We Are His Workmanship, Part 2

In this part of the sermon: The first pillar of salvation is that its origin is entirely of God, established by the phrase 'we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.' This demolishes synergism, the…

The whole counsel of God is likened to a beautiful temple, with a major section dedicated to God's salvation of needy sinners. This section rests on three pillars, which, if weakened, cause the whole structure to crumble.

with all of the parts in proper relationship to each other and to the whole, and that temple, of course, a reflection of the very glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, what we're going to do this morning is to look at one major section of the temple of God's truth, that section called God's salvation of needy sinners. And that particular section of the temple dealing with how God rescues needy sinners, rests upon three tremendous pillars. And those pillars support the whole of this section of the temple.

7:39 - 8:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first pillar of salvation is that its origin is entirely of God, established by the phrase 'we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.' This demolishes synergism, the…

The three pillars of salvation are compared to the pillars Samson pulled down in the heathen temple, illustrating that if these doctrinal pillars crumble, the entire biblical doctrine of salvation collapses.

And they are like the pillars in that heathen temple where Samson found himself in the latter days of his life, and when he was able to pull in those two pillars, the whole superstructure came tumbling down upon him and all who were in that particular structure. Well, the doctrine of God's word concerning God's method of rescuing sinners rests upon these three pillars. And if these pillars begin to be weakened, if these pillars crumble, the whole biblical doctrine concerning God's method of rescuing sinners crumbles with those pillars. And this text, more perhaps than any other text

8:21 - 9:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Salvation. Salvation is of the Lord.

Martin provides a vocabulary lesson, distinguishing syncretism (combining religions, exemplified by the World Council of Churches) from synergism (God and man working together in salvation).

And if he can somehow mar this pillar, put cracks in this pillar, cause men to doubt the existence of that pillar, then he has accomplished his own wicked designs. Now the attempts to attack this pillar have found expression in some form of what has been called in the history of theological discussion, synergism. And I want to give you a little vocabulary lesson this morning. There are two words, very similar but different in meaning, that you ought to know, and you ought to be aware of their meaning.

13:37 - 14:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And when you say that the difference between men remaining impenitent and men coming to faith, ultimately lies with man, you're a synergist.

The historical example of Pelagius's teaching on man's inherent power to do right and Augustine's refutation is used to illustrate early forms of synergism.

Then it found a tragic expression in the early 400's A.D. in a man named Pelagius, who with two strong disciples, named Celestius and Julian of Aclanum, taught that man had inherent power to do what is right. There was no sense in which he was conceived in sin in such a way as to give him a positive bias to evil, and a moral inability to do what is good.

15:53 - 16:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Be honest with the words of Scripture, understanding that 'His workmanship we are in Christ Jesus' teaches the strictest form of monergism.

An old commentator is quoted to emphasize that attributing any free will or ability to do good to oneself is blasphemous, as it makes man a co-creator, denying God's sole creative act in salvation.

One old commentator writing on this very passage says, For here, the apostle shows that the creating of us in Adam is but a bringing of us to destruction, and therefore we must be fashioned and created anew again, namely even in Christ Jesus, who is the second Adam, as he himself calls him in the fifth chapter to the Romans and the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians. You see then, that this word create is enough to stop the mouths and put away the cackling of such as boast of having any merit.

20:42 - 21:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second pillar asserts that salvation is found 'in Christ' alone, making it a salvation by grace alone. This demolishes 'Galatianism,' the heresy that Christ is not enough and…

Martin recounts attending a Catholic Charismatic meeting where fundamentalist music and Bible reading were mixed with prayers to Mary and the Mass, illustrating modern 'Galatianism' (Christ plus other elements).

The sphere of Christ Jesus plus nothing else. Christ alone, Christ only, Christ in the perfection of His work, Christ in the satisfaction He has rendered to the Father. And let us not think that this error has died. In attending this Catholic Charismatic Movement Thursday night, you know what we began with?

31:53 - 32:21 Read in full sermon