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.

It is one thing to talk about the holiness of God; it is another thing to desire holiness for ourselves. Yet holiness is an essential aspect of the Christian life. [107]

In the plan and purpose of God, the whole scheme of the plan of redemption, from the secret counsels of God in eternity until the very last day, is the sanctification of believers in the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. In short, we are saved to be holy. We are justified by faith in order that we might reflect something of the holiness of God. [110]

Maybe you are facing unimaginable trials and difficulties, so maybe you are thinking: “How in the world can I be holy when I’ve got this trial? If the Lord would take this trial away, then I might be holy.” But God is saying: “This is why the trial is there. It is to make you holy. It is to bring you to an end of yourself.” [113]

What ever happened to the judgment of God in evangelical churches? What ever happened to the notion that for the redeemed of the Lord, there will be a judgment according to works, that we must give an account of all the deeds that we’ve done in the body, and that there are rewards in the new heaven and new earth. Somehow, in the past twenty or thirty years, the idea of egalitarianism has crept into the evangelical church’s concept of the new heaven and the new earth. But that is not what the New Testament seems to be teaching. One of the motivations for holiness is that we must give an account, that a day of reckoning is coming. [118] 

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Does everything really happen for a reason? Is it possible to know what that reason is? Thomas examines these questions, and the Christian’s response to them, in this booklet from the Basics of the Reformed Faith series. Through brief in content, the scope of this teaching spans everything from the core-shaking events to the mundane details of life, and offers the Scripture’s answer: faith. This helpful book provides a solid introduction to the mystery of providence.  

Everything (yes, everything) that happens does so because God wills it to happen, wills it to happen before it happens, wills it to happen in the way that it happens. [5]

Providence suggests God’s care of the world, both His supervision of all events and circumstances and His provision for all our needs. It is more than God’s ability to ‘see’ into the future; it is His active and determined care to ensure that what He has promised for us actually does come to pass. [6]

God created Adam and Eve in such a way that they sinned. What possible reason did God have for doing so? The answer must lie along the lines that some greater good would be forthcoming, a good that would not be forthcoming had there been no sin in the world. [28]

As God’s children, we may not always appreciate what it is that God may be doing in our lives; but we are to trust that in every aspect of it God is fulfilling the best of plans that ultimately will be for our good. [35]

In the strictest sense, everything is converging so as to bring glory to the triune God. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is adrift of the purposes of God to accomplish His ultimate design for the cosmos. [36]

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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).

Expository preaching is a necessary corollary of the doctrine of the God-breathed nature of Scripture. The idea is not so much that God breathed into the Scriptures, but that the Scriptures are the product of His breathing out. Independent of what we may feel about the Bible as we read it, Scripture maintains a “breath of God” quality. Thus, the preacher is to make God’s Word known and make it understandable. He is to limit himself to it without adding or subtracting. [36]

The necessary discipline of understanding the text is only the first step in constructing a sermon. There is more to preaching that imparting information. Unless sermons address the affections, they have failed as sermons. [38]

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