Authority

I ask you, Martin - answer candidly and without horns - do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors which they contain?

Luther replied:

Since then Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.

Martin Luther quoted in
The Holiness of God, p.111-112

Almighty God

O God, Almighty God everlasting! how dreadful is the world! behold how its mouth opens to swallow me up, and how small is my faith in Thee! ... Oh! the weakness of the flesh, and the power of Satan! If I am to depend upon any strength of this world - all is over ... The knell is struck ... Sentence is gone forth ... O God! O God! O thou, my God! help me against all the wisdom of this world. Do this, I beseech thee; thou shouldst do this ... by thy own mighty power ... The work is not mine, but Thine. I have no business here ... I have nothing to contend for with these great men of the world! I would gladly pass my days in happiness and peace. But the cause is Thine ... And it is righteous and everlasting! O Lord! help me! O faithful and unchangeable God! I lean not upon man. It were vain! Whatever is of man is tottering, whatever proceeds from him must fail. My god! my God! dost thou not hear? My God! art thou no longer living? Nay, thou canst not die. Thou dost but hide Thyself. Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it! ... Therefor, O God, accomplish thine own will! Forsake me not, for the sake of thy well-beloved son, Jesus Christ, my defence, my buckler, and my stronghold.
Lord - where are thou? ... My God, where art thou? ... come! I pray thee, I am ready ... Behold me prepared to lay down my life for thy truth ... suffering like a lamb. For the cause is holy. It is thine own! ... I will not let thee go! no, nor yet for all eternity! And though the world should be thronged with devils - and this body, which is the work of thine hands, should be cast forth, trodden under foot, cut in pieces, ... consumed to ashes, my soul is thine. Yes, I have thine own word to assure me of it,. My soul belongs to thee, and will abide with thee forever! Amen! O God send help! ... Amen!

Martin Luther quoted in
The Holiness of God, p.110-111

Addressing God

At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, "With what tongue shall I address such majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround him. At his nod the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable little pygmy, say 'I want this, I ask for that'? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living, eternal and the true God."


Martin Luther quoted in
The Holiness of God, p.107

God

"Love God? Sometimes I hate Him."

Martin Luther

Jesus at a Distance

So it was with Christ. The world could tolerate Jesus; they could love Him, but only at a distance. Christ is safe for us if securely bound by space and time. But a present Christ could not survive in a world of hostile men. It was the judgment of Caiaphas that for the good of the nation Jesus must die. Sometimes ya just got to.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.97

Holiness

Holiness provokes hatred. The greater the holiness the greater the human hostility toward it. No man was ever more loving than Jesus Christ. Yet even His love provoked men to anger.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.93

Righteous

Old Testament priest Zadok, whose name, in turn, was taken from the Jewish word for "righteous." ...the Sadducees claimed to be the righteous ones.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.89

Pharisees

The Pharisees traced their beginnings to the period of history between the close of the Old Testament period and the beginning of the New Testament period. The sect was started by men who had a great zeal for the Law. The word Pharisee literally meant "one who is separated." The Pharisees separated themselves unto holiness. The pursuit of holiness was the chief business of their lives. They majored in holiness. If any group should have thrown their hats in the air when the holy appeared on the scene it was the Pharisees.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.85

Moral Excellence

People have an appreciation for moral excellence, as long as it is removed a safe distance from them. The Jews honored the prophets, from a distance. The world honors Christ, from a distance.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.81

Perfection of Christ

George Bernard Shaw, when critical of Jesus, could think of no higher standard than Christ Himself. He said of Jesus, "There were Times when he did not behave as a Christian." We cannot miss the irony of Shaw's criticism.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.80

Jesus' Voice

Jesus controlled the fierce forces of nature by the sound of His voice. He didn't say a prayer. He didn't ask the Father to deliver them from the tempest. He dealt with the situation directly. He uttered a command, a divine imperative. Instantly nature obeyed. The wind heard the voice of its Creator. The sea recognized the command of its Lord.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.72

Mark 4:35

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."
NIV

Presence of God

Hence that dread and amazement with which, as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God... Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.

John Calvin (quoted in The Holiness of God, p.68)

Death

Death reminds us that we are creatures. Yet as fearsome as death is, it is nothing compared with meeting a holy God.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.64-65

Presence of God

When we are aware of the presence of God, we become most aware of ourselves as creatures. When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute. When we meet the Infinite, we become acutely conscious that we are finite. When we meet the Eternal, we know we are temporal.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.63

Idolatry

When we call things holy that are not holy we commit the sin of idolatry. This is the grievous error of idolatry, giving to common things the respect, awe, worship, and adoration that belong only to God. To worship the creature instead of the Creator is the essence of idolatry.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.58

Holy

The tendency is to add the idea of the holy to this long list of attributes as one attribute among many. But when the word holy is applied to God, it does not signify one single attribute. On the contrary, God is called holy in a general sense. The word is used as a synonym for his deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is. It reminds us that His love is holy love, his justice is holy justice, his mercy is holy mercy, his knowledge is holy knowledge, his spirit is holy spirit.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.57

Holy - God is

None of the things in the list is holy in itself. To become holy they must first be consecrated, or "sanctified" by God. God alone is holy in Himself. Only God can sanctify something else.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.56

Holy

In every case the word holy is used to express something other than a moral or ethical quality. The things that are holy are things that are set apart, separated from the rest. They have been consecrated, separated from the commonplace, unto the Lord and to His service.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.56

Transcedence

When the Bible calls God holy it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.55

Transcedence

The word transcendence means literally "to climb across." It is defined as"exceeding usual limits." To transcend is to rise above something, to go above and beyond a certain limit. When we speak of a transcendence of God we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us. It tries to get at His supreme and absolute greatness. The word is used to describe God's relationship to the world. He is higher that the world. He has absolute power over the world. The world has no power over Him. Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness. It points to the infinite distance that separates Him from every creature. He is an infinite cut above everything else.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.55