Fear and Trembling

Some believe that God's transcendence disallows for any close personal dealings with His creation. Christianity rejects that extreme view; however, God is transcendent—not trapped by space and time. So how are we to understand God's proximity to us? Dr. Sproul begins this series entitled Fear and Trembling: The Trauma of God's Holiness with this message, "Encountering God."

There are some words that we read in our Bibles that we assume we understand what they mean. Sometimes we do not know what they mean, but because of the sheer repetition of them, they become almost invisible to us as we learn to read past them. A prime example of that would be the word HOLY. What does HOLY mean? In this message, Dr. Sproul gives us that answer as we find out why the angels sing "Holy, Holy, Holy."

Has the church lost it relevancy? Perhaps the God people hear about in many churches is not the one described in Scripture. If that is true, then, yes, the church has lost its relevancy. Is it enough to tell the world that our God is a God of love who loves them? Surely, that should cause some degree of excitement. But is there something more we should know? Considering this thought, Dr. Sproul takes us into the "Inner Sanctum," to show us what happens when people encounter the living God.

People suffer from all kinds of fears or phobias. But is there anyone out there afraid of holiness? In this message, Dr. Sproul shows us the varied responses of people who met Jesus face to face and discovered that Jesus did not fit their preconceptions of who He should be.

The Old Testament records severe warnings against violating God’s holiness. With these warnings come a threat of punishment to any who would violate the admonitions. As people, we understand the concept of crime and punishment, but as sinners, we often fail to recognize the reason for the severity of God’s justice. Shouldn’t God reserve capital punishment for sins like murder, or other acts of violence? Considering this in this message, Dr. Sproul shows how all of us have committed capital crimes.

The prophet Isaiah knew holiness when he saw it. The angels never stop singing about it. Peter couldn't face it, and the disciples stood in fear of it. So it is unanimous: God is holy. But now what? What does that have to do with us? Dr. Sproul considers this thought in this message entitled "Fear and Trembling."