Submission to Christ

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.

Entering the 'period of explanation and confirmation' (the Epistles), Pastor Martin expounds Romans 14:9 as one of the clearest New Testament assertions of Christ's present kingship. He shows Paul resolving the conflict between the 'weak' and 'strong' in Rome by assuming that both have been received by God in grace and both are now under the government of Christ the King, for Christ died and rose again that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. From this he draws four principles: Christ's rule is a present reality to Him as Savior, a practical reality in every recipient of salvation, a matter of Christian growth in its working out, and a matter of life and death in its initial embrace.