Topic
Missiology
44 sermons · All topics
Of the Gospel and the Extent of the Grace Thereof (2LCF20)
The gospel is necessary, revealed only through special revelation, and made effectual solely by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit — natural law and general revelation are wholly insufficient for salvation. This session expounds 2LCF Chapter 20, tracing why John Owen and the Congregationalists added this chapter to address both the rise of salvation-through-natural-law teaching and the false charge that Reformed and Baptist churches were anti-missional. The sermon argues that the gospel advances to the ends of the earth through preaching, according to God's sovereign will, as the Spirit regenerates the elect who are dead in trespasses and sins. The practical burden is confidence and perseverance in gospel proclamation, grounded not in human ability or ecclesial authority but in the sovereignty of God.
Free Grace Baptist Church - July 31, 2016 PM
Psalm 67 is a missionary psalm framing the church's reception of divine mercy, blessing, and communion not as ends in themselves but as the grounds and means of global gospel proclamation. Working through the psalm's two movements — the petitions of verses 1–5 and the promises of verses 6–7 — the sermon argues that the church's prayer for herself is inseparable from her obligation to make the way of God known among all nations. The application is pointed: the church's mission is the proclamation of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and she must pray the psalms boldly, believing that God can turn idolaters — whether ancient Canaanites or modern Islam — to the living God through the foolishness of preaching.
The Servant Song of Matthew
Matthew 12:15–21 records Jesus withdrawing from the murderous rage of the Pharisees while multitudes — including Gentiles — follow Him for healing, and Matthew interprets this through the first Servant Song of Isaiah 42:1–7. The sermon works through six characteristics of the Servant of Yahweh as Matthew presents them: His excellence as the Father's chosen and beloved, His empowerment by the Holy Spirit, His message of justice to the Gentiles, His character and commitment as one who does not quarrel or cry out, His mercy toward bruised reeds and smoking flax, and His worldwide mission culminating in the Great Commission. Throughout, the preacher presses the comfort that weak faith — however small — is true faith, and that Christ as the great Savior of great sinners is the hermeneutical center of all Scripture.
The Compassion of Christ
Matthew 9:35–38 forms a transitional bridge between Christ's authoritative words and deeds in chapters 5–9 and the commissioning of the Twelve in chapter 10. The sermon traces three elements: a summary of Christ's threefold ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing; the compassion Christ feels toward multitudes who are harassed and scattered like sheep without a shepherd — a compassion rooted not primarily in their physical distress but in their doctrinal deprivation; and Christ's instruction to pray the Lord of the harvest to raise up gospel laborers. Sovereign grace does not extinguish compassion for the lost but rather grounds it, and the church's first response to a harvest that is plentiful and laborers that are few is prayer aligned with the God-ward petitions of the Lord's Prayer.
Apostle of the Mystery
Paul's description of his own apostleship in Ephesians 3:8–13 opens five interlocking themes: the humility and grace that characterize a true gospel minister, the Christological and Gentile-inclusive focus of Paul's calling, the divine objective of making God's manifold wisdom known through the church, the eternal and purposive nature of God's redemptive plan in Christ, and the pastoral application that theology rightly received produces comfort rather than despair. The sermon presses the unsearchable riches of Christ as the only treasure worth seeking, and closes with the exhortation that believers must not lose heart under trial because God works all things according to an eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus.
The Second Servant Song
Isaiah 49:1–13, the second of Isaiah's four servant songs, presents Jesus Christ as the divinely commissioned servant whose mission spans the salvation of Israel, the illumination of the Gentiles, the justification and sanctification of sinners, the submission of kings, and the cosmic restoration of the earth. The servant is identified as a true man, a prophet whose word is a sharp sword, hidden in the Father's hand until the fullness of time. His mission is too vast to be confined to one nation — God appoints him as a light to the ends of the earth, grounding both the Great Commission and the missionary enterprise of the church. The passage climaxes in a call to doxology: those who have received justification and the mercy of the servant ought to be the most fervent worshipers, gathering on the Lord's Day with glad and reverent hearts.
Idolatry and Its Effects, Part 1
Romans 1:18–32 presents the universal guilt of mankind not merely as a catalogue of vices but as the inevitable fruit of idolatry — the willful exchange of the glory of the incorruptible God for creaturely substitutes. The sermon traces four observations: the revelation of God's wrath against all ungodliness, the descent into idolatry, the unrighteous practices that flow from it, and the judicial giving-over of sinners by God himself. General revelation leaves every person without excuse, while only the special revelation of the gospel — the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith — supplies the redemption that natural knowledge cannot.
The Missionary Enterprise
Psalm 67 is a missionary psalm that moves from petitions for the church to petitions for the world, grounding the entire missionary enterprise in the mercy, blessing, and presence of God. The psalmist prays first that God's people would know his mercy and communion so that they might then be a vehicle for publishing his salvation to the nations. Worship — not missions itself — is the ultimate end of gospel proclamation, for missions is a temporary necessity that ceases when the redeemed fall before the throne. The sermon calls the church to lift its eyes to the grand promises of Scripture, to pray earnestly for the nations, and to go forth in the authority and presence of the risen Christ.
The Focus of Matthew's Gospel
Matthew 1:1 is far more than a title line — it is the theological and covenantal framework for the entire Gospel, announcing in three compressed titles that the long-awaited Messiah has arrived. The sermon works through each designation — Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham — as three spotlights illuminating his messianic office, his Davidic kingship, and his role as the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant promise to bless all nations. Introductory matters concerning the author, audience, dating, structure, and purpose of Matthew's Gospel are treated before the exposition of verse one. The sermon closes by calling both believers and unbelievers to behold Jesus as Messiah, King, and surety of the covenant, and to ground their confidence in God's demonstrated faithfulness.
The King of Zion
Micah 5:2–5 announces the birth and reign of Israel's coming king from the seemingly insignificant village of Bethlehem Ephrathah — a ruler whose goings forth are from everlasting, identifying him as nothing less than the eternal Son of God. The sermon traces two main subjects: the birthplace, Godward focus, and divine nature of the Messiah's coming; and the character of his reign as the sole king who feeds his flock, exercises universal empire, and is himself the peace of his people. Drawing on the Davidic covenant, the apostolic witness, and the New Testament birth narratives, the exposition calls hearers to worship the incarnate deity, rest under the shepherding of Christ, and pray boldly for the advance of his kingdom to the ends of the earth.
The Announcement of Zion's King
Zechariah 9 addresses a post-exilic community in need of assurance that their God governs the nations, defends His people, and will send a King whose dominion reaches the ends of the earth. The sermon expounds three movements in the chapter: God's judgment against the surrounding city-states (vv. 1–8), the announcement of Zion's King riding in lowly triumph (vv. 9–10), and God's covenantal deliverance of His people (vv. 11–17). The messianic fulfillment of verses 9–10 in the triumphal entry of Christ establishes that Zechariah is a Christocentric prophet whose words undergird the Great Commission and the peace-making work of Christ across all nations. The sermon closes with a threefold application: God destroys His enemies, Christ builds His church with certainty, and believers are called to interpret all of providence theologically rather than as practical atheists.
The Second Servant Song of Isaiah
Isaiah 49:1–13, the Second Servant Song, presents the Lord's chosen Servant — identified as the incarnate Christ — whose mission extends far beyond the restoration of Israel to encompass the salvation of Gentiles to the ends of the earth. The sermon works through three divisions of the passage: the call of the Servant (vv. 1–3), his mission including its scope, costs, and goals (vv. 4–12), and the resulting doxology (v. 13). The Servant's humiliation, his resolve under rejection, and the global reach of his redemptive work ground a sustained call for the church to pray earnestly and sacrificially for gospel missions worldwide.
Paul's First Missionary Journey
Acts 13 records Paul's sermon in Pisidian Antioch, the first extended exposition of the gospel in the New Testament missionary narrative, and provides the historical backdrop for understanding why Paul wrote the epistle to the Galatians. Paul's address in the synagogue moves from Israel's redemptive history through the Davidic promise to its fulfillment in Christ's death and resurrection, culminating in a declaration that justification comes by faith alone, apart from the law of Moses — the very claim the Judaizers would later attack. The sermon also establishes that the local church, not para-church organizations or individual initiative, is the God-ordained sending structure for gospel missions, and that divine sovereignty in election (Acts 13:48) underlies every evangelistic endeavor.
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:18–20, the Great Commission, grounds the church's evangelistic and discipleship mandate not in human strategy but in the universal authority of the enthroned Christ. The sermon traces three interlocking realities: the authority behind the commission (Christ's sovereign rule over all things), the activity the commission requires (making, baptizing, and teaching disciples), and the active agent who sustains it (Christ himself present with his people to the end of the age). Believers' baptism is expounded as a visible sign of union with Christ, remission of sins, and public covenant commitment — an ordinance reserved for disciples, not infants — and the entire commission is set within a robustly Calvinist framework in which God alone adds to his church by sovereign grace.