Topic
Soteriology
2,239 sermons · All topics
Wednesday Night Bible Study - The Ministry in Iconium, Part 2
John 14:25-27 presents Christ's final gifts to his disciples before his departure: the Holy Spirit and his peace. The sermon traces the procession of the Spirit from the Father through the Son, grounding the temporal mission of the Spirit at Pentecost in the eternal procession within the triune life of God, drawing on the Nicene Creed and the 1689 LBCF. The peace Christ bequeaths is distinguished from the world's counterfeit — objective, grounded in justification by faith, and subjectively appropriated through soteriology and theology proper — given precisely so that the disciples, and all who follow them in gospel ministry, would not be paralyzed by fear but would advance the kingdom with boldness.
The Gifts Given by Christ
John 14:25–27 presents two gifts Christ gives his disciples on the eve of his departure: the Holy Spirit and his peace. The sermon expounds the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son, the Spirit's specific work of teaching and bringing Scripture to remembrance in the apostles, and the distinction between Christ's objective, lasting peace and the transient peace the world offers. The practical weight falls on the call to displace carnal fear — which the sermon argues signals bad theology, lack of kingdom priority, and ultimately endangers the soul — with the peace that flows from knowing the triune God.
The Blessing of Gospel Rest
Matthew 11:25–30 grounds the gospel invitation — 'Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden' — in the sovereign will of the Father and the mediatorial office of the Son, so that the call to rest is inseparable from the doctrines of election and definite atonement. Jesus thanks the Father for hiding these things from the self-wise and revealing them to babes, declaring that all sovereign authority over salvation belongs to Him as the God-man and mediator. The 'rest' He offers is not relief from physical toil but deliverance from the crushing burden of sin and the impossible demands of pharisaical religion, received through faith alone. Those who come to Christ in faith are also exhorted to take His yoke — the life of sanctification — which is not oppressive bondage but the glad obedience of those justified freely by grace.
The Ministry in Iconium, Part 2
Acts 14:1–7 records the apostolic ministry in Iconium: bold gospel preaching met by coordinated Jewish opposition, a divided city, a violent plot, and a strategic withdrawal to Lystra and Derbe. This exposition traces the pattern of persistent opposition to the gospel across Acts and the Old Testament, establishing that persecution is not an aberration but the ordinary condition of faithful gospel ministry. The sermon draws four conclusions: the inevitability of persecution for godly living, the perseverance required of gospel ministers, the wisdom to know when to stay and when to flee, and the indispensability of the Holy Spirit for any effectual proclamation of the Word.
The Blessing of Communion with God, Part 2
What does Jesus mean when he promises that the Father and the Son will come and make their home with the one who loves him and keeps his word (John 14:23)? This sermon works through seven observations on that promise, showing that the indwelling of Christ necessarily entails the indwelling of the entire triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — because the divine persons are inseparable in their operations. The sermon traces the biblical pattern of God dwelling with his people from Eden through the tabernacle and temple to the new covenant, and concludes that union with Christ is union with the triune God, which is both the chief blessing of salvation and the ground of the believer's worship.
2LCF Chapter 14 - Of Saving Faith
The 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 14 ('Of Saving Faith') teaches that saving faith is entirely a divine gift, wrought by the Spirit of Christ through the ministry of the Word, and not a capacity native to fallen man. The chapter unfolds the origin, content, object, and victory of saving faith: its Trinitarian orientation in paragraph 2 (an expansion unique to the Baptist confession), its exclusive resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace, and its ultimate triumph despite weakness and assault. Believers are exhorted to attend faithfully to the ordained means of grace — Word, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer — as the appointed channels through which faith is not only wrought but continually increased and strengthened.
The Ministry in Iconium, Part 1
Acts 14:1–7 records the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in Iconium during the first missionary journey, and this exposition focuses on God's blessing in verse 1 — specifically the sovereignty of God in salvation and the instrumentality of gospel preaching. Drawing on Acts 13:48, Acts 16:14, Romans 10, 1 Corinthians 1, and 2 Timothy 4, the sermon argues that while God alone opens hearts, He ordains the foolishness of preaching as the ordinary means of saving sinners. The sermon closes by examining the relationship between faith and repentance in Acts, contending that the two are inseparable sides of the same coin and that repentance must never be preached as a work the sinner performs before coming to Christ.
The Blessing of Communion with God
John 14:19–24 sets before the disciples the blessing of communion with the triune God as the ground of their mission and perseverance. Jesus distinguishes what the world cannot see — the significance of his life, death, and resurrection — from what believers perceive by faith: imputed righteousness, substitutionary atonement, and life grounded in his own. The sermon traces two movements: the believer's communion with Christ (vv. 19–21), including the blessing of eternal life and the blessing of obedience-born love, and the triune God's communion with the believer (vv. 22–24), where the plural pronoun 'we will come and make our home' discloses Father, Son, and Spirit indwelling the justified. The chief application is that sanctification — love to Christ expressed in keeping his commandments — is the natural reflex of justification, not its condition.
May 18 Sanders Holy Spirit and the Father
How does the Holy Spirit relate to God the Father, and what does that relationship mean for Christian worship and prayer? Working through a chapter on the Holy Spirit and the Father, this study traces the biblical pattern of 'from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit' — and its liturgical reverse, 'in the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father' — as the framework for understanding both Trinitarian processions and the nature of true worship. The discussion addresses the Spirit's work in the old and new covenants, the cessation of the revelatory gifts at the completion of the New Testament canon, and the Spirit's role in empowering prayer, drawing particularly on John Owen's treatment of Ephesians 2:18 and Romans 8:26-27.
Paul in Athens
Paul's encounter with the philosophers and council of Athens in Acts 17:16–34 exposes the persistent and universal nature of idolatry, the sufficiency of general revelation to render all men without excuse, and the necessity of special revelation for salvation. The sermon traces Paul's Mars Hill address to show how the apostle grounds his proclamation in the doctrines of creation, providence, and divine aseity before pressing the call to repentance and warning of coming judgment. Where idolatry blurs the Creator-creature distinction, the gospel restores it — and the varied responses of the Athenians (mockery, curiosity, and saving faith) remind the church that conversion belongs to the Spirit of God, not to the eloquence of the preacher.
2LCF Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification
Second London Confession of Faith Chapter 13 examines sanctification as an inseparable fruit of justification, rooted entirely in the sovereign grace of God rather than human merit or striving. The confession teaches that sanctification is real and personal moral transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit through the Word, yet remains imperfect in this life — a continual war between flesh and Spirit in which remaining corruption may at times prevail. The critical distinction between justification (Christ's forensic work for us) and sanctification (the Spirit's transforming work in us) guards against both Roman Catholic conflation and Protestant antinomianism, keeping Christ's righteousness alone as the ground of acceptance before God.
2LBC Chapter 17 - of the Perseverance of the Saints (part 2)
The 1689 London Baptist Confession's seventeenth chapter on the perseverance of the saints is honest about the real threats that confront the believer: the devil, the world, and the remaining corruption of the flesh, compounded by neglect of the means of grace. The life of David—adultery, murder, temporal judgments, and the sword that never departed from his house—is held up as a biblical case study for every consequence the confession names. Yet the chapter does not end in the catalogue of ruin: repentance itself is an evangelical grace given by God, and the preservation of God's elect is grounded not in their free will but in the immutability of election, the intercession of Christ, and the nature of the covenant of grace. The practical force of the doctrine is a call to use the ordained means—word, prayer, baptism, the Lord's Supper, corporate worship—as God-given instruments for persevering to the end.
Ask FGBC - Podcast with Jim Butler, Dr James Renihan, Dr Richard Barcellos
This roundtable conversation between three pastors and theologians addresses a wide range of questions submitted by church members, covering biblical theology, covenant theology, baptism, eschatology, and Christian living. The discussion moves from how Christ fulfills Old Testament Israel, through the covenantal basis for believers' baptism, to the nature of the eternal state, the hermeneutics of applying Old Testament promises, the place of ethnic Israel in relation to the church, and the means of grace for raising covenant children. Throughout, the speakers return to a consistent Reformed hermeneutic: Christ is the true and greater fulfillment of all Old Testament promise, the church is the eschatological Israel of prophetic expectation, and the ordinary means of grace — Word, prayer, and faithful worship — remain God's appointed instruments for the conversion and nurture of his people.
Live Stream - May 05, 2024
Ephesians 1:19–23 grounds the apostle Paul's prayer that believers would know 'the exceeding greatness of God's Almighty power.' This sermon argues that divine omnipotence is not merely an abstract attribute but is concretely demonstrated in the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ, who now reigns as head over all things for the benefit of his church. The three movements examine the supremacy of God's power as infinite, self-existent, and uncaused; its historical demonstration in Christ's resurrection and session at the Father's right hand; and the immensity of Christ's exaltation as universal Lord and federal head of his people. The believer's assurance rests not in personal strength but in the same almighty power that raised Christ from the dead, which also preserves, calls, and will finally resurrect all who are united to him.
The Departure of Paul
Paul's final written words in 2 Timothy 4:6–8 disclose the mind of a man at the eleventh hour of his life: conscious of imminent martyrdom, yet unshaken in confidence. The sermon works through three movements — the apostle's present situation as a drink offering poured out (v. 6), his past perseverance in fight, race, and faith (v. 7), and his future hope in the crown of righteousness (v. 8). Central to the exposition is the insistence that the crown of righteousness is not a reward for performance but a confirmation of justification by faith alone, the imputed righteousness of Christ conveyed freely by the righteous judge. The application presses every believer to live now in such a way that the eleventh hour may be faced with the same God-graced confidence Paul displays here.
The Exceeding Greatness of God's Almighty Power
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:19–23 that believers would know the exceeding greatness of God's almighty power raises the question of what that power actually is and what it has accomplished. This sermon works through three interlocking realities: the supremacy of God's omnipotence as a timeless, self-existent, and inexhaustible divine attribute; its decisive demonstration in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ; and the immensity of that exaltation, whereby Christ reigns as head over all creation and over his church. The practical weight falls on believers — the same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power that calls, regenerates, preserves, and will finally resurrect all who are united to him.
Chapter 17 - of the Perseverance of the Saints (part 1)
The 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 17 on the perseverance of the saints is examined through its first two paragraphs, grounding the doctrine in the preserving power of the triune God rather than in the free will of the believer. The Confession is shown to be both rigorously doctrinal and remarkably practical, acknowledging the storms, unbelief, and apparent withdrawal of God that saints genuinely experience while insisting that these cannot sever the elect from grace. The foundation of perseverance is traced through the immutability of the decree of election, the merit and intercession of Christ, the abiding of the Spirit, and the nature of the covenant of grace — directly opposing both Roman Catholic and Arminian accounts that make final salvation contingent on human cooperation. Believers are exhorted to feed their souls on the promises of the covenant of grace precisely because perseverance is secured by God's unchangeable love, not by their performance.
Live Stream - April 28, 2024
Psalm 88 is the most sorrowful of all the Psalms, the honest cry of a believer named Heman the Ezrahite who describes his suffering in terms of an oubliette — a medieval dungeon of utter darkness and forgetfulness — yet never ceases to call upon the LORD. This expository sermon on Psalm 88 argues that profound suffering is a genuine and expected part of the Christian life, not an indication of sin, and that the Psalm itself is divinely provided as a vehicle of prayer for God's people in their darkest moments. The sermon traces the Psalm's place in the third book of the Psalter, examines its theological force for suffering believers, and then reads the Psalm as a window into Christ's own agony in Gethsemane and at Calvary, concluding that believers may come boldly to a sympathetic High Priest who has endured deeper darkness than any of his people will face.
Live Stream - April 28, 2024
John 12:27-28 presents the inner state of Christ's human soul at the approach of his atoning death — 'Now my soul is troubled' — and demands theological reckoning rather than easy comfort. Working through four movements in the text (the troubled soul, the rejected petition, the committed purpose, and the prayer for the Father's glory), the sermon argues that the Son of God, as very man, experienced genuine anguish of soul without sin, bearing our griefs and procuring righteousness precisely by passing through every stage and trial of human experience without transgressing the law of God. The pastoral summons is to rest assurance of salvation not on personal performance but entirely on the blood and righteousness of the incarnate Mediator who, at the very crucible of temptation, obeyed for us and said, 'Father, glorify your name.'
Very man: “Now my soul is troubled”
John 12:27–28 records the Son of God incarnate declaring 'Now my soul is troubled' — words that are simultaneously a window into his true humanity and a display of his sinless obedience at the threshold of Calvary. This sermon works through the four clauses of those verses, arguing that Christ's soul-trouble was real and holy, arising not from cowardice before mere bodily suffering but from his contemplation of the divine wrath he would bear as the substitute for sinners. Drawing on Cyril of Alexandria's principle that 'what is not assumed is not healed,' the sermon shows that Christ's sinless experience of grief, agitation, and soul-anguish recapitulates every stage of fallen human experience so that he might procure both the forgiveness of guilt and the positive righteousness his people need in every circumstance of life. The congregation is called to rest its entire confidence — prayer life, grief, daily obedience — in the blood and righteousness of the one who said 'For this purpose I came to this hour.'
CTF 2024 Session 1: An Engaging Overview of the Second London Confession of Faith
The Second London Confession of Faith (1689) did not arise in a vacuum but was forged in response to specific doctrinal crises and pastoral needs within the 17th-century particular Baptist churches. This address traces the historical circumstances behind the Confession's 1677 publication — including the Christological heresies of Thomas Collier and Matthew Caffin, the threat of Quaker mysticism, fear of Roman Catholic resurgence, and the pastoral concern for family catechesis. The speaker then surveys the Confession's 32 chapters as a coherent theological architecture, showing how its structure reflects the covenant of grace viewed from both divine and human perspectives. Listeners are urged to recover the Confession as a living instrument of orthodoxy, protection, instruction, and proclamation for the church today.
CTF 2024 Session 3: A Robust Defense of the Scriptures
Creeds and confessions are not supplements to Scripture but summaries of its central propositional content, necessary for intelligent faith, faithful evangelism, and the defense of orthodoxy. Drawing on Romans 12:1-2, James Renihan argues that right living always flows from right believing, and that the theological, ethical, and redemptive-historical dimensions of Scripture all demand that Christians be able to articulate the facts of the faith. Confessions function positively to state the contents of the faith and connect believers across time and place, and negatively to identify error and mark the boundaries of true Christianity. The session closes with a survey of confessional language embedded in the New Testament itself — from the Shema to the apostolic christological summaries — demonstrating that creeds are not a human invention imposed on Scripture but a distillation of what Scripture already teaches.
Ask FGBC #8 - How could one man pay for the sins of the world in 36 hours?
How could one man's death over a finite span of time pay for the sins of billions who deserve eternal punishment? The answer turns on two doctrines: federal headship and the infinite dignity of Christ's person. As Adam stood as covenant head for his posterity, so Christ — the eternal Son of God united to human nature in one person — stands as the last Adam, whose active and passive obedience together provide both forgiveness and a righteousness imputed to all who believe. The infinite nature of the sin and the infinite nature of the person who bears it are the key to understanding why the atonement is sufficient.
Live Stream - April 21, 2024
John 14:17b-18 confronts the church with two contrasting realities: the world's incapacity to receive the Spirit of Truth, and the disciples' assured possession of him. Working through the upper room discourse, this exposition grounds the church's dependence on the Holy Spirit in the doctrines of divine sovereignty, Trinitarian theology, and the inseparability of the divine operations. The sermon closes with the promise of Christ's permanent presence with his people — by the Spirit, in preaching, in the sacraments, and in discipline — as the antidote to spiritual orphanhood, and with a direct call to sinners to receive justification by faith alone, which brings not only forgiveness but the imputed righteousness of Christ.
The Nature of the Holy Spirit, Part 2
Jesus' promise in John 14:17–18 — that the Spirit of truth cannot be received by the world, yet dwells with and will be in his disciples — grounds the church's dependence on sovereign grace for all gospel ministry. The sermon works through the doctrine of inseparable operations and appropriations to protect both the unity of the Godhead and the distinction of persons, before applying the Spirit's indwelling to the perseverance of the saints and the sufficiency of the gospel. The closing exhortation presses both believers and unbelievers: the Spirit abides forever, justification is by faith alone, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed — not merely forgiveness extended — to all who come to him.
2LCF Chapter 18 - Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation
The 1689 London Baptist Confession Chapter 18 grounds the assurance of salvation not in emotional experience but in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ as the objective foundation, confirmed by the inward evidences of the Spirit's work in regeneration. The chapter distinguishes between the false presumption of unregenerate men and the genuine, infallible assurance available to true believers through faith in Christ. Assurance does not belong to the essence of faith — a true believer may struggle and doubt without thereby forfeiting salvation — yet the confession calls every believer to diligent pursuit of settled assurance as a duty. The subjective evidences of grace (repentance, love for Christ, good works, the Spirit's testimony of adoption) are consequential to the objective ground, never a replacement for it.
Ask FGBC #5 - Are people who “chose” for Jesus actually saved?
A listener asks whether people who speak of 'choosing Jesus' or 'accepting Christ' are necessarily unsaved because of that language, and whether such language betrays a works-based understanding of salvation. The response distinguishes between imprecise theological vocabulary and a genuinely defective view of salvation, arguing that God's grace saves people who may articulate that grace poorly. The answer touches on the relationship between sloppy speech, theological precision, and the question of perseverance implicit in how one frames conversion.
2LCF Chapter 12 - Of Adoption
The doctrine of adoption, as set forth in chapter 12 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, is grounded exclusively in the justified sinner's union with Christ and utterly excludes human merit, free will, or moral achievement as its basis. Drawing on both Pauline and Johannine categories — legal adoption and organic new birth — the sermon demonstrates that these are complementary facets of the single truth that God receives sinners into His family as sons and heirs. The benefits of adoption are fourfold: inclusion in the family of God, reception of the Spirit of adoption with access to the Father, fatherly treatment (pity, protection, provision, and chastening), and the sealed inheritance of everlasting salvation. Adopted sons and daughters are therefore called to walk in love, light, and wisdom — not as a condition of sonship, but as its proper fruit.
The Regulation of the Church's Worship
What gives the church the right to dictate the forms of its own worship — and what happens when it does? Expounding 1 Timothy 3:14–16, this sermon grounds the regulative principle of worship in the nature of the church itself: because the church is the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, God alone determines what is done within it. The sermon surveys the pastoral epistles to show that Scripture consistently prioritizes sound doctrine over therapeutic or culturally-tailored substitutes. The practical call is to use the means God has ordained — corporate prayer, preaching, psalm-singing — trusting that Christ is genuinely present in the midst of his gathered people.
The Nature of the Holy Spirit
How does Jesus comfort his disciples in the upper room by pointing them to the Holy Spirit, and what does that reveal about who God is? Expounding John 14:16–18, this sermon works through four aspects of the Spirit's nature drawn from the text: the distinction of persons in the Godhead, the unity of the Godhead, the world's ignorance of the Spirit, and the believer's knowledge of him. The eternal processions — the Father unbegotten, the Son eternally begotten, the Spirit proceeding from Father and Son — ground the temporal missions in which the Father sends the Son and the Father and Son send the Spirit for the salvation of God's people. The congregation is called to hold fast to the Trinitarian guardrails of the creeds and the 1689 confession, to resist the modalism and Arianism that perennially distort who God is, and to rest in the gospel of free and sovereign grace through faith in the one who declared 'I am.'