If you have not read this book, you must. Not just you should, you really must. I read it over two decades ago in a single sitting. And it changed my life. It planted the seeds that eventually produced Pulpit Crimes, to be honest, because so much of what I decry in that work is the shallow, fluffy preaching of a church that has no grasp upon the seriousness of the business of worship because it has no grasp upon the holiness of God.
Sproul’s a genius, and everyone knows that, but genius oftens stands in the way of communication, zeal, and passion. As a result, really smart folks can write some horrifically boring books. But that is Sproul’s gift: he can write with clarity, pace, and passion. That’s why I couldn’t put the book down in 1986, and you won’t be able to as well in 2007. If you don’t already own it, get it. If you know an elder, a pastor, who does not have it, get it for him. In a day when Western culture in general, and the wide body of “Christianity” in particular, has created a warm, fuzzy, “very much like us” idol called “god,” we must be reminded of the holiness of the awesome Yahweh. As we sing so often at PRBC:
Before Jehovah’s awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy,
He can create, and He destroy.His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when like wandering sheep we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again,
He brought us to His fold again.We are His people, we His care,
Our souls, and all our mortal frame;
What lasting honors shall we rear,
Almighty Maker, to Thy Name,
Almighty Maker, to Thy Name?We’ll crowd Thy gates with thankful songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill Thy courts with sounding praise,
Shall fill Thy courts with sounding praise.Wide as the world is Thy command,
Vast as eternity Thy love;
Firm as a rock Thy truth must stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move,
When rolling years shall cease to move.
P.S. John Samson informed me that the video series related to this book is currently available here.
