Repentance and Faith

Using the illustration of a wide-angle lens on a three-peaked mountain, Pastor Martin surveys the biblical doctrine of sanctification in its three great dimensions. Peak one — definitive sanctification — is the radical, once-for-all cleavage with the dominion of sin (1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:11; Acts 20:32; Romans 6). Peak two — progressive sanctification — is the continuous process of mortifying sin and being conformed to Christ (Romans 6:22, 8:13; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 7:1; 1 John 3:3). Peak three — climactic sanctification — is the final deliverance from all sin at death and in the resurrection (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Philippians 3:20-21; Hebrews 12:23). He closes by insisting that no biblical salvation exists without all three dimensions, and no sanctification occurs outside union with Christ received by repentance and faith.

Pastor Martin zooms in on Colossians 3:9-10 as a second great witness to definitive sanctification, working through the letter's larger framework of the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and union with Christ. He examines the vivid imagery (undressing and dressing), the profound analogy (old man and new man as the totality of humanity in Adam or in Christ), and the decisive tenses (a once-for-all 'having put off' and 'having put on'). He draws three conclusions: every believer has put off the old man and put on the new, every believer as new man must still deal with remaining sin, and every believer must fight sin from the conviction that he is a new man — illustrated by Augustine's famous 'it is no longer I.'

Pastor Martin moves into the period of proclamation, the book of Acts, to demonstrate that the kingship of Christ was a dominant note in apostolic preaching. He shows that the very words 'Christ' and 'Lord' carry the freight of messianic kingship and supreme rule, and that Acts opens and closes with the kingdom motif framing the whole book. He then expounds the first Christian sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2, where Peter's climactic argument from Psalms 16 and 110 declares that God has made the crucified and risen Jesus 'both Lord and Christ' and that all forgiveness flows from a presently enthroned Savior who must be obeyed.

Pastor Martin completes his survey of apostolic preaching in Acts, walking through Acts 5, 8, 10, 13, 17, 20, and 26 to show that the present kingship of Jesus Christ was a constant note in evangelism whether to Jews, Samaritans, or pagan Gentiles. Paul's gospel of repentance and faith, the gospel of the grace of God, and the gospel of the kingdom are one and the same gospel. He concludes with three sober applications: all true preaching must include the note of an enthroned Savior, all preaching that omits it dishonors Christ and deceives men, and all teaching that deliberately denies it is another gospel. The sinner's basic problem is that he wants to keep the throne of his own life and still go to heaven.

Pastor Martin answers the question: what are the immediate effects of regeneration? From John 6:44-45 he establishes the moral and spiritual impossibility that no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him, and the inevitability that every one who hears and learns of the Father comes. Using the raising of Lazarus as an extended analogy, he shows that the first conscious acting of the regenerate soul is to come to Christ on the two legs of repentance and faith. He then draws three deductions from 1 John 5:1: no one has biblical grounds to believe himself regenerate who is not a penitent believing sinner (exposing the folly of baptismal, presumptive, and decisional regeneration); no one has grounds to doubt his regeneration if he is a penitent believing sinner (the oak tree needs no plaque); and no one has grounds to expect regenerating grace where the gospel is not present. He closes pressing the need to evangelize aggressively and pray fervently.