Topic
Worship
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The Prayer and Praise of the Apostle, Part 2
Ephesians 3:19b–21 concludes the apostle Paul's prayer with a petition for the church to be filled with all the fullness of God, followed by a doxology that extols divine omnipotence and the church's perpetual role in displaying God's glory. The third petition — 'that you may be filled with all the fullness of God' — encompasses both the practical benefits God confers on his people (justification, sanctification, glorification) and the typological reality of God's presence filling the tabernacle, the temple, and the visionary temple of Ezekiel, now fulfilled in the corporate gathering of the church. The doxology of verses 20–21 answers the petitions by celebrating the God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, and declares that the church — in its ordinary, faithful, weekly assembly — is the primary instrument through which God's glory is demonstrated in redemptive history and into eternity.
The Prayer and Praise of the Apostle
Ephesians 3:14–21 presents the apostle Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church and a concluding doxology, and this exposition works through the prayer's occasion, posture, and first two petitions. Paul prays from his knees before 'the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' drawing on the boundless storehouse of divine glory, for two things treated in this sermon: that believers would be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man so that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith, and that they would comprehend the boundless love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. The sermon grounds both petitions in Trinitarian structure — strength flowing from the Father through the Spirit issues in the presence of the Son — and in the confession that God is 'most loving,' whose love neither increases nor diminishes. Hearers are urged to imitate the apostle by praying not only for temporal needs but for the spiritual strength and knowledge of Christ's love that alone sustains perseverance in a world hostile to the gospel.
2LCF 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
The 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 22 grounds all religious worship in the regulative principle: God alone determines the acceptable manner of his own worship, and nothing not warranted by Scripture may be introduced. This session surveys the chapter's four movements — the regulative principle (paragraphs 1–2), the specific elements of worship (paragraphs 3–5), the appropriate location for worship (paragraph 6), and the Christian Sabbath as the appointed day (paragraphs 7–8). General revelation establishes the duty to worship; special revelation alone prescribes the way. The practical application is that Christians are bound neither to ecclesiastical tyranny (Rome, Anglicanism, independent pastoralism) nor to the inventions of men in God's house, but only to what God has commanded in his Word.
The Command to Remember the Prisoners
Hebrews 13:3 commands believers to 'remember the prisoners as if chained with them' — not as a vague awareness, but as an active, continual concern that issues in prayer, correspondence, advocacy, and tangible aid. The sermon traces the biblical pattern of righteous suffering from Joseph and Jeremiah through the apostolic era, demonstrating that enmity against the people of God is not an anomaly but an expectation rooted in Genesis 3:15. The command is grounded in the solidarity of the one body: those who enjoy liberty share membership with those who suffer chains, and to forget the persecuted church is a failure of brotherly love. Believers are called to cultivate a global, intercessory prayer-life that refuses to confine concern to the local congregation, and to find in Christ's worth the courage to rejoice if they themselves are called to suffer.
Laws Concerning Marriage and Capital Offences
Exodus 22:16–20 presents two distinct legal categories: the seduction of an unbetrothed virgin and three capital offenses — sorcery, bestiality, and idolatry. The sermon works through each law in its ancient Israelite context, drawing on Deuteronomy 18, 22, 27, and 13 to amplify and clarify the Exodus text, and defends the coherence of the bride-price legislation against the charge that it sanctions rape. All three capital offenses are shown to be covenant-destroying acts that strike at both the religious and civil foundations of Israel's polity, carrying the theological weight of treason against the Lord of the Covenant. The general equity of these laws presses the church today toward a high view of marriage, a total rejection of the occult, and recognition that first-table faithfulness to God is the indispensable ground of second-table obligations to one's neighbor.
October 23, 2022 - Sunday School Confessional Study - 2LCF 21
Christian Liberty, as confessed in 2LCF chapter 21, encompasses freedom from sin's guilt, power, and punishment through the finished work of Christ, as well as freedom in worship and obedience under the New Covenant. The study traces the confession's three-fold account of expanded New Testament liberty — release from the ceremonial law's yoke, greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and fuller communications of the Spirit — over against the identical substance of liberty enjoyed by Old Testament believers. Liberty of conscience is distinguished from Christian liberty proper: the former is a natural right grounded in the image of God, the latter a gospel privilege; both together guard against ecclesiastical tyranny, civil totalitarianism, and the demand for implicit faith. The session closes by warning that Christian liberty must never be perverted into licentiousness, but rather issue in joyful, cheerful obedience — serving the Lord without fear in holiness all the days of one's life.
2LCF21 - Of Christian Liberty (partial recording)
This exposition of 2nd London Baptist Confession chapter 21 (Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience) examines what freedom Christ secures for his people and what that freedom does not permit. The sermon works through three liberties from sin's bondage — from its guilt, its power, and its punishment — before turning to freedom in worship and obedience, distinguishing what Old and New Testament believers share and what New Testament believers enjoy in greater measure: freedom from the ceremonial law, greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and fuller communication of the Spirit. A substantial section treats liberty of conscience — freedom from ecclesiastical tyranny, civil totalitarianism, and moral impositions of men — and the sermon closes by warning against the perversion of Christian liberty into licentiousness.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving
Psalm 103 calls the redeemed to bless God with the totality of their being — not passively, but by deliberately rehearsing his mercies against the ever-present tendency to forgetfulness. The psalm moves from the forgiveness of sins as the chief and foundational benefit, through temporal preservation and physical provision, to the perfections of God himself — his mercy, his patience, his covenant faithfulness — as the inexhaustible ground of praise. The sermon presses the congregation to fight spiritual amnesia privately in prayer and publicly in corporate worship, and to understand that gratitude is not an optional ornament but a defining mark of those who walk worthily before God.
The Gentiles and the Covenant of Grace, Part 3
Ephesians 2:19–22 closes Paul's argument about the equal standing of Gentile believers within the covenant people of God. This sermon works through three aspects of the temple Paul constructs in these verses — its foundation (apostles and prophets), its cornerstone (Christ himself), and its materials (believers united to him) — showing that Gentile inclusion is not second-tier membership but full citizenship in the kingdom and full membership in the household of God. The sermon presses hard on the corporate nature of these privileges, arguing from David's anguish in 1 Samuel 26 that to be cut off from public worship is to be cut off from the inheritance of the Lord, and that Christians who treat gathered worship as optional have surpassed David in privileges while falling far short of him in appetite.
Live Stream - September 25, 2022
Ephesians 2:14–18 presents Christ as the one who is our peace, who makes peace, and who preaches peace — accomplishing the reconciliation of both Jews and Gentiles to God through the blood of his cross. The abolition of the ceremonial law removes the middle wall of separation between the two peoples, creating one new man in Christ without distinction of privilege or standing before God. Access to the Father through the Son by one Spirit is inherently trinitarian, and the corporate assembly of God's people is the apex of that New Covenant blessing — making unexplained absence from gathered worship a forfeiture of the very Redemptive benefits Christ secured.
Of God's Law (2LCF 19), part II
The moral law of God — given to Adam at creation, codified at Sinai in the Ten Commandments, and written on the hearts of New Covenant believers — perpetually binds all people everywhere, justified and unjustified alike, by virtue of God's authority as Creator. This study of 2LCF Chapter 19, paragraphs 5–7, works through 1 Timothy 1:8–10 to distinguish the three uses of the law (civil, pedagogical, and normative) and expounds Jeremiah 31, Matthew 5, Romans 3, Romans 6, Galatians 3, Romans 13, and Ephesians 6 to demonstrate that Christ and the gospel do not dissolve but rather strengthen the law's obligation. The session exposes the errors of dispensationalism and antinomianism, showing that the Spirit of Christ enables believers to obey freely and cheerfully the very law that condemns the unbeliever. The application presses Christians to declare God's law publicly — to believers for sanctification and to unbelievers for conviction — never separating law from gospel in proclamation.
Of the Law of God (2LCF 19)
The law of God — its origin, divisions, and enduring obligations — is examined through 2LCF Chapter 19, tracing the moral law from its inscription on Adam's heart in the garden through its codification at Sinai and into the life of the justified believer. The confession distinguishes three categories of Mosaic law: the perpetually binding moral law, the abrogated ceremonial law, and the expired judicial law whose general equity retains moral usefulness. A sustained argument from Galatians demonstrates that the law's demand is personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience — a standard no sinner meets — establishing the absolute necessity of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. The session closes with Machen's warning that a low view of the law produces legalism rather than grace, pressing the congregation to preach the Decalogue faithfully so that sinners see their need for the Savior.
Live Stream - September 11, 2022
Ephesians 2:8–10 sets out the application and consequence of redemptive grace, arguing that salvation is entirely God's act — given by grace alone, received through faith alone, and issuing in good works that are themselves God's gift. The sermon works through the grammar and theology of the passage to demolish every form of human contribution to salvation, whether by faith conceived as a human offering or by works, so that God alone receives the glory. Believers are shown to be trophies of divine grace, created in Christ for good works God prepared beforehand — works that confirm justification rather than cause it.
Epilogue to the Decalogue
Deuteronomy 5:22 supplies a concise epilogue to the Decalogue, highlighting the divine origin, absolute authority, comprehensive character, and finality of God's moral law — a law that is trans-covenantal and binding on all men everywhere. Working through Exodus 20:18–26, this exposition examines Israel's terrified response to Sinai's theophany, Moses's distinction between slavish fear and filial fear of God, and the protocols for the altar that bridge the giving of the law to the detailed judicial legislation of chapters 21–23. The threefold division of the law — moral, ceremonial, and judicial — is defended against dispensationalist revision, with the 1689 LBCF chapter 19 paragraph 5 cited as the correct Reformed statement of the moral law's perpetuity. The sermon closes by calling believers to a filial fear of God as the most fundamental restraint against sin, and to gratitude that Christ, as the true Israel, perfectly kept the law his people swore and failed to keep.
Live Stream - August 21, 2022
Hebrews 10:19–25 marks a pivotal transition in the epistle: the apostle's extended exposition of Christ's supremacy — over the Levitical sacrifices, over the Aaronic priesthood, over every shadow of the old covenant — now gives way to three congregational exhortations. Because Christ has opened a new and living way by his blood and holds the office of great high priest over the house of God, believers are called to draw near in confident new covenant worship, to hold fast the confession of their hope without wavering, and to assemble together in an others-minded constancy that stirs up love and good works. The perfection of Christ's person and work is not merely the subject of theological meditation but the only ground on which Christians can be bold, steadfast, and mutually encouraging until the day of judgment.
The Perfection of Christ as the Prompting of His People
Hebrews 10:19–25 marks the great hinge of the epistle, where doctrinal exposition gives way to exhortation. The perfection of Christ's sacrifice and priesthood — the absolute sufficiency of His once-for-all offering and His unceasing high-priestly office — forms the irreplaceable ground upon which three congregational imperatives rest: draw near to God in full assurance of faith, hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, and consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Christians are not called to seek experiential novelty or emotional stimulation, but to the settled, corporate, and simple obedience of gathered worship, resting entirely upon the finished work of the One who consecrated a new and living way through His own flesh.
The Blessings of the Resurrected Christ
Luke 24:36–53 presents the resurrected Christ bestowing concrete blessings upon his disciples before his ascension: peace, bodily proof of his resurrection, exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures, enabling grace for comprehension, and the promise of the Spirit. The physical demonstration Christ offers refutes both ancient Docetism and its modern heirs — if Christ did not truly assume humanity, the unassumed is the unhealed, and salvation itself is a phantom. The sermon calls believers to rest their religious affections upon the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ as the sum and substance of all biblical revelation, finding in him both the ground of present comfort and the power for gospel proclamation.
Of Good Works (part II)
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, chapter 16, teaches that good works neither merit pardon of sin nor eternal life, yet are genuinely accepted by God — not on the ground of their own quality, but solely through the believer's union with Christ the Mediator. This session completes the chapter by examining first why good works are accepted in Christ (the Mediator's priestly office presenting both persons and works acceptable to God), and then the sixfold purpose of good works: expressing gratitude, strengthening assurance, edifying the brethren, adorning the doctrine of Christ, stopping the mouths of adversaries, and glorifying the triune God. The controlling application is that a right understanding of good works drives the believer away from every meritorious scheme and toward Christ alone, in whom both persons and performances are accepted.
The Feast of Tabernacles, Part 2
John 7:14–24 presents two confrontations: the Jews question Christ's authority, and Christ in turn questions the Jews' ethical integrity. The sermon works through three grounds of Christ's authority—his unity with the Father, the regenerate hearer's capacity to receive his word, and his mission to glorify the Father rather than himself—before turning to Christ's indictment of the Jews for plotting murder while professing fidelity to the Mosaic law. The exposition closes with Christ's appeal to righteous judgment over mere appearance, and the preacher applies the whole passage as a call to sinners to come and drink from the one who alone satisfies the soul's thirst.
2LCF 16 - Of Good Works (part I)
Good works in the Christian life must be carefully defined, grounded, and distinguished from every meritorious scheme if the glory of Christ is to be preserved. This study of 2nd London Baptist Confession chapter 16 works through the definition of good works (their substance, manner, and definitive character as fruits and evidences of a lively faith), the necessary foundation of good works in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, and the non-meritorious nature of good works as plainly asserted in Romans 3 and Galatians 2. The central burden is that no work of the creature — however sincere, however commanded — can merit pardon of sin or eternal life before God, because the only works that avail with divine justice are the active and passive obedience of Christ alone imputed to the believer by faith.
The Things God Hates
Proverbs 6:16–19 presents a numerical list of seven things God hates and finds abominable — a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. This sermon works through each item in canonical order, grounding the list in its immediate context (the portrait of the son of Belial in vv. 12–15) and in the broader testimony of Proverbs, the Psalms, and the New Testament. The abominable members (pride, lying, murder, the cunning heart, swift feet) and the abominable actions (perjury and discord) are each exposed and applied. The sermon concludes by urging hearers to pursue the opposites of each vice — humility, truth-telling, protection of innocent life, guarding the heart, swift pursuit of good, faithful witness, and peacemaking — and to rest in Christ, whose perfect obedience is the righteousness that covers remaining corruption in the believer.
The Idolatry of Solomon
Solomon's idolatry in 1 Kings 11:1–13 exposes how a man richly blessed by God — with the law, direct divine appearances, a faithful father, and transcendent wisdom — can fall into the grossest sin when he fails to guard his heart. The sermon traces the problem, precedent, and practice of Solomon's idolatry before examining God's just and covenant-shaped response: judgment tempered by the unconditional Davidic covenant that finds its telos in the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage issues sober warnings against the assumption that age, experience, knowledge, or good pedigree secure ongoing faithfulness apart from vigilant dependence on the Holy Spirit.
Live Stream - July 03, 2022
Joshua 2 narrates the story of Rahab the Harlot, a Canaanite prostitute who sheltered the Israelite spies and confessed Yahweh as 'God in heaven above and on earth beneath.' This sermon exposits the chapter under three heads — the contact with Rahab, her confession of faith, and the covenant contract made with her — arguing that the chapter interrupts the conquest narrative to magnify the sovereign mercy of God toward an outsider who was utterly without covenant standing. The sermon concludes by tracing Rahab's place in the messianic genealogy and applying her conversion to the gospel call: Christ saves to the uttermost all who come to him, and the church is a refuge for sinners, not a club for the respectable.
Live Stream - June 26, 2022
What does it mean that the church is a 'chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people'? Expounding 1 Peter 2:9–10, this sermon traces those titles through their deep roots in the Abrahamic covenant, the tower of Babel, and Mosaic Israel, arguing that the church is the true Israel of God — the spiritual nation God rescued from the kingdom of darkness to be his special possession. Peter's Jewish audience is shown that their comfort does not rest in a plot of land in the Middle East but in an incorruptible, eternal inheritance secured by Christ the last Adam, the greater Son of David and true cornerstone. The sermon closes by calling believers to rejoice in election, to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to all nations, and to offer spiritual sacrifices as a holy priesthood under their mediator.
Wedding Stream
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14–19 frames the theological heart of this wedding message: that the strength, knowledge, and fullness believers need for godly marriage flow entirely from what God has accomplished in salvation. The sermon moves from the doctrinal foundation of Ephesians 1–2 through the spiritual petitions of chapter 3, arriving at the practical marital responsibilities of Ephesians 5 — the wife's submission and respect, the husband's sacrificial love and leadership after the pattern of Christ and the church. Drawn from Luther's counsel and the creation account in Genesis, the message calls both husband and wife to reflect the mystery of Christ's covenant union with his bride in the daily conduct of their marriage.
Live Stream - June 12, 2022
Psalm 29 presents Yahweh's sovereign majesty over creation through the imagery of a Mediterranean storm tracking north to south across the land of Israel. The psalm functions as a polemic against Baal, the Canaanite weather god, demonstrating that Yahweh alone is the uncreated Creator while all rival 'gods' are derivative, created beings. The sermon draws this ancient conflict forward into the present spiritual warfare Paul describes in Ephesians 6, calling believers to neither panic nor despair at the apparent power of the kingdom of darkness, because the same God who sent Baal fleeing sits enthroned above every principality and power. The concluding application warns that a coming storm of divine wrath is approaching, from which only the righteousness of Christ provides shelter.
The Sovereignty of Yahweh of Israel
Psalm 29 is a polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, written by David to demonstrate that Yahweh alone is Creator and sovereign King over all powers—heavenly and earthly. The seven-fold repetition of 'the voice of the Lord' traces a storm from the Mediterranean through Lebanon, the supposed abode of Baal, into the wilderness of Kadesh, showing at each point that Baal is no rival but a fleeing creature before the Creator. The same sovereignty that sent Baal running and that enthroned God over Noah's flood is the ground of the church's peace amid the spiritual and geopolitical chaos of the present age. Those outside Christ are warned that a greater storm—the wrath of God—is coming, and the only shelter is repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Live Stream - June 05, 2022
Romans 3:21–28 is expounded in the context of a communion service, grounding the Lord's Supper in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The sermon traces Paul's argument that all humanity stands guilty before God, that God's own righteousness demands the punishment of sin without exception, and that the cross of Christ is the propitiation by which God is both just and the justifier of the ungodly. The righteousness credited to the believer is entirely the work of Christ — received through faith, purchased by blood, and offered freely to all without merit or prerequisite.
The Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ
How can a perfectly just God forgive guilty sinners without compromising his justice? Romans 3:21–28 answers that question by tracing the righteousness God provides in the gospel: revealed in Christ, received through faith, and grounded in a propitiatory sacrifice that fully satisfies divine justice. The sermon expounds the forensic declaration of justification, the redemption accomplished by Christ's blood, and the vindication of God's righteousness at the cross — showing that boasting is excluded entirely because the righteousness that avails before God is supplied by Christ alone and received freely by grace through faith. Hearers are called to trust in Christ's finished work as the sole ground of their standing before God, and to come to the Lord's Supper remembering that in our place condemned he stood.
The Conduct of a Faithful Minister
Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12–16 sets forth the pattern for every faithful gospel minister: exemplary character, diligent public ministry, ongoing personal growth, and tenacious perseverance to the end. Preached at an ordination service for a newly commissioned pastor, this exposition works through each element of the apostle's command — from the six spheres of a minister's example (word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, purity) to the three pillars of public ministry (reading, exhortation, doctrine). The sermon insists that Christian virtue, however admirable, cannot save souls; it is the word of God, proclaimed boldly and accurately, that the Spirit uses as the instrument of salvation. The congregation is charged alongside the minister: receive the word with joy, reject heresy, prize the public means of grace, and honour those who watch for your souls.