Message: OMG! – Holy God
I.
Introduction
a. Over the next few weeks we are going to be
talking about different character traits of God. Beyond this, God desires us to be like him,
so we will show how we can live out that characteristic in our own lives.
b. Tonight we are going to look at the character
trait of being holy.
i.
Leviticus
20:26b says, “…I, the Lord, am holy,”
ii.
We have
a God who is holy
II.
Body
a. But what does it mean that God is holy?
i.
The word
means pure or morally blameless, not a single defect
ii.
Illus:
My glasses
1. When I first got them they were perfect, not
a scratch, not a defect, I could see out of them and they helped correct my
vision problems
2. They still help me see but they now have marks
on them, both smudges from my greasy face that are easily removed as well as a
scratch and small chip. Because of that
they are no longer perfect, they have defects and my vision through them isn’t
completely perfect.
iii.
When we
say that God is holy we are saying that he is perfect when it comes to right
and wrong. He always does the right
thing and he never does the wrong thing.
There is nothing someone can say that he has done wrong. He is perfect, without one defect.
iv.
Now when
we talk about holiness we are really talking about his character, who he is
deep down on the inside. But from that
character of holiness flows out holy actions.
Because he is internally holy, he is externally holy. His actions don’t make him holy, his holy
nature makes him holy and because of that he can’t help but do holy actions.
III.
Conclusion
a. Are any of you holy? No you are all messed up, you have greasy
smudges that can be easily removed but then you also have chips and scratches.
b. Yet when we read from 1st Peter
1:15-16 we find that God desires us to be holy too. It says, “But just as He who called you is
holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am
holy.’”
c. But if you aren’t God, which none of us are, how
then can you be holy?
d. Illus: I once heard a preacher explain these
verses this way.
i.
If you
signed up for a math class or literature class (whichever is most intimidating
for you) and you showed up and the teacher started off by saying, “You will
make an ‘A’ in this class! You will do
it. I am a great teacher and you must
make an ‘A’. This material is nearly
impossible but you will make an ‘A’” you would have a very difficult time
wanting to attend that class.
ii.
But if you walked into that same class and the
teacher instead said, “You are going to make an ‘A’ in this class. You will do it, because I am a great teacher
and I will spend time with you and help you make that ‘A’. You can do it, even though the material seems
nearly impossible you will make an ‘A’.” you would have less of a problem
staying in that class.
iii.
In one
the A is your responsibility alone and you don’t have the resources to actually
make it happen
iv.
In the
other the A is your responsibility still but now the teacher is going to help
you do it so that you can actually make it happen with his help.
e. When God says, “I am holy, you by holy in the
same way, he isn’t saying, “do it all on your own or else. Even though I know you couldn’t possibly do
it on your own.” Instead he is saying,
“Be holy, because I am and I will help you be holy, not by your own power or
actions but because of me helping you.
f.
We can
be holy when we allow Jesus to change us from the inside through the work of
the Holy Spirit. And then because we
have the character of holiness on the inside the actions on the outside will
start matching.
g. We can’t just suddenly start doing holy
actions and stop doing unholy ones, we must first allow God to clean out our
inside and give us the character of holiness.
h. Are there any of you who want that? Pray
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