Topic
Eschatology
512 sermons · All topics
Past, Present, and Future at the Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper operates across three tenses simultaneously: it is a memorial ordinance calling believers to remember Christ's humiliation, substitutionary suffering, and death as prophesied in Isaiah 53; it is a present means of grace conferring real spiritual communion with the exalted Christ by the Spirit, not merely a conscious recollection; and it is an eschatological anticipation, pointing the church toward the consummation when the ordinance itself will give way to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Against both Roman Catholic transubstantiation and a bare memorialist view, the sermon argues from 1 Corinthians 10–11 that the bread and wine remain unchanged in substance while serving as conduits by which the risen Lord nourishes and confirms the faith of His gathered people.
The Transfiguration of the Son
The transfiguration of Christ in Matthew 17:1–8 is a controlled revelation of the divine glory that belongs to the eternal Son, displayed before Peter, James, and John on the holy mountain. The Father's voice from the Shekinah cloud — echoing Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1–4, and repeating his declaration at Christ's baptism — publicly confirms that Jesus is the beloved Messiah who must suffer, die, and rise, vindicating the Christology the disciples had confessed in Matthew 16. Moses and Elijah appear as the law and the prophets bearing witness to the one who fulfills and supersedes them both, while their conversation with Christ about his coming death underscores that the cross and the crown are inseparable. Believers are called to behold the glory of the transfigured Son, to hear him above all other voices, and to press on through suffering in confidence that cross always precedes crown.
The Glory of the Father
John 17:1–5 records the opening of Christ's High Priestly Prayer, in which the incarnate Son petitions the Father to glorify Him in and through His approaching death, resurrection, and exaltation. The sermon expounds three grounds for that petition: the salvation of the elect, the accomplishment of redemption through Christ's active and passive obedience, and the restoration of the pre-incarnate glory to the God-Man. Central to the exposition is verse 3, where Christ defines eternal life as the knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ — a knowledge that necessarily issues in glorifying God, sustaining believers through trial, and grounding assurance not in personal performance but in the character and covenant of the triune God. Hearers are pressed to pursue that knowledge through the ordinary means of grace: the reading of Scripture, prayer, and faithful attendance upon the Word.
The Unashamed Commitment to the Gospel
2 Timothy 1:9–10 sets before the reader the entire arc of God's redemptive plan, from its eternal origin to its historical execution in the appearing of Jesus Christ. The text answers Paul's command to Timothy in verse 8 — to be unashamed of the gospel and to suffer for it — by grounding that command in the glorious nature of the gospel itself. Salvation originates not in human will or works but in God's sovereign purpose and grace, decreed before time began and administered through the effectual calling of the elect. Because Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, the preacher and every Christian has every reason to hold fast to this message without shame and to labor in its proclamation without relenting.
The Coming of the Kingdom
Matthew 16:28 records Jesus' promise that some standing with him would not taste death before seeing the Son of Man coming in his kingdom — a promise whose referent has generated significant interpretive disagreement. This sermon argues exegetically and theologically that the event in view is the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, presenting seven lines of evidence: the contextual sense of 'some,' parallel passages in Matthew, other New Testament texts, the connection to Christ's resurrection and ascension, Old Testament covenantal prophecy (especially Deuteronomy 28 and Daniel 9), the theological commentary of Hebrews 8, and the principle that judgment is itself a sign of the kingdom's arrival. The destruction of AD 70 is presented not as a relic of ancient history but as a covenantal and typological event that vindicates Christ's kingship, foreshadows the final judgment, and calls every hearer to take refuge in the Lamb before the great day of his wrath.
The Eschatological Incentive for Discipleship
Matthew 16:27–28 presents two eschatological realities — the final judgment at the second coming of Christ and, in verse 28, the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 — as motivating incentives for Christian discipleship. The cross precedes the crown: disciples are called to self-denial, suffering, and allegiance to Christ precisely because a day of reckoning is coming in which the Son of Man will reward each person according to his works. Far from competing with justification by faith alone, that judgment according to works publicly evidences the true and lively faith of those who are hidden in Christ, whose righteousness alone enables the justified to stand before a thrice-holy God. Believers are therefore exhorted to bear the cross daily, fix their hope on the coming glory, and pursue the holiness that eschatological certainty demands.
1 Samuel 1:19-2:11
Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1–10 moves from personal thanksgiving for the birth of Samuel to a theologically rich confession of God's holiness, immutability, omniscience, and sovereignty. The prayer parallels Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1 and Psalm 113, demonstrating a consistent biblical pattern of rejoicing in the Giver rather than the gift, grounding praise in the attributes of God, and culminating in prophetic expectation of the Messiah's kingdom. The study draws out six responses the prayer demands of the believer: joy in God's presence, confidence in his rule, admiration of his attributes, humility before his omniscience, security in his immutability, and submission to his government.
The Description of Discipleship
Matthew 16:24–26 sets before every professing believer a three-part description of discipleship: self-denial, cross-bearing, and following Christ. This sermon argues that Jesus is not addressing unbelievers with a program for earning salvation, but is describing the necessary shape of a life already transformed by sovereign grace — a life in which self is renounced, suffering for Christ is embraced as a daily reality, and nothing in this world is valued above the soul. The exhortation is direct: examine whether your life is ordered around Christ or around self, repent where it is not, and trust not in your own self-denial but in Christ's perfect obedience and resurrection.
The Objection to the Divine Plan
Peter's rebuke of Christ in Matthew 16:22 is not merely a disciple's well-intentioned blunder — it is an alignment with the adversarial agenda that Jesus had already confronted in the wilderness temptation of Matthew 4. This sermon expounds the divine necessity of Christ's suffering and death as grounded in the eternal Covenant of Redemption, and presses the point that to object to a suffering Messiah is to object to the only ground of sinners' salvation. The response to Peter — 'Get behind me, Satan' — exposes the disease-at-the-heart nature of any theology that removes the cross from Christianity's center, and the sermon closes by pressing listeners either to embrace the crucified Christ or to reckon with the inescapable judgment of that same Christ.
Introduction to 1 Samuel
The book of 1 Samuel narrates the transition of Israel from the period of the judges to an established monarchy under Saul and then David — a transition anticipated in Deuteronomy 17 and governed by the question of whether Israel's king would trust Yahweh or his own resources. This introductory study covers the title, authorship, and date of 1 Samuel before examining the principles for kingship given in Deuteronomy 17:14–20, the theological themes of God's sovereignty, providence, and covenant faithfulness running through the book, and a broad outline of its structure. The central lesson of the monarchy, both in its failures and its partial successes, is typological: every king in Israel points forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one king who reigns in complete righteousness and justice.
Hebrews 12:1
Hebrews 12:1 calls believers to run with endurance the race set before them — not to earn salvation, but because they have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The sermon works through the obstacles that must be laid aside (weights and ensnaring sins), the sustained pattern of perseverance found throughout Hebrews, and the parallel athletic imagery in Paul's letters. The great cloud of witnesses in verse 1 functions not as a cheering section but as a courtroom testimony — each witness declaring that God is faithful, that He sustains His people, and that resolute endurance to the end is therefore possible.
Of God's Decree (3.1-6)
God's decree — his eternal, free, and unchangeable foreordination of all things whatsoever come to pass — is grounded in his absolute sovereignty and is comprehensive in scope, extending to the free acts of men, chance occurrences, sinful acts, the affairs of nations, and the final destinies of both the elect and the reprobate. This confession-study exposition of 1689 London Baptist Confession Chapter 3 works through five aspects of the decree: its foundation in divine sovereignty, its inviolable and unfrustratable character, its comprehensive reach, its unconditional nature (contra Arminian foreseen-faith schemes and Molinist middle-knowledge frameworks), and its relation to redemption through election and reprobation. The decree of election terminates not upon election itself but upon the praise of God's glorious grace, while the decree of reprobation terminates not upon damnation itself but upon the praise of God's glorious justice. Listeners are called to rest in a God whose sovereign will is the first and final cause of all things, leaving nothing to chance or creaturely contingency.
Introduction to Ruth
The book of Ruth, set during the period of the judges, opens a window onto ordinary covenant life in Israel — marked by hesed, divine providence, and the sovereign outworking of the Davidic line through which Messiah would come. This introductory study establishes the date, historical setting, authorship, and historicity of the book, demonstrating from internal evidence and Matthew's genealogy that the events are historical fact. The book's theological themes — God's grace, judgment, excellence, and meticulous providence — are traced through key passages, showing that even in a period of widespread apostasy, God preserved a faithful remnant. The study closes with a structural outline organized around four acts, preparing the congregation to read Ruth as a Christ-centered narrative whose ultimate aim is the royal genealogy pointing to David and his greater Son.
The Unholy Alliance Seeks a Sign
Matthew 16:1–4 records a politically improbable coalition — the theologically opposed Pharisees and Sadducees — uniting in their demand that Jesus produce a sign from heaven. The sermon traces three features of this encounter: the nature of their demand, the hypocrisy Jesus exposes in their selective discernment, and the gravity of his description of their generation as wicked and adulterous. Jesus refuses to satisfy carnal curiosity or submit to carnal scrutiny, responding instead with the sign of the prophet Jonah — the death and resurrection of the Son of Man — the very gospel that calls every hearer to repent and flee to Christ rather than bargain with God.
Exhortation and Doxology
Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:13–16 is framed by two weighty divine witnesses — the life-giving Father and the Christ who confessed the truth before Pontius Pilate — and calls every gospel minister to keep the apostolic commandment without spot, blameless, until the Lord's appearing. The sermon examines the gravity of that charge, the eschatological horizon that shapes it, and the doxology to God that it provokes, displaying five divine perfections: the blessed Potentate, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, sole possessor of immortality, dweller in unapproachable light, and the One whom no man has seen or can see. Faithfulness — not popularity, church size, or personal ability — is the measure of ministerial success according to the apostolic ethic. The congregation is exhorted to pray for those in gospel ministry, to pursue the knowledge of God including the doctrine of the Trinity, and to see faithful preaching as the ordinary means by which God saves sinners.
The Lord's Prayer, Part 3
What does it mean to pray 'Your kingdom come'? This Bible study on Matthew 6:10 works through the second petition of the Lord's Prayer, distinguishing the universal providential kingdom, the present kingdom of grace, and the coming kingdom of glory, drawing on the Westminster Larger Catechism's answer to question 191. The session applies this petition at three levels — the individual believer, the local church, and the civil order — pressing the congregation toward a kingdom mindset that is expressed in doctrine, churchmanship, evangelistic prayer, and loyalty to the reign of Christ.
The Thief on the Cross
Luke 23:39–43 presents three condemned men at Calvary — two criminals and the sinless Christ — and the radical difference between their responses exposes the nature of saving faith, sovereign grace, and the distinction between physical and spiritual death. The wretched criminal blasphemes even in his torment, seeking only physical deliverance; the repentant criminal confesses his guilt justly deserved, rebukes blasphemy, and clings by faith alone to a crucified King whose kingdom is eternal. The passage stands as the premier biblical refutation of works-based justification: this man was justified fully and clothed in Christ's righteousness with only hours of sanctification remaining, a display of free and sovereign grace that calls every unbeliever to repentant faith before death — which is fixed, though its day is unknown.
The Fact of the Resurrection
John 20:1–23 presents three convergent lines of evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ: the empty tomb witnessed by Peter and John, the personal appearance to Mary Magdalene, and the appearance to the assembled disciples. The sermon examines each episode as a first-hand historical account, noting the specific details — the folded grave clothes, the testimony of a woman, the skepticism of the disciples — that authenticate rather than undermine the record. Running throughout is an apologetic case against the mass-hallucination and grave-robber theories, grounded in the nature, variety, and consequences of the post-resurrection appearances. The resurrection is shown to be the Father's public vindication of the Son's substitutionary work, and hearers are called to trust the living Christ whose empty tomb guarantees both judgment for unbelievers and justification for all who believe.
The Justice of God in His Merciful Election
Romans 9:14–18 confronts the charge that God acts unjustly in electing particular sinners to salvation while passing over others. Drawing on God's declaration to Moses in Exodus 33 and His purpose in raising up Pharaoh, the sermon argues that divine election is just precisely because God, as the omnipotent Creator and sovereign Judge, retains the absolute right to bestow mercy on whom He wills and to harden whom He wills — a right He expressly claims and which no creature may dispute. The sermon situates election within the full ordo salutis and the pactum salutis, showing predestination to be the eternal foundation of every benefit of salvation applied in history. Hearers are called to find assurance in the marks of grace, to trust God's immutable purposes, and to proclaim the gospel as the ordained means by which the elect are called forth.
The Excellence, the Wonder, and the Glory
Hebrews 1:1–4 presents the glory of Jesus Christ as the culmination and surpassing excellence of all divine revelation, redemption, and reign. This sermon works through the opening verses of Hebrews under three headings: the excellence of Christ's revelation over the partial and preparatory word of the prophets, the wonder of his redemption accomplished by one who is simultaneously the radiance of the Father's glory and the sovereign upholder of the universe, and the glory of his present reign at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Believers are called to rejoice in the removal of the guilt of sin through Christ's exclusive and perfectly executed atoning work, while those outside Christ are warned that to neglect so great a salvation leaves no escape.
The Rejection at Nazareth
Matthew 13:54–58 records the rejection of Jesus Christ in his hometown of Nazareth, where familiarity with his person produced not neutrality but active offense and opposition. The sermon traces the movement from initial astonishment at Christ's wisdom and mighty works to suspicion, critical questioning, and full-scale rejection — demonstrating that curiosity about Christ, apart from saving faith, inevitably hardens into hostility. The passage is read through the lens of Isaiah 53:3, with Christ's dishonor in Nazareth understood as a fulfillment of the suffering servant's rejection. Hearers are pressed to reckon with whether they are with Christ or against him, warned that unbelief hardens with each exposure to the gospel, and called to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ while it is still the day of grace.
The Deliverance of Israel by Barak (and Jael)
Judges 4 presents the recurring cycle of Israel's sin, oppression, and God-wrought deliverance — here through Barak and Jael against the Canaanite commander Sisera. The chapter resists two common misreadings: that Deborah is the judge-deliverer, and that Jael's act was treacherous murder. Both women serve as agents of Yahweh's sovereign agenda, not champions of social revolution. The sermon traces how God's sovereign grace operates through improbable instruments, always ensuring that the glory of victory belongs to Him alone, and calls the congregation to faithful obedience while trusting Christ, the second Adam, to subdue the nations.
The Parables of the Dragnet and Scribe
Matthew 13:47–53 closes the kingdom parables with two final teachings: the dragnet and the scribe. The dragnet parable presses the certainty of coming judgment — at the end of the age, angels will separate the wicked from the just and cast the wicked into the furnace of fire — a reality Jesus repeats deliberately so that no hearer can ignore it. The parable of the scribe then turns to those entrusted with the mysteries of the kingdom: disciples who have understood these truths bear a corresponding responsibility to function as faithful householders, bringing out of the treasure things new and old. The sermon calls every hearer either to flee to Christ as the only refuge from the wrath to come, or, if already a believer, to take seriously the stewardship of gospel knowledge.
The Parable of the Tares Explained
Matthew 13:34–43 records Christ's private explanation of the parable of the wheat and tares to His disciples, and the sermon works through that explanation in two movements: the purpose of parabolic teaching and the seven details of the parable itself. The disciples' question falls on the tares, not the wheat, and the sermon follows that emphasis — the final destiny of the wicked, cast into the furnace of fire, stands at the center of the exposition. The identity of the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the wicked one is traced from Genesis 3:15 through the New Testament, establishing that the antithesis between the two seeds runs the entire length of redemptive history. The sermon closes with urgent evangelistic appeal: flee to Christ now, for every person will stand before the Son of Man who is both Savior and Judge.
The Parables of Seed and Leaven
The two briefest parables in Matthew 13's kingdom discourse — the mustard seed and the leaven — address a perennial temptation: to judge the kingdom of God by its small and seemingly insignificant beginnings. This exposition argues that both parables teach the same essential truth: the kingdom inaugurated by Christ begins imperceptibly but grows inevitably and pervasively, and its lowly origin in the incarnation, ministry, and crucifixion of Jesus is not a contradiction of royal power but its very pattern. The sermon concludes with a threefold application — the parables explain Christ's ministry, call the church to resist discouragement, and confront the unconverted with the call to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Parable of the Wheat and Tares
Matthew 13:24–30 presents the parable of the wheat and tares, in which Christ teaches that his kingdom advances through a world — and a visible church — where genuine believers co-exist with those sown by the devil. The sermon addresses the theodicy embedded in the parable: God's sovereignty over evil does not mean the immediate expulsion of wickedness, but its certain, final judgment at the eschaton. Hearers are called to grow as wheat, to resist an overly censorious spirit toward apparent tares, and to trust that the Master has the harvest entirely under his control.
The Demand for a Sign
Matthew 12:38–45 exposes the demand of the scribes and Pharisees for a sign as a mask for ethical rebellion: the problem is not insufficient evidence but an unwillingness to fear God and repent. Christ identifies them as an evil and adulterous generation, declares that his death and resurrection will be the only sign given, and warns that Gentiles — the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba — will rise in judgment to condemn those who rejected far greater light. The passage closes with a parable warning that moral reformation without the conquering grace of the gospel leaves a man in a worse condition than before, and the application presses hearers to believe the word, flee moral reform as a substitute for the gospel, and reckon with the greater condemnation that falls on those who enjoy greater privilege.
Colossians 1:9-14
Paul's intercessory prayer in Colossians 1:9–14 sets the pattern for how believers ought to pray for one another: not merely for temporal relief, but for a life that walks worthy of the Lord and fully pleases Him. The sermon works through four participles that Paul uses to describe that worthy walk — fruitfulness in good works, growth in the knowledge of God, strength for patient endurance, and thankfulness — showing these as a unified package rather than a menu of options. The closing verses of the passage (vv. 12–14) then ground that thankfulness in three cosmic realities: qualification for the inheritance of the saints, deliverance from the dominion of darkness, and transfer into the kingdom of Christ, all secured by redemption through His blood.
The Incarnation, Ascension, and Triumph of Christ
Revelation 12 sets before the church a cosmic drama: the incarnate Son of God, born into a world where the dragon stood ready to devour him, ascends to the throne of God Most High and casts Satan out of heaven. The decisive act securing this victory — and silencing the accuser of the brethren — is the blood of the Lamb shed at Calvary. The same triumph that expels the devil from heaven intensifies his rage against the church on earth, so that the suffering of believers is not a sign of Satan's victory but of the saints' participation in Christ's cross. The sermon calls the church to persevere in the wilderness of this age, armed with the knowledge that the foe has been defeated and the messianic King reigns at the right hand of God.
Joshua 18-21
Joshua 18–21 records the distribution of the remaining tribal allotments, the establishment of cities of refuge, the assignment of Levitical cities, and a concluding theological summary of the entire book. The seven tribes' failure to claim their inheritance is exposed as unbelief and ingratitude, while Caleb and Joshua stand as models of faith that acts upon the promises of God. The cities of refuge illumine God's justice — distinguishing murder from manslaughter, protecting the innocent, and underscoring the sanctity of human life made in God's image. The passage closes with the theological heart of the book: not one word of God's promise failed, a principle that extends through the new covenant to the final defeat of all Christ's enemies and the rest that awaits the people of God.