Gospel Holiness: Elements, Part 2 (positive)

The point: Unless you are pursuing holiness, you have no grounds to claim that you are partakers of the salvation of God.

Martin quotes John Owen, the Puritan, who states that there is no more foolish or pernicious imagination than believing one can enjoy God's blessedness without being purified, sanctified, and made holy in this life. This illustrates the essentiality of holiness for true salvation.

is an essential element of true salvation. For the writer to the Hebrews reminds his listeners and his readers that without this holiness, no man shall see the Lord. John Orr, the prince of the Puritan preachers and theologians particularly, has a statement that I think is as relevant today as when he made it back several hundred years ago. There is no imagination wherewith man...

1:01 - 1:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Unless you are pursuing holiness, you have no grounds to claim that you are partakers of the salvation of God.

Martin references Joseph Alleine's 'On the Call to the Unconverted,' noting Alleine's repeated emphasis that unless one pursues holiness, they have no grounds to claim salvation. This reinforces the Puritan view on the necessity of active pursuit of holiness.

but the beginning of it is invariably confined to this world. And yet John Orr found in his day that there was no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more foolish, more pernicious, than that there was a salvation in which holiness was not an essential element. This was the great cry not only of John Orr and the prince, the Puritan theologians, but it was the continual utterance of those servants of God, Joseph Eilean in his classic work On the Call to the Unconverted, again and again reminds his listeners, reminds his readers, that unless they are pursuing holiness, they have no grounds to ...

2:01 - 3:20 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But you see, our Lord immediately takes this whole matter, of gospel holiness, in its area of obedience, out of the realm of the subjective, and puts it into the realm of the objective.

Martin debunks the common idea that memorizing and quoting Bible verses to the devil will make him run. He explains that Christ's use of 'It is written' during His temptation was not a magical incantation but a declaration of His submission to the principles of Holy Scripture, guiding His conduct.

This idea that you find in many little books, on how to grow as a Christian. One of them is, memorize the Bible, and quote the Bible to the devil, and it will make him run. And they use Matthew 4, and Luke 4 to prove it. No, you don't quote verses all day to the devil.

31:14 - 31:27 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have something against your brother, be reconciled to him before offering your gift or worship.

Martin illustrates the church's indifference to God's revealed will by describing a scenario where members (Sister George and Sister Smith) harbor friction, yet continue to worship without seeking reconciliation, directly disobeying Christ's command in Matthew 5.

You come to offer your gift. You come Sunday morning to pray, to worship, and you know that you've got something against your brother. You know it. Maybe you've been coming for weeks and months and years and everybody in the church knows there's friction between Sister George and Sister Smith.

40:29 - 40:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Be much in the contemplation of what Christ was and what He did, and how He carried Himself in all duties and trials, until an image of His perfect holiness is implanted in your mind.

Martin quotes John Owen on Christ being our pattern and example of holiness, emphasizing that neglecting to consider Him by faith to that end is pernicious. This illustrates the importance of contemplating Christ's life to be transformed into His image.

Let me read it to you in closing. Christ in the Gospel is proposed to us as our pattern and example of holiness. And as it is a cursed imagination that this was the whole end of his life and death, that's the liberal, Christ just a nice example, and no one calls it a cursed imagination, namely to exemplify and confirm the doctrine of holiness which he taught, so to neglect his being our example in considering him by faith to that end and laboring to be like him is generally evil and pernicious. Wherefore let us be much in the contemplation of what he was and what he did and how in all duties a...

47:57 - 49:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Be much in the contemplation of what Christ was and what He did, and how He carried Himself in all duties and trials, until an image of His perfect holiness is implanted in your mind.

Martin uses the example of people imagining Christ as 'soft' or never lifting His voice, contrasting this with the scriptural portrayal of Christ denouncing evil. This illustrates how personal fancy, rather than Scripture, often forms a distorted image of Christ, hindering true Christ-likeness.

He was soft. I've had people tell me that. I can't imagine the Lord lifting his voice. Well, you see, their image of Christ is one that's been drawn from the stuff of their own minds, not from the Scripture.

49:23 - 49:37 Read in full sermon