Pleasing God: Discovering the Meaning and Importance of Sanctification

by R.C. Sproul

Pleasing God is basically a message of hope. The author points out the failures, but he points also to the way out of spiritual lethargy and lackadaisical living. Pleasing God is not only good theology - it is a practical, wise, and biblical view to help you grow closer to God.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Christian Living, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian Non Fiction

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Dr. R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization located near Orlando, Fla. He was founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.

Ligonier Ministries began in 1971 as the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Ligonier, Pa. In an effort to respond more effectively to the growing demand for Dr. Sproul’s teachings and the ministry’s other educational resources, the general offices were moved to Orlando in 1984, and the ministry was renamed.

Dr. Sproul’s radio program, Renewing Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio stations around the world and can also be heard online. Dr. Sproul produced hundreds of lecture series and recorded numerous video series on subjects such as the history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, and Christian living.

He contributed dozens of articles to national evangelical publications, spoke at conferences, churches, and academic institutions around the world, and wrote more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and wrote a commentary on that document. He also served as general editor of the Reformation Study Bible, previously known as the New Geneva Study Bible.

Dr. Sproul had a distinguished academic teaching career at various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and Jackson, Miss. He was ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.

Reviews

[Connie Couto · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Rather than saying 'Let go and let God', we should say 'hang on and trust God.". YES!

[Joshua Ye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sproul gives practical advice on how to please God through the sanctification in a Christian's life. He walks through different battles and sins Christians encounter and explains how to deal with them, often with biblical backing. I did find the topics of the book to be a bit scattered and vague. This sometimes made it hard to stay engaged and apply what I was reading. Overall, it's a solid encouragement to continue pressing forward to our calling as Christians. I'm particularly inspired to please God more by resisting sin, growing in knowledge, and bearing witness to His kingdom.

[Rod Innis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book on sanctification. I really enjoyed it. It contains nothing new but it is a great reminder of our responsibility in this area. It is full of Scripture verses that show us how to grow in sanctification.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always a pleasure to read R. C. Sproul on various topics. While this work might not have been as profound as some of his others, it is still a useful take on various subjects related to sanctification. I describe it thusly because it is not really a sustained argument from beginning to end, with later chapters building on previous ones. Rather, it is a cluster of thoughts all related in some manner to the umbrella theme of sanctification.

The first two chapters do provide solid roots, grounding our walk in the grace of God and the ultimate goal of sanctification. The later chapters' topics, like I mentioned, are varied but all useful. An astoundingly good chapter addresses the call to righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees'. We often buzz right over the surface meaning of this text, but Sproul considers closely the piety of the Pharisees and examines the standards to which Christ is calling us in this exhortation. If we really understood what he was saying, perhaps our spiritual lives would be a lot less flabby.

Other chapters address the world, the flesh, the Devil, fear and guilt (and the grace of shame), pride, slothfulness, dishonesty, and more. This book would work really well for a discussion or book club; perhaps less well as a Bible study guide. But in any case it is well worth your time.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a Christian classic that offers advice and perspective for traditional Christian living. I found it entertaining that RC Sproul, at the time he wrote Pleasing God, clearly did not consider himself an authority and he even states "I would be delighted to see bookstores bury all my books in the basement or put them to the torch if they would replace them with the works of Luther, Augustine, Edwards and the rest."

I appreciated Sproul's imagery that the Christian life is represented by a line. It has a beginning, a middle and an end and progress along that line is made certain by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who refuses to allow us to stand still. An overriding theme of the book is that "sanctification is a process, a gradual process" and Sproul covers many of the pitfalls in life that prevent progress: Satan, guilt, fear, and the three primary sins from which all sins proceed...pride, slothfulness and dishonesty. Sproul closes with an inspiring lesson based on a profound speech by Winston Churchill that consisted of only one sentence "Never, never, never...give up."

This book is a really good book to balance today's more contemporary writers. My biggest complaint is that my paperback version encountered a printing error and unfortunately a few pages within the book were so faint they were virtually blank. Still a keeper, I will refer to this book many times in the future.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sproul's book on sanctification is encouraging and motivating. He reminds Christians of the certainty of their justification; Christ has taken the legal guilt of our sin, and God counts Christ's righteousness as ours. We may experience psychological guilt but must take comfort in God's promise of forgiveness. Satan may accuse us, but Christ's sacrifice and righteousness clear us of Satan's charges. But, Sproul argues, this does not mean that we can ignore God's law. Genuine faith leads to repentance and good works. Sproul also addresses perfectionism as a serious error that ends up ignoring God's law despite claiming full accordance with it. Finally, Sproul urges us to press on toward continuing growth in sanctification, especially fighting against the sins of pride, laziness, and dishonesty. All in all, the book is a readable reminder of God's work in us and what we should do in response.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

TRUE OR FALSE. Every Christian should have a passion to please God. We are to delight in honoring Him. It should be our greatest desire to please our Redeemer.

In Pleasing God, R.C. Sproul writes that "we all begin the Christian life with the intention of living in such a way to please God. But that we encounter obstacles along the way. We meet with conflicts between what pleases us and and what pleases God. We need help in overcoming these obstacles." His book on sanctification is a practical guide for how to live a Christian life. The premise is, of course, that our lives after conversion should differ from before our conversion, that being saved should change us, transform us.

Sanctification is very much a process--a journey--believers are never instantly victorious and wholly holy! Even if we "win" victory (through Christ) over one area of sin in our lives, we're never completely, totally, absolutely free from sin in all areas of our lives. The Christian life is a struggling life: our battle against self, sin, temptation, even Satan. It may not be popular to think of the Christian life being a battleground, but, it is true all the same. And though it may not be easy to admit: often our greatest foe is ourselves!

Sproul opens the book with a Scripture illustration from the gospel of Mark:

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Mark 8:22-25

Believers are like the blind man seeing "walking trees." Sproul says:

He was at an intermediate stage between total blindness and full clarity of vision. He was, as we shall see, a representative of all Christians in their progress toward pleasing God.

and

When we are born again, we see men as trees, walking. Our spiritual vision is clouded by ongoing sin. We do not see all things in sharp spiritual focus. But there will come a day when all remnants of our old nature will be destroyed, when our hearts will be so purified that Christ’s beatitude will be fulfilled: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).

and

Though the scales are removed from our eyes, we still need to be led by the hand of Jesus. Regeneration is the beginning of a journey. It is a journey with successes and failures, with growth amid stumbling. At times, the progress seems painfully slow, but progress is there.

There is a danger in thinking that we can live the Christian life in our own strength, in our own way. We all need to be reminded that we need to be led by the hand of Jesus. That though some things in the Christian life are instant--regeneration and justification come to mind--other things are a process, at times a very slow, very painful process.

Sanctification is a journey, a life-long journey, a fighting and struggling journey. The Christian life is to be a SEEKING life. Every step of the journey we are to be seeking: seeking God, seeking his kingdom, seeking His righteousness, seeking to glorify Him.

How can we please God in this life? Sproul argues that it simply comes down to one word: obedience.

What is righteousness? The simplest answer that righteousness is doing what is right in the sight of God. This is a simple definition that is far more complex under the surface. To be righteous is to do everything that God calls us to do.

Sproul goes on to address common obstacles that all believers come up against in this life.

In my opinion, every believer needs to read at least one book on sanctification. R.C. Sproul's Pleasing God would be a fine choice.

[Brian Pate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really should have been entitled "Sanctification." It is full of good material, but was very broad in its scope. I was hoping he would delve the relationship of pleasing God, legalism, and our acceptance in Christ. (For a treatment of this issue, see Wayne Grudem's helpful essay, "Pleasing God by Our Obedience: A Neglected New Testament Teaching" in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper (Crossway, 2010).

The best parts of this book were the beginning (ch. 2: The Goal of Christian Living) and the end (ch. 15: Never Give Up). Sproul includes an excellent treatment of the world (ch. 4), the flesh (ch. 5), and the devil (chs. 6-7). He clearly explains the false notion of the carnal Christian (ch. 10). However, I felt like his material on pride, slothfulness, and dishonesty (chs. 11-13) belonged in another book.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love RC Sproul's preaching but find this book so full of semi-relevant stories that it has become a distraction. For example after telling of Joshua the priest's filthy garments in Zechariah, Sproul shared a story about not being dressed appropriately for a meeting with the Governor. It was as if the Bible were not powerful enough to get the. point across. Going through a. list. of phobias when discussing fear was also unnecessary entertainment. I am perhaps spoiled from reading the Puritans and JC Ryle, who all avoid fluff and stick to the meat of the Word and simple meaning.

All of the above is true ONLY for the first half of the book. From Chapter 9 on it is excellent. His chapter on forgiving others is MUST reading for all Christians and His chapter on carnal Christians is eye-opening. All in all, a classic book as others have stated. Perhaps he wrote the last half and then filled in the first half by way of introduction. Excellent read!

[Eneri Troncoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Every Christian should have a passion to please God. It should be our greatest desire to please or redeemer." -R.C Sproul

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the read. A few chapters were in particular worth the whole book. Very accessible to everyone who might pick it up, very challenging but still easy to read through.

[Bill Pence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pleasing God was the third book of R.C. Sproul’s that I read as a new believer back in the 1980’s, following his classic books The Holiness of God and Chosen by God. Pleasing God is intended as a practical guide for Christian living, an attempt to provide help for the struggle in which we are involved.
While regeneration, the act of grace by which our eyes are opened to the things of God is an act that only God can perform and is instantaneous, our sanctification is takes place in stages. Regeneration is the beginning of our Christian journey. Sanctification is a process, a gradual process. Rebirth is instantaneous. Justification is instantaneous. But sanctification is a lifelong process. This growth in pleasing God is called sanctification, and that is what this wonderful book is about.
The author states that for Christians to make progress in sanctification, in learning to please God, they must have a clear idea of their goal. The goal, as Jesus stated it is “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Seeking the kingdom and righteousness are the priorities of the Christian life. To be righteous is to do everything that God calls us to do.
The author covers a number of topics in this book. He first looks at Martin Luther’s threefold battle in the Christian life – the Christian’s battle with the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Other topics covered in this volume include forgiveness, guilt, assurance, repentance, fruit bearing, a discuss on “carnal Christians”, pride, dishonesty, slothfulness, the importance of sound doctrine, and the role of the Holy Spirit.
The author writes that regeneration is the beginning of a journey. That journey is filled with successes and failures, with growth amid stumbling. He tells us that at times, the progress seems painfully slow, but progress is there. All Christians make progress that is made by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who refuses to allow us to stand still.
I always appreciated how Dr. Sproul could take difficult theological topics and communicate them in a very clear and easy to understand manner. This is a very readable book about the doctrine of sanctification.

[Mwansa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that went in a direction I did not expect. Upon completion I now have a better appreciation for the direction it was taken and there are a number of issues in the book that I had to wrestle with as I was reading through it. The book takes the angle of how to please God in the different scenarios that life brings upon you. Three things that stood out for me were

Pleasing God begins with Salvation. Without being right with God through repentance and faith in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ it is impossible to please God. Before one can embark on this journey it is important that this crucial box be checked. After all the greatest need of mankind as we seek an audience with the King of glory is that we may stand before his holiness and not be consumed.

The issue of temptation was another one that was particularly touching. Sproul shows this through the temptation of Jesus after his forty days of fasting. The one in particular that really got me was the temptation to turn the stone into bread because this was preying on an actual need but it was a temptation to have the right thing at the wrong time. This is something that I personally have struggled with because the temptation to give into the impulse to rest when it is time to work or work when it is time to rest and worse still not giving God his required time in my day is rather strong. This temptation must be fought the way Jesus fought it, through the right application of Scripture.

The matter of lying was another interesting one. It went a different direction when dealing with lying for a good reason. Which is another thing that I liked about the book. Sproul is painstakingly practical in addressing these different matters but shows from the scriptures the relevance of a biblical worldview and approach to these matters in order to live a life that is truly Pleasing to God.

[William Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pleasing God" didn't excite me as much as I thought it would when I began in that it seemed Sproul's definition of sanctification was confusing. I appreciate and greatly admire the late R.C. in his scholarship, theology, and apologetics. Yet I struggled a little if I'm being honest. Even some of his conversational illustrations seemed forced, repeated (ones I have heard countless times), and outdated. HOWEVER, the book was written 35 years ago, so I must cut him some slack! And, the more I read, the more I appreciated all he had to say. The book grew on me over time and Sproul made great points. I did enjoy it!

A great quote - "A transformed mind yields a transformed life."

"Rather than saying 'let go and let God," we ought to say, 'hang on and trust God.'"

[Nick Solheim · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.C. Sproul's Pleasing God is an edifying sequel to both The Holiness of God and Chosen by God. As a part of his classic theology series, Dr. Sproul demystifies the doctrine of sanctification and knocks down many idols and false doctrines of the Wesleyans in the process.

Dr. Sproul makes a delightful work out of covering humanity's struggle against the world, flesh, and the devil, carefully explaining how one can honor God in daily life. As someone who grew up attending many churches with an extra biblical view of sanctification, Dr. Sproul's book strongly and ably refutes the false doctrines of humans becoming sinless here on earth via sanctification.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good book that I will be reading again at some future date. RC Sproul does his usual masterful job of combining scripture with theology that the layman can understand without having to obtain a post graduate degree in theology. What is sanctification and why is it important? Sproul answers these questions and more in 15 short, easily digestible chapters that can be understood and applied by anyone in the Christian community.

A well done work that has already been around since the mid 1990’s and is destined to stay around for many more years to come.

[Kathleen Satterthwaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how Sproul puts everything down on the "bottom shelf" and makes understandable his focus. I was enriched by this book and loved the real life examples he used. They are all of us. Keeping our eyes on Christ who is our very-life, and in Him, we do please the Father. Pressing toward the goal, we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, leaning and trusting in Him. Failure - inevitable. Grace - abounding to all of the chief of sinners. To God be the glory!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this very early on in my Christian life and now revisited it with the women at our church. The book holds up very well. I’d forgotten how much Sproul wrote in a way that would be accessible to all, not just the ultra academic. I had a few quibbles this time around with his view of how Satan interacts with us - he seemed to be saying two opposite things: we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit and Satan cannot be inside us, and at the same time he spoke of how Satan whispers in our ears and into our thoughts. I don’t think so - there’s plenty of sin in our own flesh to be saying sinful things in our own minds. Other than that though, this is a good book about the importance of pleasing God and just how look at the sanctification process and our involvement in it.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book by a Great Saint

R. C Sproul recently left this world to be with his Lord. We are blessed to have the fruit of his teaching. In Pleasing God Sproul reminds us that holiness is work, and we can't leave it all to God. Sproul also reminds us to watch our life and doctrine closely. God will finish the work He started, but we never to do our part.

[Monica Y Mateo · Rating 5 out of 5]

R.C Sproul is a great Christian author who gives the reader a great approach to pleasing our God. "They are seeking happiness, peace of mind, relief from guilt, a meaningful life, and a host of other things that we know only God can give them. But they are not seeking God." (p. 27) Amazing book.

[Ben K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a broad look at sanctification and how to live a life pleasing to God. I didn’t find anything earth-shattering here, but it was thoroughly biblical and was written in an engaging manner with colorful illustrations and humor sprinkled throughout.

[Blake A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good motivation

I was motivated to grow. It helps describe the sanctification process. It gets off track a couple of times. I wish he would’ve gotten into more of the scriptures that actually use the word “pleasing”

[Ben Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

RC Sproul makes theology simple and the Christian life understandable. His down to earth writing is the perfect antidote to so much meaningless eloquence thrown around today. Each time you sit down to read you will experience a new lightbulb moment.

[Justin T James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encouraging and Eye-opening

So many practical moments in this book. This text gives so many opportunities for introspection that each chapter could be a year long each.

[Jasmyn Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hebrews 12:28-29 🙌🏽

[Kate Joekel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanctification

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I found it enlightening and understandable. I will look for more by this author.

[Camille Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapter 9 ("Real Forgiveness") makes this book worth the read if you don't read anything else in it. Easy to read, practical, challenging, encouraging.

[Joshua Saliutama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soul-satisfying book

An amazing book from the late R.C. Sproul. This book goes deep both theologically and practically of some of the common practices as Christians.

[Liz Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, systematic theology on sanctification and what it means to live a life that is pleasing to God. Good stuff.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical, challenging, encouraging, and eye-opening. Learned a lot from this book!