Conscience

Pastor Martin sets the doctrine of justification within the supportive framework of three indispensable truths without which it cannot be rightly understood: the character and position of God as holy and just Creator and Judge, the character and position of man as accountable creature and guilty sinner, and God's overall ultimate purpose to conform His people to the image of His Son. He warns that whenever justification has been wrenched out of this larger context, it has suffered grievously even at the hands of its friends.

Pastor Martin opens the very essence of the justifying act, showing it is two distinct yet inseparable elements: God pardons all our sins and accepts our persons as righteous in His sight. He marshals texts on forgiveness from Acts 13, Romans 4, Exodus 34, Psalm 103, Psalm 130, Isaiah 43-44, and then turns to the master-and-two-servants illustration to demonstrate that pardon alone is not enough - positive righteousness is also required, conferred in Christ as 1 Corinthians 1:30 and Romans 5:1-2 declare.

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.