Not for Anything Wrought in Us

The point: If you would have settled peace with God and confidence in your standing before heaven, you must understand that your pardon and acceptance are not based on anything done by you or wrought in you.

Martin quotes James Buchanan's 'classic work on the doctrine of justification' to underscore the subtlety and danger of making justification rest on the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit, calling it a 'singularly refined form of opposition' to justification by imputed righteousness.

Quote from James Buchanan's classic work on the doctrine of justification, and he says concerning this very point, and I want you to listen to him carefully, There is perhaps no more subtle or plausible error on the subject of justification than that which makes it to rest on the indwelling presence and the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. It is a singular...

15:22 - 15:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He gives two reasons why this assertion is true: God's work in us cannot alter our past guilt, and God's work in us in this life is always imperfect and does not measure up to His…

He uses the analogy of a vicious criminal who undergoes a character transformation but still faces judgment for past crimes. This illustrates that internal change, however profound, cannot satisfy the demands of the law for past guilt, thus showing why God's work in us cannot be the ground of justification.

because God's work in us can never alter our relationship to the guilt provoked by breaking his law. Nothing God does in us can ever alter the guilt we have incurred because we've broken his law. His law says the sinner must die. The wages of sin is death. No more than a vicious, angry, bitter criminal who murders, commits rape, is a thief. That man may be wonderfully transformed in terms of his character in disposition, but his life is a lie. He is a thief. He is a thief. He is a thief. He is a thief. He is a thief.

30:29 - 31:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He challenges believers to return to their initial disposition of self-renouncing faith, warning against subtly making God's work in them the basis of their peace and confidence…

Martin quotes the hymn 'Just As I Am' to remind believers of the disposition of faith with which they initially came to Christ, emphasizing coming 'without one plea' and relying solely on Christ's blood.

You came in the language of that hymn, just as I am without one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God.

41:32 - 41:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He challenges believers to return to their initial disposition of self-renouncing faith, warning against subtly making God's work in them the basis of their peace and confidence…

He alludes to the hymn 'Rock of Ages' ('fall I to the fountain fly') to further illustrate the initial act of faith as a desperate turning to Christ alone for salvation.

You came in the language again of the hymn writer, fall I to the fountain fly. You came pleading the promise, God, you say in your word, you justify the ungodly. I come as an ungodly sinner, nothing in me to commend myself to you. But Lord, I come because you bid such sinners come to you.

41:47 - 42:09 Read in full sermon

The point: The initial act of faith, looking away from self to Christ alone, must become the continuous disposition of faith throughout your Christian life.

Martin points to the dying prayers of the holiest men, who often prayed 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner,' to show that even at the end of life, their confidence remained in God's mercy and not in their own spiritual attainments.

When you read the biographies of the holiest men who've lived, you know what their dying prayer most frequently was. Not, oh God, what a wonderful thing to lie upon a deathbed and reflect upon all the things you've done in me and all the things I've done by your grace. No, no. Most frequently, you know what their dying prayer was, God.

43:57 - 44:18 Read in full sermon