Confession of Sin

Pastor Martin expounds 1 John 2:1-2 to unfold Christ's heavenly ministry as the Advocate of His people. He shows that the believer's relationship to God is always both personal and legal, that Christ is advocate in God's courtroom pleading our case as the Righteous One who is Himself the propitiation. With illustrations from Amintas of Greece, he shows that the Advocate does not deny His client's guilt but pleads His own wounds, securing the just forgiveness of God. He closes urging believers never to live as if they had no advocate, and warns the unconverted what it means to face judgment without one.

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 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.