God is Holy

Welcome - Introduction - Special Announcements (Oct 9th Church Business)

God is series… week 3 – Family worship Sunday - Answering tough questions from kids by walking through scripture.

The Burning Bush – Exodus 3: 1-6

Kids questions of the day:

Who created God? How can God be everywhere? Can God heal us without touching us?

Ability or existence questions

Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden? Can God force us to do something? Does God still love us even when we do something wrong?

Morale questions (right and wrong)

What is a black hole and why do they exist? Holly that’s all you!

Before we get into this and answer these questions, let’s pray!

Series Recap

“God is” series goal: To complete the statement God is______, and know what we believe is true, based on the bible.

Because...

The idea of God can be confusing, the world can be confusing…

Liam – Why don’t we taste like dust if we are made from dust and we return to dust?

Elijah – Why did God make mosquitoes?

Elias - What will we look like in Heaven and will we have clothes on?

What DO we mean when we say God?

·These 3 little letters – (God) Mean a lot of different things depending on who you ask.

How do we make sure what we believe about God is true?

Illustration - Puzzle – Describes how impossible it is for us to understand God without help

When you walked in you got a piece of a puzzle and during meet and greet you had a chance to go around and figure what the puzzle picture might look like. Did anyone come up with something?

This puzzle had 750 pieces… what if it was 10,000… Even if you gathered all the pieces together, could you have figured it out? What it was a 1 million piece puzzle… What are your odds then?

What if it had an infinite number of puzzle pieces, how about then… Would we stand a chance at figuring out the puzzle?

Of course not…

The only way we could begin to a clear picture of what the puzzle is, is if we had some help…

Like an image to help Guide us… (Show picture)

The same is true of knowing and understanding God. We need God’s help to really know Him.

He helps us by revealing things about Himself in different ways so that we can get a better picture of who He is.

Through Creation, Through the bible and most importantly through the Jesus..

Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the Father.

Look into the stars (how big), the human body ( How complex)

The bible is our puzzle picture. It gives us detailed information about God...

Reading it is how we grow in our knowledge Him...

Today we are going to continue in Exodus 3 and dig deeper into one of God’s characteristics…

Specifically that...

God is Holy

Isaiah 6:3 ESV: ““Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Revelation 4:8 ESV: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Let’s take note that both these passages repeat a word not once, not twice, but THREE times…what word is that?...HOLY

When something is repeated in the Bible, it is a signal to pay attention…

Like when your parents - Come here… x infinity

In the NT, Jesus does the same thing… repeats “truly, truly”… He was about to drop a truth bomb and do a mic drop…

The book of John- 25x in NASB

Before Abraham was, I am

Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin

Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me, Has eternal life

Here in these two verses- the holiness of God is being emphasized…His holiness is great, it is the most…the utmost…it is absolute…there is nothing that surpasses His Holiness. It is very much a part of Him…it is who He is…

EX: what makes a bird a bird: lays eggs, has feathers, has wings…do they have to all fly to be a bird? No, but to be a bird, they have to have at least those three things to be a bird…

Same with God… What makes God, God, is His Characteristics…

So, Today in the story of the burning bush - we get to add another piece of the puzzle to get a clearer picture of Who God is...

By looking at His Holiness...

But before we do, lets get some background and context first.

Background and Context

God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many- He had a son name Isaac, Isaac had a son name Jacob- Jacob’s name is changed to Israel and he has 12 sons! One of his sons, Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt.

God works things out to where Joseph is second in command and is able to save his family from dying during a famine- a severe shortage of food.

The Israelites grow in number and they are doing well- and at one point- the new king of Egypt- Pharaoh- does not know of Joseph and doesn’t like these people in his kingdom. Makes them slaves. How rude!

Moses is born during a time when the Pharaoh is having all the baby boys killed- yet- his mom saves him and ends up putting him in the Nile River where Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and raises him as her own in the palace- but Moses knows he is a Hebrew too.

He kills a guy- don’t do that- and runs away- and we get to Exodus 3 where he is now a shepherd…

Exodus 3:1-6 ESV (the story of the burning bush) - open bible, up on the screen...

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:1-6 ESV

We are going to focus on two areas to address the questions from the kids by digging into what it means that God is Holy…

Verse 5 said that Moses needed to take off His shoes because the ground was Holy… What does that mean? Holy?

Let’s define Holy from scripture…

Hebrew: H6944 - קֹדֶשׁ (qōdeš) (phonetic: ko’desh)- apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness

The state of being set apart or separate.

Think about something that you separate…like if you are like Erik growing up…

Or something sacred - think Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark…you couldn’t look at the Ark of the Covenant because it was too sacred - or you lose your life.

God is Holy - Set apart from everything else. Sacred... He alone is God…

Now there are many ways that God is separate from His creation…

Always existed, Knows everything, or never makes a mistake, or can do miracles...

Let’s go back toverse 2 and 3 again… out of the NLT

Imagine being Moses...

Discuss this story - Standing on the side of a mountain watching over sheep. Does that sound Exciting?

“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” Exodus 3:2-3 NLT

How do these verses show God Holy? Not like us?

Where we first see that...

God is Supernatural

Meaning that He is not bound by the rules that we are bound by…(Natural laws)

Gravity, Laws of thermodynamics, Physics

General things that we need to survive… Eat, sleep, breathe...

We need these things to live and we are bound by the natural laws of the universe

God is not…

He is Outside or above or beyond nature- Supernatural

God is the one who created, holds together, and controls all of creation

Psalm 102:25-27 ESV Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.

So, In the burning bush story we see God doing something supernatural… Might call it a miracle...

Candle illustration- the candle burns, you can tell it burns up.

Science Time!

Fire is a chemical reaction between molecules called combustion… (explain)

Oxy + Fuel (wick) + Heat (lighter) = fire (combustion) —> Heat, light, CO2, Water Vapor, smoke..

Fuel becomes - ash/char (There is a physical change to this wick…)

Result is the wick of the candle is consumed… (Think forest fire)

This is a natural chemical process and we know how and why it works...

It is not possible to stop this process, unless we put the fire out, because it is based on natural laws...

In this story God (being supernatural) stops this chemical reaction from happening ...

In this Burning bush - we see as miracle - Something supernatural happening

The bush is not being consumed...green leaves - nothing happens…

Moses didn’t see what he would have expected to see, which why He was amazing and went to go check it out…

Other stories in the bible about how God is not like us, not bound by natural laws... (do miracles)

Shadrack meshach and abednego - didn’t burn up...

Jesus walking on water; Jesus calms the storm, Jesus raises people from the dead, Healing the paralytic man

How can these things happen… Because...

God is Holy, set apart, He is not like us… He is supernatural

Not only does He not have to follow these rules, He made them, He Maintains them, and He can change the rules...

That is how miracles happen… natural laws say:

Healings are not possible or you can’t walk on water

God says I am Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals...

21

Back to our questions....

Can God heal us without touching us…Yes, Cause He is not like us...

What about:

Being everywhere at once or did someone create God?

We have seen that God is supernatural which sets the foundation to answer these questions… But,

These can seem like difficult questions to answer...

Part of the reason is because it is hard for us comprehend God (know in part)

It is like an electrical engineer trying to explain the inner workings of an iphone works to a three year old.

Does He use college level technical terms to explain it? No,

Uses the right level of words - pu`sh the button, touch the screen and wala - Cocomelon!

That is how God has to speak to us… We are a created beings trying to understand the infinite creator...

Anthropomorphic language… (speaks in Human terms)

The danger is this:

We might actually can begin to believe that God is like us… Because that is how He explains Himself

God is not like us... set apart, We are natural, He is supernatural...

But because of this problem...

We can be to think things like, well we were created, everything we know was created, so God has to be created too...

We can only be in one place, so God must follow the same rules...

That He is just like us… but He is not...

Isaiah 40:22 (LEB)

22 He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; the one who stretches out the heavens like a veil and spreads them out like a tent to live in,

God is without boundary - infinite and eternal...

Revelation 4:8 ESV: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

God is - First and the last, Alpha and omega, beginning and end.

So with this understanding that God is Holy (not like us) - He didn’t have a beginning… Kids...

Who created God?

No one, He is the Great I AM… God, who was, is, and always will be...

Let’s move onto our second focus of God being set apart to address 2 more questions.

Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

The tree that had the forbidden fruit and God told Adam and Eve not to eat from or they would die...

Can God force us to do something?

Interestingly, 2 questions are linked… and one helps provides the answer for the other...

But before we talk about that, we need to discuss this second and primary characteristic of God’s holiness…

So, back to Exodus 3:5-6 where we see that...

God is Pure

Then God said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet [out of respect], because the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:5-6 AMP

God is pure, He is completely perfect…

So God is not Mary Poppins...

I went to trusty ole Google and typed in “define Pure”…some of the definitions given were “not mixed or adulterated with any substance or material; free of any contamination, wholesome and untainted by immorality...”

God is pure and perfect - Holy Ground (Exodus 3:5)

Holiness – poop on shoes; put them on the table

This is why God told Moses to take off his sandals…Moses is walking around with sheep…and sheep don’t go to the port-a-potty…they just poop on the ground...

Sin and God

Soda and the poop - contaminated

Let’s revisit the text in Isaiah 6…

Isaiah sees the LORD in His glory and the seraphim are declaring: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty…”

Isaiah’s response:

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah 6:5 ESV

Isaiah, like Moses, understood that God was so Holy, so pure, so great- so absolute- and that they were unclean, not worthy to be in the presence of the Holy God in His glory.

We need to come to a right understanding that God is so pure and perfect, and we- are like this bottle of soda with poop in it…we are stained by sin…we are not perfect. We are not pure.

We as humans, like Erik said earlier, want to take God and bring Him down on our level, but he is not like us.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV

Just as we discussed how God is supernatural and not bound by the natural law, God is not bound by human morality because our morality is corrupted. God IS the standard for morality- He defines what is right or wrong.

When it comes to questions like - Why God did He do things this way… (or did He make a mistake) -

Morale question - Meaning, can God be wrong...

The answer starts with understanding that He is not like us, stained by sin…His is perfect.. He is Holy...

So His plan is Holy, it is perfect even if we can’t understand...

Why did God put the tree in the garden, if He knew we were going to fall?

First. Because it was part of His plan, and His plan is perfect...

We could end the answer there. Because God is perfect is reason enough...

But God, in His love, grace, and mercy, doesn’t leave us there...

So,

Why did God put the tree in the garden?

God wants a relationship with us. A personal relationship with you and I, but that relationship takes choice. Which means we need the option or free will to choose to love or not love Him.

The other question was - can God force us to do something.

Of course he can ... but if he does then he takes away our free will in doing so...

God can’t force us to love Him… because forced love is not love

Illustration - (Holly and I) - Puppet

In the same way Holly doesn’t want me to be a puppet… right...

God doesn’t want us to be puppets, He want us to choose to love Him...

The only way that happens is if we have a choice...

It is called the gift of free will

and that is why He put the tree in the garden… So we could choose Him...

And he sent Jesus to show us how much He loves us and wants us to choose Him.

What does it mean for us?

Which brings us to our last question...

Does God still love us even when we do something wrong?

Who knows John 3:16?

Can we say this together?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV

Earlier we talked about how we are stained by sin… We are not holy… But Jesus is...

- Jesus is fully God and fully man- He walked on this earth to feel and know the condition of man- to be able to meet people where they were at- in their sin- and yet He…as God- is pure, perfect.

Jesus lived during a time when the religious laws required the slaughter, or killing, of a pure, perfect lamb in order to atone- or to cover for the sins of the people so that they could be in right standing with God.

But it was only a temporary practice…there needed to be a perfect solution to this sin problem...

So Jesus, following the perfect and holy plan of rescue and redemption of His Father, goes to the cross to be the pure and perfect sacrifice for all of humanity who bear this sin nature, this contaminated state of being.

And in doing so, this brings us into a relationship with God and purifies us to be holy like Him...

But, just like Adam and Eve had a choice, so do we… A choice to place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation so we are born again into the family of God…

As Christians it means placing our faith in Jesus everyday, even when it is hard...

Does God still love us when we make a mistake, yes...

Because His love is not based on us being perfect, He is love and His love is perfect and that perfect love is shown at the cross.

· I leave you with this quote by Jackie Hill Perry:

“If God is holy, then He can’t sin. If God can’t sin, then He can’t sin against me. If He can’t sin against me, shouldn’t that make Him the most trustworthy being there is?” Jackie Hill Perry

Are you willing to put your trust in a Holy God today?

PRAY

CLOSEOUT- READ TOGETHER

Take your puzzle piece home with you and every time you look at …Amazing God…

No Homework today :-)

Revelation 4:8 ESV: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”