Theological term
Vice List
4 sermons · All terms
The Child and Parent Relationship, Part 1
Ephesians 6:1–3 addresses children directly within the gathered congregation, a detail that itself carries ecclesiological weight: Paul assumes children are present under the preaching of the Word, not segregated from it. The sermon works through two movements — the rightness of obedience grounded in the light of nature and created order, and the requirement of God's law grounded in the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16), which Paul universalizes from Old Covenant Israel to Gentile children in Ephesus and, by extension, to every generation. The three uses of the law are carefully distinguished: the law cannot justify, but it restrains, reveals sin and the need for Christ, and then normatively patterns the sanctified life of the believer. Children are urged to search their hearts, see their failure to honor and obey, and flee to Christ for the righteousness they lack.
The Transition from Darkness to Light, Part 1
Ephesians 5:3–7 calls believers to a radical break from the sexual sins that characterised their former life in darkness. Working through the three prohibited actions (fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness) and three prohibited forms of speech (filthiness, foolish talking, and coarse jesting), the sermon demonstrates that these sins are not merely behavioural failures but expressions of idolatry—putting creaturely gratification above God. The consequences are grave: those who unrepentantly practice such things have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, a warning grounded in both general revelation and the consistent testimony of the apostolic letters. Believers are called to resist deception through the word of God, to replace vile speech with thanksgiving, and to ground their ethical obedience not in moral effort alone but in the imputed righteousness of Christ.
The Call to Faithfulness in Perilous Times
Paul's warning in 2 Timothy 3:1–9 concerns not pagan opposition but a more dangerous internal threat: professing Christians within the local church who bear the outward form of godliness while denying its power. The sermon works through the passage in four movements — recognising the danger of 'the last days,' identifying the vice list under categories of pride, lovelessness, disobedience, slander, and treachery, heeding the exhortation to withdraw from such persons, and receiving encouragement that their folly will be publicly exposed. The congregation is called to maintain vigilant, doctrinally grounded churchmanship, to agonise over the church's internal corruptions as Ezekiel's faithful remnant did, and to resist both despair and naivety, trusting Christ's promise that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against his church.
The Call to Faithfulness in Perilous Times
Paul's warning to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1–9 identifies the gravest threat facing the church as not external persecution but internal corruption — men with a form of godliness who deny its power. The passage is expounded under four headings: the recognition of danger in the last days, the description of godless men marked by secular humanism, materialistic idolatry, and hedonism, the exhortation to avoid such men entirely, and the encouragement that their folly will be exposed as surely as that of Jannes and Jambres before Moses. The sermon calls believers to know the foundational doctrines of Christianity, to conduct themselves worthy of the gospel, and to discriminate carefully about who is permitted to teach — while resting in the confidence that Christ will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.