Topic
Eschatology
512 sermons · All topics
The Crucifixion of Jesus, Part 5
The death of Christ on the cross was not a bare historical event but a theologically charged act that immediately reshaped the covenant order between God and man. This sermon expounds Matthew 27:51–56, examining the three signs that followed the crucifixion — the torn temple veil, the earthquake and split rocks, and the resurrection of the saints — as divine testimony to the efficacy of Christ's atoning work and the inauguration of the New Covenant. The witnesses to that death, both the confessing Roman soldiers and the faithful women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, confirm that the one crucified is truly the Son of God. Believers are called to rest in Christ's completed atonement, which has opened access to the Holy of Holies for all who come through him, and to look forward to the bodily resurrection he has secured for his people.
Live Stream - Nov 14, 2021
What did the Old Testament prophets understand about the salvation they foretold, and what does their searching mean for believers today? Expounding 1 Peter 1:10–12, this sermon argues that the prophets fully understood they were prophesying of a coming Messiah-King, but lacked the complete revelation of who he would be and when he would come — a fullness disclosed only in the New Testament through the apostolic proclamation of Jesus Christ. The pattern of Christ's sufferings followed by glory is the pattern appointed for all who are in him, so that present trials are not anomalies but the ordained path to the inheritance. Believers are called to diligent study of the completed revelation, to be astonished by so great a salvation, and to endure suffering with joy by fixing their gaze on what the prophets longed to see and the angels strain to behold.
The Magnitude of Salvation
1 Peter 1:10–12 raises a question that magnifies the gospel: if the Old Testament prophets searched so carefully for what believers now possess, how great must this salvation be? The sermon traces three witnesses to that greatness — the prophets who inquired but did not receive the full disclosure, the apostles who proclaimed what the Spirit now made plain, and the angels who bend over in perpetual wonder at a redemption they themselves never needed. The pattern of Christ's sufferings followed by glory is shown to be the shape of every believer's life, grounding present endurance in the certainty of future inheritance.
The Testimony Concerning Christ's Supremacy
John 3:31–36 contains John the Baptist's climactic testimony concerning the supremacy and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage presses two inseparable realities: Christ's origin from above establishes his absolute supremacy over every earthly voice, and the Father's gift of all things into the Son's hand grounds his authority to bestow everlasting life on believers and to execute wrath on those who remain in unbelief. The sermon traces how the Baptist's testimony in these verses is of one piece with the prologue of John's Gospel, the high-priestly prayer of John 17, and the whole drift of Scripture concerning the triune God. Hearers are called to look in faith to Christ, the Lamb of God, understanding that regeneration by the Spirit is the necessary precondition for that faith, and that to reject the Son is not neutrality but the tacit accusation that God is a liar.
The Discourse on God's Salvation, Part 3
John 3:17–21 declares that the Son of Man's incarnation was a redemptive, not a condemnatory, mission — yet the world He entered was already under condemnation by virtue of Adam's sin and its own actual transgressions. The passage moves from the declaration of man's condemned state (vv. 17–18) to the demonstration of it (vv. 19–21): fallen humanity resists the light of Christ, loves moral darkness, and avoids exposure — the classic scriptural portrait of total depravity confirmed across Genesis, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament. The necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit follows directly: because sinners are constitutionally hostile to the light, they cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit first makes them alive and grants the graces of faith and repentance.
Exodus 15 - Song of Moses
Exodus 15 records the Song of Moses, a celebration of divine redemption and righteous judgment sung by Israel after the destruction of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea. The sermon expounds the threefold structure of the song — the triumph of the Lord, the defeat of the Egyptians, and the majesty and incomparability of God — before tracing its prophetic reach into the nations' fear of Yahweh and the ultimate goal of covenant dwelling. The bitter waters of Marah complete the chapter, exposing Israel's reflexive grumbling as a failure to trust the God who had already done the greater work of redemption. Hearers are called to praise God for both his saving mercy and his just judgment, and to pass that doxological heritage to the next generation.
A Practical Example for the Suffering Christian
Psalm 61 presents David at the edge of the wilderness — heart overwhelmed, throne usurped, kingdom collapsing — as a concrete example of what it looks like for a suffering believer to cry out to God, refocus on covenant faithfulness, and be brought from despair to joyful praise. The sermon traces three movements in the psalm: the cry for help from the brink of despair (vv. 1–2), the deliberate refocusing on God's past faithfulness, the Davidic covenant, and the eternal inheritance of the Messiah's kingdom (vv. 3–7), and the resulting resolve of praise (v. 8). David's process is not mystical — it is conscious, disciplined engagement with the means of grace: prayer, meditation on covenant promises, and fixing the mind on the eternal kingship of Christ. Suffering Christians are exhorted to follow that same pattern rather than abandoning the means of grace at the very moment they are most needed.
The Crucifixion of Jesus, Part 3
Matthew 27:45–46 records the fourth of Christ's seven words from the cross — the cry of dereliction, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' — and its interpretation demands both exegetical precision and doctrinal care. The darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour was not a solar eclipse but a supernatural sign of divine judgment, recapitulating the ninth plague pattern and marking the moment the Passover antitype was slain. The cry itself does not imply any ontological division within the Trinity, any dissolution of the hypostatic union, or the suffering of all three persons; rather, it expresses the withdrawal of divine consolation from the Son according to his true humanity as he bore, in our place as surety, the full weight of penal wrath. Believers are called to ground their assurance not in felt divine presence but in the covenant faithfulness of the God to whom Christ still cried 'my God' even in the depth of his substitutionary suffering.
The Earthly Temple in Stephen's Defense
Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:44–50 is not an attack on the temple but a demonstration that the Sanhedrin itself has misunderstood it. Working through the tabernacle, David's desire, Solomon's building, and Isaiah's oracle, Stephen shows that Israel's entire sacrificial and dwelling-place theology was typological — pointing forward to the Lord Jesus Christ as the true temple in whom God dwells with his people. The sermon argues that the dispensational expectation of a rebuilt physical temple in Jerusalem represents a retreat from fulfilled typology, and calls hearers to receive Christ as the antitype of all that the earthly sanctuary signified.
The New Heaven and New Earth
Revelation 21:1–8 presents the new heaven and new earth not as the annihilation and replacement of creation but as its renovation — the consummation of covenant blessing in which God dwells fully and finally with his redeemed people. Working through four elements of the vision (the new creation, the bride, the announcement of blessing, and the voice from the throne), this exposition situates John's language within the broader biblical storyline of paradise lost in Adam and paradise restored in Christ, and interprets the new Jerusalem as the church — the covenant community that has replaced apostate Israel as the bearer of God's covenant promises. The sermon closes with a meditation on individual eschatology, drawing on Job, the Psalms, and the Apostle Paul to comfort believers with the certainty that those who die in Christ pass immediately into his presence, and that the fullness of covenant blessing awaits them in the age to come.
Exodus 11
Exodus 11 announces and describes the tenth plague — the death of the firstborn throughout Egypt — which God executes directly and immediately, without mediation through natural means. The chapter is structured around three movements: the promise of liberty and prosperity to Israel, the announcement of sweeping judgment upon every household in Egypt, and Pharaoh's continued, God-ordained rebellion. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is treated not as mere divine permission but as a just act of sovereignty, displaying God's power, holiness, and mercy simultaneously — mercy to Israel being inseparable from judgment upon her oppressors.
The Enthronement of the Priest-King
Psalm 110, the most frequently cited Old Testament passage in the New Testament, presents the Messiah as the divinely enthroned Priest-King whose universal dominion is secured by the oath of God. This exposition traces three movements in the psalm: the enthronement and government of Christ the King (vv. 1–3), his eternal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek (v. 4), and the triumphant conquest of his enemies (vv. 5–7). The sermon draws on Peter's argument in Acts 2, Paul's application in 1 Corinthians 15 and Ephesians 1, and the author of Hebrews to show that Christ's present session at the right hand of the Father is not passive but active — he reigns, subdues, and intercedes. Christians living in tumultuous times are urged to resist despair by fixing their confidence in the sovereign rule of the enthroned Priest-King rather than in the shifting circumstances of earthly politics.
Live Stream - August 22, 2021
Joy and grief can coexist in the Christian life because they draw from different sources: grief responds to the realities of the temporal realm, while joy is rooted in the heavenly realities secured by Christ's resurrection and ascension. Expounding 1 Peter 1:6–9, this sermon works through three movements: the paradox of Christian experience (simultaneous rejoicing and grieving), the purpose of trials (proving and purifying genuine faith as gold is proved by fire), and the principle of maintaining joy (a growing, knowledge-grounded faith in Christ). The congregation is called to resist both stoic denial of suffering and carnal despair, and instead to cultivate an ever-deepening knowledge of Christ through the Word, prayer, and the local church, so that joy — rooted in the guaranteed inheritance awaiting believers — remains constant through manifold trials.
Live Stream - August 22, 2021
Facing persecution, trial, and the chaos of a fallen world, believers are not left without anchor. This exposition of 1 Peter 1:3–5 works through three movements: the author of salvation (God the Father, who acts out of abundant mercy), the nature of salvation (regeneration unto a living hope grounded in the resurrection of Christ, and an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading), and the certainty of salvation (both the inheritance and the heirs are preserved by the power of God). The sermon calls believers to fix their hope on the coming glory rather than on the perishing things of this world, and it summons the unconverted to flee to Christ before facing the polar opposite of that glory.
1 Peter 1:3-5
The believer's hope of glory, grounded in 1 Peter 1:3–5, is not a vague aspiration but a certain inheritance secured by God's sovereign mercy and the resurrection of Christ. Peter's doxology unfolds the doctrine of salvation under three headings: God the Father as its author, the nature of that salvation as a living hope pointing to a new creation, and the certainty of preservation by divine power. Because both the inheritance and the heirs are kept — the one reserved in heaven, the other shielded by omnipotence through faith — believers facing trial are called to reorient every earthly sorrow toward the glory that is to come.
1 Peter 1:6-9
The paradox of simultaneously rejoicing and grieving marks the Christian life as Peter describes it in 1 Peter 1:6–9. Trials are not accidents of providence but a necessary divine instrument: God uses suffering to prove and purify a faith that is more precious to Him than refined gold is to men, and that tested faith will issue in praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The principle for maintaining joy amid suffering is not mere willpower but a growing, knowledge-grounded faith fixed on Christ — His cross, His resurrection, and the inheritance He has secured — so that joy becomes the constant fruit of right focus rather than a fluctuating response to circumstances.
Live Stream - August 15, 2021
Drawing from 2 Timothy 1:8–12, this sermon confronts the church's tendency to romanticize suffering in the abstract while shrinking from it in practice. The gospel of Christ is inherently shameful by the world's measure — Christ died as a condemned man, bearing public disgrace — and those who hold to it will face ridicule, social pressure, and even imprisonment. The only ground for standing firm under such conditions is not personal resolve but the power of God, who purposed salvation in Christ before time began, abolished death through his appearing, and promises to preserve his gospel and his church until the last day.
Live Stream - August 15, 2021
Ruth 4 presents the redemption of Naomi and the perpetuation of the line of Elimelech through the costly love of Boaz, a kinsman-redeemer whose sacrifice foreshadows the redemptive work of Christ. The chapter closes with a genealogy pointing forward to David and, ultimately, to the King who defeats death and reigns at the right hand of the Father. Where Israel was without a king and God's people without hope, this text insists there is no hopeless future for the people of God, because their hope is grounded not in circumstances but in Christ the King who walks with his people in suffering and who gave himself as a bridegroom for an unlovely bride.
Aug 15
Ruth 4 culminates the book's central theme of redemption, showing how Boaz's costly love for Ruth and Naomi foreshadows the costlier love of Christ for his unlovely people. The kinsman-redeemer who willingly takes on an obligation he was not bound to fulfill — redeeming land, line, and a Moabite widow — points forward through the Davidic genealogy to the King who identifies with sinners and purchases his bride at the price of his own blood. God's sovereign providence moves through unsavory sinners and hopeless circumstances to build the royal line, a pattern that should silence despair among God's people in every age. The sermon calls believers to find their only settled hope in Christ the King, and invites the unbeliever to look to that same King and live.
2 Timothy 1
Paul's final letter charges Timothy — and every believer — not to be ashamed of Christ's gospel or of those who suffer for it. Expounding 2 Timothy 1:8–12, this sermon confronts the tendency to romanticize persecution in the abstract while failing to stand when actual pressure comes, drawing pointed application from recent governmental restrictions on church gatherings. The ground of unashamed endurance is the gospel itself: God's eternal purpose of grace, accomplished in Christ who has abolished death and brought immortality to light, and entrusted to a church that shall never finally fail. Christians are called to pray for courage in times of peace precisely so they do not waver when suffering arrives.
The Departure of Paul
Paul's farewell words in 2 Timothy 4:6–8 — poured out as a drink offering, having fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith — are examined as a model of faithful perseverance unto death. The sermon argues that the confidence Paul expresses at the 11th hour of his life was inseparable from the faithfulness he exercised throughout every preceding hour, and that the crown of righteousness he anticipates is entirely a gift of God's grace, not a payment for services rendered. Believers are called to examine whether they are now fighting, running, and keeping the faith so that they may, by grace, make the same confession at the end of their days; and unbelievers are warned to consider the infinite worth of Christ, the certainty of judgment, and the righteousness the righteous Judge freely offers in the gospel.
The Testimony of John the Baptist, Part 3
John 1:30–34 records the Baptist's testimony concerning the dignity of Christ's person — his preeminence as the eternal Word who was before John, his anointing with the Spirit without measure for the work of mediation, and his identity as the natural, essential, and eternal Son of God. The sermon traces the Old Testament prophetic background of the Spirit's descent (Isaiah 11, 42, and 61), the active and passive obedience of Christ as the ground of the believer's acceptance before God, and the Baptist's final declaration that this Jesus is the Son of God. From this foundation the preacher draws an urgent gospel application: the same Lamb who takes away sin will visit unbelief with wrath, and the only fitting response is faith in him now.
1689 2LBC - Chapter 1 - Hermeneutical Principles
Hermeneutics — the science of biblical interpretation — stands at the center of this study through paragraphs 5 to 10 of Chapter 1 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. The session works through five principles: the scope of Scripture (Christ as its organizing center), the sufficiency of Scripture (including good and necessary consequences), the perspicuity of Scripture, the availability of Scripture through faithful translation, and the two classical interpretive rules — the analogy of Scripture and the analogy of faith. The study closes by defending the proper use of creeds, confessions, and the writings of faithful theologians as gifts Christ has given to his church, while insisting that Holy Scripture alone is the supreme and final judge in all controversies of religion.
Live Stream - July 04, 2021
Matthew 27:27–31 records the malicious mockery of Roman soldiers against the already-scourged and sleep-deprived Christ — a scene of savage psychological and physical abuse that simultaneously fulfills the prophetic servant songs of Isaiah and reveals the gravity of human sin and the inconceivable mercy of God. The sermon works through the participants in the crime (the governor, the cohort, and the conspiring Jewish leaders) and the specific elements of the mockery (mock homage, violent abuse, and the preparation for crucifixion), before turning to the irony that what soldiers performed in contempt — the royal robe, the crown, the scepter, the homage — is precisely what Revelation declares of Christ in truth. Believers are called to respond to Christ's vicarious sufferings not with detached admiration but with the crown-him-lord gratitude that the soldiers' counterfeit homage unwittingly foreshadowed, and the Lord's Supper is administered as the appointed means by which the congregation proclaims his death until he comes.
The Conversion of Cornelius
Acts 10:34–48 records the official inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant promises of God — a watershed moment in redemptive history. Peter's sermon before Cornelius and his household sets forth the peace, person, work, and prophetic witness of Jesus Christ, culminating in the declaration that through His name, whoever believes will receive remission of sins. The sovereign Holy Spirit falls upon the hearers before Peter has even finished speaking, confirming that salvation is of the Lord and that divine initiative — not human free will — drives the conversion of sinners. The passage concludes with the baptism of the entire household, a commanded public identification with the Triune God that pictures, but does not accomplish, the inward work already wrought by grace through faith.
The Hope of the Nations
Psalm 67 frames both the church's need for God's mercy and the church's missionary calling to the nations as inseparable realities. The psalmist's threefold petition — mercy, blessing, and communion with God for the church — is the ground from which prayer for the salvation, worship, and righteous governance of the nations flows. Drawing on the Aaronic blessing, the Abrahamic covenant, and the New Testament's Great Commission, the sermon argues that the church's received grace creates an inescapable obligation to proclaim that grace to the ends of the earth. The closing application calls the congregation to corporate prayer, support of the missionary enterprise, and fidelity to the gospel message as the only means God has ordained for the hope of the nations to be realized.
Wednesday Night Bible Study (Exodus 11:1-10) - June 23, 2021
Exodus 11 presents the announcement of the tenth and decisive plague upon Egypt, the death of the firstborn, through which God simultaneously crushes Egyptian tyranny and liberates his covenant people Israel. The chapter is examined in three movements: the announcement of the plague with its accompanying promises of liberty and prosperity (vv. 1–3), the description of the plague emphasising God's immediate and sovereign action (vv. 4–8), and the rebellion of Pharaoh as the occasion for the multiplication of God's wonders (vv. 9–10). The sermon presses beyond the historical narrative to show how the destruction of God's enemies is inseparable from the blessing of God's people — a pattern running from Exodus through Joshua to Revelation — and grounds both divine sovereignty and human responsibility in the theological framework of the 1689 Second London Confession chapters 3 and 5.
The Lord Jesus and the Demoniacs
Matthew 8:28–34 presents Christ's authority over demonic powers as a ground for confident trust in him as the Son of God. The demons' own confession — 'You Son of God' — exposes what the disciples have not yet grasped: that Jesus holds sovereign dominion over every spiritual power, including the devil himself. The exorcism at Gerasa is set within Matthew's sustained demonstration, across chapters 8–9, that the one who teaches with authority also acts with authority. If Christ has conquered death and the devil, every lesser affliction that threatens the people of God lies well within his sovereign reach.
The Royal Wedding
Psalm 45 presents a royal wedding between the divine-human Messiah and his church, and the sons of Korah compose it as a song of love that the New Testament apostles and the entirety of the Old Testament prophetic witness sustain. The sermon works through the psalm's four sections — the psalmist's intention, the perfections and person of King Messiah, the instruction to the bride, and the closing declaration — demonstrating that a divine Messiah was not a novelty invented by John or Paul but was anticipated in the Hebrew Scriptures. Christ is celebrated as fairer than the sons of men, committed to truth and righteousness, triumphant over his enemies, fully God and fully man in the hypostatic union, and the one who clothes his bride in imputed righteousness received through faith alone. The appropriate response of the church is repentance, exclusive allegiance, worship, and gladness before her great King.
The Empty Tomb and the Risen Lord
Matthew 28:1–10 narrates not the resurrection itself but the discovery of the empty tomb and Christ's first post-resurrection appearance — and the distinction matters theologically. This sermon works through the arrival of the women, the descent of the angel, the angelic announcement, and Christ's own greeting, demonstrating that the resurrection is attested historical fact whose denial collapses justification, undermines the prophetic witness, and renders the Christian hope pitiable. The risen Christ's address to the women — calling the disciples 'my brethren' despite their desertion — is shown to be a concentrated display of the grace and advocacy that sustains every believer who has sinned against the Lord he professes to love.