Sermon Tone Analysis

God is Holy

What does holiness mean?

I have a problem this morning.

I am going to teach you about the holiness of God.

I can’t teach you about the holiness of God if you don’t understand what holiness itself means.

But I can’t teach you what holiness means if you don’t understand the nature of God.

When the Bible affirms that God is holy, what does it mean?

The Bible declares that God is

It is a declaration that God is separate.

He the uncreated c

It means that He is purely God.

He is only God in His nature and essence, and He is completely God in His nature and essence.

Ivory Soap is not pure

I remember seeing Ivory Soap ads on television when I was a boy, and they said that Ivory Soap was “99-44/100% pure.

That motto goes all the back to 1891.

Ivory Soap is so pure, they said, that it floats; that motto goes back to 1898.

There is another word that describes something that is 99-44/100% pure – impure.

Something that is pure is not mixed with anything else.

It is free from contamination.

Ivory Soap is 99-44/100% soap, and 66/100% something else.

It isn’t pure.

It isn’t only soap.

It is contaminated by other things.

Our bodies are not pure, either

Our bodies are not pure

We are not just one thing.

The human body is made up of many elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, sulfur, boron, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, silicon, tin, vanadium, and zinc.

We are also inhabited by more than 10,000 species of microorganisms, numbering in the trillions.

We depend on those microorganisms for health and for life itself.

Our bodies are not pure, are they?

They are not just one thing, just one substance, just one essence.

We are a mixture, an alloy.

The other trace elements (less than 0.01%) are: boron (B), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), fluorine (F), iodine (I), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), silicon (Si), tin (Sn), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn).

But God is pure

There is nothing in God but God.

He is not a mixture or a blend or an alloy.

He is pure, uncontaminated, perfectly complete in Himself.

Of all things that exist, there is God, and there is everything else, and the everything does not cross over or

That didn’t change when He created all things.

God is completely distinct and separate from everything that He has made.

There is nothing in God but God.

He is utterly independent from creation.

He is completely self-existent.

He cannot be anything but Himself, and He must be Himself.

God is completely distinct and separate from everything that He has made.

There is nothing in God but God.

He is utterly independent from creation.

He is completely self-existent.

He cannot be anything but Himself, and He must be Himself.

Holiness means separation from other things.

It means a purity of essence and existence.

It means that God, by His nature, is pure (uncontaminated), complete, and uncontaminated.

We can’t really talk about the holiness of God if we don’t understand what holiness itself means.

At the same time, we can’t talk about holiness without beginning with God.

I know that sounds like an endless circle, but it really isn’t.

Example: God is Love

You see, holiness is not an abstract idea, but the

Holiness does not mean moral goodness, although moral goodness is one of the outcomes of holiness.

Holiness means separation from other things.

It means a purity of essence and existence.

The holiness of God means that He is completely distinct and separate from everything that He has made.

Holiness means that God is utterly and completely perfect; there is nothing in God that is not God, and all that is God is in God.

Holiness means that God is purely Himself, and completely Himself.

Because God is holy, because He is completely and utterly Himself, He can’t be anything other than Himself.

Is there something that God can’t do?

Yes.

He can’t be anything but Himself.

The holiness of God is not simply His moral goodness, but His complete separation from all created things.

We understand that there is only God and creation, right?

There is God, and there is everything that He has made.

The holiness of God means that God is separate from everything in creation.

He stands apart from it.

He is untouched and unchanged and uncontaminated by creation.

He is not mixed with creation in the slightest sense.

The holiness of God is not simply His moral goodness, but His complete separation from all created things.

We understand that there is only God and creation, right?

There is God, and there is everything that He has made.

The holiness of God means that God is separate from everything in creation.

He stands apart from it.

He is untouched and unchanged and uncontaminated by creation.

He is not mixed with creation in the slightest sense.

So when the Bible says that God is love, it doesn’t mean that God created love, or defined it, or made it an abstract law for us to obey, but that God, by His very nature and essence, is Himself Love.

It is not merely what God does, but who God is.

But God is holy.

He is distinct from all creation.

He is separate from it.

He is utterly independent from creation.

He doesn’t need creation, either in part or the whole.

God is completely self-existent.

There is God, and there is everything that He has made.

The holiness of God means that God is separate from everything in creation.

He stands apart from it.

He is untouched and unchanged and uncontaminated by creation.

He is not mixed with creation in the slightest sense.

He is holy.

I am not purely myself, am I? Just speaking about my physical life, I am a mixture of all sorts of minerals and chemicals, and the home to all sorts of bacteria.

I must breathe and eat and drink, because my body is dependent upon foreign substances for survival.

I require the heat of the sun to remain alive.

I am dependent upon the earth for my physical existence: for the atmosphere that I breathe, for the food that I eat, for the water that I drink, for the gravity that keeps me not only here but functioning.

I am not self-existent; neither are you.