Introduction

The point: Know who you are in Christ and what you possess in Christ, as this is foundational to living a life well-pleasing to Christ.

Martin references his previous 25-message series on justification, hoping it resulted in greater joy, stability, confidence, and zeal for sharing the gospel among his listeners, setting a precedent for the impact of deep doctrinal study.

You and I, if we are to live the Christian life as it is set before us in the Scriptures, it is essential that we know who, we are in Christ, and understand what we possess in Christ. Now in seeking to set forth one of the most amazing realities of who we are in Christ, and what we possess in Christ, I preach to you 25 messages on that gracious provision of God's saving grace called justification. And I would like to believe, and I hope it's not a preacher's dream, I would like to believe that many of you can truthfully testify that a clearer and more biblically grounded understanding of who y...

2:24 - 3:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: in justification we are brought into present acceptance by God as the world's judge. However, in adoption we are brought into permanent intimacy with God as our Heavenly Father.

This analogy distinguishes justification from adoption: being pardoned by a judge (justification) is good, but having an intimate, father-like relationship with that judge (adoption) is a higher privilege, illustrating the richer relationship adoption brings.

Clive Packer who wrote those words says to be right with God the judge is a great thing but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is even more important. Imagine a man who's been a guilty felon and he has been justly and righteously pardoned in the court of law so that when he walks down the street and that he's going to be apprehended and dragged before the judge and from the judge's mouth hear words of condemnation it's a wonderful thing to him to be able to walk by the judge and say with a smile on his face and no fear in his heart good morning judge that's one thing but to be able to...

14:24 - 15:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: in justification we are brought into present acceptance by God as the world's judge. However, in adoption we are brought into permanent intimacy with God as our Heavenly Father.

Martin quotes J.I. Packer's 'Knowing God' to support the argument that adoption is the 'highest privilege the gospel offers,' even higher than justification, due to the richer relationship with God it involves.

that you and I understand that it is a blessing of God's salvation in Christ distinct from although never separated from justification listen to J.I. Packer's words from his book his classic book Knowing God on this very theme our first point about adoption is that it is the highest pre-gospel offers higher even than justification may cause the raising of eyebrows for justification is the gift of God on which since Luther evangelicals have laid the greatest stress and we are accustomed to say almost without thinking that free justification is God's supreme blessing to sinners nonetheless caref...

15:53 - 17:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not allow the truth of adoption to displace other vital truths or be grasped in an imbalanced or caricatured form.

Martin explains that before the Fall, Adam had perfect mental and spiritual balance in processing revelation. The Fall introduced mental imbalance, causing humans to grasp truths in distorted ways or allow one truth to displace another, which serves as the basis for his pastoral caution.

Well, the most important thing about the root of all of this, is that it's only Christ Jesus Christ, who is the only God in the world, who is the only God in the world. But, but, then you see how this, this, pastoral caution for this simple reason. Before the fall of man, everything God revealed to Adam was incorporated into a system of thought that was perfectly balanced. When God made additional revelation to Adam, there was no imbalance of judgment or prejudice of spirit that caused him to take that revelation and shove out a previous one, or allowed him to see it in a distorted kind of a c...

39:08 - 40:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not allow the truth of adoption to displace other vital truths or be grasped in an imbalanced or caricatured form.

Martin cites the 'Sonship Movement' as an example of how focusing exclusively on adoption can lead to a distorted and imbalanced view of the Christian life, reinforcing his caution against allowing one truth to displace others.

With this precious, wonderful provision of God's grace called adoption. See, what has happened, and even in our day, there are movements. There's one movement that names itself. I'm trying to think exactly the name, but it focuses exclusively on the doctrine of adoption.

40:55 - 41:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You can turn the choicest food of God into poison when you use any truth to cancel, to negate, to push aside another complementary truth.

Martin draws on his reading of church history, particularly Baptist history in England, to illustrate how groups reacting against one error often fall into an 'equal and opposite error,' underscoring the importance of balanced theological understanding.

See, that's why I give this pastoral exhortation. I've been around the block long enough. I've read enough of church history. I've just plowed through a 300-page book focusing on baptism, Baptist history in England through a period of time.

52:30 - 52:46 Read in full sermon