Sermons by Rev. Charles G. Dennison
The series closes in Paul’s epistles, tracing the same true gospel already seen in Christ’s own words, measured against Machen’s classic definition. Against the modern liberal view of Paul, Jesus and Paul turn out to preach one and the same gospel, however far the church has since wandered from it.
How would John the Baptist have understood Christ’s use of Isaiah 61? Read closely, the passage points to true, heavenly freedom rather than earthly deliverance, with Christ consistently redirecting attention from temporal blessings to eternal ones.
Geerhardus Vos and J. Gresham Machen frame an examination of the OPC’s own struggle to define the gospel rightly, with Christ’s response to the imprisoned John the Baptist as the test case. True evangelism is not an end in itself but exists to lead people unto worship, prizing spiritual healing over the merely physical.
The series closes with a review of its central themes and one more pass through the five points of Calvinism, tying the doctrines of grace together as a fitting reminder of all that has come before.
The covenant’s importance is surveyed across Scripture, from 1 Samuel 18 and John 13 to Hosea and Revelation, showing how the law itself exists to serve the covenant rather than stand above it. Its goal is nothing less than our promised inheritance.
John’s Gospel gets set apart from the Synoptics and Paul here, especially John’s use of double-meaning language operating on two levels at once. That technique is precisely how John distinguishes merely worldly faith from true, other-worldly faith, all while preserving the underlying unity of Scripture.
Working closely through 1 Corinthians 15:44-45, Christ as the second Adam gains a spiritual life in a spiritual world on our behalf. That gain is framed within the classic fourfold estate of man, with Calvin’s own heavenly-mindedness held up as a model for ours.
The series closes with faith and hope shown to exist in service to love rather than apart from it, the three eternally bound together in the members of Christ’s body. In the end, it is Christ himself who most fully exhibits the very love this chapter describes.
The historia salutis (the history of redemption) is distinguished from the ordo salutis (the order of an individual’s salvation), with Christ’s own story mattering more than ours. The gospel is fundamentally an event: God’s gift of his own righteousness, given to us in history.
Love’s permanence and Paul’s own handling of Corinthian boasting return here, with Paul’s humility held up as a model for preachers themselves. Along the way come reflections on homiletics, the art and discipline of preaching well.