Topic
Worship
962 sermons · All topics
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.
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.
Renewal of the Covenant, Part II
Exodus 34:10–35 records God's renewal of the Mosaic covenant with Israel following the golden calf apostasy of chapter 32. The passage demonstrates that the divine attributes proclaimed in verses 6–7 — mercy, grace, long-suffering, and abounding goodness — are not merely stated but actively exhibited in God's willingness to restore a covenant his people had shattered. The sermon works through three sections: the covenant renewed (vv. 10–28), with its prohibitions against religious, social, and political alliances with Canaanite nations; and the reflection of God's glory on Moses' face (vv. 29–35), which Paul's argument in 2 Corinthians 3 sets within the larger framework of old covenant and new covenant glory. The central application is that the same perfections God displayed toward covenant-breaking Israel are the perfections believers now experience in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose new covenant ministry of righteousness far exceeds the fading glory of Moses.
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 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.
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 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.
The Wondrous Love of God
God is love — not merely that love is one attribute among many, but that love is what God is, a statement grounded in the doctrine of divine simplicity: all that is in God is God. John's argument in 1 John 4:7–11 moves from declaration ('God is love', v.8) to demonstration: the sending of the only begotten Son into the world (v.9) and, supremely, the propitiation Christ accomplished on the cross (v.10), by which the wrath of God due to sinners was not deflected but fully absorbed and satisfied. The Son did not come to procure the Father's love; He came as the supreme manifestation of a love that was antecedent to any love or knowledge we have of God. Those who have been born of God and savingly know Him will therefore love the brethren — and the Lord's Supper proclaimed at this service is the corporate, horizontal expression of that same love.
The Healing of a Blind Man, Part 2
John 9:13–34 records the formal interrogation of a man born blind by the Pharisees following his healing by Jesus. The passage exposes the willful unbelief of Israel's religious leadership — men who suppress plain evidence, commit perjury, and wield coercion against a helpless witness — while simultaneously tracing the healed man's growing confession of Christ, from 'he is a prophet' to 'if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.' The sermon argues that opposition to the Son of God is always opposition to the Father who sent him, and that the courage to confess Christ in the face of exclusion and shame is the mark of genuine discipleship.
The Idolatry of Israel, Part 2
Exodus 32:15–35 records the descent of Moses from Sinai and the immediate consequences of Israel's golden calf idolatry. This study covers four movements in the text: Moses' symbolic breaking of the covenant tablets, Aaron's evasive self-defense, the Levites' execution of three thousand offenders, and Moses' intercessory return to the Lord. The gravity of idolatry — as a direct assault on the being and honor of God — is traced from Sinai through Numbers 25 and Psalm 106, and pressed home with Calvin's warning that the human heart is a perpetual idol factory, turning even good gifts and the self into objects of ultimate devotion.
The Gifts Given by the Ascended Christ, Part 1
Ephesians 4:7–11 presents Christ the ascended Lord as the giver of gifts to His church. This sermon expounds the provision of God's grace in verse 7, the Christological argument drawn from Psalm 68 in verses 8–10, and the specific gifted men named in verse 11 — apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. The preacher argues that Paul's appeal to Psalm 68 is typological: as Yahweh conquered Israel's enemies, received tribute, and distributed it to his people, so Christ conquered sin and death, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and now distributes gifts to His church through the Spirit. The practical weight of the sermon falls on killing pride, praying for elders and deacons, and recognising that the teaching ministry — not celebrity — is the bond that produces the love and unity Paul commands in verses 2–3.
Livestream - The Basis for Love and Unity
Ephesians 4:4–6 presents seven 'ones' — one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father — as the objective, Spirit-wrought basis for the love and unity to which Paul exhorts believers in verses 1–3. The sermon argues that these seven unities are not aspirational ideals but present realities constituted by the Holy Spirit in the production of the church, and that believers are therefore called to steward, not generate, the unity already given. The practical weight falls on bearing with one another in love, contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, and recognising that the Triune God — not social trinitarianism — is the foundation of all communion and the basis for genuine ecumenism among confessional Christians.
Of the Church, Part II (2LCF 26.5-15)
The nature, governance, and life of the local church are expounded through 2LCF Chapter 26, paragraphs 5–15, a section that goes beyond the Westminster Confession of Faith and draws largely from the Congregationalist Savoy Declaration. The eleven paragraphs treat the Trinitarian foundation of the church, the regenerate membership required for entrance, congregational church polity, the two permanent offices of elder and deacon, the financial responsibility of churches toward their pastors, and the associational communion of independent churches. Christians are called to join themselves to particular churches, submit to both the privileges and discipline of those churches, and rest patiently in Christ's providential governance when offenses arise within the assembly.
The Idolatry of Israel, Part 1
Exodus 32:1–14 records the catastrophic breach of Israel's covenant oath, sworn only weeks earlier in Exodus 24, as the people demand a visible god and Aaron fashions the golden calf. The passage exposes the persistent human tendency toward idolatry — rooted in total depravity and inflamed by impatience, carnality, and the craving for a manageable deity — and demonstrates that their sin was not a denial of Yahweh but a second-commandment violation: representing the true God by a forbidden image. The sermon then turns to Moses' masterful intercession, grounded in appeals to God's power, his glory before the nations, and his covenant oath to the patriarchs, and concludes with extended treatment of divine immutability and anthropopathism to explain why Exodus 32:14 ('the Lord relented') cannot be made to teach flux or change in God.
Live Stream - February 12, 2023
The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a symbol or a bare historical fact but, as John Gill defined it, theological shorthand for the sacrificial, substitutionary, atoning death of Christ for his people. This exposition of the cross in the book of Acts traces six divine dimensions: purpose (the cross was decreed in eternity), promise (foretold by all the prophets), providence (carried out through the lawless hands of wicked men), power (accomplished by the divine Son who laid down his life voluntarily), proclamation (heralded by apostolic messengers to Jew and Gentile alike), and proficiency (effectually applied to all whom the Father gave to the Son). The closing exhortation calls believers to restore the art of marveling in Christ crucified — not as an occasional Sunday exercise but as the first motion of every morning.
Instructions Concerning Tabernacle, Part II
The tabernacle legislation of Exodus 25–31 is not merely an ancient architectural blueprint but a revelation of God's covenantal purpose to dwell among his redeemed people — a theme that runs from Eden through Ephesians to the new Jerusalem. This overview of the tabernacle's structure, furnishings, priesthood, and Sabbath legislation draws out three lessons: the importance of the legislation, the necessity of compliance with it, and the blessing it conveys in showing God's nearness to sinners. The sermon closes by grounding the regulative principle of worship in the continuity of God's character across both covenants, while acknowledging the ceremonial law's fulfillment in Christ.
The Sanctuary and Ark of the Testimony
Exodus 25:1–22 opens the third major division of Exodus — the dwelling of God among his redeemed people — which the sermon argues is the climax of the entire book. Working through the offerings for the tabernacle, the purpose of the sanctuary, and the construction and function of the ark, the exposition traces how God's intent to dwell with Israel typologically anticipates the new covenant reality secured by Christ, the great high priest and true mercy seat. The regulative principle of worship is grounded exegetically in God's precise prescriptions for the tabernacle and applied to New Covenant church practice. Hearers are called to count corporate worship a privilege and to approach God only in the manner he has commanded in Holy Scripture.
2LCF 26 - Of the Church, Part I
What is the church, and who governs it? This confession study works through 2LCF Chapter 26, paragraphs 1–4, examining the universal (catholic) church: its election-grounded identity, its visible and invisible dimensions, the perpetuity of Christ's kingdom despite the inevitable mixture and error found in even the purest churches, and the exclusive headship of the Lord Jesus Christ over his body. The session challenges both Landmark Baptist denials of a universal church and Roman Catholic claims to papal headship, grounding ecclesiology in the confession of Christ as Son of the living God as articulated in Matthew 16.
Live Stream - January 22, 2023
Hebrews 1:1–4 presents Christ as the supreme and final Word of God, surpassing all prior revelation given through the prophets. This sermon traces three considerations: the singular greatness of Christ's revelation as the incarnate Son who is both messenger and content of the gospel; the infinite excellency of his person as heir of all things, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the one who upholds all creation by the word of his power; and the perfection of his redemptive regency, in which he alone purged the sins of his people and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Believers are called to rejoice daily in the grace that brought them to know this Christ, while those outside of faith are warned that to neglect so great a salvation is to invite inescapable judgment.
Better Things in Christ
Hebrews 1:1–4 presents Jesus Christ as the apex of divine revelation, the eternal Son who bears the undiminished nature of the Father, and the perfect High Priest whose finished work secures salvation for all His people. The sermon moves through three considerations: the singular greatness of Christ's revelation over all prior prophetic speech, the infinite excellency of His person as the brightness of the Father's glory and the exact imprint of His nature, and the perfection of His redemptive regency demonstrated in His expiatory sacrifice and His session at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Against any drift toward lesser things — whether Old Covenant shadows, Roman Catholic purgatory, or the kenotic diminishment of Christ's deity — the congregation is called to hold fast their Christ, rejoice in the revelation God has given, and fear the consequences of neglecting so great a salvation.
The Lord's Prayer
True prayer is distinguished from hypocrisy and paganism not merely by form but by motivation, manner, and theological grounding. Matthew 6:5–13 exposes the Pharisee who prays to be seen by men and the heathen who employs vain repetition to coerce a god, and sets against both the secret, faith-driven communion of the genuine child of God with his Father. The Lord's Prayer is not a liturgical formula to be recited but a structured outline — ordering petition rightly, with God's name, kingdom, and will before any human need — rooted in the sovereignty of a Father who knows what his children require before they ask. The sermon calls believers to examine their own prayer lives: whether prayer functions as worship and dependence upon the triune God, or as a merely transactional exercise.
The Practice of the Early Church
Acts 2:41–47 describes the irreducible practices of the early church — the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer — and this sermon argues that those practices are not merely historical description but prescription for the church in every age. The gospel that created the church (sovereign grace working through proclamation to bring dead sinners to faith and repentance) also defines what the church does when it gathers. The sermon presses both the unconverted (to seek the Lord Jesus Christ in whom alone there is forgiveness and an imputed righteousness) and the congregation (to continue steadfastly in the ordained means of grace rather than chasing experience, ecstasy, or entertainment).
The Promise of God's Son
The Davidic covenant of 2 Samuel 7 stands at the center of redemptive history, advancing the promise of the seed from Genesis 3:15 through Abraham to David and ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ. The word 'house' in the passage carries triple meaning — David's palace, the dynasty God promises to establish, and the temple God will build through David's line — and each meaning finds its terminus in Christ, who reigns on David's throne forever and builds a spiritual temple from living stones. God's covenantal fidelity is the sole reason the Davidic dynasty survived the persistent sin of its kings, and that same fidelity secures the church today as citizens of Christ's everlasting kingdom. The sermon calls believers to come to the public worship of God on the Lord's Day with the joyful expectation of those who know they live in the age of fulfillment.
The Promise of God's Provision
Genesis 22:1–19 presents the binding of Isaac as far more than a biographical account of Abraham's obedience — it is a typological promise of God's provision of the Messiah. The sermon works through the test presented to Abraham, his obedience in the three-day journey to Moriah, and God's approval through the substitutionary ram, showing how Abraham, Isaac, and the ram each function as types of the Father, the Son, and the Lamb of God respectively. Abraham's declaration in verse 8 — 'God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering' — is read as genuine messianic anticipation, confirmed by Christ's own words in John 8:56. The passage calls believers to the kind of covenant-anchored faith that perseveres under affliction, catechizes their children in the great truths of God, and rests on the substitutionary atonement accomplished at Calvary.
The Promise of the Conquest
Exodus 23:20–33 records God's promises and warnings to Israel on the eve of the conquest of Canaan. The passage presents God as the divine initiator of the conquest — sending the Angel of the Lord (identified as the pre-incarnate Christ) to guide and fight for Israel — and then enumerates blessings contingent on covenant obedience: provision, health, fruitfulness, and the gradual dispossession of the Canaanites. The sermon exposes the Mosaic covenant as a covenant of works in which blessings follow obedience and curses follow infidelity, and closes by contrasting Israel's inevitable failure under that arrangement with the covenant of grace secured by Christ on behalf of his people.
The Sabbaths and Annual Feasts
Exodus 23:10–19 legislates two kinds of Sabbath and three annual feasts within the Book of the Covenant, each designed to order Israel's life around the worship of Yahweh alone. The seven-year land Sabbath provided for the poor and beasts through a system of crop rotation, while the seventh-day Sabbath — whose moral principle is perpetual and now observed on the first day of the week in the new covenant — extended its restorative benefit to every member of the community, including servants and resident aliens. The three annual feasts (Unleavened Bread, Harvest/Weeks, Ingathering) were not merely ceremonial obligations but instruments for rehearsing redemptive history, promoting communal joy and reciprocity, and guarding the covenant people from idolatry. As judicial and ceremonial laws, these specific institutions have expired with Old Covenant Israel, yet their general equity and the moral principle of Sabbath rest continue to bind the new covenant community.
2LCF 23 - Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
Second London Confession of Faith chapter 23 treats the doctrine of lawful oaths and vows, distinguishing Reformed Baptist practice from the Anabaptist rejection of oath-taking and from Roman Catholic monastical vows. The sermon argues that swearing by God's name is itself an act of religious worship — acknowledging his omniscience, omnipresence, and vindictive justice — and that Scripture warrants oaths in matters of weight and moment while condemning their careless everyday use. Matthew 5:33–37 is shown to address the abuse of casual, trivial oath-making rather than solemn oaths before lawful authority, as confirmed by Christ's own oath before the Sanhedrin, God's oath to Abraham, and Paul's repeated appeals to God as witness. The sermon closes by exposing popish monastical vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience as superstitious devices of men that contradict Scripture's positive assessment of marriage, honest labor, and just remuneration.