Topic
Election
6 sermons · All topics
The Identity of the Good Shepherd
John 10:22–30 records the climactic confrontation in Solomon's Porch during the Feast of Dedication, where Jesus answers the persistent demand to declare his identity plainly. He does so not with new information but by pressing what he has already said — through his works, his doctrine, and his relation to the Father — culminating in the declaration 'I and my Father are one,' a statement the unbelieving Jews rightly understood as a claim to full divine essence. The sermon traces five movements in verses 25–30: the declaration, confirmation, rejection, recognition, and affirmation that Jesus is the Christ, with extended treatment of the sovereignty of God in salvation, the security of the sheep grounded in both the Son and the Father, and the ontological unity of Father and Son against both Arian and Sabellian error. Believers are called to rest in the particular, efficacious, and irrevocable redemption accomplished by the Good Shepherd, and those outside Christ are called to hear his voice and believe.
The Gracious Purpose of the Father
Ephesians 1:3–6 opens with what the Apostle Paul calls a 'barakah' — a formal blessing of God followed by specific reasons for that praise. This sermon expounds the Father's role in the covenant of redemption: His sovereign, unconditional election of sinners in Christ before the foundation of the world, and His predestinating purpose that those chosen would be made holy and blameless. Election is the cause, not the consequence, of faith and repentance — sinners dead in trespasses and sins are chosen not because of foreseen merit but according to the good pleasure of God's will alone. The sermon calls believers to respond to the doctrine of election not with defensive polemic but with the doxological posture Paul himself models: praise, blessing, and adoration to God Most High.
Genesis 27
Genesis 27 presents the deception of Isaac by Rebekah and Jacob to secure the patriarchal blessing, and a careful reading reveals that every member of the family acts in an unprincipled manner — yet God's covenantal promise advances without interruption. The blessing conveyed upon Jacob is the Abrahamic covenant itself being passed to the son of promise, a line that runs through Israel and terminates in the Lord Jesus Christ as the seed of Genesis 3:15. Ambrose's allegory, endorsed by Calvin, illuminates the typological force of the episode: as Jacob entered the presence of his father clothed in borrowed garments carrying their distinctive odor, so believers enter the presence of the heavenly Father clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ. The chapter is a sustained argument for the sovereignty of divine election and the grace of God, which operates not because of human virtue but in spite of its spectacular absence.
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.
Free Grace Baptist Church - May 22, 2016 PM
Colossians 3:12–14 grounds Christian virtue not in moral effort but in the sovereign grace of God — the elect are holy and beloved not because they were found worthy, but so that they might become so. This sermon works through the identity and character of the new man in Christ, showing that tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, and love are not conditions for election but fruits of it. The believer is called to forgive as Christ has forgiven — casting sin into the depths rather than holding it over others — and to put on love as the bond that holds every other virtue together.
The Father's Plan of Redemption
Ephesians 1:3–6 opens a doxology that gives the believer a glimpse into the eternal counsel of the triune God — what Reformed theology calls the covenant of redemption, or pactum salutis. The Father's role in that counsel is threefold: he blesses his people with every spiritual blessing in Christ, he sovereignly elects and predestines a multitude to adoption as sons, and he does all of this to the praise of his glorious grace. The sermon calls believers to respond to this free and sovereign electing love not with presumption but with worship, obedience, and a deepened sense of the gravity of sinning against so gracious a Father.