Theological term
Sola Fide
279 sermons · All terms
The Judgment Seat of Christ
Matthew 7:21–23 confronts the reader with Christ's own words at the final judgment: 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.' The sermon argues that this passage is not a call to more good works but a stark exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith alone — the false professors are condemned not for lack of works but for resting upon their works as the ground of their acceptance with God. Self-righteousness is identified as a species of lawlessness, as damning as any gross immorality. The believer's only refuge is the doing, dying, and rising of Christ, received by faith alone, and it is to Christ — not to personal performance — that all assurance must be anchored.
The Feast of Tabernacles, Part 2
John 7:14–24 presents two confrontations: the Jews question Christ's authority, and Christ in turn questions the Jews' ethical integrity. The sermon works through three grounds of Christ's authority—his unity with the Father, the regenerate hearer's capacity to receive his word, and his mission to glorify the Father rather than himself—before turning to Christ's indictment of the Jews for plotting murder while professing fidelity to the Mosaic law. The exposition closes with Christ's appeal to righteous judgment over mere appearance, and the preacher applies the whole passage as a call to sinners to come and drink from the one who alone satisfies the soul's thirst.
2LCF Chapter 16 - Of Good Works, Part 1
Good works in the Christian life must be carefully defined, grounded, and distinguished from every meritorious scheme if the glory of Christ is to be preserved. This study of 2nd London Baptist Confession chapter 16 works through the definition of good works (their substance, manner, and definitive character as fruits and evidences of a lively faith), the necessary foundation of good works in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, and the non-meritorious nature of good works as plainly asserted in Romans 3 and Galatians 2. The central burden is that no work of the creature — however sincere, however commanded — can merit pardon of sin or eternal life before God, because the only works that avail with divine justice are the active and passive obedience of Christ alone imputed to the believer by faith.
The Conversion of Rahab the Harlot
Joshua 2 presents the conversion of Rahab the harlot as a sovereign interruption of divine mercy within the context of holy war and Israelite conquest. Before Israel kills a single Canaanite, the narrative compels the reader to stand in awe of a God who justifies a pagan prostitute by grace through faith alone — faith that is demonstrated by treason against Jericho and the sheltering of two spies. Rahab's confession that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on earth beneath places her alongside the great confessions of Scripture, and her inclusion in the Messianic genealogy of Matthew 1 reveals that the conquest was always inseparable from the redemptive purposes of God. The sermon calls hearers to resist self-righteous judgmentalism, to trust in a Christ who saves to the uttermost, and to marvel that the ancestress of Jesus was the shady lady of Jericho.
The Call for Christian Growth
Unrepentant sin and a failure to desire the Word of God are the chief hindrances to Christian growth — and that growth is not merely a personal blessing but a corporate responsibility. Working through 1 Peter 2:1–5, this sermon argues that believers are living stones being built into a spiritual house, and that weak, doctrinally shallow Christians produce a structurally unsound church. The exhortation is concrete: mortify the sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander; cultivate an insatiable hunger for the pure milk of the Word; and do so knowing that justification rests on faith alone while sanctification calls every believer to steady, disciplined growth.
The Reaction to the Bread of Life Discourse
John 6:60–71 presents the sharpest crisis of Jesus's Bread of Life discourse: the mass departure of superficial disciples and the steadfast confession of the Twelve. This sermon traces three interrelated truths in Jesus's response — the life-giving Spirit as the sole agent of spiritual understanding, total depravity as the explanation for unbelief, and the sovereign grace of the Father as both the cause of faith and the ground of its perseverance. The application presses the church not to soften biblical truth before a resistant generation, but to press it, trusting that the Spirit alone opens the hearts of the dead to receive the words of eternal life.
The Apostle's Prayer for the Ephesians, Part 1
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:15–18 opens a window into apostolic intercession and its theological priorities. The sermon expounds the occasion of Paul's prayer — rooted in the Ephesians' justifying faith and the love that necessarily flows from it — and the content of his first two petitions: that God would give the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that the saints would know the hope of God's effectual calling and the riches of the glory of their coming inheritance. Sovereign grace underlies both: the eyes of the Ephesians' understanding had already been enlightened by God at conversion, and Paul's prayer builds on that accomplished work toward ongoing sanctification. The sermon calls believers to reshape their prayer lives after the apostolic pattern, prioritizing growth in the knowledge of God above all other petitions.
The Bread of Life Discourse, Part 4
John 6:48–59 brings the Bread of Life discourse to its conclusion, with Christ pressing upon unbelieving hearers the absolute necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood — a sustained metaphor for saving faith in His atoning sacrifice. The sermon demonstrates that this language is not eucharistic or literal but is the equivalent of coming to, receiving, and believing on Christ as the one who gives His flesh for the life of the world. The exposition draws out five doctrines of grace embedded in the discourse — total depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, irresistible grace, and the preservation of the saints — and closes by tracing the glory of Christ seen in the incarnation, His power to save, His divine origin, and His patient mercy in repeating the same call to faith before a rejecting audience.
2LCF Chapter 11 - Of Justification, Part 1
What does it mean to be justified before a holy God, and on what basis does that standing rest? This confession study works through paragraphs one and two of Chapter 11 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, examining the forensic nature of justification against both Roman Catholic infused righteousness and Baxterian neonomianism. The twin foundations of justification are established: the pardon of sins through Christ's passive obedience and the imputation of righteousness through his active obedience, both received by faith alone as a gift of God. The lecture closes by showing that justifying faith, though the sole instrument of justification, is never alone in the person justified but is always accompanied by sanctification.
The Bread of Life Discourse, Part 1
John 6:22–34 records the opening exchange of the bread of life discourse, in which Jesus confronts a crowd whose pursuit of Him is driven entirely by physical appetite rather than spiritual need. The sermon works through three movements: the exposed motive of the people (vv. 22–26), the Savior's exhortation to labor for food that endures to everlasting life (vv. 27–29), and the crowd's demand for a sign to rival Moses (vv. 30–34). Central to the exposition is Jesus' declaration that the 'work of God' is faith in the One the Father has sent — a faith that is itself God's gift — and His identification of Himself as the true bread of God who comes down from heaven to give life to the world, surpassing the manna of the wilderness and extending to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
The Prophet's Faith in a Time of Distress
Habakkuk 3 presents the prophet's response to the announced Babylonian invasion of Judah: not despair, but a structured movement from fearful petition through deliberate theological remembrance to confident refuge in God. The sermon traces three movements in the psalm — petition, remembrance of God's acts in redemptive history, and refuge — arguing that a perplexed faith steadies itself not by self-reflection but by rehearsing who God is and what He has done. The doctrine of justification by faith (Habakkuk 2:4), appropriated in the New Testament, is shown here in its practical dimension: the just do not merely begin by faith but continue to live and persevere by it through every extremity. The congregation is called to imitate the prophet by building their own 'collage' of God's mighty works in Scripture, thereby finding rest, joy, and stability in God alone when earthly supports fail.
The Depravity of Man
Romans 1:18–32 presents the universal human condition as one of willful suppression of God's self-disclosure in creation, resulting in inexcusability before a holy God. The sermon traces three movements in the passage: the revelation of divine wrath, the reason for that wrath in humanity's idolatrous exchange of the Creator for the creature, and the nature of God's judgment as a punitive giving-over of sinners to the very sins they pursued. The sermon argues that the preaching of the law — including the full weight of human depravity — is indispensable to the proclamation of the gospel, because sinners must understand their ruin before they will look to the remedy of blood atonement in Christ alone.
The Seventh Commandment
The seventh commandment, 'You shall not commit adultery' (Deuteronomy 5:18), governs not merely the act of adultery but the full range of sexual conduct God defines in Scripture. Preached against the backdrop of Canada's Bill C-4, this sermon grounds sexual ethics in the creation order of Genesis 2, expounds twelve prohibited acts — from adultery and fornication through homosexuality, transgenderism, and pornography — and confronts the state's attempt to criminalise biblical teaching on sexuality. The law is preached so that sinners will see their need for Christ, whose blood alone washes, sanctifies, and justifies those who come to Him in faith.
The Savior of the World
John 4:27–42 traces three interlocking movements — the Samaritan woman's testimony, Christ's teaching on the harvest, and the Samaritans' confession that He is the Savior of the world — to argue that Christ's saving work crosses every ethnic and religious boundary without exception. The passage exposes the active and passive obedience of Christ as the twin grounds of justification: His perfect compliance with the law of God and His atoning death together constitute the righteousness sinners receive by faith alone. The Samaritans' declaration in verse 42 is not merely a first-century curiosity but a standing gospel call — Christ is the Savior of the world, and all who hear are summoned to come and see Him.
The Meeting with the Samaritan Woman, Part 1
John 4:1–15 presents Jesus passing through Samaria not merely as a geographical necessity but as a divine appointment rooted in his mission to save sinners without distinction of race, sex, or moral standing. The sermon examines the two natures of Christ as the theological ground for understanding why Jesus is both weary at the well according to his humanity and omnisciently aware of the woman's sin according to his divinity. The offer of living water is traced through its Old Testament antecedents — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah — and shown to signify the whole grace of salvation freely given, not earned, and never revoked. Hearers are pressed to see in the Samaritan woman's partial interest an indictment of those who have heard the gospel repeatedly yet remain indifferent, and are called to cry out to Christ for the living water he is willing to give.
The Discourse on God's Salvation, Part 3
John 3:17–21 declares that the Son of Man's incarnation was a redemptive, not a condemnatory, mission — yet the world He entered was already under condemnation by virtue of Adam's sin and its own actual transgressions. The passage moves from the declaration of man's condemned state (vv. 17–18) to the demonstration of it (vv. 19–21): fallen humanity resists the light of Christ, loves moral darkness, and avoids exposure — the classic scriptural portrait of total depravity confirmed across Genesis, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament. The necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit follows directly: because sinners are constitutionally hostile to the light, they cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit first makes them alive and grants the graces of faith and repentance.
The Crucifixion of Jesus, Part 3
Matthew 27:45–46 records the fourth of Christ's seven words from the cross — the cry of dereliction, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' — and its interpretation demands both exegetical precision and doctrinal care. The darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour was not a solar eclipse but a supernatural sign of divine judgment, recapitulating the ninth plague pattern and marking the moment the Passover antitype was slain. The cry itself does not imply any ontological division within the Trinity, any dissolution of the hypostatic union, or the suffering of all three persons; rather, it expresses the withdrawal of divine consolation from the Son according to his true humanity as he bore, in our place as surety, the full weight of penal wrath. Believers are called to ground their assurance not in felt divine presence but in the covenant faithfulness of the God to whom Christ still cried 'my God' even in the depth of his substitutionary suffering.
The Crucifixion of Jesus, Part 2
Matthew 27:39–44 records the threefold mockery of Christ on the cross — by passing bystanders, by the chief priests and scribes, and by the robbers crucified alongside him. Each taunt — that he could not save himself, that his kingship was fraudulent, that his claim to divine sonship was false — is shown to be an ironic confirmation of the very things the mockers deny: Christ's identity as temple builder, King of Israel, and Son of God. His refusal to descend from the cross is not weakness but the perfect obedience of the covenant of redemption, the very means by which he saves his people from their sins. The sermon closes with the conversion of the penitent thief as a trophy of sovereign grace and an argument for faith in a willing Savior.
The Pharisee and the Publican
This exposition of Luke 18:9–14 examines the parable of the Pharisee and the publican as a penetrating diagnosis of self-righteousness and a declaration of justification by faith alone. The sermon works through the occasion of the parable, the contrasted characters of the two men, and Christ's concluding verdict that the tax collector — not the Pharisee — went home justified. The central contention is that acceptance before God rests entirely on the imputed righteousness of Christ received through faith, not on any moral performance or religious accomplishment, and that those who understand this will be marked by humility rather than contempt toward others.
The Incarnation of the Word, Part 1
John 1:14 — 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us' — is the hinge on which all Christian theology turns. This exposition works through the identification, the incarnation proper, and the indwelling presence of the Word, establishing that the eternal Son assumed a true human nature (body and soul) without ceasing to be the second person of the Trinity — the doctrine the church confesses as the hypostatic union. The sermon draws on the active and passive obedience of Christ to show that the incarnation was not primarily exemplary but redemptive: the Word took flesh to render the perfect obedience sinners owe and to shed the blood that purchases their forgiveness. Hearers are pressed to see Christ not only as Redeemer but as reigning King, and the unbeliever is called to receive, by faith alone, that righteousness which comes from God.
The Divinity of the Word, Part 2
John 1:3–5 teaches that the eternal Word is the creator of all things, establishing Christ unmistakably on the divine side of the creator-creature distinction. The sermon works through the Trinitarian doctrines of inseparable operations and appropriations, showing from Genesis 1, Psalm 33, Job 26, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1 that creation is the undivided act of the one God, yet scripture distinctively attributes it to the Son. Because Jesus is creator, sustainer, and enthroned Lord, his people need not be paralyzed by circumstance — and the darkness, however violently it resists the light, cannot overcome it.
The Ethics of Motherhood
Titus 2:3–5 sets older women in the church as instructors of younger women in the domestic virtues that honor the created order and adorn the doctrine of God. Against a cultural moment that treats the word 'mother' as offensive and obliterates God-wrought gender distinction, the passage calls women to love husbands and children, to exercise discretion, chastity, and diligence in the home, and to submit to their own husbands — not as cultural accommodation but as a reflection of the eternal created order grounded in Genesis and reaffirmed by Christ's redemption. The overarching rationale Paul supplies is theological: the conduct of women in household and church either blasphemes or adorns the Word of God before a watching world. The sermon closes by grounding every duty in grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, warning that no degree of faithful motherhood constitutes grounds for justification.
The Gospel and Jerusalem Sinners
Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:22–42 presents the gospel as an objective message focused on the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus Christ — not a feeling or a personal response. This exposition works through Peter's call to repentance and baptism, the nature of imputed righteousness received by faith alone, and the sovereign scope of God's grace that reaches even the murderers of Christ. The sermon closes with the practice of the early church — steadfast continuance in apostolic doctrine, fellowship, the Lord's Supper, and prayer — as the pattern for all who are genuinely saved by grace.
All Of Christ For Justification
Philippians 3:1–9 presents the apostle Paul's radical revaluation of every religious credential he possessed, moving them all from the gain column to the loss column so that Christ alone might occupy the place of righteousness before God. This sermon expounds what it means to have no confidence in the flesh: that justification rests on Christ's perfect active obedience imputed to the believer, not on any combination of works, faith, and sincere effort. The loss column of sin is dealt with equally fully — Christ bearing the certificate of debt and nailing it to the cross, cancelling the debt in its entirety. Hearers are called to count all self-generated merit as rubbish and to rest, passively and completely, in Christ's righteousness received through faith alone.
Excerpt: One insurrectionist saved, so that no sinner might despair
The dying thief on the cross confessed Christ as Lord not amid miracles and abundance but amid gore, agony, and apparent defeat — which is why Calvin called it the most remarkable example of faith since the creation of the world. This sermon examines the thief's faith in its two inseparable dimensions: seeing Jesus as the Lord who possesses a kingdom even from the cross, and casting himself upon the mercy of Christ rather than resting on any work, righteousness, church attendance, or catechetical knowledge. Justification is by faith alone in the suffering Savior, and the gospel is good news precisely because God demands nothing from the sinner but that he look and live.
The Ministry of Apollos
Acts 18:24–28 introduces Apollos of Alexandria as a case study in what faithful gospel ministry requires. Six marks characterize this man — eloquence grounded in scriptural mastery, accurate instruction in the way of the Lord, fervency of spirit governed by knowledge, precise teaching, bold proclamation, and humble openness to correction — and these same marks should shape the church's prayers for and training of men for public ministry. Luke's phrase 'believed through grace' discloses the ordo salutis: saving faith is itself the gift of God's sovereign grace to dead sinners. The sermon closes by pressing both the need for trained, bold preachers and the equally urgent need for obedient hearers, applying the gospel of justification by faith alone to any who have not yet come to Christ.
The Lord's Instruction on Prayer
Matthew 6:5–13 contains Jesus' instruction on three aspects of prayer that the disciples must get right: the motivation that drives them to the closet, the manner they adopt when they arrive, and the model that frames their petitions. The sermon works through each in turn, contrasting godly prayer with the exhibitionism of the hypocrite and the manipulative vain repetition of the heathen — illustrated at length from the contest on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18. It closes with eight reasons why the sovereignty of God, far from making prayer unnecessary, is the very ground on which the believer brings every petition in faith.
The Second Missionary Journey, Part 9
Acts 18:12–28 traces the close of Paul's second missionary journey through three episodes: his trial before the Roman proconsul Gallio, his departure from Corinth back to Antioch, and a preview of the Alexandrian Jewish teacher Apollos. The exposition treats Gallio's dismissal of the Jewish charge against Paul as a model of properly bounded civil authority — punishing wrongdoing, not regulating theology — while also exposing Gallio's failure to protect Sosthenes as a departure from impartial justice. Paul's continued residence in Corinth after the hearing illustrates faith in the sustaining promises of Christ, and the sermon closes with a call to pray for faithful gospel preachers and an obedient people who respond to their ministry.
The Instruction of the Church, Part 2
Titus 2:6–10 addresses young men, Titus himself as minister, and bondservants, calling each group to a specific pattern of conduct grounded in the gospel. Young men are summoned to comprehensive self-control, while Titus is charged to exemplify good works and to teach with integrity, gravity, and incorruptible soundness — precisely so that opponents are silenced and put to shame. Bondservants are exhorted to willing obedience, pleasing service, honest fidelity, and freedom from back-talk or pilfering. The overarching motive uniting every group is that their conduct may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior — not earn salvation, which rests solely on the redemptive work of Christ received through faith alone.
The Council at Jerusalem, Part 2
The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 confronts the Judaizing error that Gentile salvation requires circumcision and law-keeping in addition to faith in Christ. Drawing on Peter's testimony in Acts 15:6–12 and its grounding in the Cornelius episode of Acts 10, the sermon argues that God himself made no distinction between Jew and Gentile, purifying hearts by faith alone — making any human addition to the gospel a direct testing of God. Faith is shown to be the empty hand that receives Christ's righteousness, not a virtue that earns it, and the church is called to guard the law-free gospel against every cultural or ecclesiastical supplement that would corrupt it.