Devoted to God Review

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book because I hadn't read any of Sinclair Ferguson's work before. I have heard him speak in various Ligonier Ministries YouTube videos and thoroughly enjoyed him. I have read a couple of books in the same vein as this: "The Holiness of God" by RC Sproul and "The Hole in our Holiness" by Kevin DeYoung. Both of those were great, although the former focused more on how God is holy than on how we become such.

Incase you're not familiar with the author, I'll give you a brief introduction to him before getting into what the book was like. He hails from Scotland, however he has spent most of his life in ministry in the Presbyterian Church of America. Now he is a Seminary Professor in the U.S. and commutes there from his home in Scotland. He is also a Teaching Fellow with Ligonier Ministries and one of the Pastors at a Church in Dundee.

You may be wondering what I thought of the book. The tile describes what the book is about better than I could, namely that to be devoted to God is to be holy. Chapter one explains explicitly with lots of Scripture why to be holy is to be devoted to God. In each chapter, Ferguson expertly exposits (explains verse by verse) a key New Testament passage that deals with how the believer is sanctified (made holy). The passages exposited are: 1 Peter 1:1-25, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:1-14, Galatians 5:16-17, Colossians 3:1-17, Romans 8:13, Matthew 5:17-20, Hebrews 12:1-14 and Romans 8:29. The last couple of chapters bring together all that the Bible has to say on sanctification and are really useful in terms of application also. There are 5 appendices at the back that deal with some details that need to be clarified.

I found the book fantastic. It is heavy, so much so that I often had to read a paragraph or a page and just think about it so that I understood it before moving on. It stretched me in a good way. I often found myself Googling various words he used to help me fully understand what he meant. I wouldn't stray away from heavy books like this, instead embrace the challenge and let God use them to show you the wondrous Biblical truths that they explain. You'll not grow in your reading ability if you don't stretch it.

In conclusion, it's a fantastic book that has really shaped how I see sanctification. I half understood it before I read this book, now I mostly understand it. It has helped me grasp just how incredible it is that I am even saved, whilst leaving me marvelling at how God works in me to make me holy as I co-operate by living in step with the Holy Spirit. Fantastic. Go and read it!