Theological term
Sanctification
470 sermons · All terms
James 1:2-8
James 1:2–8 addresses the believer's response to trials and the request that should accompany them. The passage distinguishes trials as God-ordained testings of faith from temptations to sin, and calls believers to count such afflictions as joy because God uses them to produce endurance, maturity, and conformity to Christ. When wisdom is lacking in the midst of trial — as it invariably is — the believer is commanded to ask God, who gives liberally and without reproach to all who ask. That asking must be in faith, for the double-minded man who doubts will be unsettled, unanswered, and unstable in all his ways.
Genesis 22:1-24
Genesis 22 presents the testing of Abraham's faith as the pinnacle of the patriarch's walk with God — a command so severe that it required Abraham to march three days to Mount Moriah to offer up Isaac, the son of promise. The narrative is read as dense with typological significance: Abraham foreshadows the Father who gives his only Son, Isaac prefigures Christ who carries his own wood and submits as a willing victim, and the substitutionary ram points forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The obedience of Abraham is shown not to establish his righteousness before God but to manifest the validity of the faith already credited to him as righteousness in Genesis 15, consistent with James 2 rightly read against any Roman Catholic scheme of initial faith sustained by subsequent merit. The sermon closes with a call to faithful perseverance under trial, grounded in the confidence that God provides and that Christ has borne what no angel stayed.
The Joy of Keeping God's Law
Proverbs 29:18 sets before us two contrasting conditions: the lawlessness that follows the absence of God's revealed word, and the happiness that accompanies obedience to that word. This sermon works through the classic Reformed threefold use of the law — civil/political, pedagogical, and normative — applying the first two uses to the unbeliever and the third to the justified believer. The practical conclusion is that keeping God's law is simultaneously a consequence of justifying faith, a means of promoting assurance of salvation, and an expression of gratitude to God for sovereign grace.
The Profession of Simon Magus
Acts 8:9–13 presents a direct clash between the gospel of Jesus Christ and the sorcery of Simon Magus, who had captivated the whole population of Samaria with his claim to divine greatness. The sermon expounds two movements in the text: the comprehensive grip of false doctrine under Simon, and the liberating power of divine grace through Philip's proclamation of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Salvation comes exclusively through faith in Christ — not through a mixture of truth and magic, not through works — and believers' baptism publicly identifies the convert with the triune God while repudiating every former allegiance. The passage is set forth as a demonstration that Christ, enthroned at the right hand of the Father, must reign until all his enemies are made his footstool, which is ground for courage, prayer, and faithful gospel proclamation in every generation.
The Duties of Christian Women
Titus 2:3–5 sets forth concrete duties for older and younger women within the covenant community, grounded not in cultural expectation but in the doctrine of grace. This exposition works through the instructions Paul gives to older women — reverence in conduct, guarded speech, sobriety, and the charge to teach younger women — before examining the cluster of virtues prescribed for younger women: love for husband and children, discretion, chastity, homemaking, goodness, and submission to their own husbands. The complementarian order is defended exegetically from 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 11 and 14, and 1 Peter 3, with creation and fall established as the theological foundation rather than cultural accommodation. The gospel itself is the undergirding motive: women are not saved by fulfilling these duties, but those redeemed by the grace that appeared in Christ are equipped by that same grace to adorn the doctrine of God their Savior in every sphere of life.
Genesis 19:1-11
Genesis 19:1–11 confronts readers with the full depravity of Sodom: every inhabitant, old and young, assembles to commit sexual violence against the angelic visitors. The passage demonstrates that God's judgment upon the cities of the plain was just and righteous, because the wickedness was total and unrepentant. The study moves from the narrative to a systematic survey of the Bible's teaching on homosexuality — from the creation order in Genesis 2, through the Levitical prohibitions and Pauline condemnations in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6, to the sobering word of Christ in Matthew 11 that rejecting the gospel carries a heavier judgment than Sodom itself bore. The closing application holds out the gospel as the only genuine remedy: homosexuality is a sin like other sins, and where there is sin, there is forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Good Soldier's Incentives
What motivates a Christian to endure suffering rather than abandon the faith? Expounding 2 Timothy 2:8–13, this sermon identifies three incentives Paul sets before Timothy: the contemplation of Christ in his incarnation and resurrection, the conduct of the Apostle Paul who endured chains as a self-described evildoer for the sake of the elect, and the believer's present and future communion with Christ — dying with him, living with him, and ultimately reigning with him. The sermon closes with a sober examination of the faithful saying in verses 11–13, distinguishing the warning against apostasy from the assurance belonging to the wavering but genuine believer, and connects the Lord's Supper as a divinely appointed means of grace for sustaining the good soldier's contemplation of Christ.
Free Grace Baptist Church - April 21, 2019 PM
Ephesians 4:7–16 presents the ascended Christ as the sovereign giver of gifts to his church — gifts that are men appointed to the ministry of the Word. This exposition argues that the purpose of those gifts is not to provide an outlet for individual expression but to bring about corporate maturity, doctrinal stability, and Christlikeness among the people of God. Listeners are pressed to examine whether they genuinely value word-based ministry, hold fast to the unity of the faith, and live as model members of Christ's new-creation temple.
The Antithesis between the Upright and the Wicked
Proverbs 29:27 declares a mutual abomination between the upright and the wicked — a reality rooted not in mere personality conflict but in the God-ordained enmity of Genesis 3:15. This sermon traces that antithesis from its origin in the protoevangelium through its characteristics in Proverbs 30:11–14 (rebelliousness, self-righteousness, arrogance, and oppression), and into its New Testament confirmation in John 15 and 1 John 3. Believers are called to respond to a godless generation not with violence or character assassination, but with righteous indignation tempered by tears, faithful parental discipline, proclamation of God's law, and the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Believer's Gratitude toward God
Colossians 1:12–20 presents the believer's gratitude as an essential component of a walk worthy of the Lord — not a sentimental add-on but a theological necessity rooted in what God has actually done. Paul prays that the Colossians would be fruitful, growing, strengthened, and thankful, with gratitude serving as the lens through which sovereign grace becomes visible. This exposition works through two grounds for thanksgiving — inheritance and deliverance — before tracing the movement of Paul's prayer into the great Christological hymn of verses 15–20, where Christ as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer becomes the ultimate reason for the believer's praise. The sermon applies throughout with the exhortation to rehearse these redeemed blessings, particularly in the context of the Lord's Supper.
Free Grace Baptist Church - April 3, 2019 Bible Study
Genesis 17 presents the formal ratification of the covenant of circumcision with Abraham and his descendants, distinguished carefully from the covenant of grace revealed within it. The sermon traces the progressive enhancement of God's promises — seed, fruitfulness, kings, land, and the covenant formula 'I will be their God' — while insisting that the covenant of circumcision operates simultaneously on physical and spiritual levels without the two being conflated. Drawing on Galatians 3–5 and Nehemiah Cox, the exposition argues that to identify the covenant of circumcision with the covenant of grace is an exegetical misstep that yields infant baptism and mingles the law principle with the grace principle in a way the Apostle Paul expressly forbids.
The Inclusion of Wretches in God's Covenant
Ephesians 2:1–10 presents the full arc of redemption — from the total deadness of sinners to their gracious vivification in Christ — and this exposition traces that arc through the origin, objects, and execution of salvation. The sermon grounds the covenant of grace in the prior covenant of redemption (Ephesians 1:3–14), showing that the Father's election, the Son's redemption, and the Spirit's sealing together exclude every contribution of the sinner. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, with faith itself a gift conveyed by God to the spiritually dead — not a human instrument brought to the table that God then rewards. The exposition closes by distinguishing justification from sanctification and warning against both Roman Catholic and Federal Vision distortions of grace, anchoring the believer's final acceptance before God solely in the active and passive obedience of Christ.
The Great Commission
Christ's Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20 provides the church with her complete marching orders: go, make disciples, baptize those disciples, and teach them to observe all that Christ commanded. The authority behind the commission belongs to the risen and exalted Christ, who possesses all authority in heaven and earth; the assurance sustaining it is His promise of perpetual presence to the end of the age. The sermon treats the specific focus of the commission in sequence, defending believers' baptism by immersion as the pattern demanded by the text and the order it establishes — make disciples first, then baptize — against both baptismal regeneration and paedobaptism. The Trinitarian formula of baptism occasions an extended treatment of theology proper, including divine simplicity, impassibility, and the unity of essence in three persons, with warnings against tritheism, modalism, and subordinationism.
The Dedication of the Temple
Solomon's dedicatory prayer in 1 Kings 8:22–53 is examined as a model of theological depth and dependent petition. The prayer opens by rehearsing God's incomparability, faithfulness, transcendence, and imminence — attributes that ground every request that follows. Six petitions structured around covenant curse and restoration (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28) demonstrate that forgiveness is the central burden of the prayer, and that affliction is a designed instrument for drawing God's people back to dependence on Him. Practical applications press the congregation toward reverent worship, heart-obedience rooted in justification by Christ's righteousness alone, daily confession of sin, and confidence in God's unfailing covenant fidelity.
The Decision of the Council
Acts 5:33–42 records the Sanhedrin's decision to beat the apostles and command them to cease preaching in the name of Jesus — and the apostles' rejoicing response. This exposition works through three movements: the council's murderous fury at Peter's gospel proclamation, the qualified wisdom of Gamaliel's historical and theological arguments for restraint, and the apostles' departure rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name. The sermon calls the congregation to a readiness for persecution that mirrors the apostles', grounded not in stoic resolve but in the altogether loveliness of Christ who is chief among ten thousand.
James 1:2-8
James 1:2–8 addresses two inseparable realities in the Christian life: the believer's response to trials and the believer's request during trials. Trials are not anomalies but expected instruments of divine sanctification — God's means of producing endurance, maturity, and conformity to the image of Christ. When wisdom is lacking in the midst of affliction, the prescribed remedy is not complaint but prayer, offered in faith to a God who gives liberally and without reproach. The double-minded man who doubts will be unsettled, unanswered, and unstable — a sobering warning to approach God with single-minded faith.
The Riches and the Poverty of Christ
Second Corinthians 8:9 packs a vast Christology into a single verse: the eternal Son, rich as the second person of the Trinity and agent of creation and providence, became poor through incarnation, a life of rejection, and death on the cross — not by divesting himself of deity (kenosis is rejected), but by addition, taking on humanity while remaining fully God. The hypostatic union — one person, two natures — is shown to be not academic abstraction but the doctrinal foundation that motivates Christian liberality and sustains joy. Believers are called to count their spiritual riches: justification, sanctification, and glorification secured by Christ's poverty, all received by grace through faith.
Liberty and Law
Galatians 5:1–15 presents the Pauline application of justification by faith alone: those whom Christ has liberated from the law's curse must stand fast in that freedom rather than entangle themselves again in the yoke of legal works-righteousness. The sermon works through two headings — the liberty of Christ (vv. 1–6) and the law of love (vv. 7–15) — showing that true Christian liberty is neither license for sin nor grounds for adding human merit to Christ's finished work. Justified believers are called to a gospel holiness expressed through love of God and neighbor, lived out by the Spirit in dependence on Christ's imputed righteousness alone.
Bond or Free
Galatians 4:21–31 presents the contrast between Hagar and Sarah as Paul's climactic illustration of the two mutually exclusive ways of standing before God: righteousness by law-keeping and righteousness by faith. Working through the passage under three headings — the illustration described, explained, and applied — the sermon argues that the Judaizers' demand for circumcision and law-observance is a return to the bondage of Mount Sinai, while all who believe in Christ belong to the Jerusalem above, the free woman, born of promise through the Spirit. Listeners are warned against the perpetual temptation to add anything to justification by faith alone, and are called to stand fast in the liberty Christ has secured for his people.
The Divine Provision of Eternal Life
Isaiah 55 presents God's gracious and urgent invitation to sinners to receive the fullness of salvation — the refreshment, gladness, and nourishment of the gospel — entirely without cost, because the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 has already satisfied the purchase price. The sermon expounds the chapter in two movements: the invitation to come (vv. 1–5), grounded in the new covenant and secured by the Davidic king, and the call to faith and repentance (vv. 6–13), sustained by the sovereign power of God's Word. Believers are urged to treasure the abundance of every spiritual blessing already given in Christ, and unbelievers are warned not to squander their lives on what cannot satisfy while the Lord may yet be found.
The Unity and Charity in the Church
Acts 4:32–37 presents Luke's summary portrait of the early Jerusalem church under three headings: its unity, its apostolic instruction, and its generosity. The sermon argues that the voluntary, cheerful sharing of material resources among the believers was not a social programme but the fruit of gospel preaching — the apostles' witness to the resurrection of Christ produced the grace that moved God's people to give. Crucially, the passage grounds charity in justification: the people of God are not charitable in order to be saved, but because they have been saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. Hearers are called to examine whether their own generosity reflects the one-heartedness that true faith produces, and to resist any reduction of Christian giving to state-coerced redistribution or voluntary moralism divorced from the gospel.
Reasons to Thank God
Psalm 103 summons the soul to deliberate, comprehensive praise — not as a once-yearly exercise but as the daily discipline of the redeemed. Working through David's three-part structure (the reminder to bless God, the reasons to bless God, and the exhortation to bless God), this exposition traces the spiritual and temporal gifts catalogued in the psalm, dwelling especially on the infinite, thorough, tender, sympathetic, and enduring character of divine mercy. The sermon warns that forgetfulness of God's benefits — as Deuteronomy repeatedly demonstrates — is the seedbed of apostasy, and it closes with a call to find in the cross of Christ the only sure foundation for a life of grateful blessing.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 30, 2018 PM
Psalm 143 confronts the fundamental problem of human unrighteousness: in God's sight no one living is righteous, and David's only refuge is not his own covenant faithfulness but God's righteousness, faithfulness, and hesed. The sermon traces David's two movements — his appeal to God's righteousness in the face of a crushed soul (vv. 1–6) and his petitions for God's guidance as a troubled servant (vv. 7–12) — showing that both sections keep the focus relentlessly on who God is rather than on the psalmist's circumstances. Luther's description of Psalm 143 as a Pauline psalm is vindicated by Paul's verbal allusion in Romans 3:20, where the same confession that no flesh is justified by works of the law becomes the pivot to the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon calls believers to let their prayers be preoccupied with God's character and Christ's imputed righteousness rather than their own merit, and invites the unbeliever to look to Christ for a righteousness entirely outside themselves.
Genesis 7:1-24
Genesis 7 records the command to enter the ark and the arrival of the floodwaters — a worldwide, catastrophic judgment of God upon all flesh outside the ark, and a sovereign act of divine preservation for Noah and his household. The flood is not myth or moral fable but datable history, rooted in the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15: God preserves the seed of the woman so that Messiah may come. Noah's righteousness did not merit God's grace; rather, grace preceded and produced the faith that issued in obedience, with justification preceding sanctification — a pattern consistent throughout both Testaments. The ark stands as a type of Christ, the refuge for all of God's Noahs, and the passage calls believers to the same costly, faithful obedience Noah displayed in a faithless world.
Our Response to Our Shepherd
Psalm 23 sets before the believer not merely a catalogue of divine blessings but a model of how those blessings ought to shape the believer's whole inner and outer life. Drawing from David's own experiential response to his blessedness, this exposition identifies four corresponding responses the Lord's sheep must cultivate: strong confidence in God amid every trial and dark valley, active praise that declares truth about God with joy and adoration, genuine delight in God's presence expressed in real fellowship with him, and obedient following in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The sermon closes with a direct call to the unconverted to come to their senses and trust the Good Shepherd who laid down his life to rescue, forgive, and transform sinners.
The Wisdom of Little Things
Proverbs 30:24–28 presents four creatures — the ant, the rock badger, the locust, and the spider — each marked by a specific weakness yet compensating for it with exceeding wisdom. The sermon argues that God instructs his people through the created order, calling them to self-awareness of their own limitations and to the cultivation of corresponding wisdom: industry, caution, unity, and persistence. These virtues apply both to temporal life and to the eternal — preparing for judgment, fleeing temptation by hiding in Christ the Rock, advancing together under his kingship, and persisting in grace after failure. The unconverted are pressed to prepare for the coming day of God's judgment while the summer of opportunity remains.
The Apostolic Address to the Council
Peter's address to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:5–12 is examined under three headings: the declaration of the name of Jesus Christ as the power behind the healing of the lame man, the prophetic witness drawn from Psalm 118:22, and the exclusive sufficiency of that name for salvation. The sermon argues that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, does not merely defend himself before the council but effectively places his persecutors on trial, indicting them for rejecting the chief cornerstone while simultaneously holding out the gospel to them. The exclusivity of Christ as the only name under heaven given for salvation is pressed against religious pluralism and any notion that sinners must achieve moral readiness before coming to Christ — the call is simply to hear and believe.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 2, 2018 PM
The wisdom of God in the gospel is displayed not in the nobility, intelligence, or virtue of those he saves, but in his sovereign, gracious election of the weak, the base, and the despised — so that no flesh might glory in his presence. Expounding 1 Corinthians 1:26–31, this sermon identifies the three spiritual blessings Christ has become for his people — righteousness (justification by imputed obedience), sanctification, and redemption (glorification) — as the full ordo salutis secured in union with Christ. The ground of salvation is traced through Romans 5, Philippians 3, Zechariah 3, and Acts 13 to demonstrate that the entire plan of redemption flows from God's sovereign grace, not human merit. The inevitable and proper response of those who have received these blessings is to glory in the Lord alone, not in themselves.
Psalm 34: Praise, Deliverance, and the Fear of the Lord
Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem written by David to commemorate a low and shameful moment — his feigned madness before Abimelech recorded in 1 Samuel 21 — yet David weaves none of his own disgrace into the psalm, choosing instead to erect a memorial to God's mercy alone. The sermon works verse by verse through the psalm's two major divisions: verses 1–10, a hymn in which David praises God and exhorts the godly to constancy in faith, and verses 11–22, a sermon addressed to the people of God on how to live before the Lord. The central pastoral burden is that God's redeemed children, whatever the difficulty of their present circumstances, have every reason to bless the Lord at all times, cry to Him in their troubles, and rest assured that none who trust in Him shall ever be condemned.
Is Your Faith a Borrowed Faith?
The narrative of Joash in 2 Chronicles 24 raises a searching question for every professing believer: is your faith genuinely your own, or have you been living on the borrowed spiritual capital of a godly mentor? Conrad Mbewe traces three lessons from the passage — the providential gift of godly role models, the dangerous possibility of a faith that is merely reflected rather than rooted, and the grace of God that erects barriers of conscience and prophetic warning along the road of unbelief. The sermon closes with a direct appeal: while godly influences remain within reach, now is the moment to examine whether your faith is a living reality wrought by the Spirit through regeneration, and if not, to come to Christ with all your brokenness.