Mar 5, 2009

Are You Intrigued by God's Holiness, or Are You Terrified?

5 Min Read

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_“I think the single most important thing we need to have is an awakening to the character of God.” —_R.C. Sproul 

R.C. Sproul’s classic book The Holiness of God has helped countless Christians to better understand the biblical picture of God’s character. Encountering God’s holy presence may be terrifying, but it is nonetheless necessary, for it forces us to admit that we can never achieve salvation by our own righteousness.

Order your copy today and see why God’s holiness is foundational to God-centered, God-honoring theology and Christian living:

  • Paperback for $16.00 $12.80
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  • Audiobook CD for $25.00 $20.00
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  • Spanish paperback for $13.00 $10.40

Go deeper in your study of this topic with these related resources:

See what others have said about the impact of The Holiness of God****:

  • “It may be a bit early to call R.C. Sproul’s The Holiness of God one of the classic theological works of our time. But if it does not have that status yet, it is well on the way to achieving it.” —James Montgomery Boice, former senior minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia
  • “The material in this book drove me to my knees and dramatically changed my Christian life. Written by one of the most brilliant thinkers of our day, it is absolutely urgent reading for every Christian.” —Chuck Colson, author of How Now Shall We Live?
  • “Every Christian who is serious about his or her growth needs to read The Holiness of God. I profited greatly from this book.” —Jerry Bridges, author of The Pursuit of Holiness

Get a glimpse into this much-loved book with the excerpts below:

  • “The one concept, the central idea I kept meeting in Scripture, was the idea that God is holy. The word was foreign to me. I wasn’t sure what it meant. I made the question a matter of diligent and persistent search. Today I am still absorbed with the question of the holiness of God. I am convinced that it is one of the most important ideas that a Christian can ever grapple with. It is basic to our whole understanding of God and of Christianity.” (p. 11)
  • “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.” (p. 25)
  • “If ever there was a man of integrity, it was Isaiah ben Amoz. He was a whole man, a together type of fellow. He was considered by his contemporaries as the most righteous man in the nation. He was respected as a paragon of virtue. Then he caught one sudden glimpse of a holy God. In that single moment, all of his self-esteem was shattered. In a brief second he was exposed, made naked beneath the gaze of the absolute standard of holiness. As long as Isaiah could compare himself to other mortals, he was able to sustain a lofty opinion of his own character. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was destroyed—morally and spiritually annihilated. He was undone. He came apart. His sense of integrity collapsed.” (p. 28)
  • “We fear God because He is holy. Our fear is not the healthy fear that the Bible encourages us to have. Our fear is a servile fear, a fear born of dread. God is too great for us; He is too awesome. He makes difficult demands on us. He is the Mysterious Stranger who threatens our security. In His presence we quake and tremble. Meeting Him personally may be our greatest trauma.” (p. 44)
  • “If we are in Christ, we have been awakened already. We have been raised from spiritual death unto spiritual life. But we still have ‘sleepers’ in our eyes, and at times we walk about like zombies. We retain a certain fear of drawing near to God. We still tremble at the foot of His holy mountain. Yet as we grow in our knowledge of Him, we gain a deeper love for His purity and sense a deeper dependence on His grace. We learn that He is altogether worthy of our adoration. The fruit of our growing love for Him is the increase of reverence for His name. We love Him now because we see His loveliness. We adore Him now because we see His majesty. We obey Him now because His Holy Spirit dwells within us.” (pp. 180–81)

Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries, founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and first president of Reformation Bible College. He was author of more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God.