Topic
Biblical Theology
1,075 sermons · All topics
The Trial before Pontius Pilate, Part 1
Why does Jesus stand silent before Pontius Pilate, refusing to answer a single charge? Matthew 27:11–14 records the interrogation of Christ by the Roman governor, in which Jesus affirms his kingship with a qualified 'it is as you say' and then offers no defense against the accusations of the chief priests and elders. That silence is not weakness but resolute, covenantal determination — the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7, the refusal to retard the death that alone can save sinners from the wrath of a holy God. The sermon calls both believer and unbeliever to marvel at the silence of Christ, recognizing in it the ground of every sinner's boldness before God on the day of judgment.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 13, 2017 Bible Study
Second Kings 6 presents God's sovereign care over both the minute and the massive: a borrowed iron axe head recovered from the Jordan, and an entire Syrian army blinded and marched into captivity at Samaria. The sermon works through three distinct episodes — the floating axe head (vv. 1–7), God's protection of Elisha from Syrian intelligence (vv. 8–17), and the miraculous capture of the Syrian force (vv. 18–23) — to establish that the Lord's providential rule extends without diminution from the trivial losses of a poor prophet to the geopolitical crises of a nation. The controlling application is that verse 16 ('those who are with us are more than those who are with them') is the permanent, unwavering ground of the believer's confidence, whether or not God grants the extraordinary vision of verse 17, and that knowing Scripture deeply is the instrument of the spiritual discernment required to rest in that reality.
Genesis 14
Genesis 14 presents what appears to be an obscure ancient war narrative, but the chapter is deliberately structured around one controlling question: who is the true King and possessor of heaven and earth? Working through the three movements of battle, bravery, and blessing, this exposition shows how Kedorlaomer's military supremacy, Abram's faith-driven rescue of Lot, and Melchizedek's priestly blessing of Abram together build to a single climax — God Most High, El Elyon, reigns sovereign over every kingdom. Melchizedek emerges as a typological figure whose lack of genealogy and perpetual priesthood, interpreted by Hebrews 7 and Psalm 110, points forward to Christ's eternal high-priestly office after the order of Melchizedek. The proper response to God's sovereign kingship is Abram's own: refusing worldly plunder and glorifying God alone.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 3, 2017 PM
Romans 4:5-8 and Psalm 32:1-2 establish that justification has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone — not a Pauline innovation but the consistent testimony of the whole Old Testament. This sermon examines the righteousness David claims in 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 by tracing four elements of his soteriology: his recognition of sin, his understanding of atonement, his understanding of imputation, and his appropriation of Christ by faith. The conclusion is that David's boast of righteousness is not a claim to moral perfection but a confession of the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith, the same ground on which New Covenant believers come to the Lord's Supper.
The Righteousness of David
Romans 4:5–8 announces that God justifies the ungodly, and the Apostle Paul calls David as a witness to that doctrine. This sermon works through the theology of David in 2 Samuel 22, Psalms 2, 18, 32, 51, 110, and 130 to show that David's celebrated righteousness is not his own moral achievement but the imputed righteousness of Christ, received by faith. David's recognition of his own sin, his understanding of atonement, his grasp of the doctrine of imputation, and his personal faith in the coming Messiah together resolve the apparent tension between his notorious moral failures and his claim to cleanness of hands. The sermon calls hearers to approach the Lord's Supper not in mere introspection over sin but in joyful confidence in the righteousness of David's greater Son.
The Use of the Blood Money
Matthew 27:6–10 records the chief priests' disposal of the thirty pieces of silver used to betray Jesus — and Matthew's citation of this event as the fulfillment of prophecy attributed to Jeremiah. This sermon examines the rank hypocrisy of the religious leaders who scrupled over depositing blood money into the treasury while simultaneously orchestrating the judicial murder of an innocent man, exposing the self-condemning logic of ceremonial fastidiousness divorced from the weightier demands of the law. The sermon then defends the inerrancy of Matthew's composite citation of Zechariah 11 and Jeremiah 18–19, 32, showing how Matthew functions as a biblical theologian weaving together prophetic themes of rejection, judgment, exile, and restoration to demonstrate that the passion of Christ was the fulfillment of the entire prophetic witness. The application calls hearers to recognize their own guilt before a holy God and to flee to the imputed righteousness and atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Kings 5
2 Kings 5 presents the curing and conversion of Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, as a window into the comprehensive sovereignty of God, the free grace of God, and the inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of Israel's God. Working through three sections — the sovereignty of God (vv. 1–8), the healing of Naaman (vv. 9–19), and the greed of Gehazi (vv. 20–27) — the exposition argues that the greater miracle is not Naaman's cleansed skin but his cleansed idolatry, his monotheistic confession of Yahweh as the only God in all the earth. The simplicity, exclusivity, and freeness of God's grace illustrated in Elisha's instruction to wash in the Jordan anticipate the gospel itself, while Gehazi's attempt to monetise the cure warns against every addition to grace.
The Miserable End of Judas Iscariot
What does it look like to use God rather than worship Him? Preaching through 2 Kings 3, this sermon exposes Jehoram's utilitarian religion — reaching for Yahweh only in crisis, and blaming His sovereignty when circumstances sour — and sets it against the godly example of Jehoshaphat and the prophetic word of Elisha. The sermon closes by drawing the Christological thread that Jehoram received water and victory not by desert but by proximity to Jehoshaphat, a son of David's line, and that every believer stands in the same position: receiving massive mercies not on their own merit but because they stand next to Jesus, the Davidic King.
The Rebellion of Moab
Matthew 27:1–5 exposes two devastating portraits set in immediate sequence: the murderous resolution of the Sanhedrin and the miserable end of Judas Iscariot. The sermon presses a distinction the text itself demands — that remorse, however acute, is not repentance, because genuine repentance moves God-ward and Christ-ward, apprehending the mercy of God in Christ, whereas Judas's guilt drove him only to self-destruction. Listeners are urged to see in Judas the bitter end of undealt-with sin, and to flee instead to the one who is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand, trusting that saving faith and repentance are themselves gifts granted by sovereign grace.
2 Kings 4:38-44
Two miracles in 2 Kings 4:38–44 — the purification of a deadly stew and the multiplication of bread for one hundred men during a famine — reveal a God who governs both the rise and fall of nations and the smallest necessities of ordinary life. The famine itself is a covenant curse (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28), yet within that judgment God provides for his remnant with conspicuous abundance, feeding the prophets and leaving surplus. Elisha functions throughout as a type of Christ, whose own feeding miracles echo and surpass this episode. The passage calls believers to resist carnal anxiety and fear by resting on God's demonstrated sovereignty in everyday, earthy circumstances.
United in Worship
Joshua 22:10–34 presents a near-civil-war among the tribes of Israel triggered by the erection of a large altar east of the Jordan, and this exposition works through the text under three headings: the western tribes' perception of apostasy, their perception of disunity, and the concluding perception of God's presence among his people. The sermon grounds the western tribes' alarm in Deuteronomy 12 and 13, showing that their concern for a rival place of worship was a sound application of the regulative principle of worship, and traces the typological significance of Phinehas as a figure pointing to Christ's atoning zeal. The eastern tribes' explanation — that the altar was a witness-monument, not a sacrificial site, built so that future generations would not be excluded from the covenant community — is set against the church's call to maintain unity in worship through lowliness, longsuffering, and mutual confrontation after the pattern of Matthew 5 and 18. The sermon concludes that the object uniting the people of God in every age is not themselves but the Lord, to whom worship is due as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer in Christ.
The Translation of Elijah
2 Kings 2 presents the translation of Elijah into heaven and the subsequent manifestation of Elisha as his divinely appointed successor. The sermon works through the chapter in two main sections — the ascension of Elijah and the confirmed ministry of Elisha — arguing that every element, including the healing of Jericho's waters and the cursing of the youths at Bethel, serves to authenticate Elisha as the legitimate prophetic voice of Yahweh in Israel. The two she-bears are not a moral embarrassment but the execution of the covenant curse of Leviticus 26, consistent with the same God who sends sweet water to the previously cursed city of Jericho and who ultimately sends His Son to deal in mercy with sinners.
2 Kings 3
Second Kings 3 presents three kings — the godless Jehoram of Israel, the godly but imprudent Jehoshaphat of Judah, and a vassal king of Edom — marching against rebellious Moab, only to find themselves dying of thirst in the wilderness. Elisha's prophetic rebuke exposes Jehoram's utilitarian religion: a calculated manipulation of Yahweh for personal ends, devoid of genuine repentance or covenant loyalty. God nevertheless supplies both water and military victory — grace heaped upon an undeserving idolater — because of the righteous king in the coalition, foreshadowing how sinners receive mercy only on account of the Davidic king, Jesus Christ. The chapter calls hearers to pursue godliness mingled with wisdom, to resist the Jehoram-like pattern of seeking God only in crisis, and to worship the sovereign God not merely as an emergency resource but as the object of ongoing adoration.
Free Grace Baptist Church - August 6, 2017 AM
Matthew 26:65–68 records the formal charge of blasphemy against Jesus before the Sanhedrin, the unanimous verdict of the council, and the cruel physical mistreatment that followed. The sermon expounds these three movements in sequence, demonstrating that every element of the trial — the charge, the verdict, the spitting, and the blows — fulfills streams of Old Testament prophecy running from Psalm 110 and Daniel 7:13–14 to the suffering servant songs of Isaiah 50 and 53. The wrath and mockery of lawless men unwittingly accomplish the redemptive purposes of God, so that the very indignities heaped upon the Son of God become the means by which he wins salvation for sinners.
The Hearing before the Sanhedrin, Part 3
Matthew 26:65–68 records the formal charge of blasphemy leveled against Christ by the high priest Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin's unanimous verdict that he is deserving of death. This sermon, the third in a series on Christ before the Sanhedrin, examines three movements in the text: the high priest's indictment, the Sanhedrin's verdict, and the physical mistreatment of the Son of Man. The central irony running through the passage is that the one charged with blasphemy is the eternal Son of God, while those bringing the charge are themselves blaspheming — misrepresenting and condemning the Holy One of Israel in fulfillment of the very Scriptures they profess to uphold.
2 Kings 2:1-25
2 Kings 2 presents the translation of Elijah and the public authentication of Elisha as his prophetic successor. The chapter divides into two broad movements: Elijah's assumption into heaven by whirlwind (vv. 1–12) and Elisha's manifestation as the new man of God through miracle-working (vv. 13–25). The parallels to Moses and Joshua, the divided Jordan, the healing of Jericho's water, and the covenant curse executed through two bears all establish that Elisha stands in an unbroken line of authorized prophetic ministry — and that God's Word, not any individual instrument, is the true power sustaining His kingdom. The controlling application is that when God removes an Elijah, a Calvin, or a Spurgeon, His Word and His kingdom march on, calling His people to fix their confidence on the strength of God's arm rather than the charisma of His servants.
The Hearing before the Sanhedrin, Part 2
At the trial before the Sanhedrin, two false witnesses twist Christ's words about destroying the temple, and the high priest demands to know whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Christ's answer — 'it is as you said' — is an unambiguous messianic confession, immediately amplified by his identification of himself as the Son of Man of Daniel 7 enthroned at the right hand of the Father (Psalm 110:1), a claim that converges multiple streams of Old Testament prophecy. The sermon sets this confession against the backdrop of human sinfulness — visible in the kangaroo court's predetermined verdict and willingness to suborn perjury — and calls hearers to see in Christ the true temple-builder of the Davidic covenant, the substitutionary curse-bearer of Isaiah 53, and the only Savior in whom God and sinners dwell together.
2 Kings 1:1-18
2 Kings 1 records the idolatry, judgment, and death of Ahaziah, king of Israel — a man who, when facing death, turned not to Yahweh but to Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. The chapter exposes the nature of idolatry as a practical confession that the living God is incompetent to meet one's needs, and it establishes the certainty of God's word against any king or army that would silence it. God's protection of Elijah through consuming fire is neither divine caprice nor Old Testament barbarism, but the settled, holy justice of a God who will brook no rival and whose jealousy for his own glory is inseparable from his mercy toward sinners. The passage calls hearers to examine what their instinctive cry in trial reveals about the true object of their allegiance.
The Hearing before the Sanhedrin, Part 1
Matthew 26:57–61 places Jesus before the Sanhedrin in what the preacher demonstrates was not an impartial criminal trial but a predetermined hearing whose guilty verdict had been settled before any witnesses were called. The sermon maps the political and ecclesiastical machinery of the Sanhedrin — its composition, its lack of authority to execute, its violations of due process, and its need to construct a charge sufficient to deliver Jesus to Pilate — and addresses the charge that the gospel accounts of these events are colored by anti-Semitism. Against that background, the contrast between the faithful witness of Christ and the fearful, distanced discipleship of Peter issues a direct call to close, unashamed allegiance to the Savior, and an invitation to unbelievers to come to the One who restores even those who deny him.
1 Kings 22:29-53
The death of Ahab in 1 Kings 22:29–53 demonstrates that no disguise, armor, or strategic cunning can outmaneuver the decreed word of God — a randomly shot arrow, guided by divine providence, finds its precise mark between the joints of Ahab's armor, fulfilling prophecies made in chapters 20, 21, and 22. The narrative also traces the reign of Jehoshaphat, whose overall godliness was nonetheless marred by foolish alliances with Ahab and later Ahaziah, illustrating that genuine piety is not always accompanied by good sense, yet God in His mercy delivers His people even from self-inflicted danger. Ahaziah's accession to Israel's throne closes the chapter with predictable wickedness, the natural fruit of parents who not only model sin but actively instruct their children in it. The passage calls believers to receive the whole counsel of God without flinching, to rest in His sovereign providence, and to extend to fellow Christians the same gracious assessment God gives to imperfect but genuinely godly people.
The Lord's Betrayal in the Garden
Matthew 26:47–50 records the betrayal of Christ in Gethsemane, and this expository sermon works through three dimensions of that event: its significance as the arrival of the cup of God's wrath that Christ had prayed over, the plan behind the betrayal as Judas and the religious leaders converge under God's sovereignty, and the execution of the betrayal through a hypocritical kiss. Woven throughout is the parallel account in John 18, where Christ's absolute declaration of 'I Am' causes the arresting mob to draw back and fall to the ground — a manifestation of divine glory that underscores both his power to resist and his voluntary surrender to the Father's will. The sermon calls hearers to see in Christ's resolve the willingness of the Savior to save sinners, and to flee to him rather than trust in external proximity to Christ or religious position.
1 Kings 20
1 Kings 20 presents the beginning of the end for Ahab, Israel's most wretched king, as God delivers him twice from Syrian armies he had no right to expect to defeat — not because Ahab sought God, but because God sovereignly extended unsolicited, unmerited grace to a rebel. The chapter's true climax arrives in the closing parable of the prophet (vv. 35–43), which functions as Ahab's 'thou art the man' moment: having freed Ben-Hadad, whom God had appointed to utter destruction, Ahab pronounces his own condemnation. The study presses the application that defective theology — whether Syrian paganism that compartmentalizes God by geography, or modern versions that shrink His sovereignty — carries serious consequences, and that God's patience with wretches like Ahab must not be mistaken for indifference to rebellion.
The Contest at Carmel
The contest on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18 is not merely a dramatic episode from Israel's monarchic period — it is a confrontation between the living God of Israel and the futility of every false god. Elijah's challenge to a compromised people, 'How long will you falter between two opinions?', exposes the recurring temptation to blend true religion with idolatry, whether in ancient Israel's Baalism or in the subtler syncretism of today. The sermon traces the theological case for why Baal attracted Israelite worship — royal sanction, tradition, relevance to felt needs, and sensual appeal — before showing how God's consuming fire rendered that attraction indefensible. The application presses toward total allegiance: no halting between God and money, God and self, God and any competing lord.
The Lord's Prayer in the Garden, Part 1
Matthew 26:36–39 sets the scene of Christ's agony in Gethsemane, and this sermon works through three observations: the setting of the Savior's agony, the sorrow of the Savior, and the supplication of the Savior. The preacher grounds the soul-distress of Christ firmly in His true humanity, engaging the Council of Chalcedon's two-natures Christology and the condemnation of monothelitism to show that Christ's two wills are both affirmed and required by this text. The cup Christ prays to have pass is identified as the cup of divine wrath, which differentiates His anguish from that of any martyr and establishes the necessity of substitutionary atonement. The sermon's primary application is worship and adoration in response to the lengths the incarnate Son went to in order to secure the salvation of His people.
1 Kings 19:8-21
Elijah's journey to Horeb in 1 Kings 19:8–21 is not a story of prophetic cowardice or self-pity, but of a faithful covenant prosecutor bringing a formal lawsuit against Israel for her apostasy before the God of the covenant. The divine theophany at Horeb — wind, earthquake, and fire yielding to a still small voice — teaches that God's redemptive purposes advance not through spectacular display but through the prophetic word, historical providence, and sovereign grace. God's answer to Elijah's complaint is both judgment (through Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha) and mercy (a reserved remnant of seven thousand), affirming that God will always preserve a people for Himself. The call of Elisha that follows illustrates the decisive break from natural relations, familiarity, financial security, and self-advancement that marks genuine response to God's call.
1 Kings 18:41 - 19:8
When Elijah calls for rain after the contest at Carmel, he prays persistently through seven divine silences before a small cloud rises from the sea, demonstrating that God's sovereignty over nature does not remove the necessity of prayer but rather grounds it. The passage then traces Elijah's flight from Jezebel's death threat, and the study mounts a careful exegetical defense of Elijah: his departure is not a crisis of faith or narcissistic self-pity, but the brokenness of a prophet grieved over Israel's covenant unfaithfulness, directed to Horeb by divine prompting, and met there by a God who feeds, rests, and commissions rather than rebukes. God's varied ways of answering prayer — immediately, after extended pleading, or not at all — resist reduction to any formula, and his tender provision for an exhausted prophet reveals a character utterly unlike Baal.
The Early Ministry of Elijah
First Kings 17 introduces the prophet Elijah as God's direct answer to the institutionalized Baalism of Ahab's reign, demonstrating through drought, miraculous provision, and resurrection that Yahweh — not Baal — governs rain, life, and death. The chapter unfolds in three movements: the prediction of drought as a covenantal curse and assault on Baal's domain, the provision of the prophet through ravens and a Gentile widow in Baal's own homeland, and the power of God displayed in raising the widow's son. Jesus himself interprets this narrative in Luke 4 as a type of sovereign election and divine judgment — God withdrawing his word from unbelieving Israel while extending grace to a Gentile outsider. The sermon calls hearers to the same faith the widow of Zarephath displayed: staking everything on the veracity of God's word.
Paul at the Areopagus
Paul's sermon at the Areopagus (Acts 17:22–34) is an unapologetic proclamation of the exclusive lordship, unbounded glory, and all-sufficient independence of the one living and true God over against the multiplicity of Athenian idols. The sermon traces Paul's argument through four movements — the prelude, the proclamation proper, the mercy extended, and the Athenian reception — grounding each in the prophetic witness of the Old Testament. The idols of Athens are shown to be dependent, spatially confined, and utterly without refuge, while Yahweh is immense, uncircumscribable, and the source of all life, breath, and existence. Hearers are pressed to abandon the folly of any idolatry, old or modern, and to believe on the risen Christ before whom all will be judged.
Paul's "Jesus and the Resurrection"
What does Paul mean when he proclaims 'Jesus and the resurrection,' and why does the denial of bodily resurrection destroy the entire Christian faith? Drawing on 1 Corinthians 15:1–20, this exposition works through four interlocking realities: the gospel is comprehensive for all of Christian life, the events of the gospel are certain on the testimony of Scripture and eyewitnesses, the grace of God is foundational to both the delivery and reception of the gospel, and the resurrection of Christ secures an unconquerable hope for all who believe. The sermon presses toward a pointed application: Christian hope is not wishful thinking but the certain expectation that God's promises in the risen Christ will most surely come to pass.
Paul in Athens
Acts 17:16–21 presents the Apostle Paul's arrival in Athens, where he encounters a city so consumed by idolatry that ancient sources estimated some 30,000 deities. The sermon examines two subjects: the preacher and the people. Paul's spirit is provoked to a wholesome, righteous indignation — not a curmudgeonly repulsion — rooted in zeal for the glory of the one true God, the demands of His law (particularly the first and second commandments), and a knowledge of the deliverance the gospel brings to souls in bondage. His response to that provocation is immediate proclamation of Christ in the synagogues and the marketplace, even before a hostile audience of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who insult him as a babbler and misunderstand the resurrection as a second deity alongside Jesus.