Theological term
Transubstantiation
35 sermons · All terms
Of God and the Holy Trinity (2LCF 2.1-3)
What does it mean to confess that the Lord our God is but one only living and true God, infinite in being and perfection? This session opens a multi-week study of 2nd London Baptist Confession chapter 2, introducing the doctrine of God (theology proper) with attention to divine singularity (Christian monotheism against polytheism, monolatry, and tritheism) and the three divine omniperfections, treating omnipotence in particular depth. Five interpretive cautions frame the study: the ontological chasm between Creator and creature, the legitimacy of biblical speculation, the revelatory condescension of God in anthropomorphic language, the necessity of reading any text in light of the whole canon, and the call to sustained mental exertion in theological study.
The High Priest of the New Covenant
Hebrews 7:20–28 presents Jesus Christ as the high priest of the new covenant who surpasses the entire Levitical order in three decisive respects: his appointment by divine oath rather than tribal descent, his permanent and unchangeable priesthood grounded in an endless life, and his sinless character and once-for-all self-offering. The sermon expounds why Christ's eternal intercession and definitive sacrifice leave nothing undone for the salvation of his people, pressing these doctrines as the ground of perseverance against every temptation to seek completeness elsewhere.
Proclaiming, Recollecting, Redeemed, Satisfied
Psalm 107:1–9, 43 calls the redeemed to give thanks to God whose mercy endures forever, and this sermon expounds that call under three overlapping movements: proclamation, recollection, and satisfaction. Christians are a verbal people who declare the praises of their Redeemer (1 Pet. 2:9), a recollecting people who survey redemptive history with 'historical retrospect,' and a people whose every hunger and thirst is wholly and finally satisfied in Christ alone. The sermon is preached in the context of the Lord's Supper, whose dual function — proclaiming Christ's death and remembering his atoning work — runs as a thread through each point. The closing summons addresses the unconverted directly: wisdom is found not in the passing pleasures of sin but in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Messiah
John 4:26 records Jesus declaring to the Samaritan woman, 'I am he' — the divine name of Exodus 3, applied to himself. This sermon surveys the 'I am' sayings of John's Gospel, beginning with the absolute uses (John 6:20; 8:58; 18:5-6) and then moving through the seven predicate 'I am' statements, in which Jesus identifies himself as the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way and the truth and the life, and the true vine. The covenant name Yahweh — eternal, independent, and gracious to his people — is the interpretive key to every claim. The sermon presses hearers to look from self to Christ in faith, and concludes as the congregation prepares to receive the Lord's Supper.
Supping on Betrayal Night
Matthew 26:26–30 records the institution of the Lord's Supper within the Passover meal — a setting charged with typological significance, since Christ himself is the Passover Lamb who fulfils what the feast foreshadowed. The sermon defends a figurative interpretation of 'this is my body' against Roman Catholic transubstantiation, marshalling four arguments from Scripture, Christology, historical context, and common sense. The cup is shown to inaugurate the New Covenant announced in Jeremiah 31, fulfilling the blood-sprinkling of Exodus 24, so that every element of the ordinance proclaims the substitutionary atonement of Christ. Hearers are called to approach the Lord's Supper with sober joy, repentance, and a gaze fixed on the coming King whose blood alone purchases the remission of sins.