Status Updates From The Holiness of God

“…without the highest Good, there can be no good at all. All ‘goods’ are measured against the ultimate standard of God’s Goodness.” -Pg 195

“Truth is that which corresponds to reality as perceived by God.” -Pg 196

“In biblical categories, there is a triad of virtues, all of which point beyond themselves to the holiness of God. This triad is composed of the good, the true, and the beautiful.” -Pg 195

“Christ made it clear that dead people cannot choose anything, that the flesh counts for nothing, and that we must be born of the Spirit before we can even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it.” -Pg 179

“…a loving God who has no wrath is no God. He is an idol of our own making.” -Pg 176

“If we want to be holy, if we have a real hunger for righteousness, then we must focus our attention on the fruit of the Holy Spirit.” -Pg 167

“True transformation comes by gaining a new understanding of God, ourselves, and the world.”
-Pg 163

“The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness that goes beyond externals.” -Pg 160

“In light of the gracious justification that Christ has achieved for us, the only reasonable conclusion we can reach is that we ought to present ourselves totally to God as walking, breathing, living sacrifices.” -Pg 160

“Sin can be pleasurable, but it never brings happiness.” -Pg 157

“We were created to shine forth to this world the holiness of God. This was the chief end of man, the very reason for our existence.” -Pg 156

“The saints of Scripture were called saints not because they were already pure but because they were people who were set apart and called to purity.” -Pg 156

“For the Christian the holy war is over; the peace has been established. Access to the Father is ours. But we still must tremble before God.” -Pg 153

“The first fruit of our justification is peace with God. This peace is a holy peace, a peace unblemished and transcendent. It is a peace that cannot be destroyed.” -Pg 150

“Only the justified person can be comfortable in the presence of a holy God.” -Pg 147

“…for the transforming power of God to change our lives, we must wrestle with Him. We must know what it means to fight with God all night if we are also to know what it means to experience the sweetness of the soul’s surrender.” -Pg 137

“Suppose ten people sin and sin equally. Suppose God punishes five of them and is merciful to the other five. Is this injustice? No!…God never owes mercy. God is not obliged to treat all people equally.” -Pg 128

“The most violent expression of God’s wrath and justice is seen in the Cross.” -Pg 121

“The holiness of God is at the heart of the issue of the conquest of Canaan…One the one hand He moved to punish the insult to His holiness that was daily perpetrated by the Canaanites. On the other hand He was preparing a land and a nation for a holy purpose.” -Pg 120

“…the most mysterious aspect of the mystery of sin is not that the sinner deserves to die, but rather that the sinner in the average situation continues to exist.” -Pg 117

“Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself.” -Pg 115

“In the case of creation and mankind’s fall, the full measure of justice was delayed so grace would have time to work. Here the delay of justice was not the denial of justice but the establishing of mercy and grace.” -Pg 114

“For a good deed to pass the standard of God’s goodness, it must flow out of a heart that loves God perfectly and loves our neighbor perfectly as well. Since none of us achieves this…all our outwardly good deeds are tarnished…The logic of the Bible is this: Since none one has a perfect heart, no one does a perfect deed.” -Pg 90

“People have an appreciation for moral excellence, as long as it is removed a safe distance from them. The Jews honored the [past] prophets, from a distance. The world honors Christ, from a distance.” -Pg 58

“[Holy] is used as a synonym for His deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is.”
-Pg 38

“When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate…Things that are holy…have been separated from the commonplace, consecrated to the Lord and to His service.” -Pgs 36, 37