Topic
Covenant Theology
28 sermons · All topics
Laws Concerning Debt, Slaves, and Firstborn
Deuteronomy 15 contains three interlocking bodies of legislation governing debt release, indentured servitude, and the sacrifice of the firstborn — all set within the framework of Old Covenant Israel's theocratic obligations under the covenant of works. The sabbatical release of debts and the manumission of Hebrew slaves both press beyond bare external compliance to demand a right internal disposition: generosity flowing from a heart shaped by the memory of God's own redemptive act in the Exodus. The firstborn legislation culminates typologically in Christ, the unblemished firstborn Son of God, whose sacrifice fulfills what the animal sacrifices prefigured. The session closes with an extended Q&A examining how these principles of restitution, due diligence, and ordered benevolence translate into the life of the New Covenant church.
2LBC Chapter 25, Of Marriage
What does Scripture authorize regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage? Working through Chapter 25 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession alongside Westminster Confession Chapter 24, paragraphs 5–6, this lesson establishes that marriage is a monogamous, heterosexual covenant ordained by God for companionship, procreation, and the lawful expression of sexuality. The confession's teaching is set against contemporary assaults on the definition of marriage, and extended exegesis of Deuteronomy 24, Matthew 5 and 19, and 1 Corinthians 7 demonstrates that Scripture authorizes divorce and subsequent remarriage for the innocent party in cases of porneia and willful desertion.
The Freeness of the Priceless Feast, Part 1
Isaiah 55:1–2 opens with a single attention-grabbing word — 'Ho' — that God employs as an imperatival invitation, commanding sinners to come and feast without money and without price upon the abundant provision of the covenant. The freeness of the offer rests on three realities: the goodness of God, the infinite worth of the things offered, and the infinite payment already made by the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Water, wine, milk, and bread are not bare metaphors but point to Christ himself — the personification of every element of the feast — who alone satisfies the restless soul that the world's marketplace of false substitutes can never fill. Hearers are called to cease the squandering madness of spending wages on what is not bread and to believe on Christ, receiving the feast he secured at infinite cost and now offers entirely free.
The Freeness of the Priceless Feast, Part 2
Isaiah 55:3–13 unfolds in three movements: the ground of the gospel summons, the required response, and the guarantee attached to it. The ground is the covenant of grace itself — the sure mercies of David fulfilled in the person and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the covenant champion who secures abundant pardon for abundant sinners. The response calls for active, whole-souled seeking, calling, forsaking, and returning to the Lord while He may still be found. The passage closes with the guarantee that God's word never returns void and that Christ's saving work reverses the curses of Genesis 3, replacing thorns with cypress, expulsion with joyful leading out, and cosmic groaning with cosmic praise.
Christ's Precious Gem Collection
What does it mean that God's elect are described throughout Scripture as precious stones being gathered into a temple? This sermon traces the biblical-theological thread from the Garden of Eden through Solomon's temple, the Babylonian exile, Isaiah's restoration promises, and into Revelation 21, arguing that Christ — the greater Solomon and last Adam — is building his church by gathering his elect from among all the scattered nations. The identity of the precious gems is God's chosen people; their location is every tribe, tongue, and people; and the means of their gathering is the gospel of Christ, who has already bound the strong man and now commissions his people to mine for treasures in the darkness.
The Blood of the Unblemished Lamb
The redemption of sinners cannot be purchased by any corruptible thing — not silver or gold, not the accumulated wealth of the cosmos, not the religious observances of the old covenant. Expounding 1 Peter 1:18–19, this sermon traces Peter's negation-then-assertion structure: material things and old covenant types alike are insufficient to ransom a soul bound under sin and divine wrath, but the precious blood of Christ as an unblemished and spotless Lamb accomplishes what nothing else can. The blood of Christ is precious because of the surpassing excellence of the person who shed it, the definite redemption it secures, the infinite cost it required of the Father, its unrepeatable once-for-all character, its endless efficacy, and its eternal appointment in the counsel of the triune God before the foundation of the world. Hearers are pressed toward the Lord's Supper with minds fixed on the logic of substitution: the Lamb's own unblemishedness is the very ground of his capacity to bear the blemishes of his people.
2LBC Chapter 24 - Of the Civil Magistrate
What authority does civil government possess, and what are its limits? Working through 2nd London Baptist Confession Chapter 24, this study argues that God alone is the ultimate sovereign who ordains civil magistrates for two ends: his own glory and the public good of man, expressed concretely in the maintenance of justice and peace. The confession deliberately repudiates the Anabaptist rejection of Christian participation in civil office, affirming that believers may lawfully serve as magistrates, soldiers, and executioners of justice. Christians are called to submit to civil authority in all lawful things for conscience's sake and to pray persistently for governing authorities, so that the church may worship freely and fulfil her gospel mission without hindrance.
Deuteronomy 14:1-29. Laws of Death, Diet, and Tithing
Deuteronomy 14 regulates Israel's mourning practices, dietary laws, and tithing — each regulation grounded in the same theological foundation: Israel is a holy people, chosen by God as his special treasure, and every dimension of life must reflect that covenantal identity. The dietary laws in particular are not arbitrary hygiene codes but ceremonial law designed to separate the covenant community from surrounding pagan practice, laws now abrogated and fulfilled in Christ, the true Israel of God. The tithing legislation calls God's people to acknowledge that prosperity is divine beneficence, to fear the Lord in feasting as much as in prayer, and to provide materially for the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. New covenant believers are not bound by these ceremonial structures, yet the underlying logic — that God governs every dimension of his people's lives and calls them to distinction, generosity, and gratitude — carries forward unchanged into the present age.
The Gospel Committed to the Apostle Paul
Paul's declaration in 1 Timothy 1:15—'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'—is one of five 'faithful sayings' in the Pastoral Epistles, a standard confessional truth received and owned by the early church. The sermon examines the incarnation and saving work of the Son (active and passive obedience, propitiation, imputation), the merciful application of those benefits to the chief of sinners as a paradigm for all who will believe, and the doxology that inevitably flows from a right apprehension of sovereign grace. The repeated exhortation is that the church must never drift from this central gospel proclamation, and that the unbeliever must own it by faith.
Testimony, confession, and baptism: Hans
A believer presents his public testimony before the congregation prior to baptism by immersion, tracing his journey from Eastern mysticism and Stoic philosophy to saving faith in Jesus Christ. His conversion crystallised through reading Scripture — beginning with Proverbs and ending with a sermon on Matthew 24:15 — when the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 became for him a vivid demonstration of divine justice and mercy held together. The 1689 London Baptist Confession's teaching on baptism frames the ordinance as a public pictorial representation of the believer's union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.
The Conversion of the Apostle Paul
Paul's gratitude in 1 Timothy 1:12–14 is inseparable from the account of his own conversion — from blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent man to apostle and chief exhibit of sovereign mercy. The passage establishes that Christ himself is the enabler of true gospel ministers, in deliberate contrast to the false teachers in Ephesus who were self-appointed desirers of the law. Paul's ignorance in unbelief before Damascus belongs to a different moral category than the willful, post-enlightenment sin of those who profess Christ and then turn against him. The text drives toward verse 15: the exceedingly abundant grace poured out on the chief of sinners is the pattern and ground of hope for every sinner who comes to Christ.
2LBC Chapter 24 - Of the Civil Magistrate
Chapter 24 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession addresses the divine origin, scope, and limits of civil government, the lawfulness of Christian participation in that government, and the Christian's duty of submission and prayer toward governing authorities. The confession roots civil magistracy in God's sovereign ordination, limits its authority to the maintenance of justice and peace, and explicitly rejects the Anabaptist position that Christians may not hold civil office or bear arms. Listeners are called to think carefully about voting, praying for rulers, and obeying governing authorities in all lawful commands — while refusing compliance whenever the state commands what God forbids.
The Goodness of God's Law
The goodness of God's law is not nullified by the false teachers who mishandle it, nor by those who reject it in the name of the gospel. Expounding 1 Timothy 1:8–11, this sermon establishes that the law is intrinsically good because it is a revelation of God's own nature, and then works through the three classical Reformed uses of the law — civil, pedagogical, and normative — showing that each harmonises with the gospel rather than opposing it. The civil use restrains external lawlessness, the pedagogical use drives the sinner to Christ by exposing sin and misery, and the normative use directs the blood-bought believer in the pattern of sanctification. The sermon closes with a direct exhortation: do not seek justification by the law, use it lawfully to show the unconverted their need for Christ, and in the life of faith delight in it as the Spirit-empowered norm of obedience to God.
The Priestly Blessing of the Ascending King
Luke 24:50–53 presents the ascending Christ as the great high priest who, having offered himself as the perfect and unrepeatable sacrifice for sin, lifts his nail-scarred hands to bless his people as he ascends to the right hand of the Father. The typological connection between Aaron's priestly blessing in Leviticus 9 and Christ's blessing at Bethany illuminates the finality and efficacy of his once-for-all sacrifice and the everlasting nature of the blessing he confers. Because Christ ascends while still blessing — not after — the favor, power, and life he bestows upon his people does not cease. Those who receive this blessing respond with continual worship, corporate praise, and the joyful acknowledgement of God's intrinsic and extrinsic glories — the very pattern the Lord's Supper calls every generation of disciples to embody.
2LCF Chapter 22 Of Religious Worship and Sabbath Day Part 2
The Sabbath is a creation ordinance and a trans-covenantal, positive-moral, perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages — not merely a Mosaic institution that expired with the Old Covenant. This study of 2LCF Chapter 22, paragraphs 7–8 traces the threefold character of the Sabbath (positive, moral, and perpetual), the divinely-ordered transfer from seventh-day to first-day observance grounded in Christ's resurrection and the inauguration of the new creation, and the proper disposition required for keeping the Lord's Day holy. Because Christ alone kept the Sabbath perfectly as our substitute, Christian Sabbath observance flows from sanctified delight in the triune God rather than from legal merit, and the governing question for the Lord's Day is not how far one may go but how near one may draw to God.
The promise of blessing or curse
Deuteronomy 11 sets before Old Covenant Israel a stark choice: obedience leading to blessing in the land, or disobedience leading to curse and exile. The sermon traces three sections of the chapter — the works of God in Israel's history, the requirement of obedience, and the promise of blessing or curse — showing how the covenant of works that Israel repeatedly broke is fulfilled by Christ, the true Israel of God, who bore the covenant curse on the cross. The Apostle Paul's argument in Galatians 3 is brought to bear: all who trust in works of law are under the curse, but Christ has redeemed his people from that curse by becoming a curse for them, so that the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles through faith alone.
2LCF Chap. 22 Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
The regulative principle of worship — that God alone prescribes acceptable worship through his revealed Word — is the governing claim of 2LCF Chapter 22, paragraphs 1 and 2. The confession grounds this in natural theology: the light of nature declares that God exists and deserves worship, but general revelation cannot instruct the creature in how that worship is to be conducted. Scripture alone, from Deuteronomy 12 through 1 Timothy 3 and Hebrews 12, maintains that God's people are neither to add to nor take away from what he has commanded in public worship. The sermon calls hearers to reject the normative principle of worship and instead color strictly within the lines God has drawn, worshiping with reverence and godly fear rather than with entertainment, felt-need satisfaction, or cultural innovation.
The Central Demand of the Covenant
Deuteronomy 10 confronts Israel — and every subsequent reader — with the central demand of the covenant: to fear God, love Him, walk in all His ways, and serve Him with undivided heart and soul. The first eleven verses narrate the renewal of the Sinaitic covenant after the golden calf catastrophe of Exodus 32, demonstrating that Israel's continuation rested entirely on divine long-suffering and the intercession of Moses, not on any righteousness of their own. Verses 12–22 then press the covenantal demand that runs from Genesis 18 through Micah 6:8 and into Matthew 23, showing that the people always knew what God required but consistently failed to live accordingly. The passage finally anticipates what only the new covenant can accomplish: the circumcision of the heart wrought by the Spirit through the gospel of the true Israel, Jesus Christ, apart from any merit in the creature.
The Introduction to First Timothy
Paul's apostolic authority and his commission 'by the commandment of God our Savior' stand at the center of 1 Timothy 1:1–2, establishing both the legitimacy of Paul's office and the delegated authority of Timothy in Ephesus. This introductory sermon traces Paul's missionary journeys, his post-imprisonment ministry, and his relationship with Timothy to locate the Pastoral Epistles within the apostle's life and the history of the early church. The epistle's overarching purpose — directing ministers and churches in conduct, refuting false teaching, and declaring sound doctrine — is shown to be as binding on congregations today as it was on the church at Ephesus. The sermon closes with a call to unbelievers to receive the Christ whom God, the Savior, sent into the world to save sinners.
Church Reports
Pastoral reports from seven Reformed Baptist churches and church plants across western Canada and one international context form the substance of this Lord's Day gathering. Congregations in Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario — ranging from newly constituted works to established churches of over a hundred attendees — report on membership growth, expository preaching programs, confessional development, and the ordinary means of grace sustaining church life. A detailed report from a pastor in Guadalajara, Mexico describes a three-pillar theological education ministry (seminary, publishing house, and bookstore) aimed at raising up the next generation of confessionally Reformed pastors and theologians for Latin America. The gathering is framed by Psalm 133, prayer, and a closing doxology, expressing the covenantal vision of churches dwelling together in associational unity for the glory of God.
CTF 2026: Q&A Panel Discussion
A conference Q&A panel explores difficult questions arising from the doctrine of God's exhaustive decree, including federal headship and the fall, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, the authorship of sin, the infralapsarian and supralapsarian debate, and the legitimacy of the free offer of the gospel. The panelists frankly acknowledge the limits of creaturely knowledge before the secret things of God, grounding their answers in Scripture, the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and the tradition of Reformed orthodoxy. Practical counsel closes the session: those newly awakened to Reformed theology are urged to slow down, submit to the ordinary means of grace, read widely before entering debates, and avoid unaccountable online discourse.
CTF 2026 - Session 4: Pastoral Sermon
Hebrews 2:10 frames the whole of redemptive history as God bringing many sons to glory through the sufferings of Christ, and this sermon traces that theme from the eternal decree of predestination through the means of grace in the present assembly to the consummation awaiting the saints. Drawing on John Owen's exposition of Hebrews, the 1689 London Baptist Confession's chapters on God and election, and John Calvin's theology of creation as a theater of divine glory, the sermon argues that God's eternal purpose is both ultimate — his own glory — and penultimate — the saints' participation in that glory. The congregation is urged to receive the Word, baptism, and the Lord's Supper as present foretastes of the glory to come, and to read creation itself as a stepping stone toward knowing and enjoying God rather than a terminus for the affections.
CTF 2026 - Session 2: Introducing “Of God’s Decree”
God's decree, as confessed in Chapter Three of the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, is a revealed mystery demanding both theological precision and creaturely humility. The scope of that decree is comprehensive — God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass — and yet it must be carefully distinguished from God's will of precept, from any necessity of nature, and from any conferral of actual being through the decree itself. Three guiding principles govern the study: the decree is not our moral duty, it remains largely veiled despite scriptural revelation, and any engagement with it requires a robust Creator-creature distinction throughout. The pressing question raised by so radical a scope — whether God is therefore the author of sin — is the burden taken up in the subsequent lecture.
CTF 2026 - Session 3: Is God the Author of Sin?
The comprehensive decree of God—that he has ordained whatsoever comes to pass—immediately raises two pressing questions: Is God therefore the author of sin, and do a believer's own sins somehow work for their good? Drawing on 1689 LBCF 3.1, Acts 2:23, Acts 17:28, and Romans 8:28, this session argues that God cannot be the author of sin because sin is a privation of good rather than a positive entity, and God, being essentially and immutably good, cannot be the deformed agent that authoring sin would require. The doctrine of concurrence—God acting as the divine first cause while creaturely second causes act according to their own natures—resolves how God upholds sinners in their sinning without being morally implicated in that sin. Believers are called to receive even their falls as instruments in the hand of a sovereign God who overrules the effects of sin to produce humility, dependence, and ultimately a glorified state exceeding even Adam's original condition.
CTF 2026 - Session 1: God's Decree in the Puritan Confessions
The doctrine of God's eternal decree, far from being confined to a single chapter, runs as a unifying thread through the entire fabric of the three major Puritan confessions — the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Savoy Declaration, and the Second London Baptist Confession of 1677/1689. Drawing on Isaiah 46:8–11, this lecture traces how the divine decree undergirds Scripture's authority, creation, providence, the fall, the covenant of grace, the person and work of Christ, the ordo salutis, and the final judgment. Because the decree is simply God decreeing — an expression of His eternal, immutable, and holy will — the doctrine is inseparable from the classical Christian doctrine of God in His simplicity, sovereignty, and self-sufficiency. Believers are called to receive this doctrine humbly, to resist both the error of making God the author of sin and the error of bare permission, and to respond with worship as they watch the eternal decree unfold in history.
Ask FGBC #65: Are Reformed Baptists Really Just Anabaptists?
The question of whether Reformed Baptists share roots with the Anabaptists is answered historically and from primary sources: the Particular Baptists arose from English Reformation Congregationalism, not from Anabaptist streams. Scholars such as Matthew Bingham and Jim Renahan have demonstrated from extant 17th-century writings that no traceable literary connection exists between the two movements. The discussion clarifies that surface similarities—believers' membership, rejection of Roman Catholic ecclesiology—do not constitute a common origin, and that the Anabaptists themselves were not a monolithic group. Listeners are encouraged to engage careful historical scholarship rather than repeating unchallenged secondary or tertiary claims.
2LCF Chap.19 Of the Law of God
The moral law of God, written on the human conscience at creation, is trans-covenantal in its binding authority — obligating all people in every age, including justified believers under the new covenant. This confession study of 2LCF Chapter 19 traces the threefold division of Old Covenant law (moral, ceremonial, judicial), the divinely designed obsolescence of the ceremonial and judicial laws at Christ's first advent, and the abiding utility of the moral law in its civil, pedagogical, and normative functions. Christ stands at the centre of the law's story as its giver, its perfect active and passive obedient fulfiller, and the one who by his Spirit now governs the hearts of his people in cheerful, free compliance with what the law requires.
The Exhortation to Perseverance and Unity
Philippians 4:1–3 presents two interconnected apostolic exhortations: the call to stand fast in the Lord and the call to pursue unity among the saints. The sermon examines the apostle's affection for the Philippians as his joy and crown, the meaning and manner of steadfast perseverance, and the concrete dispute between Euodia and Syntyche as a vehicle for a thorough exposition of biblical conflict resolution from Proverbs 18, Matthew 5, and Matthew 18. The practical burden is that both perseverance and unity demand disciplined, long-haul commitment — fastening one's grip on Christ, the doctrines of the gospel, and the one-another obligations of church life.