Justification, Part 2

Driving home: Now any such product no intelligent Christian will despise or in a smart-alecky way say well I just got my Bible and the Holy Ghost and that's all I need. Dear ones that's pure ignorance and I might add impudence as well…

Martin quotes Spurgeon's introduction to the Baptist Confession to explain that confessions are not fetters but aids for controversy, confirmation, and edification, providing a 'body of divinity' with scriptural proofs.

But now aware that there may be amongst us some people who are not familiar with confessions and creeds and who perhaps are rather shocked that someone who is known to be an expounder of the word of God would actually quote non-inspired sources from the pulpit. And may I just say a word for your sake about the use of confessions and catechisms and I think the best thing I can do is just to quote from Spurgeon in his introduction to the Baptist Confession which was an adaptation of the Westminster Confession with minor changes in several areas. Spurgeon says upon initiating a reprinting of this...

12:12 - 13:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now any such product no intelligent Christian will despise or in a smart-alecky way say well I just got my Bible and the Holy Ghost and that's all I need. Dear ones that's pure ignorance and I might add impudence as well…

He uses the analogy of viewing a scene from 500 yards (Shorter Catechism), 100 yards (Larger Catechism), and with a magnifying glass (Confession of Faith) to illustrate the increasing detail and definition provided by each confessional standard.

and help us to understand it. Now let me begin as I did with the doctrine of sanctification with the shorter catechism because the shorter catechism is like looking at a scene from 500 yards you'll see the biggest objects you'll get the general overview the larger catechism is like moving up and looking at it from 100 yards. You see more detail. None of what you saw at 500 yards is gone you just see a lot more and there's more definition.

15:41 - 16:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Give up sinful indifference to confessions of faith and catechisms, and study them with your Bible open.

Martin shares his personal story of discovering the Westminster Confession in Augusta, Georgia, after years of Christian schooling, highlighting his initial ignorance and subsequent enrichment, to encourage others to explore confessions.

I'll never forget the first time I found the Westminster Confession of Faith. I was down in Augusta, Georgia for a summer, laboring in a little church in a poor section, and I somehow got hold of one from John Knox Press. I'll never forget the experience of reading that thing. I didn't know such a thing existed.

30:28 - 30:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Begin to feel the weight of your sin and recognize that the greatest problem in life is finding acceptance with God, which will make the doctrine of justification make sense.

He recounts a story of a hitchhiker who saw a 'Christ is the Answer' sign and asked, 'What's the question?' This illustrates that the doctrine of justification only makes sense when one feels the burden of their sin and the need for God's acceptance.

Because we're dealing with God's answer to that problem. Now, you may be like the fellow that a friend of mine picked up one time in a car and was hitchhiking and driving along the road and he saw a sign which said, Christ is the answer. And the fellow turned to my friend and said, Sir, what's the question? Christ is the answer.

34:18 - 34:39 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Since God himself condemns the judge who pronounces the guilty innocent and pronounces the innocent guilty, God will not be guilty of the same sin.

He uses the analogy of the Supreme Court of the United States as the highest court of appeal to illustrate that God's declaration of justification is final and unalterable, as there is no higher court to appeal to.

One, it is a declaration which none other can cancel or alter. Since all sin is against God and all judgment will be by God, when that God has declared a person righteous, when that God has declared a man as possessing a title to life and acceptance, who will override God's declaration? One of the curses of our present court system is an abuse of a blessing, namely the right of appeal. And though I'm not making pronouncements, though I'd like to, on the abuse of that system, when appeals have reached the Supreme Court of the United States and a declaration has been made there is no higher cour...

46:21 - 47:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Since God himself condemns the judge who pronounces the guilty innocent and pronounces the innocent guilty, God will not be guilty of the same sin.

He references Martin Luther's transformation upon understanding justification by faith, showing how this truth brought him from fear and trembling to boldness before God.

And if the sentences come from the highest court to that publican, you and all the blessings of a man kept the law of that decision of God. Now do you see why this doctrine causes some people to be brought to a state of near distraction because of the glory of it? Why Luther became such a different man when this truth broke in upon his spirit? To cause me to quake into fear.

47:35 - 48:10 Read in full sermon