This book contains the messages presented at the 2009 Ligonier Ministries National Conference: ‘The Holiness of God.’ Each of the contributors approaches that topic from varying angles. Some of the chapters likely flowed more smoothly as oral messages, but the content is solid (which is to be expected when the list of authors reads like a ‘who’s-who’ of Reformed theology). We too often neglect God’s holiness, thus this collection is especially helpful in refocusing our thoughts.

Holiness cannot be a communicable attribute in its primary meaning, for it describes something about God that you and I cannot possess in this world or the world to come. It refers to His transcendent, divine nature, the sense in which He is ‘other’ from us. [4]

If there is any word in the English language that captures the otherness of God, it is the word aseity. It means ‘self-existence.’ God, and God alone, has the power of being in and of Himself. [6]

This is the God with whom we have to deal—whether we like Him or not. He is God, He alone. You might prefer a different god. You might even try to fashion one. But there is no other. [11]

Uzzah’s arrogance (see 1 Chronicles 13:1-12) is seen in his assumption that contact with the mud would be a greater sacrilege than contact with the hand of a sinful human being. [137]

The minute we think that anybody owes us grace, a bell should go off in our heads to alert us that we are no longer thinking about grace, because grace, by definition, is something we don’t deserve. We have no merit before God, only demerit. If God should ever, ever treat us justly outside of Christ, we would perish. [145] 

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What is the atonement? Why was the blood of Christ necessary to offer us forgiveness from God? These are the questions at the heart of this book, a collection of sermons that each investigates the atoning work of Christ. As with most compilations, some parts are more helpful than others, but the sum total of this book provides a decent depth of material on a matter that both remains under attack and deserves our full attention. 

God never clears the guilty. God redeems the guilty. He pays the price for the reconciliation of the guilty. But He never exonerates, clears, or acquits those He says are guilty by reason of their sin. The guilt of sinners is clearly set forth in the Bible—the indictment is there—and that is why there is an atonement. Guilt demands satisfaction. [69]

There is unspeakable misery in this world—pain, sorrow, and grief beyond comprehension—but there is no corner of this earth today where you will find the total absence of the presence of God. There really is no experience so miserable, painful, or grievous in this world as this absence would be. There is no place in this world where God’s common grace does not reach. We can never compare separation from God with anything in this life. Any horror of this world is really nothing compared to the horror of hell, where there is absolutely no penetration of the blessing of God. [77] 

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Although Sproul addresses the issue of suffering, the focus of the book drifts more towards a consideration of death and the afterlife (a worthy topic, to be sure, but potentially misleading from the title). While his theology is sound, the moments where he relates his personal interactions with those who are suffering—as well as his own difficult times—jolt the reader from thinking this a merely academic exercise. A respectable, entry-level look at these themes. 

God knows our limits far better than we do. The promise of God is not that He will never give us more weight than we want to carry. The promise of God is that He will never put more on us than we can bear. [3]

Faith is not a demand that we place on God. It is not a presumption of a granted request. The authentic prayer of faith is one that models Jesus’ prayer. It is always uttered in a spirit of subordination. In all our prayers, we must let God be God. No one tells the Father what to do, not even the Son. Prayers are always to be requests made in humility and submission to the Father’s will. [18]

At the heart of the Christian worldview is the assurance that everything in history has a purpose in the mind of almighty God. God is not chaotic or random. For everything there is a purpose—including those events we define as tragedies. [43]

Religion has to do with the outward cultic practices of human beings. Christianity, the Christian faith, has to do with trusting God for our very lives. The step Jesus asked His disciples to take was a big step. It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God. [87]

If anything sounds too good to be true, it is the announcement of a place where pain, sorrow, tears, and death are banished. The heart almost faints at the thought of it. We are almost afraid to think of it, lest we set ourselves up for a bitter disappointment. But the commanding voice from the throne of God spoke decisively to John. “Write it down!” He ordered. “These words are true and faithful.” [120]

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In the tradition of Preaching The Cross, this book features the collected transcripts of the messages given at the 2008 Together for the Gospel conference. Each speaker focused his sermon on the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ and what his death means in terms of both doctrine and application. Although the variety of writing styles occasionally disrupts the continuity of the book, the overall message is coherent and their unified proclamation of the Gospel remains clear. 

We love to hear the story of blessedness, but we never want to hear the woe. Besides ours, I don’t think there has ever been a culture in the history of the world that has experienced more discontinuity as that level…We believe in a God who is infinitely capable of blessing people but is utterly incapable of cursing them…The idea of God bringing judgment and wrath and curse upon a nation has been expurgated from our Bibles and from our theologies. [136]

There are…men who have not yet fled to the cross, who are still counting on the nebulous idea of the unconditional love of God to get them through, or even worse, still thinking that they can get into the kingdom of God through their good works. They don’t understand that unless they perfectly obey the law of God, which they have not done for five minutes since they were born, they are under the curse of God. That is the reality we must make clear to our people—either they will bear the curse of God themselves or they will flee to the One who took it for them. [142]

Every person who has not been covered by the righteousness of Christ draws every breath under the curse of God. If you believe that, you will stop adding to the gospel and start preaching it with clarity and boldness, because, dear friends, it is the only hope we have, and it is hope enough. [143] 

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Written by preachers for preachers, this instructive work details the value of proclaiming God’s Word -- as it is written -- without ceding to the temptation to modernize or minimize what it says. It also addresses what makes preaching effective and what must be avoided. As with any compilation, some chapters are more helpful than others, but the whole volume remains a benefit to those called to preach (or to those wondering what biblical preaching entails).

Doctrine is life, because what a person believes determines his behavior. [75]

What God expects from a minister of the gospel is the sober, accurate presentation of His Word. We get no style points for novelty from God. [83]

The power of preaching resides not in the preacher or in his technique, but in the power of God as He attends the proclamation of His Word. [84]

People think that the gospel is having a warm relationship with Jesus or asking Christ into your heart. Those things are important, but they are not the gospel. The gospel focuses on the person of Christ, what Christ accomplished, and how the benefits of Christ are appropriated to the Christian’s life by faith. [85]  

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Sproul unfolds both the Catholic and Evangelical views on justification, highlighting the key distinction: is righteousness internal or external? While the two views are similar in many ways, the Catholic belief that the source of righteousness is ultimately within us is directly at odds with the Evangelical notion of needing an ‘alien’ righteousness. While short in length, Sproul’s book is a helpful look at a critical issue and recommended for those seeking insight in this matter.

The Scriptures clearly reveal that the God of heaven and earth is just. This means far more than that the judgment He renders is equitable. It is not only that God does what is just, but that He does what is just because He is just. His righteous actions flow out of His righteous character. [10]

Having a personal relationship with Jesus does not save us unless it is a saving relationship. Everyone has a personal relationship with Jesus. Even the devil has a personal relationship with Christ, but it is a relationship of estrangement, of hostility to Him. We are all related to Christ, but we are not united to Christ, which union comes by faith and faith alone. [11]

All sins are ‘mortal’ in the sense that they deserve death, but no sin is mortal to the true believer in that it kills his justification. [19]

The righteousness by which I am declared righteous is one that was achieved for me before I was ever born. It is the righteousness of ‘another,’ even Jesus Christ the Righteous. His righteousness becomes mine only by forensic imputation. It is reckoned to my account, but it was neither achieved nor wrought by me. [35]

The crucial issue of infusion verses imputation remains irreconcilable. We are either justified by a righteousness that is in us or by a righteousness that is apart from us. There is no third way. [47]

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While many assume ‘holy’ to mean ‘pure’ the true sense of the word goes beyond that to include the idea of being ‘set apart’. This applies to God uniquely, as Sproul examines in this influential work. A proper understanding of God’s holiness provides the only accurate framework for interpreting why and how He accomplishes His purposes. Sproul writes with a passion and rigor that serve as an apropos vehicle for the immense importance of this study. 

Only once in sacred Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. Only once is a characteristic of God mentioned three times in succession. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love; or mercy, mercy, mercy; or wrath, wrath, wrath; or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, that the whole earth is full of His glory. [KL 266-269]

The logic of the Bible is this: Since no one has a perfect heart, no one does a perfect deed. [KL 919]

God does not always act with justice. Sometimes He acts with mercy. Mercy is not justice, but it also is not injustice. Injustice violates righteousness. Mercy manifests kindness and grace and does no violence to righteousness. We may see nonjustice in God, which is mercy, but we never see injustice in God. [KL 1126-1128]

Our peace with God is not fragile; it is stable. When we sin, God is displeased, and He will move to correct us and convict us of our sin. But He does not go to war against us. His bow is no longer bent, and the arrows of His wrath are no longer aimed at our hearts. He does not rattle His sword every time we break the treaty. [KL 1549-1551]

Our contact with the holy is not merely an encounter with a different dimension of reality; it is the meeting with Absolute Reality. Christianity is not about involvement with religious experience as a tangent. It involves a meeting with a holy God, who forms the center, or core, of human existence. The Christian faith is theocentric. God is not at the edge of Christians' lives but at the very center. God defines our entire life and worldview. [KL 2123-2126] 

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