Indwelling Sin

Pastor Martin establishes that justification is an act of God, not a process - one is either wholly justified or wholly condemned, with no degrees and no growing into it. From Romans 5:1, Romans 8:1, Luke 18:14, and John 5:24 he demonstrates the once-for-all character of justification, then applies the distinction practically: the believer must take indwelling sin seriously like Paul in Romans 7 yet rest in 'no condemnation' like Paul in Romans 8. He closes with the debtor's prison illustration introducing pardon and acceptance.

Pastor Martin opens a second appendix to his series on justification, confronting how a believer honors both the once-for-all justifying act of God and the reality of indwelling and actual sin. After surveying the false solutions of antinomianism and sinless perfectionism, he expounds two of four principles: sin in a justified person must always be acknowledged as sin, and sin in a justified person must never be allowed to bring him into legal bondage. He draws heavily on Romans 7-8, 1 John 1-2, Psalm 51, and Psalm 130 to show how believers are to be both honest with their sin and anchored in the finished work of Christ.

Pastor Martin continues his pastoral appendix on justification and sin, reviewing the first two principles and expounding the third: sin in a justified person must be dealt with primarily in terms of God's fatherly displeasure, not judicial wrath. He argues from Matthew 6, 1 Peter 1, 1 John 2, and Hebrews 12 that while God no longer wears the face of an angry judge toward the justified, He does wear the face of a displeased Father. He exposes the antinomian's discomfort with obedience and fear and the legalist's discomfort with filial confidence, and closes with a Murray quote summarizing the change of relation.

Pastor Martin closes his four-part treatment of sin in the justified life with the final principle: sin must always be dealt with in conjunction with evangelical repentance. He distinguishes evangelical from merely legal repentance using 2 Corinthians 7, then unfolds four marks of true repentance in a believer — honest acknowledgement, genuine grief, a sincere resolve to forsake the sin, and willingness to confess and make restitution horizontally. Rich illustrations from David, Peter, Judas, and homely family scenes ground the whole pastoral counsel.

Addressing the philosophy of sensualism that permeates the mass media, Pastor Martin shows from Scripture that sensual pleasure was never meant to be the basis of blessedness, that sin enters when men seek it outside God's will, and that judgment falls on those who do. He rejects both the sensualist extreme and the ascetic extreme, teaching instead that God created man's sensual capacities as good gifts to be received with thanksgiving, subjected to God's laws of glory, moderation, and purity, and regulated in light of remaining sin.