New Sermon Series: “To the Praise of God’s Glorious Grace”

On the Lord’s Day, January 12, 2014, we will begin a new sermon series based on the Canons of Dort:

“To the Praise of God’s Glorious Grace”

a quote from Ephesians 1:6.

The Canons of Dort (CD) consists of five “Heads of Doctrine,” but the third and fourth Heads are combined into one:

First Head of Doctrine: Divine Election and Reprobation

Second Head of Doctrine: The Death of Christ, and the Redemption of Men Thereby

Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine: The Corruption of Man, His Conversion to God, and the Manner Thereof

Fifth Head of Doctrine: The Perseverance of the Saints

Each Head contains several Articles and “Rejection of Errors” expounding the Head. A pastor wrote about the magnificence of these Canons:

Here we are plunged to the lowest depths of man’s sinfulness, but are raised up to behold the eternal counsel of God. Here we see the Biblical balancing act, on the one hand, of the sufficiency of Christ’s death which is to be promiscuously published to all, and on the other, of the sovereign, efficacious grace on the Holy Spirit who applies this infinite merit of the Son of God to the Father’s elect. Here we see the pain and struggle of the Christian life in this “present evil age” (Gl 1:4) but also our powerful preservation by the hand of our loving Father, despite our sins, unto the end when we reach the Celestial City. The Canons are filled with many great Biblical themes and characteristics…

As I considered how to use it in a sermon series, two things came to mind. First, since it is a lengthy document, I would preach on selected articles only. Second, the preaching would be a regular exposition of Biblical text, with the Canons of Dort brought in to support the exposition.

Below is a tentative schedule of the preaching series of 17 sermons, which includes an introductory sermon. I will fill in the rest of the schedule as we progress through the series.