Topic
Ecclesiology
1,163 sermons · All topics
Introducing the Confessing the Faith Conference
This introductory video presents the Confessing the Faith Conference, a new Reformed Baptist conference based in Western Canada. The conference is structured around the 1689 Second London Confession of Faith, beginning with Chapter 1 on Holy Scripture, and features Dr. Richard Barcelos and Dr. James Renahan as speakers. Its three stated aims are: fostering unity among Reformed Baptist pastors in Western Canada, promoting fraternal relations with the broader Reformed church, and providing a confession-centered gathering open to all believers — not limited to pastors or scholars.
The Lawful Use of Vows in Israel
Leviticus 27 addresses the Israelite practice of making vows to God — acts of religious zeal, often rash or imprudent, by which persons consecrated people, animals, houses, or land to the Lord. The chapter does not license vow-breaking but rather underscores the gravity of vowing by legislating a costly redemption mechanism, warning the would-be vower to count the cost before speaking. The sermon situates the passage within the 1689 LBCF chapter 23 framework distinguishing oaths from vows, then draws three applications against popish monastical vows, Protestant legalistic vows, and pietistic circumventions of God's law — all forms of man-made religion condemned repeatedly in Scripture.
The Child and Parent Relationship, Part 2
Ephesians 6:4 commands fathers not to provoke their children to wrath, but to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord — a positive obligation grounded in the fifth commandment and the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the believer's life. This sermon expounds that single verse within the broader household code of Ephesians 5:22–6:9, situating Christian parenting as a fruit of sovereign grace rather than a means of earning it. The prohibition against provoking children is unpacked through five practical failures — unrighteous anger, unbiblical discipline, inconsistency, partiality, and imbalance of law and gospel — before the exhortation to train and admonish is developed from the book of Proverbs under four marks of a faithful parent. The sermon closes with concrete applications: pray for children, provide for them, protect them, preach law and gospel to them, and be present with them.
The Announcement of the Betrayal
John 13:18–30 records Jesus announcing the betrayal of Judas Iscariot in the upper room, and this exposition works through the passage in two movements: the announcement of the betrayal (vv. 18–20) and the identification of the betrayer (vv. 21–30). Three features of the announcement receive careful attention — the fulfillment of Psalm 41:9 in Christ's passion, the absolute divinity of Christ declared in the repeated 'I am' of verse 19 (grounded in Exodus 3:14), and the nature of apostolic discipleship as delegated ambassadorship. The removal of Judas from the disciple group exposes the distinction between holding church office and possessing saving grace, a distinction pressed as a question of self-examination for every hearer.
Live Stream - February 04, 2024
John 13:1–17 presents the foot washing not merely as an act of hygiene but as a layered emblem pointing to the Incarnation, the passion of Christ, and the ongoing realities of regeneration, justification, and sanctification. The Son of God who stoops to wash the dirt from disciples' feet is the same one who goes to the cross to wash the guilt from their hearts, fulfilling the servant-song Messianism of Isaiah and the promised cleansing of Ezekiel and Zechariah. Peter's impetuous refusal and subsequent wholehearted submission illustrate the sinner's need for a part with Christ — union and communion grounded in spiritual washing, received through faith. The discourse then turns practical: those who have been so served by their Lord are obligated to advance his cause not through power or coercion but through humble, self-sacrificing service to one another and to the world.
The Demonstration of Servanthood
John 13:4–17 presents the foot washing not merely as an act of hospitality but as an emblem pointing simultaneously to the incarnation, the passion, regeneration, justification, and sanctification. The Son of God who stoops to wash the dirty feet of dirty men is the same Son of God who goes to the cross to wash the dirty hearts of dirty sinners. Peter's initial refusal and subsequent capitulation illustrate the sinner's need for union with Christ — a union granted only through being washed, born again, and cleansed by the blood of Christ. Disciples who have received this washing are therefore obligated to go and serve others in humility, self-sacrifice, and love as the means by which they advance the gospel.
The Ministry in Pisidia Antioch
Paul's evangelistic address in the synagogue at Pisidia Antioch reaches its climax in Acts 13:38–43 with two inseparable gospel blessings: the forgiveness of sins and justification by faith alone apart from the works of the law. The sermon traces the inability of the Mosaic law to justify — not because the law is defective, but because sinners cannot render the perfect, entire, and perpetual obedience it demands — and shows how Christ's active and passive obedience supply precisely what the law exposes as lacking. The response of the Gentiles, who begged to hear the gospel again, is held up as a rebuke to any preaching that substitutes self-help or moralism for the proclamation of free acceptance with God through Christ alone.
The Promise of Blessings and Curses (Part 1)
Leviticus 26:1–13 opens with a promise of blessing conditioned on Israel's obedience — a structure that raises the question of how the Old Covenant relates to the New. This study expounds the covenantal framework underlying Leviticus 26, arguing that the Old Covenant operated as a covenant of works at the national level, distinct from the covenant of grace realized in Christ. The blessings of rain, peace, and God's presence promised to Israel find their fulfillment in the New Covenant, where the obedience that secures blessing is Christ's own, imputed to his people by faith alone.
The Year of Jubilee, Leviticus 25
John 13:1–3 introduces the Upper Room discourse by establishing three realities that govern everything Christ says to his disciples in chapters 13–16: the arrival of his appointed hour, the opposition of the devil through Judas, and the sovereign authority and mission of the Son. The passage centres on the love of Christ for his own — a love that is unchanging, constant, and infinite — as the motivating force behind every word he speaks in the upper room. The sermon presses toward a single application: it is robust trinitarian and Christological doctrine, not self-help or guilt, that moves the church to worship, evangelism, and endurance under opposition.
Live Stream - January 28, 2024
John 13:1-3 introduces the entire Upper Room discourse by establishing three governing realities: the arrival of Christ's hour, the opposition of the devil through Judas, and the resolute authority and mission of the Son of God. The passage centers on the declaration that Christ, knowing his hour had come, loved his own to the end — an unchanging, constant, and infinite love grounded not in the moral superiority of its objects but in the electing purpose of the Father. The sermon argues that trinitarian theology, not self-help or emotional manipulation, is the doctrinal fuel that empowers the church for gospel ministry, corporate worship, and faithful endurance under persecution.
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 Introduction to the Upper Room Discourse
John 13:1–3 functions as the theological introduction to the entire Upper Room Discourse (John 13–16), establishing three controlling realities: the arrival of Christ's appointed hour, the opposition of the devil through Judas, and the resolute authority and mission of the Son of God. The love of Christ for his own — unchanging, constant, and infinite — is the motivating force behind everything he teaches his disciples in those chapters. Those whom the Father gave to the Son are not a morally superior class but guilty sinners chosen in sovereign grace, loved to the uttermost through the cross, resurrection, intercession, and into eternity. Sound Trinitarian doctrine, far from being merely academic, is the very fuel that moves the church to worship, witness, and perseverance.
Live Stream - January 21, 2024
Proverbs 6:20–35 contains Solomon's urgent warning to his sons against adultery, situated within the broader framework of the seventh commandment. The sermon traces Solomon's argument from the necessity of God's law as a guide and guard, through the internal lust condemned alongside the external act, to the inevitable and devastating consequences — spiritual, relational, and societal — that adultery brings. The application turns to three means of protection: removal from temptation, rejoicing with one's covenant spouse, and remembering the omniscience of God; the sermon closes with the gospel assurance that even these sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ for the repentant.
2LCF Chapter 8 - Of Christ, the Mediator (Part 5)
The work of Christ as Mediator — his active and passive obedience, definite atonement, and threefold office as prophet, priest, and king — is the subject of this exposition of 2 London Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 8, paragraphs 4 through 10. The confession traces Christ's voluntary humiliation, his satisfaction of divine justice as a propitiation, and the retroactive efficacy of that work for Old Covenant saints who looked forward to him through promises, types, and sacrifices. Paragraph 8's teaching that Christ certainly and effectually applies redemption to all for whom he obtained it grounds the assurance of salvation entirely in the sovereign purpose of God rather than foreseen conditions in the sinner. The threefold office — prophet to instruct the ignorant, priest to reconcile the alienated, king to subdue and preserve the unwilling — frames the believer's comprehensive dependence on Christ alone.
Baptisms
Two believers are baptized by immersion, following the confessional Baptist conviction that baptism is the outward sign of an inward work of grace belonging to professing believers alone. The service includes brief exposition of the mode and subjects of baptism drawn from the 1689 London Baptist Confession, with reference to Romans 6 as the apostolic grounding for immersion as a depiction of death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. A testimony from one of the candidates reflects on the call to follow Christ in believer's baptism as the completion of a public profession of faith.
The Penalty for Blasphemy
Leviticus 24 addresses both the daily obligations of tabernacle worship and the capital penalty for blasphemy, grounding each in the direct speech of God to Moses. The chapter's narrative pivot — an incident in which a man of mixed Israelite and Egyptian descent blasphemes the name of Yahweh — becomes the occasion for case-law application of the third commandment, surrounded by reminders of the lex talionis and the equal accountability of stranger and native-born alike. The typological furniture of the holy place (lampstand and showbread) points forward to Christ as the true light and bread of life, while the blasphemy legislation, with its witness requirements and retributive principle, reveals a God who guards his own honour and structures justice with both severity and safeguard. The sermon exhorts hearers to put away every profane use of the divine name and to cultivate a reverent, wholehearted employment of it in thought, word, and worship.
The Defense of the Faith
Jude 3 commands every believer — not merely clergy or scholars — to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This sermon expounds the exhortation, its rationale in the infiltration of ungodly men who pervert grace and deny Christ, and the practical readiness required: remembering apostolic warnings, building on Scripture, praying in the Spirit, and looking for the mercy of Christ at His return. The defence of the faith is not optional, not confined to specialists, and not finally dependent on human faithfulness — it is God's fight, and He keeps those who contend.
Live Stream - December 24, 2023
2 Corinthians 8:9 captures the heart of the Incarnation: the eternal Son of God, rich in every divine perfection, became poor by assuming a true human nature — not by divesting himself of divinity, but by adding humanity to his person — so that sinners might receive the riches of justification, sanctification, and glorification through him. The sermon grounds the doctrine of the hypostatic union in John 1:1–14 and Philippians 2:5–8, carefully rejecting both a kenotic emptying of Christ's divinity and any confusion of the two natures. The exposition concludes with a direct application to believers' baptism, as the baptism of Rebecca Hall visibly proclaims the same gospel: God's grace, not human merit, confers the riches purchased by Christ's poverty.
Live Stream - December 24, 2023
Revelation 12 presents a vision of the cosmic conflict between the dragon and the seed of the woman, tracing the Incarnation, Ascension, and ongoing persecution of the church by the defeated devil. The chapter functions as a behind-the-scenes disclosure of what Christ's death and resurrection accomplished in the heavenly places: Satan is cast out, defanged by the blood of the Lamb, and reduced to waging a frustrated war against those he cannot ultimately destroy. The devil's repeated failures — against the child, in heaven, and against the woman — confirm that Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled and that the Triumph of the Lamb is the central message of the Apocalypse. Christians are called not to expect immunity from suffering in this present evil age but to be encouraged that persecution identifies them with Christ's cross and argues for God's presence, not his absence.
The Triumph of the Lamb
Revelation 12 offers a behind-the-scenes theological account of Christ's incarnation, death, ascension, and their cosmic consequences for the devil and the church. The chapter unfolds in three movements: the incarnation of the Son (vv. 1–6), the defeat of the dragon in heaven (vv. 7–12), and the persecution of the woman (vv. 13–17). The decisive victory belongs entirely to the blood of the Lamb, not to any merit or faithfulness of the saints. The suffering of God's people in this present evil age is not evidence of divine absence but of the devil's rage against a church already secured by Christ's triumph over him.
The Riches and Poverty of Christ
2 Corinthians 8:9 presents the Incarnation as the supreme pattern for Christian charity: the eternal Son of God, rich in every divine perfection, took upon himself genuine human poverty without divesting himself of a single divine attribute. This sermon examines the riches of Christ — his eternal divine nature as Creator, Sustainer, and Son by nature — and the poverty of Christ, meaning his true assumption of human nature with all its essential properties and common infirmities, yet without sin. The hypostatic union is defended against kenotic error: Christ's humiliation consisted not in the emptying of divinity but in the addition of humanity to the one person. These riches secured through Christ's impoverishment — justification, sanctification, and glorification — are received through faith alone and visibly proclaimed in Christian baptism.
The Husband and Wife Relationship
Ephesians 5:28–33 presents what Paul calls the 'one-flesh argument' — the creation-rooted logic that a husband who fails to love his wife acts against both Scripture and nature, since the wife is, in the deepest sense, his own flesh. The sermon works through four movements: the explanation, implication, affirmation, and application of that argument, grounding each in the harmony between general and special revelation. The affirmation from Genesis 2 is shown to be authoritative, accurate, and paradigmatic — the same text to which Christ and His apostles return whenever they address role distinction in marriage. Husbands are called to lead with love, nourish and cherish their wives as Christ does the church, and to repent of every form of negligence, coldness, or abuse that contradicts both the natural order and the gospel.
Lessons from Paul's Ministry - Acts 20:17-31
Acts 20:17–31 presents Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders as a model for Christian ministry and congregational faithfulness. The sermon draws four lessons from Paul's example: the transparent, suffering-marked character of his ministry; the divine call and gospel mission that sustained him; the sobering warning against wolves from without and false teachers from within; and the encouraging promise that God and the word of his grace are able to build up and preserve his people to their final inheritance. The application presses both ministers and congregants toward openness before God's people, vigilance against false teaching, and diligent use of the means of grace.
The Husband and Wife Relationship, Part 2
What does it mean for a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church? Expounding Ephesians 5:25–27, this sermon argues that the husband's headship is never a license for domestic tyranny but is always to be exercised as a reign of love, patterned after Christ's self-sacrificing, sanctifying love for his bride. The sermon works through the nature and explanation of the command to love, the characteristics of that love (faithful monogamy, consistent self-sacrifice, joyful commitment to the wife's well-being), and its threefold expression: praying for her, providing for her, and protecting her. The passage then opens into the broader Christological vision of Ephesians 5:26–27 — Christ's definite atonement, his sanctifying and cleansing of the church, and his purpose to present her to himself without spot, wrinkle, or blemish — held up as both the ground and the standard of the husband's love.
Restrictions on Levitical Priesthood
Leviticus 21–22 sets out restrictions governing the Levitical priesthood: whom priests may mourn, whom they may marry, what physical conditions disqualify them from service, who may eat from their food, and what animals are acceptable for sacrifice. The underlying logic in every category is the same — the holy God who dwells among his people demands a priesthood, a sacrifice, and a manner of worship that reflect his holiness and are not corrupted by defilement or defect. These chapters point typologically beyond themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone fulfils what the Levitical order only approximated: the perfect high priest who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, and the perfect sacrifice offered once for all. The superiority of the new covenant is seen precisely here — the exclusions of the old order (eunuchs, the maimed, the lame) give way to the great invitation of Christ to the broken and outcast to come to the wedding feast.
The Unsurpassed Value of the Gospel
The gospel of Jesus Christ is worth suffering and dying for — not because of its abstract beauty, but because of its origin, its author, and its achievement. Expounding 2 Timothy 1:8–10, this sermon traces Paul's exhortation to Timothy through three movements: the pattern for gospel ministry (refusing shame and embracing suffering in God's power), the origin of God's plan of salvation (purposed before time began, not according to works but according to divine grace), and the execution of that plan in the appearing of Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. The Lord's Supper frames the entire meditation, giving the congregation cause to rejoice that the one who purposed their salvation in eternity has accomplished it decisively in history.
Live Stream - November 26, 2023
Colossians 1:13–20 sets forth one of the richest concentrations of Christology in the New Testament, and this exposition works through it under three heads: the concise statement of salvation as divine deliverance from darkness into the kingdom of the Son, an expansion on the identity and work of that Son (his essential Divine Majesty, his mediatorial kingship, and his Redemptive Excellence in the crosswork), and finally the apostolic proclamation of this same Christ as the proper content of all Christian preaching. The sermon argues throughout that the errors threatening the Colossian church — and the church today — are answered not by novelty but by a high and uncompromising Christology that refuses to bring Christ down from his throne. The closing application draws from Hebrews 5: Christians are to press on from milk to solid food, growing in the knowledge of Christ so as to speak truthfully of the King of Kings to a world that in the Christmas season catches only a blurred glimpse of a babe in a manger.
Death Penalty, Part 3
Romans 13:1–7 furnishes the New Testament's clearest warrant for civil government bearing the sword, including capital punishment — yet common objections, both biblical and pragmatic, continue to challenge this teaching. This third installment of a study arising from Leviticus 20 addresses the two most significant biblical objections: the pacifist misreading of Matthew 5:38–42 and the attempt to leverage John 8:1–11 against lawful execution. The sermon argues that Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is correcting the misapplication of the lex talionis to personal relationships, not dismantling civil jurisprudence, and that his handling of the woman caught in adultery actually upholds Mosaic evidentiary law rather than nullifying capital punishment. Five pragmatic objections — that the death penalty is incompatible with Christian forgiveness, lacks mercy, risks executing the innocent, fails to deter, and forecloses salvation — are each answered from Scripture and reason.
Live Stream - November 19, 2023
John 12:42–43 records that many among the Jewish rulers believed in Jesus yet would not confess him publicly, fearing expulsion from the synagogue and craving the praise of men over the praise of God. This sermon examines why that belief — whether temporary or merely historical — cannot be saving faith, using three diagnostic marks drawn from the text: absence of public confession, fear of consequences, and love of human approval above divine honour. The congregation is called to contrast these rulers with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whose defiance of Nebuchadnezzar models the courage, wisdom, and faith the church in every generation must seek; genuine saving faith, granted by God's grace alone, will confess Christ even at cost.
The Husband and Wife Relationship, Part 1
Ephesians 5:22–24 presents the duty, reason, and practice of a wife's submission to her husband within the covenant of marriage. The passage is expounded within the broader Pauline household code of Ephesians 5:21–6:9, which itself flows from the Spirit-filled life commanded in verse 18. The sermon grounds wifely submission in both the created order (the husband as head by divine indicative, not negotiation) and in the analogical relationship of Christ and the church. Husbands and wives are called to embrace their respective obligations — loving leadership and willing, comprehensive submission — as an act of obedience to God, knowing that the grace enabling this obedience flows from the gospel of Jesus Christ alone.