1 Peter 5:5–11 commands believers to be clothed with humility — not as a religious technique, but as the necessary outworking of submission to the sovereign God who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The passage moves through a fourfold structure: the command to be submissive and clothed with humility (v. 5), the implication that genuine humility toward others flows only from prior submission to God (v. 6), the disposition required — casting all care upon a God who cares for his people and resisting the devil steadfast in the faith (vv. 7–9) — and the benediction that sets fleeting suffering against eternal glory in Christ (vv. 10–11). The sermon closes with practical counsel on cultivating humility: the necessity of new birth, meditation on the cross, acknowledgment of dependence on God, thankfulness, and returning glory to God at the close of each day.
A Real Savior for Real Sinners
Paul's description of the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, revilers — followed by the three-fold declaration 'you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified' — furnishes the text for five observations on the nature of the gospel. The sermon confronts self-deception about standing before God, refutes the claim that sin is genetic or environmentally determined, and sets out the biblical doctrines of regeneration, definitive sanctification, and justification by imputed righteousness as the only remedy for real sinners. The application is threefold: these truths ought to promote worship, drive evangelism, and sustain holiness in the lives of those who have been washed in Christ.
A Biblical View of Lying
The ninth commandment — 'You shall not bear false witness' — reaches far beyond the courtroom to govern every form of speech: perjury, slander, backbiting, gossip, tailbearing, and religious hypocrisy. The command is grounded in the character of God as the Lord of truth and in the practical necessity of social order, which collapses when confidence between persons is destroyed. The sermon closes by directing the hearer not to resolve moral reformation but to flee to Christ, whose sinless tongue and atoning death are the only ground on which the tongue-defiled sinner may stand.