Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, Nathan W. Bingham here, host of Renewing Your Mind. Will I see you at Ligonier's 2026 National Conference in Orlando? April 9 to 11, we'll address some of the fundamental questions facing Christians today, questions about God, our identity, and life in a hostile society. We'll seek biblical clarity to strengthen our faith and embolden our witness in a world that needs the truth.
In addition to our teaching fellows, conference speakers include H.B. Charles Jr., Michael Reeves, Paul Washer, and more. Learn more and register today at Ligonier.org slash 2026. Enjoy three days of trusted teaching and rich fellowship with thousands of Christians from around the world. That address, again, is Ligonier.org slash 2026.
And I'll see you for Crucial Questions, Ligonier's 2026 National Conference.
There are those moments when we contemplate the mystery of Christ, the greatness of God, the secrets of the workings and operation of the Holy Spirit, that it causes us to tremble. There is something fearful about it.
R.C. Sproul had one of those experiences not long after his conversion as a young college student. Little did he know the impact that would have on the direction of his life and future ministry. Welcome to this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we spend time working through Dr. Sproul's classic series, The Holiness of God.
The team here at Renewing Your Mind and Ligonier Ministries continues to receive letters, emails, and messages on social media from people whose lives have never been the same after watching this series or reading the book.
And until midnight tonight, we'll unlock access to the Holiness of God series, the extended edition of the Holiness of God, and we'll send you a 40th anniversary copy of the book when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org. And if you already have the book, respond today and give your copy away. Well, here's Dr. Sproul on The Holy Place.
As we continue our study of the holiness of God, we remember that in our first segment of this series that I recounted a personal experience that was a crisis moment for me in my life. Back in the days when I was going to college and I had listened to a lecture from the writings of Saint Augustine.
And if you recall, I mentioned how Augustine opened up for my understanding a whole new dimension of the character of God, and that I was awe-stricken as I listened to Augustine explain the power and the majesty and the holiness of God. Well, Augustine himself wrote an interesting passage about his own personal experience with the presence of God.
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Chapter 2: What does R.C. Sproul say about our response to the holiness of God?
Otto used a technical term to describe this sensation of the holy, which he called, using the Latin phrase, the mysterium tremendum, the tremendous mystery, or the mystery that produces tremors, trembling within us. Have you noticed in our own day and in our own culture how people seem to be fascinated with the occult? They'll rush to the movie theater to see films like The Exorcist.
They're interested in reports of Satan worship, and yet there's something ugly about these things that is grotesque from which we want to flee. but we're not quite sure. We're fascinated. We want to draw near.
And it seems like that we will follow anything that gives us some hope of penetrating the barrier of the secular and of the profane, something that will open a gate for us into the realm of the supernatural. It frightens and fascinates all at the same time. I remember that when I was a boy, we used to listen to the radio. There was no such thing as television then. I'm dating myself, I guess.
But the difference between radio and television is that when we were restricted to following our favorite programs by way of radio, that we only heard the story. We listened to the dialogue and the descriptions that were given to us by the narrator. We didn't see anything except the plain front of our Philco radio. And that left it to our imagination to fill in the gaps.
We would visualize in our mind's eye Superman or the Lone Ranger and Tonto. In fact, I can see certain advantages to that for the developing of creativity that we were forced to use our imagination. Well, there are all kinds of different programs, soap operas during the day, adventure stories at night, stories of Western heroes like Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers and so on.
But one of the most popular genres of radio programs in the 40s were the mystery stories or the detective stories like Gangbusters or Mr. King, Tracer of Lost Persons. And they also had a program that was extremely scary called Suspense. But the scariest program of all programs on the radio that I recall as a child was one that was on in the evening. And the lead-in to the radio was the opening
of the door of a vault in a cemetery, in a mausoleum. This door of a crypt swung open, and we always spoke about the creaking door. And the sound of the creaking door was the lead-in to this program. And as that door would creak, we would shiver in fear as little children. And then the voice of the narrator would announce the program, Inner Sanctum.
You know, all you had to do was say it, Inner Sanctum, and we were terrified. Now, the thing that I'm fascinated now in reflection on that is that when I was a boy, I didn't know what Inner Sanctum meant. Now I know that the words inner sanctum mean within the holy.
And when I think back on it, I think it is astonishing that the producers of radio programs in the entertainment world, when they were looking for something that would hold people spellbound and evoke feelings of terror within them, that they couldn't think of anything more mysterious, anything more frightening to a human person than than to be close, so close, to be virtually within the holy."
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Chapter 3: How did Augustine's writings influence R.C. Sproul's understanding of God?
withdrawing near to the living God. We need to explore that and to explore it deeply. I want to leave you with this question that you, I hope, will ask of yourselves. How do you feel? How do you respond when you have any sense of the presence of God? If you can think in those moments in your life, where you have sensed His presence? Did you want more or did you want less?
Did you want to come closer or did you want to fall back and retreat? Do you relate to this sense of ambivalence of which Rudolph Otto speaks in his book? Does the presence of God make you glow or does it make you shudder? Or perhaps, like most of us, it does both. Think about that.
I think we're beginning to see why R.C. Sproul was so passionate to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. This is Renewing Your Mind on this Saturday. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. If you'd like to introduce someone you know to this often overlooked topic, the holiness of God, send them a text with a link to Ligonier.org slash holiness.
There you'll find a short video we put together to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the book's publication, along with links to other resources from R.C. Sproul. That's Ligonier.org slash holiness. I'll be sure to have a link for you in the podcast show notes and in the YouTube description.
You could also request your own copy of the 40th Anniversary Edition of The Holiness of God when you give a donation in support of our mission here at Ligonier at renewingyourmind.org. We'll send you the book to thank you for your generosity. Plus, we'll give you lifetime access to the original Holiness of God series and study guide, plus the extended edition as well.
So that's two series, a study guide, and a book when you donate at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight. Who was King Uzziah? Next time, R.C. Sproul will consider what this Old Testament monarch can teach us about ourselves and the holiness of God. So be sure to join us next Saturday here on Renewing Your Mind.
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