Introduction

Driving home: If your foundation is out of plumb, everything you build upon it right up to the capstone on your chimney is going to be out of plumb.

If a foundation is out of plumb, everything built upon it, up to the chimney's capstone, will also be out of plumb. This illustrates how fundamental misconceptions about the gospel (the foundation) will produce unholy fruits in all areas of Christian thought and practice.

In other words, if your foundation is out of plumb, everything you build upon it right up to the capstone on your chimney is going to be out of plumb. And if the gospel is foundational, the gospel, synonymous with the word of the cross, if there is misconception relative to its nature and efficacy, unholy fruits from that misconception will dog our steps to the farthest limits of Christian thought and practice. It is a proven fact of theological discussion and thought that few issues, if any, are more crucial in bringing into the sharpest focus one's real sentiments with reference to the atone...

4:18 - 5:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Did the Father, in sending Christ into the world, send him to make an atonement for all men indiscriminately and distributively? ... Or did he send him to make an atonement for his elect, particularly at his specific peo…

Martin quotes Professor John Murray's 'Redemption Accomplished and Applied' to precisely define the question of the extent of the atonement: 'on whose behalf did Christ offer himself a sacrifice?' This reinforces the core issue of the sermon.

That's the question. Did he die as much for Jacob as for Esau? That's the question. Did he die as much for souls in hell as spirits made perfect in heaven? That's the question. And though people don't like to have it stated in that language, that is precisely the question. If he died for all men, in the language that we used earlier, indiscriminately and distributively, then he died as much for Jacob as for Esau, as much for Judas as for John. Professor Murray in his classic work on soteriology, which if you don't have, do anything to get it short of stealing.

11:09 - 11:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Approach the subject of the atonement with caution, humility, and honesty, avoiding arrogance or a cocky attitude.

Martin quotes Robert L. Dabney, who states that the extent of the atonement is 'one of the most difficult' issues in Calvinistic theology and that those who see no force in objections betray shallowness. This sets the tone for a humble and cautious approach.

I've tried to approach it from a number of angles. This is precisely the issue that we shall be discussing in the next few weeks. Alright? Second part of introduction is how shall we approach such a subject? Having stated what the issue is, how shall we approach the subject? And I have two major sub-points. The attitudinal approach or what should our attitude be as we approach the subject and then secondly the methodological approach what should our method be? So use the shorter words attitude and method. If you want to feel real learned as you look at your notes you put attitudinal and method...

13:35 - 14:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Approach the subject of the atonement with caution, humility, and honesty, avoiding arrogance or a cocky attitude.

Martin recalls the emotional and spiritual trauma some experienced when first considering that giants like Owen and Edwards might be wrong on baptism. This illustrates the difficulty and humility required when challenging deeply held views, even among respected theologians, regarding the atonement.

The man who should profess to see no force in the objections to our views would only betray the shallowness of his mind and knowledge. And then he proceeds to give the three views in historic theological discussion among those that could be called evangelicals the semi-Pelagian view, the Wesleyan and then what is commonly called in our day the four point Calvinistic hypothetical universalism that goes back for its initial articulation to a French theologian Amiral and this is called Amiraldianism some have called it Baxterianism because it was one of the points that Richard Baxter held. Now th...

14:48 - 16:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Approach the subject of the atonement with caution, humility, and honesty, avoiding arrogance or a cocky attitude.

Martin quotes Hill's Lectures on Divinity, which advises students not to despise the reasonings of those with whom they disagree, acknowledging the weight of opposing arguments. This reinforces the call for candor and humility in theological discussion.

All men indiscriminately and distributively or was it a death exclusively and particularly for his sheep? There is that tremendous sense of drawing back because we realize on the other side of the question are good and godly and learned astute men of God and therefore it becomes us to approach the subject with caution, with humility and honesty in dealing with those of contrary opinion. In a wonderful old book of divinity I just wish it would be reprinted Hill's Lectures on Divinity he was a Church of Scotland man back in the 1800's when Hill comes to discuss the subject of the extent of the a...

16:48 - 18:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Approach the subject of the atonement with caution, humility, and honesty, avoiding arrogance or a cocky attitude.

Martin contrasts the theological depth of John Owen with those who dismiss complex doctrines by cavalierly quoting a few verses. This highlights the danger of superficial engagement with profound theological issues and the need for respect for scholarly work.

clearly how little acquainted with the weakness of the human understanding and with the intricacy of many of the points that have divided the Christian world are those who state their opinions in the petulant dogmatical manner often assumed by smatterers in knowledge as if they were not a shadow of reason but upon their own side he is saying essentially what Dabney does when anyone in a cavalier way simply quotes a few verses and seeks to dismiss the whole issue now more frequently this is done on the other side I have had people who do not have in comparison to an Owen they do not have that m...

18:16 - 19:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the methodological approach, arguing against an 'atomistic' method of pitting proof texts against each other, which leads nowhere. Instead, he advocates a…

Debating the deity of Christ with a Jehovah's Witness by pitting proof texts against each other (e.g., John 10:30 vs. John 14:28) is used to illustrate the futility of an atomistic approach without understanding the broader theological context of the incarnation.

text of scripture one of the surest ways to end up at a dead end street when discussing this subject is to start setting one proof text against another and when you bring up the text he died for his sheep some of them will say yes but it says he gave himself for all when you bring up the text I lay down my life for my own they will say yes but he is propitiation for the whole world you see it is like trying to discuss with a Jehovah's witness the verses that point some to his deity and some to his divine nature and some to his human nature and every time you bring up John 10 where it says I an...

21:12 - 22:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the methodological approach, arguing against an 'atomistic' method of pitting proof texts against each other, which leads nowhere. Instead, he advocates a…

Martin quotes Hugh Martin, who argues it is 'injudicious and impolitic' to discuss any scriptural doctrine fully outside of its greater category. This undergirds the sermon's methodological approach of viewing the atonement holistically within its biblical relationships.

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so immediately you see that simple text that is the byword of every evangelical indicates that the sent one and the mission of the sent one is inextricably bound up with something of the father's purpose as sender of course what is obvious in that text is obvious in so many other texts the whole of John 17 much of John chapter 6 but you see these portions of the word of God as it were form the pointer the index as to how we ought to approach this subject we ought not to approach the subject of the cross of Christ and in particular t...

24:09 - 25:38 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the methodological approach, arguing against an 'atomistic' method of pitting proof texts against each other, which leads nowhere. Instead, he advocates a…

An angel discovering a dismembered human finger and trying to understand it in isolation, without seeing its relationship to the hand, arm, and whole body, illustrates the inadequacy of an atomistic approach to doctrine. It emphasizes that a doctrine's true meaning is found in its organic relationship to the whole of biblical truth.

not a relationship we impose upon them to protect them but they come to us in their own armor of protection he said it's unwise for us to take that truth out from under its armor and then to look at it and to examine it and try to defend it and so our approach for this study taking a clue from what has been given to us by Hugh Martin is going to be the holistic approach as opposed to the atomistic approach that is going to make an effort at viewing the doctrine of the atonement and in particular the extent of the atonement the question for whom did Christ die we're going to view it in its bibl...

27:07 - 28:35 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the methodological approach, arguing against an 'atomistic' method of pitting proof texts against each other, which leads nowhere. Instead, he advocates a…

A target with a cross at its center and concentric circles representing Christ's work as priest, his relationship to the objects of salvation, and the covenant of redemption is introduced as a teaching device. This visual metaphor will guide the series in understanding the atonement within its broader biblical context.

accurate assessment of the specific details of the biblical doctrine of atonement alright so much then for our introduction the attitude not one of pompous proud and ignorant indifference to the weight of evidence on the other side of the question but one of I trust genuine humility and dependence upon God through the spirit to teach us and then as far as our approach we are not going to come with the atomistic approach but with the holistic approach now I think I have enough time this morning to give a broad outline of what we propose to do major in Roman numeral number two the biblical evide...

31:29 - 32:59 Read in full sermon