The Supremacy of God's Holiness in Our Lives

SPROUL: When we talk about God's holiness, we're tempted to think in terms of God's attributes. His justice, His knowledge, His wisdom, His power, et cetera. And invariably, the attribute of love is placed at the top of the list, indicating that we should understand all of God's nature, all of His activity, in light of His love. And that everything else about God has to be subsumed beneath the category of love. However, and this may seem like the technical distinctions of the theologian that you may find annoying, but I think if we examine the Scriptures, if there's any one attribute that belongs at the apex, at the zenith, at the top of the list of God's attributes, it is not the love of God. It is not the mercy of God. It is not the wisdom of God, but it is the holiness of God. [00:07:21]

Early in his freshman year, he was converted. It was probably the most unlikely verse that someone was ever converted on. It’s Ecclesiastes 11:3, “. . . if a tree falls in the woods, there it lies.” And when Dr. Sproul saw that verse, he said, “That’s me. I am that dead tree lying, rotting, on the ground.” And he knew instantly of his need for a Savior. So as soon as he’s converted, the first thing he wants to do is get to know God. And he gets to know God by reading the Bible. And he spoke about this so many times, of the impact of that first time that he read through the Bible, especially the Old Testament. [00:58:32]

And he came to this conclusion—or maybe this conclusion came to him—that this is a God who plays for keeps. It was shortly after that, that he had what he calls his second conversion. He was in his dorm room and he was restless and couldn’t get to sleep. And he just felt compelled to get up out of his bed and out of his dorm and make his way to the chapel on the campus of Westminster College. He made his way right up to the altar there of the chapel. And he was overwhelmed by the holiness of God. He was gripped by the holiness of God. That experience was transformative for Dr. Sproul. [01:05:44]

One person, after hearing Dr. Sproul preach on Psalm 51 said to him, “How long did it take you to prepare that sermon?” And Dr. Sproul said with a wink, “Five minutes," but then he added, “and thirty years.” And what he meant by that was behind that five minutes that he spent thinking about that text were decades of study and decades of pouring over God’s Word. [04:41:68]

What R.C. wanted this place to be was a place of discipleship, where Christians could come and not run from the hard questions, but run into the hard questions, because R.C. knew that there were answers for these questions. So as you were here at the Study Center, one of the things that you would definitely get would be lectures. And you had folks who would just come in for a Bible study or just come in for one of the most popular things they did here was the Gab Fest, which was just an open Q&A with R.C. Sproul. [05:54:64]

SPROUL: What’s the reaction of Isaiah in the presence of holiness? Does he run out of the temple in excitement, run down to the town and say, “Hey, everybody, you’ve got to come up to the temple and see what's happening,” or does he look at this and he says, “Well, this is interesting. I’m going to have to think about this, and come to some theological conclusions of what this is all about?” No. The seraphim cries “Holy, holy, holy.” Isaiah cries, “Woe is me.” And he was on his face. [07:27:60]

And R.C. knew how important it was to have a view of the Bible, of its entire trustworthiness. We speak of the doctrine of inerrancy, and as he looked across the denominations, and as he looked across at many seminaries, he saw, there were so many people in those seminaries, in those positions of leadership, that were not teaching an inerrant Bible. Well, all of that led to what is probably Ligonier’s first big conference in the fall of 1973. R.C. gathered a handful of scholars at Laurelville Retreat Center to present the topic of the full trustworthiness of the Bible. [08:44:88]

That was the seed of what would become the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, the ICBI. And in the next year, the ICBI produced what is probably one of the most important confessional statements of the twentieth century, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. R.C. kept a lot of notebooks. And in one of those notebooks, he was writing out an outline on inerrancy. And towards the end of this outline, R.C. writes, “We need an evangelical summit. It might fail, but we must try.” Well, in God’s kindness and in God’s providence, they didn’t fail. It was truly a success, The Chicago Statement. It continues to be a success for the church. [09:57:12]

SPROUL: Only one time in Scripture is an attribute of God emphasized by this principle of repetition, not to the second degree, but raised to the third degree. The seraphim do not sing that God is “Holy, holy.” But the seraphim declare that God is “Holy, holy, holy.” The Bible doesn’t say that God is “love, love, love,” or “mercy, mercy, mercy,” or “wise, wise, wise,” or “just, just, just,” or “wrath, wrath, wrath.” But the Bible does say that God is “Holy, holy, holy.” [11:30:00]

One of the phrases that he loved, this phrase that he learned early on, and that is simply “Theology is doxology.” And I think in many ways, that gets at the true legacy of Dr. Sproul. He wouldn’t want us talking about him. He wouldn’t want us talking about his legacy. He doesn’t want people to know who R.C. Sproul is. He wanted people to know who God is. Not the God of our making, but the God of the Bible. To know who God is, “theology,” is to worship God, “doxology.” [12:32:24]

SPROUL: Let’s close this session then with prayer. Forbid, oh Lord, that we should ever seek to ostracize the Holy One of Israel from our midst, because He makes us uncomfortable. Help us to be at peace with holiness. Not threatened, not fascinated, but delighted to be in the presence of the Holy. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. [13:04:24]