Topic
Bibliology
415 sermons · All topics
The Importance of Keeping the Heart
Proverbs 4:23–27 commands God's people to keep their hearts with all diligence, because the heart is the source from which all conduct flows — mouth, eyes, and feet are merely its outlets. Drawing on the warnings of Jeremiah 17:9, the illustrations of Proverbs 7, and Christ's own teaching in Matthew 15, this exposition argues that total depravity makes diligent heart-keeping not optional but urgent. The sermon closes by pressing that this command can only be obeyed through constant dependence on God's Word and Spirit, and that apart from Christ we can do nothing.
The Believer's Commitment to the Lord
Proverbs 3:5–6 commands an entire, exclusive, and exhaustive commitment to Yahweh — a trust that spans salvation and all of ordinary life. The sermon works through three structural elements of the text: the command to trust in the Lord with all the heart, the prohibition against leaning on one's own understanding, and the exhortation to acknowledge God in all one's ways with the promise that He will direct the believer's paths. The doctrine of remaining corruption in the regenerate explains why this command is needed, while the perfections of God — His impassability, immutability, and divine simplicity — ground the assurance that His commitment to His people is equally entire, exclusive, and exhaustive. Hearers are called to search Scripture for explicit texts, implicit applications, and general principles, and to cultivate lives of prayer as a concrete expression of dependence upon God.
Of Baptism (2LCF29)
Baptism, as confessed in chapter 29 of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (2LCF), is examined here as a divine and mediatorial ordinance instituted by Jesus Christ for the New Testament church. The exposition grounds the doctrine of baptism in a web of interconnected doctrines — Scripture, the covenant of grace, effectual calling, union with Christ, and the regulative principle of worship — demonstrating that believers' baptism by immersion is the necessary conclusion of consistently applied Reformed theology. The confession's fourfold structure is traced: what baptism is, to whom it is properly administered, in what element, and by what mode, with sustained argument from Romans 6, Galatians 3, Mark 16, and Matthew 28 that only professing believers are lawful recipients of the ordinance.
The Descent of the Spirit
Acts 2:1–13 records the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, fulfilling Christ's promise and inaugurating the apostolic mission to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. The sermon argues that the tongues given at Pentecost were intelligible human languages — not ecstatic or private utterances — serving as the revelatory and confirmatory word of God to diaspora Jews assembled from every nation, and simultaneously as a sign of judgment against unbelieving Jerusalem, echoing Deuteronomy 28 and Isaiah 28. The three instances of tongue-speaking in Acts (chapters 2, 8, and 10) correspond precisely to the mission parameters of Acts 1:8 and are unrepeatable redemptive-historical events, not a paradigm for individual Christian experience. Believers today possess the Holy Spirit through regenerating faith in Christ, and the filling of the Spirit is evidenced not by tongue-speaking but by love, submission, and corporate worship.
The Recovery of Wandering Brethren
James 5:19–20 closes the epistle not with a random aside but with a call to mutual accountability rooted in the high stakes of wandering from the truth. The sermon establishes two movements: the problem of professing believers who drift from the truth into the error of their way, and the encouragement given to every member of the local church who pursues their recovery. Drawing on Matthew 18, Galatians 6, Hebrews 2, and Psalm 119, the exposition argues that truth and conduct are inseparably connected, that instrumental means matter in God's sovereign purposes of salvation, and that the antidote to defection from God is a disciplined, resolute, corporate love for the truth.
The Replacement for Judas
The replacement of Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:12–26 raises questions about the nature of apostolic authority, the sovereignty of God over human treachery, and the continuing rule of the risen Christ over his church. Peter's leadership in securing Matthias as the twelfth apostle demonstrates that the apostolic college was not dissolved by Judas's defection but reconstituted by Christ's own direction — through prayer, Scripture, and the casting of lots. The sharp contrast between Peter, restored by grace after his denial, and Judas, who went to his own place as a reprobate, anchors the sermon's gospel appeal: no sin is too great for the pardoning mercy of God in Christ, and sinners are urged to look to Christ and live.
Genesis 1:26-31
Genesis 1:26–31 presents the creation of man as the deliberate, dignified pinnacle of God's creative work. The plural 'let us make' in verse 26 is examined through three interpretive options — heavenly council, plural of majesty, and the Trinity — with the Trinitarian reading affirmed as the only exegetically and theologically coherent position. The sermon exposits the Imago Dei with reference to Ecclesiastes 7:29, Ephesians 4:23–24, Colossians 3:10, and the 1689 LBCF chapter 4, establishing that the image encompasses rationality, knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Hearers are pressed to live as genuine image-bearers — treating fellow humans with dignity, resisting evolutionary reductionism, and exercising responsible dominion over creation for the glory of the triune God.
Free Grace Baptist Church - April 15, 2018 AM
Acts 1:1-8 introduces Luke's second volume not merely as a history of the early church but as a record of what the risen and enthroned Christ continues to do and teach by his Spirit through the Apostles. The sermon examines the prologue (vv. 1-3), where Luke establishes the resurrection as infallible and certain fact, and the apostolic commission (vv. 4-8), where Christ commands the Eleven to wait for the promised Spirit before going as witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. The inseparability of doctrine and deed, the sovereignty of God over the timing of the kingdom, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit for both mission and sanctification are drawn out as the governing themes of the entire book.
The Prologue and Commission
Acts 1:1–8 opens with a prologue establishing that the book of Acts is not merely the acts of the apostles but the continuing acts of the risen, enthroned Christ — carried out by the Spirit, through the Word, and by means of the apostles he himself commissioned. The sermon examines what Luke signals by the phrase 'Jesus began both to do and teach,' arguing that faithful Christianity holds doctrine and good works together as an inseparable knot, neither collapsing into social-gospel activism nor retreating into a purely intellectual faith. The apostolic commission is shown to be authoritative and externally given, grounding the church's mission in Christ's own mandate rather than human initiative.
Genesis 1:1-2
Genesis 1:1–2 demands that the people of God hold tenaciously to the doctrine of creation, because what is affirmed or denied there reverberates through the whole of Scripture and Christian ethics. This study surveys the doctrine of creation through the lens of 1689 LBCF chapter 4, paragraph 1, examining the time, author, purpose, and scope of God's creative act, before turning to the precise structure of Genesis 1:1–2 and the arguments for six-day creation. The session closes with two applications: maintaining the aseity and immutability of God, and preserving the Creator-creature distinction against any notion that God is merely the most excellent member of a chain of being.
Introduction to the Book of Acts
The book of Acts is not merely a record of human achievement but theological history — the continuing acts of the risen and ascended Christ, who builds his church by the Spirit through apostolic agency. This introductory sermon on Acts 1:1–3 examines the authorship, date, purpose, and major themes of Acts, defending the apostolicity of Luke as a non-apostle who nonetheless wrote under apostolic oversight and companionship with Paul. The sermon anchors the entire book in three great themes: the glory of the triune God, the normative practice of the early church, and the unstoppable spread of the gospel — all driven by the necessity of the Christian gospel for sinners under a holy God.
The Reformation Under Josiah
Second Kings 23 records the sweeping reformation under King Josiah of Judah, in which the rediscovered book of the law became the instrument of comprehensive covenant renewal and the purging of idolatry from the land. This sermon traces the three decisive movements of that reformation: the public reading of Scripture, the solemn covenant renewal before the Lord, and the thorough removal of all false worship from Jerusalem, Judah, and even the northern territories. Though Josiah's obedience is unrivaled among Israel's kings, the passage closes with the sobering reality that no human reformation, however thorough, can avert the covenant wrath accumulated by persistent apostasy. The abiding lesson is that the word of God received must become the word of God obeyed — hearers must become doers.
The Doubter Turned Confessor
Thomas's refusal to believe the disciples' eyewitness testimony of the risen Christ is one of the most emphatic denials of the resurrection in the New Testament — not mere doubt, but obstinate, threefold rejection of Scripture, Christ's own words, and apostolic witness. When Jesus appears and meets Thomas's exact conditions, Thomas confesses 'My Lord and my God,' bookending John's Gospel with the same declaration of Christ's deity found in its opening verse. The sermon expounds John 20:24–31 in two movements: the post-resurrection appearance to Thomas and the stated purpose of John's Gospel — that all who read it might believe and have life in Christ's name. Hearers are urged to stop placing conditions on God, to confess with Thomas that Jesus is Lord and God, and to avail themselves of the church's theological resources to grow beyond a superficial grasp of cardinal doctrines such as the Trinity.
The Defense of the Faith
Jude 3 issues a universal call—addressed not to clergy alone but to every believer, the 'beloved'—to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The sermon works through three movements: the exhortation itself and its five implications, the reason for that exhortation in the apostates of verse 4, and the practical preparedness of the contender outlined in verses 20 and 21. Doctrinal fidelity is not optional maintenance for specialists; it is the privilege and duty of every member of the covenant community, sustained by Scripture reading, prayer, and a constant looking to Christ. The sermon closes with a direct call to the unconverted to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone forgiveness of sins and the imputation of his righteousness are received by faith alone.
The Great Commission, Part 4
Matthew 28:20 calls the church to a lifelong, comprehensive teaching ministry — the fourth imperative of the Great Commission. The sermon examines this teaching activity under four headings: its simplicity (Scripture alone, not opinion or entertainment), its scope (all Christ's commands, Old and New Testaments, issuing in obedience), its perpetuity (traceable from Acts through the pastoral epistles to the end of the age), and its comprehensiveness (the whole counsel of God applied to individuals, families, churches, and civil society). The closing appeal summons hearers to the cross — the ransom of Matthew 20:28 and the invitation of Matthew 11:28 — as the indispensable foundation for any biblical obedience.
Free Grace Baptist Church - March 4, 2018 PM
John 1:1–18 and 1:29 are expounded together to set the cross in its full Trinitarian, Christological, and covenantal context. The preacher establishes the eternal deity of the Word, the distinction of persons within the one divine essence, the doctrine of eternal generation, and the incarnation, before arriving at John the Baptist's declaration — 'Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' The sermon is preached in a Lord's Supper service, and the atonement is shown to be the act of an eternal divine person who stepped into time to accomplish, as the antitype of every Old Testament sacrifice, the definitive removal of the sin of his people from every nation.
Of The Church (2LFC26)
The universal church — its invisibility, its visible expression in the lives of professing saints, its perpetuity, and the exclusive headship of Christ — is the doctrinal territory of 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 26, paragraphs 1 to 4. The confession grounds the church's existence not in voluntary human association but in the electing grace of God and the internal work of the Spirit, defining the church's members as those who profess the gospel and live in conformity with that profession. The distinction between the invisible universal church and visible saints is shown to carry a distinctively Baptist ecclesiological weight: church membership flows from credible profession, not covenant birth. Christ's absolute headship over the church — established by the Father as mediator — provides the foundation for the regulative principle of worship and stands in irreconcilable opposition to any papal claim to vicarship.
OF Christ the Mediator (2LCF 8)
The doctrine of the Incarnation — that the eternal Son of God took to himself a full human nature, body and soul, yet without sin — is one of the two great mysteries of the Christian faith alongside the Trinity. This confession study works through 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 8, Paragraph 2, establishing first what the Incarnation does not mean (mutation of the divine nature, mere appearance, assumption of body only, full humanity without exception, addition to divine being) before drawing out five positive theological entailments: it is the Son alone who became incarnate through the undivided work of the triune God; it is the divine Son who assumed flesh; the assumed humanity is full and complete; Christ is sinless in that humanity; and the two natures are united in one person without conversion, composition, or confusion. The whole doctrine is shown to be the necessary foundation of the Christian gospel, since only a mediator who is truly and fully God, truly and fully man, and wholly without sin can accomplish the redemption of fallen humanity.
Free Grace Baptist Church - November 19, 2017 AM
Preached at the ordination of a new elder, this exposition of 1 Timothy 4:12–16 sets forth four charges Paul lays upon Timothy as a faithful minister of the gospel: the minister's example in life and conduct, his public ministry of reading, exhortation, and doctrine, his personal growth through devoted meditation on apostolic truth, and his perseverance in both personal holiness and sound doctrine. The sermon insists that ministers are made by God and vetted by the church, not self-appointed, and that the gravity of the office lies in this: faithful gospel ministry is the ordained means by which God saves sinners and sanctifies his people. The congregation is charged to receive the gift of an ordained minister with joy, to prize the public means of grace, and to reject heresy with earnestness alongside their pastor.
The Conduct of a Faithful Minister
1 Timothy 4:12–16 addresses Timothy — and by extension every faithful minister of the gospel — with direct commands concerning conduct, doctrine, and perseverance in office. Preached in the context of an ordination ceremony, this exposition draws out what Paul requires of a man set apart to lead Christ's church: that he be an example in life, devoted to the public ministry of the Word, and watchful over both his own soul and the doctrine he teaches. The passage is a charge not only to the newly ordained but to the whole congregation to receive and support faithful gospel ministry.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabath Day (Part 3) (2LCF 22)
Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2 are frequently cited to argue that the New Testament abolishes the Christian Sabbath, but each passage, read in context, is addressing something else entirely. Romans 14 concerns Christian liberty and mutual forbearance between stronger and weaker brethren over food and culturally retained Jewish observances; Galatians 4 condemns the Judaizers' insistence that legal observances can supplement faith and commend a sinner to God; and Colossians 2 targets the ceremonial, typological Sabbaths of Israel's calendar — festivals, new moons, and occasional sabbaths — not the weekly moral Sabbath rooted in creation and carried forward into the Lord's Day. The fourth commandment's moral obligation to set apart one day in seven for worship is a positive, perpetual, and binding ordinance, and Sabbath-keeping is the fruit of justification by grace through faith in Christ, not a means of obtaining it.
Free Grace Baptist Church - September 17, 2017 PM
How do we know the gospel is true? First John 1:1–4 opens with John's answer: the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ is grounded in direct sensory experience — hearing, seeing, and handling the Word of life. This sermon works through the introduction to First John under three headings: the messenger, his message, and the benefits of that message. The exposition confronts early docetism (the denial that Christ came in the flesh), insists that eternal life is found only in the incarnate, crucified, and risen Son of God, and calls hearers to hold fast to the apostolic gospel as the only ground of true fellowship with the Father and the Son and of lasting joy.
Of the Gospel and the Extent of the Grace Thereof (2LCF20)
The gospel is necessary, revealed only through special revelation, and made effectual solely by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit — natural law and general revelation are wholly insufficient for salvation. This session expounds 2LCF Chapter 20, tracing why John Owen and the Congregationalists added this chapter to address both the rise of salvation-through-natural-law teaching and the false charge that Reformed and Baptist churches were anti-missional. The sermon argues that the gospel advances to the ends of the earth through preaching, according to God's sovereign will, as the Spirit regenerates the elect who are dead in trespasses and sins. The practical burden is confidence and perseverance in gospel proclamation, grounded not in human ability or ecclesial authority but in the sovereignty of God.
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.
The Supreme God
First Samuel 5 narrates a comedic yet deadly serious confrontation between Yahweh and the Philistine god Dagon, exposing the utter powerlessness of idols and the supreme sovereignty of the living God. When the Philistines place the ark of the Lord beside Dagon, Dagon twice falls prostrate before it — losing his head and hands — while Yahweh's hand falls with devastating judgment on city after city across Philistia. The passage teaches both that all false gods are helpless before Yahweh and that idolatry remains the deepest disease of the human heart, whether expressed in carved images or in the good things we elevate above God. The call of the sermon is to turn from every idol — visible or conjured — to the one divine Warrior who conquered sin and death, and in whom alone there is everlasting life.
The Rejection of the True Prophet of God
1 Kings 22:1–28 presents a confrontation between Ahab, king of Israel, and Micaiah, the lone true prophet of Yahweh, whose faithful message Ahab despises precisely because it refuses to flatter him. The sermon traces Ahab's long pattern of rejecting God's word, his assembly of 400 pliable false prophets, and the fearless integrity of Micaiah, who declares he is in bondage to whatever Yahweh speaks regardless of the cost. Micaiah's heavenly throne-room vision is interpreted anthropomorphically — not as God counselling with creatures, but as a gracious revelation of Ahab's spiritual situation before the battle. The passage calls hearers to prize the unvarnished truth of God's Word over any message tailored to felt needs, and to pray for and support faithful preachers who will not compromise under pressure.
1 Kings 22:1-28
Ahab's final years reveal a pattern common to every age: the suppression of God's Word in favour of voices that confirm what one already wishes to hear. Expounding 1 Kings 22:1–28, this study traces the collision between Micaiah — the one true prophet who binds himself to speak whatever Yahweh says — and the 400 court prophets whose ambiguous encouragement serves the king rather than God. Two contrasting throne scenes frame the passage: Ahab and Jehoshaphat enthroned before compliant prophets, and Micaiah's vision of Yahweh enthroned in sovereign council over all that is about to unfold. The study closes with direct application: the rejection of faithful preaching and the integrity required of anyone who stands in the prophetic-pastoral office.
The Prediction of Desertion and Denial
Matthew 26:31–35 records three predictions Jesus makes on the night of His betrayal: that all the disciples will desert Him, that Peter in particular will deny Him three times before the rooster crows, and that He will be raised and go before them to Galilee. The passage demonstrates both the sovereignty of Christ, who is not caught unawares but walks toward the cross in accordance with Zechariah 13:7 and the eternal decree of the Father, and the weakness of even the most zealous believers, who prove incapable of standing in their own strength. Peter's brash self-confidence — his flat contradiction of Christ's word and his lofty assessment of himself above his fellow disciples — stands as a warning against pride and self-reliance. The sermon calls believers to kill pride, cultivate dependence upon God, embrace Scripture's honest assessment of indwelling corruption, and rest in the grace of a Savior who, despite foreknowing every act of betrayal, still promises to meet His scattered sheep.
Of Saving Faith (2 LCF 14.1-3)
What is saving faith, and where does it come from? Working through 2 LCF (1689 LBCF) Chapter 14, paragraphs 1–3, this study traces the origin, object, and nature of saving faith. Saving faith is not a human contribution to salvation but a sovereign gift of the Holy Spirit, ordinarily wrought through the ministry of the Word and increased through the means of grace. The principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ alone — receiving and resting upon Him for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace — and though faith may be weak and assailed, it cannot ultimately be lost, because its author and finisher is Christ himself.
Free Grace Baptist Church - May 28, 2017 PM
What does it mean that Paul preached 'Jesus and the resurrection'? Expounding 1 Corinthians 15:1–20, this sermon traces four interlocking realities: the gospel is comprehensive for all of Christian life (not merely the entry point of conversion), the events of the gospel are certain on both scriptural and eyewitness grounds, grace is foundational to both the delivery and reception of the gospel, and the resurrection of Christ secures an unconquerable hope that is not wishful thinking but the certain expectation that God's promises will come to pass. The sermon presses toward this application: those who do not know this risen Christ have no hope, and today is the hour to rest solely upon him.