Theological term
Ordination
11 sermons · All terms
The Qualifications for Elders, Part 4
The qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3:2 include a single gift amid a catalog of virtues: the ability to teach. This sermon examines what that aptness to teach requires — a thorough knowledge of Scripture, sound theology, and historical doctrine — and then surveys the apostolic theology of preaching from Romans 10, 1 Corinthians 1, and 2 Timothy 4, demonstrating that faithful preaching is the ordained means by which Christ Himself speaks to His people and faith is produced. The sermon concludes by calling the church to pray for, examine, and install biblically qualified men who will convince, rebuke, and exhort with longsuffering, unashamed before God rather than men.
The 2nd Census, Inheritance Laws, and Succession
Numbers 26–27 records the second census of Israel and two consequential legal rulings issued on the plains of Moab as the nation prepares to enter Canaan. The census serves a dual purpose: numbering able-bodied fighting men for the conquest and apportioning the land by tribal size, fulfilling the judgment pronounced in Numbers 14 that the entire first generation — save Caleb and Joshua — would die in the wilderness. The inheritance case of Zelophehad's daughters establishes precedent-setting case law affirming that land inheritance passes to daughters when no son exists, with typological significance pointing forward to equal inheritance in Christ (Galatians 3:26–29). The appointment and public ordination of Joshua as Moses' successor reveals both Moses' pastoral heart for the flock and the continuity of Spirit-empowered leadership necessary for the conquest.
The Conduct of a Faithful Minister
Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12–16 sets forth the pattern for every faithful gospel minister: exemplary character, diligent public ministry, ongoing personal growth, and tenacious perseverance to the end. Preached at an ordination service for a newly commissioned pastor, this exposition works through each element of the apostle's command — from the six spheres of a minister's example (word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, purity) to the three pillars of public ministry (reading, exhortation, doctrine). The sermon insists that Christian virtue, however admirable, cannot save souls; it is the word of God, proclaimed boldly and accurately, that the Spirit uses as the instrument of salvation. The congregation is charged alongside the minister: receive the word with joy, reject heresy, prize the public means of grace, and honour those who watch for your souls.
The Qualifications of Elders, Part 3
What qualifies a man for the office of elder extends far beyond his pulpit gifts — Paul's requirements in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 encompass his household, his maturity in the faith, and his standing before outsiders. This third installment in an expository series on elder qualifications examines three remaining criteria: the man's domestic faithfulness (ruling his wife and children well), his experience in the faith (not a novice), and his testimony among those outside the church. The sermon draws on Ephesians 5–6, Titus 1, Proverbs, and Spurgeon's 'Lectures to My Students' to show that these qualifications protect both the church and the man being considered for ministry.
The Appointment of the Seven
Acts 6:1–7 presents the early Jerusalem church navigating a threat not of persecution or corruption but of distraction — the risk of the apostles being pulled from prayer and the ministry of the Word to adjudicate a dispute over the daily distribution to widows. The passage reveals two offices in the church, each with distinct responsibilities: those called to preach and pray, and those appointed to serve. The sermon traces the problem, the apostles' proposal of qualified men to oversee the practical need, and the resulting provision — a gospel that spreads and even inveterate priestly enemies who are overcome by efficacious grace.
The Conduct of a Faithful Minister
What does faithful gospel ministry look like in practice? Expounding 1 Timothy 4:12–16 at an ordination service, this sermon works through four apostolic charges Paul lays on Timothy: the minister must be an example to the flock in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity; he must give sustained public attention to Scripture reading, exhortation, and doctrine; he must meditate on these things and give himself entirely to personal growth in godliness; and he must persevere in both personal holiness and sound doctrine, because the stakes of gospel ministry extend to the eternal welfare of those who hear. The sermon closes with a direct charge to the ordinand and to the congregation forming a new church plant, and with an evangelistic appeal grounding the seriousness of the gospel ministry in God's concern to save sinners through it.
Free Grace Baptist Church - November 19, 2017 AM
Preached at the ordination of a new elder, this exposition of 1 Timothy 4:12–16 sets forth four charges Paul lays upon Timothy as a faithful minister of the gospel: the minister's example in life and conduct, his public ministry of reading, exhortation, and doctrine, his personal growth through devoted meditation on apostolic truth, and his perseverance in both personal holiness and sound doctrine. The sermon insists that ministers are made by God and vetted by the church, not self-appointed, and that the gravity of the office lies in this: faithful gospel ministry is the ordained means by which God saves sinners and sanctifies his people. The congregation is charged to receive the gift of an ordained minister with joy, to prize the public means of grace, and to reject heresy with earnestness alongside their pastor.
2LCF Chapter 26 - Of the Church
The doctrine of the church, ecclesiology, is inseparable from every other locus of Christian theology: the doctrine of God, Scripture, Christ, and salvation all converge in what the church is and how it is ordered. This session walks through all fifteen paragraphs of 2LCF Chapter 26, tracing a threefold outline — the universal (Catholic) church, Christ as sole head, and the local church — while marking the distinctives of Baptist ecclesiology over against Presbyterian and Episcopalian forms. The governing conviction throughout is that the church is constituted by believers alone, is called and preserved by Christ through Word and Spirit, and is ordered by his appointment for mutual edification, the due administration of ordinances, and the proclamation of the gospel to the world.
The Duties Toward Elders: Ordination
Careful, unhurried ordination is not a bureaucratic nicety but a biblical obligation: 1 Timothy 5:22–25 commands the church to refuse hasty laying on of hands, because careless ordination makes the ordaining elders accessories to whatever sins an unvetted man brings into the office. The sermon works through four considerations under the prohibition against hastiness — the connection with prior discipline, the nature of the laying on of hands, the danger of implicating oneself in another's sin, and a parenthetic qualification on Timothy's abstinence from wine — before turning to God's providential coordination with the church's diligent use of means in vetting elders. The governing application is that the church must be ruled by the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1–7, not by felt need, public opinion, or subjective impulse, trusting that patient obedience to the prescribed process allows God's providence to make evident both the sins and the good works of men being considered for office.
The Duties Toward Elders: Honor
The church's duty to honor elders who rule well, as commanded in 1 Timothy 5:17–18, centers on financial remuneration — not merely esteem or respect. The sermon establishes that 'double honor' carries the same economic weight as 'honor' in 1 Timothy 5:3 (the support of widows), and that the laboring elder who works hard in the Word and doctrine has a legitimate claim on the church's material provision. Paul seals the command with a double appeal to Scripture — Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7 — demonstrating canon-consciousness in the early church and the co-equal authority of Old and New Testament texts. The congregation is called to count itself blessed when God grants it men who preach faithfully, to honor them materially and with esteem, and to see their ministry as a divinely ordained means for the salvation of sinners.
The Place of Preaching in Biblical Revival
What role does preaching occupy in God's ordinary means of grace, and why does biblical revival depend upon it? This sermon works through 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5, Romans 10:14–17, and 2 Timothy 4:1–6 to argue that God has been sovereignly pleased to appoint the foolishness of preaching as the primary instrument by which He saves sinners and revives His people. Three observations from 1 Corinthians 1 anchor the exposition: preaching pleases God, preaching does not please men, and yet preachers preach nevertheless. The closing application warns against despising ordinary, faithful ministry in favour of extraordinary revival, and calls the unconverted to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.