Gospel Holiness: Foundational Perspectives

Driving home: He said, strive for that holiness without which we see the Lord. And, he was telling them, in this way, that this holiness after which they were to strive was an essential element of biblical salvation.

Martin suggests that striving for peace with all men (from Hebrews 12:14) could be a weekend theme, starting with oneself, then spouse, children, neighbors, and church members, to illustrate the breadth of the command.

That might well be the theme of a weekend of ministry. How to live at peace with all men. Might start with the first person that it's hardest to be at peace with, yourself. Then move out to the next circle, your wife or your husband, then your children, your neighbors and your fellow church members.

0:48 - 1:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not look upon holiness as something peripheral or merely positional; it is at the core of Christian experience and doctrine.

An older visitor challenged Martin's sermon on holiness, insisting only positional holiness in Christ mattered. This illustrates the common misconception that holiness is solely imputed and not experiential.

He should respect the hoary head. In spite of the general drift of the philosophy in our day, if somebody's over 30, suspected. Don't listen to a thing he has to say. He's antiquated. He can't know anything about nothing. The hoary head. And if we're to be scriptural, we should. And I try to make that my practice. And so this elder, rather elderly gentleman came up to me. But he hadn't talked long before it was obvious that this poor soul had no understanding of this text. In fact, I think it was this very text that I was preaching on. And he said, young man, in essence, I'd like to straighten...

8:56 - 9:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Set your eyes upon holiness, track it down, and bring into play all of God's given faculties in its pursuit.

Martin compares the strong New Testament word 'follow' (as in 'follow holiness') to 'persecute,' using Paul's zealous pursuit of Christians as an analogy for how believers should track down and lay hold of holiness.

by veins, by daring to, must be the pursuit of every true child of God. The letter to the Hebrews says, holiness, and the word follows a very strong use throughout the New Testament, persecute. If you summon, what do you do? Well, you find, first of all, the object, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, the water, that you desire to persecute, then you do like Paul did.

11:18 - 11:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He traces holiness through the triune God's work in redemption: the Father's electing love (Ephesians 1:4), the Son's dying love (Titus 2:13-14, Ephesians 5:26-27) and…

He critiques popular pictures of Christ for often emphasizing only feminine qualities, arguing that 'conformed to the image of his Son' means moral likeness, not a physical or limited aesthetic representation.

he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image. It doesn't mean that God is going to make us into what we conceive to be the image of Christ in terms of some popular picture of Christ. From that standpoint, I believe pictures of him have done great harm because a picture can only bring out one aspect or quality of the moral perfections of Christ and most of them bring out what we might call the perfection of the feminine qualities that exist in the Lord Jesus, the specimen of humanity. But to be conformed to the image of his Son means to be made into his moral likeness.

22:32 - 23:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Holiness is not our Savior. Christ is our Savior but he's a holy making Savior. His gospel is as McShane said, a holy making gospel.

Paul's experience of imprisonment, stripes, and floggings, yet calling them 'his friend,' illustrates that only sin can truly hurt a child of God, not external pressures.

For all things there is. Life, death. Apostle Paul is the classic illustration of this. He speaks of everything from imprisonment to peace and floggings. He speaks of these things as his friend. He's his friend.

29:49 - 30:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Take time during the week to read through the book of 1 John to see the fruit of regeneration.

Christ's comparison of the Spirit's work to the wind is used to explain that regeneration doesn't always involve spectacular, bells-and-whistles conversion experiences, but its effect is always radical.

The law of God, he's in enmity with it. He has no love for God. But now what changes a man from that state where he cannot please God living in the realm of the flesh what brings about the change? Verse 9, Romans 8 But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if ye see that the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit has taken up his residence in you, then the severance the cleavage has occurred you've been taken out of the realm of the flesh you've been put basically into the realm of the Spirit Paul said essentially the same thing in Galatians 5, they that are Christ those who have been savingly join...

48:40 - 50:07 Read in full sermon