Holy, Holy, Holy

Main Scripture: Lev. 11:44

BIG IDEA: GOD’S holiness demands OUR holiness.

** Weave the Big Idea throughout Sermon **

Introduction

What do you think about when I say the word, “Holy”? What do you feel? ....“Holy.” We sing it don’t we? (“Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty”)…Do we know what it means?

I’m sure we’ve all heard of holy sites in different religions, and this is a picture of the Kaaba, the famous holy shrine in Mecca. It means something special to Muslims all over the world…why?

The Hindus in India worship cows & consider them “sacred.”

It seems like we’ve been created with this ache in our soul for the holy, the sacred.

Yet unholiness is everywhere today. Who else has browsed Netflix for something wholesome to watch with your family, only to be bombarded with all kinds of unholy things on the Home screen? How about social media? Tik Tok? Instagram? Facebook? I want to clarify - Netflix and Social Media are not inherently evil, but it doesn’t take long to see the unholiness everywhere in our culture today.

IS THERE ANYTHING SACRED ANYMORE? (heard or said?)

The answer is YES! (God & Christ-followers)

God is holy

Christ-followers are to be holy

Leviticus 11:44 NIV

44 I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

I. Holiness of God

A. Meaning of "Holy"

"Separate" or "Set Apart"; "Other"

"Holidays" are special days "set apart" from normal days

Moses + Burning Bush: the ground became "holy" bec. of the touch of God upon it.

Psalm 99:9 NIV

9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.

Illustration: Our obsession w/the Supernatural ( "Otherness")...Marvel

"Total Purity"

Habakkuk 1:13 NIV

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Isaiah 6:1–5 NIV

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Psalm 77:13 NIV

13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?

1 John 1:5 NIV

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Holiness is God's Nature: Who He is

B. God's Zeal for His Holiness

Some Examples...

Ezekiel 39:7 NIV

7 “ ‘I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel.

Revelation 15:4 NIV

4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

PRINCIPLE 1: God’s holiness means there is no one like God.

In Uniqueness

In Purity

II. Unholiness of Man

A. Sinful Nature

Adam's Disobedience in our DNA

Romans 5:19 NIV

19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Born into Sin

Psalm 51:5 NIV

5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

B. Sinful Actions

Romans 3:23 NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

1 John 1:8 NIV

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:10 NIV

10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Sin is Breaking God’s Law

1 John 3:4 NIV

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

C. Sinful Rebellion

Psalm 51:4 NIV

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

All sin is rebellion against a holy God.

PRINCIPLE 2: Our sin makes holiness impossible.

III. Holiness of Christ

A. Holy in Life

Sinless in Heart and Deed

1 Peter 2:22 NIV

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

Another way to think of the holiness or purity of Jesus would be that He is the “Clean One.” Purity = Cleanness

His Cleanness Healed Uncleanness

Imagine the shock of disciples when He touched a leper! (NO JESUS, STOP! YOU’LL BECOME UNCLEAN!)

What happened? He CLEANSED the UNCLEAN leper with the healing touch of His holy power.

Psalm 51:2 NIV

2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Our sin requires the cleansing touch of the Savior.

B. Holy in Death (Atonement)

Spotless Sacrifice

Hebrews 9:12–14 NIV

12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Forgiveness of Sin

One Sacrifice for all Time

Hebrews 10:11–17 NIV

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

PRINCIPLE 3: Christ’s finished work makes our holiness possible.

His Life

His Death

His Resurrection

IV. Holiness of Christ-Followers

A. God’s Plan

His Call to Holiness

Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

The Sacrifice of Jesus Enables Holiness

Hebrews 10:10 NIV

10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

B. God’s Purposes

Not exhaustive list...

Obedience

1 Peter 1:2 NIV

2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Christlikeness/Sanctification

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Praise

1 Peter 2:9 NIV

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

PRINCIPLE 4: We live holy lives through the power of God.

Father’s Plan

Son’s Achievement

Spirit’s Leadership

BIG IDEA: GOD’S holiness demands OUR holiness.

Response

We have all broken God’s law.

God’s holiness cannot tolerate our sin.

God’s holiness demands justice for our rebellion.

BUT…Jesus Paid It All! He endured the righteous wrath of God FOR YOU! It should’ve been YOU on that cross…it should’ve been me. He stood in our place & “while we were STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...” (Is. 1:18)

He can wash you clean today!

Christ-follower: He can wash you clean again! Repentance is not a one-time event. We are in daily need of His grace & forgiveness, to live with purity & holiness.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Will you confess your sin to Him? He will rush in to embrace you & say: “I forgive you.”