Topic
Soteriology
2,239 sermons · All topics
Introduction to the Book of Leviticus
The book of Leviticus resolves a theological tension created at the close of Exodus: the tabernacle has become God's dwelling place, but no Israelite — not even Moses — can enter it. This introductory exposition surveys Leviticus 1:1 and the book as a whole, tracing three dominant theological themes: the holiness of God, the sacrificial system as God's own provision for sinful man's access to His presence, and the purity required of His covenant people. The Levitical types find their antitypes in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is simultaneously the high priest and the sacrificial victim, and whose atoning work is the substance toward which the entire ceremonial law pointed.
Live Stream - April 30, 2023
Psalm 2 presents the universal mutiny of man against Yahweh and his Christ, and God's sovereign response: not anxiety, but derision, followed by the installation of his appointed King on Zion. Expounding the psalm's four stanzas — the rebellion of the nations, the appointment of the Son, the revelation of the eternal decree, and the exhortation to kiss the Son — the sermon grounds the church's mission in the Covenant of Redemption, wherein the Father promised the nations to the Son as his inheritance. Sinners are called to cease their foolish opposition and, by faith alone, to kiss the Son, with the benediction of Psalm 2:12 — 'blessed are all those who put their trust in him' — as the psalm's own gospel summons.
Live Stream - April 30, 2023
Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 confronts the tyranny and enigma of time with two interlocking truths: there is a divinely ordered time for everything under heaven, and the God who governs time has given mankind both the gift of temporal enjoyment and the call to fear him. The sermon works through the poem of verses 1–8 — with its paired polarities of beginning and ending, emotion, abounding and lacking, and private and public life — before turning in verses 9–15 to the God who makes everything beautiful in its time, places eternity in the human heart, and works all things according to purposes no creature can fully trace. The application is direct: in a fallen world full of injustice, absurdity, and uncertainty, God's people are to enjoy temporal blessings as gifts, fear God, keep his commandments, and trust that the same God who sent his Son at the appointed fullness of time will make everything beautiful — including the return of Christ.
The Righteous Reign of the Son of God
Psalm 2 presents the righteous reign of the Son of God against the backdrop of universal human rebellion. The nations rage, the kings conspire, and the political class unites in mutiny against Yahweh and His anointed — yet God laughs from the heavens, installs His Son on Zion, and promises Him the nations as His inheritance. The decree announced in verses 7–9 is rooted in the covenant of redemption: the Father gives a great multitude to the Son, who accomplishes their salvation through substitutionary obedience, death, and resurrection, and is then exalted to universal messianic kingship. The psalm closes with an evangelistic summons: be wise, serve the Lord with fear, and kiss the Son — for blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
A Time for Everything
Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 confronts the tyranny and perplexity of time by showing that God has ordered every season of life — from birth to death, weeping to laughter, war to peace — according to his sovereign decree. The preacher of Ecclesiastes does not resolve the tension between life's absurdities and God's purposes, but holds them in juxtaposition: God has put eternity in the heart of man, yet man cannot find out the work God does from beginning to end. The sermon draws two obligations from this: enjoy the good gifts God gives in time, and fear the God who governs all of time — including the appointed moment of Christ's incarnation, the moment of each sinner's effectual calling, and the appointed day of final judgment.
Introduction to the 1677/1789 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith — formally composed in 1677 and adopted by particular Baptist churches in 1689 — stands in deliberate continuity with the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration, adapting their language to reflect distinctively Baptist convictions while maintaining solidarity with the broader Reformed tradition. This introductory session traces the Confession's historical origins, its relationship to the First London Confession of 1644–46, and the legal and ecclesiastical context in which particular Baptists operated under the Act of Toleration. Six reasons are then advanced for why a 21st-century church should subscribe to a 17th-century confession: to define, defend, discriminate, discipline, distinguish matters of Christian liberty, and develop an appreciation for the history of the church. The session closes by urging that confessionalism, rightly understood, is not proud biblicism but the humble reception of gifts Christ has given to his church across the ages.
The Attempted Murder of the Good Shepherd
John 10:31–42 presents the religious leadership of Jerusalem responding to Christ's declaration 'I and my Father are one' not with worship but with stones. This exposition traces three movements: the revelation of Christ's divine glory in verse 30, the attempted murder by the Jewish leaders in verses 31–39, and the fruitful reception of Christ in the Transjordan in verses 40–42. Central to the passage is Christ's appeal to Psalm 82 and the argument from lesser to greater — if God calls earthly magistrates 'Elohim,' on what grounds do they stone the One whom the Father sanctified and sent? The sermon closes with an encouragement to the people of God: where Jerusalem rejects, the Transjordan receives, and the Good Shepherd will gather His sheep from every tribe and nation.
The Unsurpassed Value of Scripture
Second Timothy 3:16–17 grounds the entire ministry of the Word in two foundational claims: that all Scripture is God-breathed in its origin, and therefore profitable in its use for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. The sermon establishes the identity of Scripture (Old Testament and apostolic New Testament writings), defends verbal, organic inspiration as distinct from mere human literary inspiration, and distinguishes the attributes of inspired, infallible, and inerrant as three interlocking properties of Scripture. The practical force of the passage is pressed on both the congregation and the minister: a church that neglects biblical doctrine, reproof, and correction will be stunted and vulnerable, while the man of God who saturates himself in the Word is thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2LCF 32 - Of the Last Judgment
The Last Judgment is not a peripheral doctrine but the telos toward which all of Scripture drives — appointed by God, executed by Christ, and comprehensive in scope over angels and all humanity alike. This study of 2 London Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 32 moves through three divisions: the concept of the Last Judgment (paragraph 1), the goal of the Day of Judgment as the manifestation of God's mercy in the salvation of the elect and His justice in the damnation of the reprobate (paragraph 2), and the practical relevance of that day for deterring sin, consoling the godly in adversity, and maintaining watchful expectation (paragraph 3). Romans 9 anchors the argument that God's sovereign purposes in election and reprobation are the foundation for understanding why the judgment will unfold as it does. The doctrine calls the people of God not to despair but to look forward with expectation to the coming of Christ, the righteous Judge, who rules and reigns at the Father's right hand even now.
The Conduct of the New Man, Part 1
Ephesians 4:25–28 grounds the Christian's ethical conduct not in legal compulsion but in the indicative of redemption: the old man has been put off, the mind is being renewed, and the new man has been put on. This sermon works through three prohibited actions — lying, sinful anger, and theft — each examined under its corresponding commandment from the Decalogue (the Ninth, Sixth, and Eighth), with a prohibition, an exhortation, and a motivation for each. The ethical demands of the New Covenant are not a new law but the restoration of the creational law now internalized by the Spirit according to Jeremiah 31:31–34. The hearer is called to put off deceit, guard against nursed anger that gives opportunity to the devil, and replace theft with diligent labor aimed at charitable surplus.
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 Characteristics of the New Man
Ephesians 4:17–24 sets before believers a stark contrast between the darkened, alienated mind of the spiritual Gentile and the renewed mind of the new man in Christ. The sermon argues that verses 22–24 are not imperatives commanding believers to transform themselves, but indicatives declaring what God has already accomplished in regeneration: the old man has been put off, the mind is being renewed, and the new man has been put on. These realities — rooted in the second Adam reversing what the first Adam forfeited — form the doctrinal foundation upon which the ethical commands of Ephesians 4:25–6:24 rest. Believers are therefore called to walk in a manner consistent with what they already are in Christ, using the ordained means of gospel preaching, Scripture, and prayer to pursue sanctification.
The Resurrection and Justification
Romans 4:25 encapsulates the whole gospel in a single verse: Christ was delivered up because of our offenses and raised because of our justification. This sermon expounds the redemptive purpose behind both the death and the resurrection of Christ, showing that the cross satisfies divine justice through substitutionary atonement while the empty tomb confirms that satisfaction was accepted and justification accomplished. The doctrine of justification by faith alone — the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of Christ's righteousness — rests inseparably on the historical and theological reality of the resurrection. Believers are called to live daily in light of the finished work of the Son, and those without Christ are urged to look to Him in faith for everlasting life.
The Tabernacle Erected, and the Glory of God
Exodus 35–40 records the construction, assembly, and divine consecration of the Israelite tabernacle, culminating in the glory cloud filling the completed dwelling place. This session surveys those chapters as the climax of the book of Exodus, tracing the biblical-theological theme of God's dwelling with his people from Eden through the tabernacle, the Solomonic temple, and forward to the incarnate Word who tabernacled among us. A sustained exegetical focus falls on the tension in Exodus 40:35 — Moses unable to enter the glory-filled tabernacle — and its resolution in Leviticus 9, where blood atonement transforms God's dwelling place into a meeting place. The session closes by drawing out the regulative principle of worship, the typological significance of the tabernacle as a shadow of Christ, and the necessity of blood atonement for sinful creatures to approach a holy God.
The Warning Against Apostasy
Hebrews 10:26–31 contains one of the New Testament's starkest warnings, and the question it raises is precise: who has committed the sin of willful apostasy, and can it be the believer who struggles with remaining corruption? This sermon works through the nature and judgment of apostasy, distinguishing between the sensitive saint who sorrows over indwelling sin and the apostate who openly tramples the Son of God underfoot, counts the blood of the covenant a common thing, and insults the Spirit of grace. Drawing on Calvin, Owen, Gill, and Ursinus, the sermon argues that the persons in view are not struggling believers but outright rejecters of the gospel — in the original context, Hebrew Christians who publicly renounced Christ to return to the Levitical system. The chief comfort the passage affords is precisely this: the believer who fears he has committed the unpardonable sin almost certainly has not, and is called to draw near, hold fast, and consider one another in the confidence of a once-for-all sacrifice that saves to the uttermost.
2LCF 31 - Intermediate State
The doctrine of the intermediate state — the condition of the soul between death and the final resurrection — is examined through 2LCF Chapter 31 and the key Scripture passages that ground it. The confession teaches a sharp dichotomy: at death, the body returns to dust while the immortal soul either goes immediately to be with Christ in paradise or is cast into hell, with no third option such as purgatory or soul sleep. The resurrection of both the just and the unjust on the last day is treated in paragraphs 2 and 3, with 1 Corinthians 15 providing the clearest statement that Christ's coming is followed immediately by the end — a structure that complicates dispensational premillennialism. The lesson closes with a call to find comfort and ethical urgency in the simplicity of biblical eschatology rather than in elaborate prophetic systems.
The Good Shepherd, Part 3
John 10:11–21 presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd — a title laden with Old Testament expectation from Psalm 23, Jeremiah 23, and Ezekiel 34 — set in sharp contrast to the hireling religious leaders who fled from every threat to the sheep. The sermon works through three movements: the declaration of Christ's role (v. 11), the condemnation of his opponents as hirelings (vv. 12–13), and the explanation of his mission (vv. 14–18), showing how the abundant life of verse 10b flows specifically from Christ's voluntary, authoritative, and efficacious death and resurrection. Particular attention is given to the intimacy between the shepherd and his sheep — a knowledge analogous to the Father's knowledge of the Son — and to the definite scope of Christ's saving work, which brings not only Jewish but Gentile sheep into one flock under one shepherd. The closing exhortation calls those still outside this fold to look to Christ in faith, since the shepherd's love is secure and nothing shall separate his own from it.
Live Stream - March 26, 2023
John 10:7–10 presents Christ as the door of the sheep, the only access point into God's fold, against whom all false shepherds — past and present — stand condemned as thieves who steal, kill, and destroy. The sermon traces Christ's threefold commendation of his own ministry: he saves sinners completely and eternally, he sustains his sheep in green pastures, and he grants them abundant life — not a meagre sufficiency but the overflowing riches of grace. Three Old Testament witnesses (Jeremiah 23, Ezekiel 34, Isaiah 55) and the poetic declaration of Psalm 23 are brought forward to show that this abundant life was the burden of prophetic announcement long before the incarnation. The hearer is pressed either to rejoice in the Shepherd's infinite provision or, if still outside the fold, to enter through that door without delay.
The Gifts Given by the Ascended Christ, Part 4
Ephesians 4:15–16 concludes Paul's treatment of the gifts given by the ascended Christ by setting out the positive influence those gifts are designed to produce in the church: spiritual maturity through truth spoken in love, and corporate edification flowing from union with Christ the head. The sermon argues that the Christian ministry is not a free-for-all of entertainment or emotional stimulation but is governed by Christ himself, who gave pastor-teachers to equip the body for growth into the fullness of Christ. Against the twin dangers of internal spiritual complacency and external false teachers, the church is called to the use, consistent use, and persevering use of the ordinary means of grace — preaching, prayer, and the gathered assembly — as the God-ordained path to maturity.
The Good Shepherd, Part 2
John 10:7–10 presents Christ as the door of the sheep and the giver of abundant life, set in deliberate contrast to the false shepherds — thieves and robbers who steal, kill, and destroy. The sermon works through three movements: the identification of Christ as the exclusive door of access to God, the condemnation of corrupt religious leadership in Israel, and the commendation of Christ's ministry as one that saves, sustains, and enriches his sheep with life abundantly. Drawing on Jeremiah 23, Ezekiel 34, Isaiah 55, and Psalm 23, the sermon argues that the abundant life Christ promises is rooted in Old Testament prophecy, is grounded in definite atonement and the perseverance of the saints, and calls both unbelievers to come through the door and believers to respond with worship and gratitude.
The Renewal of God's Covenant, Part 1
Exodus 34:1–9 records the renewal of the Mosaic covenant following Israel's catastrophic idolatry with the golden calf, and the chapter's theological heart is God's self-proclamation of His own glory to Moses on Sinai. The sermon works through three movements in verses 1–9: the command to cut new tablets as a covenant-renewal symbol, the descent of God in the cloud, and God's proclamation of His own name — a compendium of divine perfections stretching from mercy and grace through long-suffering, goodness, truth, and covenant faithfulness to justice and righteousness. These attributes are traced across the canon from the Psalms and the prophets to their fulfillment in the high-priestly work of Christ, who makes definite propitiation for the sins of His people. Moses' response — immediate worship followed by intercessory prayer grounded in the very perfections God had just declared — is held out as the model for the believer's own approach to God.
Live Stream - March 19, 2023
Ephesians 4:13–16 teaches that the gifts Christ gives to the church — pastors and teachers — are intended to last until the entire corporate body attains unity of the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and the measure of the stature of Christ's fullness. A faithful teaching ministry produces three preventative effects in the congregation: guarding against spiritual immaturity, spiritual instability, and spiritual susceptibility to the trickery of false teachers. The sermon draws from Numbers 25, John 10, Acts 20, and Jude to show how Scripture consistently warns the people of God to know sound doctrine so as to recognize and flee from those who would prey upon an untethered church. The practical conclusion calls believers to support and pray for qualified men raised up by Christ to sustain the Teaching Ministry until he returns in glory.
The Gifts Given by the Ascended Christ, Part 3
Ephesians 4:13–16 specifies the duration, goal, and effect of the teaching gifts Christ gives to the church — the pastor-teachers who continue until the Lord returns. The goal of that ministry is threefold: the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, and the corporate maturity of the church measured against the fullness of Christ. A faithful preaching ministry functions as preventative maintenance, guarding the congregation against spiritual immaturity, doctrinal instability, and susceptibility to deceitful men. The sermon closes by calling the church to pray for the ascended Christ to raise up qualified men, and to receive their teaching as the God-ordained means of growth and stability.
The Good Shepherd, Part 1
John 10:1–10 stands in direct continuity with John 9: having healed and saved the man born blind, Jesus turns to indict the Pharisees as thieves and robbers who exercised illegitimate authority over the sheepfold of God. The sermon works through Jesus' parabolic illustration in verses 1–6, showing that the true shepherd enters by the door (granted access by God the Father), calls his own sheep by name with a specific and effectual summons, and leads them out — while the sheep, made alive by the Spirit in regeneration, hear and follow his voice and flee the stranger's. The application is double: believers are called to seek the shepherd's voice in Scripture, family worship, and the preaching of the Word, and the unconverted are called to ask with the blind man, 'Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?'
2LCF 30 - Of the Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper is a divinely instituted ordinance of the New Covenant, not a repeated sacrifice but a perpetual memorial of Christ's once-for-all offering upon the cross. This confession study works through 2LCF Chapter 30 paragraph by paragraph, exposing the errors of Roman Catholic transubstantiation and Lutheran consubstantiation on Christological grounds — to predicate ubiquity of Christ's humanity is to deny true humanity — while recovering the Calvinian understanding of Christ's real spiritual presence by the Holy Spirit. The chapter is shown to be comprehensive: institution, nature, celebration, elements, and recipients of the supper are each addressed. Worthy receivers feed spiritually upon Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death; the supper functions as a means of grace confirming faith, nourishing the soul, and promoting obedience.
The Promise of God's Presence
Exodus 33 confronts Israel with the consequences of the golden calf: God threatens to withhold His special presence, lest He consume a stiff-necked people in the wilderness. Moses responds not with passive acceptance but with escalating, bold intercession — arguing from grace received, from Israel's covenant identity, and finally from a desire to see God's glory itself. The sermon traces God's anthropomorphic self-disclosure, His accommodation of Moses' three petitions, and His self-proclamation as the God of sovereign grace and compassion. The controlling application is that it is the Giver, not the gift, that the people of God must desire above all things — and that access to His presence now comes through the mediation of Christ alone.
Live Stream - March 12, 2023
John 9:35–41 records the climax of the healing of the man born blind: not the physical restoration, but the spiritual salvation Jesus brings when he seeks out the cast-out man and presses upon him the question, 'Do you believe in the Son of God?' The sermon traces two movements — the salvation of the formerly blind man and the condemnation of the self-righteous Pharisees — to establish that Christ came to save those who see their spiritual bankruptcy and to judge those who trust in their own righteousness. Drawing on Matthew 9, 11, and the wider biblical narrative of a pursuing God, the sermon concludes with a call to preach both law and gospel: the law to shatter self-righteous complacency, the gospel to welcome every sinner who confesses, 'Lord, I believe.'
The Gifts Given by the Ascended Christ, Part 2
Ephesians 4:11–13 presents Christ's ascension gifts to the church — apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers — not as a support structure for general congregational ministry, but as the primary agents of three coordinate purposes: perfecting the saints, engaging in the work of ministry, and edifying the body of Christ. The sermon argues at length for a reading of verse 12 that sees all three prepositional phrases as dependent on the gifted men of verse 11, contesting the newer 'every-member ministry' interpretation found in modern translations and commentaries. The church's corporate maturity and doctrinal stability depend on qualified, diligent, Word-centered ministers whom Christ in his wisdom and kindness has given as gifts, and the congregation bears a corresponding responsibility to receive and honor that ministry.
The Healing of a Blind Man, Part 3
John 9:35–41 records the climax of the healing of the man born blind: not the restoration of his physical sight, but his salvation through faith in the Son of God. This sermon argues that providence and miracles do not save — only grace through faith in Christ does — and that Christ's coming pronounces both salvation on the spiritually blind who see their need and judgment on the self-righteous who claim to see but remain in their sin. The exposition closes with a direct appeal: the self-righteous require both the law, to expose the bankruptcy of their works-confidence, and the gospel, to offer the righteousness of Christ received by faith alone.
The Idolatry of Israel, Part III
Exodus 32:30–35 presents Moses interceding for Israel after the golden calf debacle, confessing their great sin and offering himself to be blotted out of God's book on their behalf. The sermon works through Moses's rebuke, his request, and God's response, giving particular attention to the theological question of whether God blots names from the Book of Life — resolving the tension by distinguishing the conditional Old Covenant (a covenant of works securing physical blessings) from the unconditional New Covenant, in which the elect are eternally secure in Christ. The Mosaic intercession is read typologically as pointing to Christ, who was, in effect, blotted out on behalf of his people. The sermon closes with application to the gravity of idolatry drawn from Romans 1 and a quote from John Stott.