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Reformed Baptist Sermons and Articles by Reformed Baptists

It is the desire of The Reformed Reader to create an impressive library of Reformed Baptist sermons. These sermons will include Reformed Baptists from the past and present. This will be an on-going project and you are invited to submit your sermons here for the world to read, study and from which young preachers may be edified and correctly learn the Doctrines of Grace and the historic Baptist faith.

SERMONS FROM VARIOUS REFORMED BAPTIST INDIVIDUALS

GEORGE WHITEFIELD - Sermon Index

George Whitfield understood poverty for he was raised on the very brink of it. His early education was not something to be prideful about. His own testimony, the days of his youth were spent in profligacy despite occasional deep religious Impressions. At seventeen he experienced the turning over of a new leaf and thereafter manifested a deep and abiding interest in spiritual things. At eighteen, he was enabled, through the intervention of friends, to obtain a place as servitor at Pembroke College Oxford. God met him in the spring of 1735, when in the midst of great physical frailness, he entered into the glorious freedom and power of the new-born sons of God.

On June 20, 1736 he was ordained Deacon by Dr. Benson, Bishop of Gloucester, and then returned to Oxford with the intention of continuing his studies However, a deep inward sense of calling and pressing invitations to preach almost literally forced him to abandon further schooling for a ministry which propelled him into unwanted and dangerous fame. Crowds of unprecedented size gathered and major portions of them were moved to tears by the power of the Holy Spirit and the tremendous pathos with which he spoke. Whitefield was a man who rarely left a person unaffected. Multitudes of those converted were ready to offer their lives for his sake...

JOHN BUNYAN - Sermon Index

Bunyan cried to God to know the gospel of Jesus Christ and when he discovered it, he found "the wonderful work of God, in giving Jesus Christ to save us." The elements of bunyan's gospel included the conception and birth of Jesus, His life "...from the cradle to the cross," His death to pay the penalty of sin, His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God, and His second coming to judge the world. The objective testimony of the Bible and the historical work of Christ in salvation became the principle dynamics in Bunyan's theology. When Bunyan first began preaching, he still labored under a guilty conscience and preached what he "smartingly did feel." He preached condemnation. As his understanding of God's grace through Christ increased, his message began to change: "Wherefore now I altered in my preaching, for still I preached what I saw and felt; now therefore I did much labour to hold forth Jesus Christ in all his offices, relations, and benefits unto the world..." Bunyan settled the gospel on Christ and never left that settlement.

Bunyan preached evangelistically. Indeed, he saw evangelism as the primary purpose of preaching:

In my preaching I have really been in pain, and have, as it were, travailed to bring forth children to God; neither could I be satisfied unless some fruits did appear in my work. If I were fruitless it mattered not who commended me; but if I were fruitful, I cared not who did condemn 1.

Bunyan continued to preach in the framework of a Calvinistic theological system, but he was not interested "to see people drink in opinions if they seemed ignorant of Jesus Christ." Instead, he concentrated on the greatness of sin and the need of Christ.

1 Bunyan, Grace Abounding (1660), 1:20

CHARLES H. SPURGEON - Sermon Index

During Charles Haddon Spurgeon's thirty-seven-year ministry at the New Park Street Baptist Church in London, 14,000 members joined the congregation, making this the largest Protestant church in the world. Over 300 million copies of his sermons and books have been sold. He is probably the most-read minister of all time. He was not only a great preacher and pastor, he was a good thinker.

Spurgeon stood as an avowed Calvinist, perhaps not a "high-Calvinist," but he certainly held tenaciously to the basic position of the Geneva Reformer. Spurgeon said of his Puritan Calvinistic grandfather:

"I sometimes feel the shadow of his broad bring (Puritan hat) come over my spirit." He confessed, "I have been charged with being a mere echo of the Puritans, but I had rather be the echo of truth than the voice of falsehood."

JOHN A. BROADUS - Sermon Index

In 1858 Broadus was asked to become a member of the faculty of the new Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Though he had a part in planning the institution, he declined the offer because of his attachment to preaching and pastoral work. After months of struggling with the decision, he agreed to become a member of the first faculty when the seminary opened in Greenville, S. C., in 1859. For the next 36 years he was professor of New Testament interpretation and homiletics, and his life was inextricably bound to the school.



While the seminary was closed during the Civil War, Broadus preached in small churches and spent some time as chaplain in Lee's army in northern Virginia. When the seminary reopened in 1865, it struggled for existence and remained open largely because of the heroic efforts of Broadus and James Petigru Boyce (1827-88). However, during this period of stress and strain, Broadus did some of his best work. In 1870 he published On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, a book which has become a classic in its field. Boradus received nationwide recognition as a preacher and teacher and was offered many influential pastorates, professorships, and other positions.

BASIL MANLY - Sermon Index

Basil Manly, Sr. was another of the major architects of Southern Baptist life. Educator, preacher, administrator, and denominationalist, Manly played a strategic role in the development of the major concepts contributing to the uniqueness of Southern Baptists. Having an older brother, Charles, who became governor of North Carolina, and a younger brother, Matthew, who became Justice of the Supreme Court of that state, and himself manifesting no small gifts in several endeavors, both educational and ecclesiastical, no man of his age possessed greater contextual insights or sympathetic gifts to discern the needs of the Baptists of the South in the mid-nineteenth century.

Manly viewed alter calls as entirely inappropriate and inconsistent with the nature of the gospel. In spite of this, or, better, consistent with this, his love of the gospel and desire for the sound conversion of sinners thrust him into the arena of controversy to affirm the consistency of divine efficiency with human activity.

ASAHEL NETTLETON - Sermon Index

Soon after his conversion which occurred during the great revival of 1800 Asahel determined to serve Christ on the mission field, but God planned other wise. He entered Yale in 1805 and graduated in 1809 as an ordinary student academically but he had an extraordinary passion for Christ and the lost.



After studying under Rev. Bezaleel Pinneo of Connecticut, he began his itinerant ministry. His work began during the time of the great excesses and divisions that were arising out of the great awakening. After studying the cause and effects of these numerous disorders, he set a sane course for himself and his ministry. From the beginning of his labors God crowned his preaching with glorious power, and revival after revival occurred. In 1817 he was ordained a congregational evangelist. He was himself one the wisest and most cautious itinerants ever to grace this nation. His theology was thoroughly in keeping with that of the godly men who had preceded him in the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches of the land.



Asahel Nettleton was a leading figure in one of the most important half-centuries in American Church history. From the late 1790s to the early 1840s a succession of revivals transformed the spiritual prospects of the nation.

RICHARD FULLER - Sermon Index

Richard Fuller served as the third president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Elected to two terms in 1859 and 1861 because highly respected as a Baptist of the South, Fuller also demonstrated great catholicity of spirit and desire for unity among brethren. Cathcart's Baptist Encyclopedia describes Fuller's trans-denominational character in these terms:

No pastor in the denomination was more highly esteemed by the representative men of other churches than he, and none was more frequently urged to lend the influence of his name and counsel to those larger and more comprehensive benevolent organizations which embraced within their scope great communities and groups of churches.

ANDREW FULLER - Sermon Index

Andrew Fuller was born on February 5, 1754 in Wicken, Cambridgeshire, England. He was the son of poor Baptist farmers. Because Fuller ministered during the same era as George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers it would be easy for his name to get lost in their giant shadows. He pastored two congregations during his life at Soham (1775-1782) and at Kettering (1782-1806). Christianity in England was in a generally depressed condition at the time to which Fuller was born. Particular Baptists had fallen into a hyper-Calvinism that denied the need to evangelize the lost or even to offer salvation to anyone

Arminianism, represented by General Baptists and the Wesleys, had relegated God to a secondary position behind mans free will. Needless to say missions to foreign lands did not exist as a result. After a false profession, Fuller finally came to saving faith in Christ as a young man. Like Jonathan Edwards, whom he read deeply, Fuller was a Calvinists who believed in an experiential religion. His salvation was very real in his life and faith. Writing many years after his conversion, he recalled his first real encounter with grace as though it had happened the day before:

"I now found rest for my troubled soul.. When I thought of the gospel way of salvation, I drank it in as cold water is imbibed by a thirsty man. My heart felt one with Christ, and dead to every other object around me ... I now knew experimentally what it was to be dead to the world by the cross of Christ..."

JOHN GILL - Sermon Index

The first Baptist to develop a complete systematic theology and also the first Baptist to write a verse-by-verse commentary on the entire Bible. An indefatigable scholar and writer, "Dr. Voluminous," as he was affectionately called, published more than then ten thousand pages during his lifetime, more than many ordinary mortals are able to read over a similar span. Undoubtedly the leading light among the Calvinistic Baptists of his day, Gill influenced an entire generation of younger ministers through his remarkable preaching and pastoral labors, which he discharged faithfully in the same congregation for nearly fifty-two years.

Gill believed that scripture was its own best interpreter, and he appealed to the infallibility of the Bible against two opposing errors. On the one hand, he rejected the Roman Catholic attempt to subordinate the Scriptures to the church. Neither the church nor its pastors, neither councils, nor popes, may sit in judgment on the Word of God. On the other hand, Gill dismissed at once the claims of those "enthusiastic persons" (perhaps Quakers?) who were so enamored of the Spirit that they saw little need for the written Word.

ISAAC BACKUS - Sermon Index

Baptist leader in colonial America and a defender of religious freedom. Born on Jan. 9, 1724, in Norwich, Conn. Converted in 1741 during the Great Awakening. He became a Baptist in 1751. Founded a Baptist congregation at Middleboro, Mass., in 1756 and served as its pastor until his death. Favored separation of church and state and on this issue voted to ratify the United States Constitution at the Massachusetts ratifying convention in 1788. Died in Middleboro on Nov. 20, 1806.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW - Sermon Index

Winslow was ordained as a pastor in 1833 in New York. He later moved to England where he became one of the most valued nonconformist ministers of the nineteenth century, largely due to the earnestness of his preaching and the excellence of his prolific writings. He held pastorates in Leamington Spa, Bath, and Brighton. He was also a popular speaker for special occasions, such as the opening of C. H. Spurgeon?s Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1861. After a short illness, he died on March 5, 1878, and was buried in Abbey Cemetery, Bath.

B. H. CARROLL - Sermon Index

Pastor, teacher, denominational leader, author. He led in the founding of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and served as president of the seminary until his death. He was one of 12 children born to Benajah and Mary Eliza (Mallard) Carroll. His father was a Baptist minister who supported his family by farming. He moved with his parents to Arkansas in 1848 and to Burleson County, Tex., in 1858.

He was converted in 1865, following a period of bitter struggle with skepticism, as he later recorded in his famous sermon, "My Infidelity and What Became of It." The same year he united with the Baptist church of Caldwell, Tex. He was ordained to the gospel ministry the following year.

He was known as an influential denominational leader. He served on several state and Southern Baptist Convention committees, making notable addresses in the interest of various areas of denominational work. He gave particular emphasis to evangelism, prohibition, Christian education, and the work of home missions.

The published works of Carroll total 33 volumes, comprising special addresses, doctrinal discussions, sermons, and expositions. His best known work is An Interpretation of the English Bible, a commentary of 13 volumes. Outstanding books of sermons are Jesus the Christ, Baptists and Their Doctrines, and Christ and His Church. There are yet 15 volumes of unpublished materials.

R.B.C. HOWELL - Sermon Index

R. B. C. Howell, the second president of the Southern Baptist Convention, presiding from 1851 through 1858, is described in Cathcart's Baptist Encyclopaedia as" one of the ablest and most learned men in the South."



In addition, the encyclopaedia claims that "no one exercised a greater or more beneficial influence within or outside of the church. His life was unspotted, his Christian course was marked by the highest virtues. His courtesy and kindness of heart made him a universal favorite, notwithstanding the fierce theological debates in which he was often engaged."



The "fierce theological debates" in which he was engaged were threefold. His first conflict had to do with the intrusion of Campbellism into Baptist life in Nashville, virtually destroying the First Baptist Church of that city. In 1835, when Howell came to be its pastor, he led in restoring respect and honor to the Baptist name in the community. In addition, his leadership led to the construction of a beautiful building for the worship gatherings of the church.



His second conflict was with the anti-missionary forces of Tennessee and Northern Alabama. These forces responded negatively to the formation of the General Missionary Convention and the work of its most notable agent, Luther Rice, referring to him as a "modern Tetzel." In addition to the ecclesiological objections they held toward centralized organizations, they discountenanced some of the methods used by the agents, declaring them to be Arminian in methodology, thus denying their Calvinistic heritage. Eventually, however, the anti-mission society movement degenerated into pure hyper-Calvinism and denied the validity of giving a free offer of the gospel to all men, railed against theological education, and viewed Bible societies as totally unwarranted by the Word of God.

JOHN NEWTON - Sermon Index

Born July 24,1725, he was an only child. His mother was a pious and experienced christian, part of a church under the oversight of a Dr. Jennings, calling themselves "Dissenters", because of their break from the main stream church. Although in poor health, she devoted herself almost entirely to John's education and spiritual training.



John Newton was an English hymn writer and Church of England minister. Early life of wanton sin. For ten years involved in African slave trade. Hymns include Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds, and Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken. Collaborated with William Cowper in producing the "Olney Hymns."

SERMONS FROM VARIOUS REFORMED BAPTIST CHURCHES

Sermon Index

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