Means of Grace

In this concluding sermon of the series, Pastor Martin addresses the practical question of how to maintain and increase the fear of God in the heart. He establishes the general principle that what God declares to be His own work in us must also be the concern of our conscious spiritual endeavors, then provides seven specific directives: be certain of an interest in the new covenant, feed on Scripture in general, meditate on forgiveness, feed on the majestic greatness of God, cultivate the awareness of God's presence, cultivate the consciousness of obligations to Him, and associate intimately with those who walk in His fear.

Pastor Martin completes his treatment of agency in progressive sanctification by showing that the believer himself, as a new man in Christ, is also an active agent. He surveys the general teaching of Scripture (Matthew 5, Matthew 26, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 7, 1 John 3, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Peter 1) and then expounds Philippians 2:12-13 as the pivotal text that epitomizes the whole biblical doctrine: God works in us both to will and to do, and therefore we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. He warns equally against sanctification by naked human effort and sanctification by the negation of human effort, insisting that God's working and our working are concurrent realities, neither negating the other.

Pastor Martin brings in a fifth group of witnesses to Christ's deity: the fact that divine worship is directed to Him and received by Him without rebuke. Beginning with the strict monotheism of the Old Testament and Peter's and Paul's refusal to receive worship, he traces how calling on Christ's name, being baptized into His name, looking to Him for grace, and the worship of heaven itself all demonstrate that Christ is truly God. The sermon closes with searching questions: Is this the Christ you worship? And a lament over the cheap, flippant "Jesus" of much modern preaching.