Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme.  I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How  are you today? 

Steve: I'm wet. I feel like I'm living in the Amazon Rainforest. 

Scott: Oh, yeah. Well, that's the summer so far, man. 

Steve: Yeah, and badly as I'm feeling it, I'm certainly notes wet as Texas. God bless  them. It's been something. I keep waiting for it to let up. I think this is supposed to  happen in the spring, but here we are. 

We were talking a couple podcasts ago, about the ordered prayers that I go through  daily and currently have 21 of them. Each one of them is several pages long, and  they're all organized around an attribute of God. 

The reason that I chose this format if from Psalm 100, it says, "Make a joyful noise to  Jehovah, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with  singing." 

As you know, if you've been listening to these podcasts, the Holy Spirit quickened that  Psalm to me, and that's why I begin my ordered prayers with making a joyful noise,  serving with gladness, coming into his presence with singing. 

Sandwiched in between these, what I call action verbs, to serve, make a joyful noise,  sing, there's the wonderful verse in the third and again in the fifth verse, "Know that  Jehovah, He is God. It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people and the  sheep of His pasture." There's the first one. "Know that Jehovah is God. He's our  

creator. He's our shepherd." 

In the fifth verse of Psalm 100, it says, "He's good, His steadfast love endures forever,  His faithfulness to all generations.” I have ordered prayers focused on His steadfast  love, His faithfulness, and His goodness. This is observed this pattern to zero in on  attributes and characteristics of God. The first one is, God is holy. In church one  Sunday, our pastor talked about the aseity of God. Have you ever heard that word  before? 

Scott: No. 

Steve: A‑S‑E‑I‑T‑Y. People that have followed R. C. Sproul, have heard him talk  about God's aseity. What it means is, is that God is self‑existent, self‑sufficient. He  comes wholly from himself. He depends on no external source. 

It comes from the Latin roots meaning from oneself. In other words, God is. When He  introduced Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14, He said, "I am who I am." That's it. He  has always been. He always will be. He's eternally self‑existent. He is God, and He is  holy. 

That's why we're going to start with this one, now let's pray. Father, we love and  worship You, the Holy One of Israel, the one Who is and Who always has been and  Who always will be. It is pretty hard for us humans to grasp Your aseity, Your  holiness, Your eternal nature. Help us today. Give us insights we haven't had before.  

Help us as we speak and contemplate these wonderful array of scriptures and their  roots. Help us to grasp more of Your holiness, in Jesus's name. Amen. Scott: Amen. 

Steve: I woke up this morning though with a different verse than I had in my notes as  I've been preparing for this before, and it was Isaiah 57:15 which says, "Thus says the  One Who is high and lifted up, Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is holy." Wonderful  passage which fits right in with the theme. 

He goes on to say, "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a  contrite and lowly spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the  contrite." That's the God that we serve and love. He is holy. He is high and lifted up,  and He does inhabit eternity. 

He also dwells with those of us who are broken, lowly, contrite, and need to be  revived and encouraged. Before we jump into the high and the holy, remember that  God is also the one Who took the form of a baby. 

Another verse to encourage us to know God is found in Jeremiah 9:23‑24. "Thus says  Jehovah, 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in  his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in  this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Jehovah Who practices steadfast  love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,' declares  Jehovah." 

There's so much packed into that one passage because it's a priority re‑shifter, if I  can put it that way. Because naturally, people boast of their wisdom and their degrees  and how smart they are. They boast in how strong they are, how powerful they are,  how much influence they have. 

We naturally boast about how much money we have and our possessions, and God  says, "No. No. No. No. No. None of that's important. Here's what you want to boast  about. This is what you want to focus on. 

"You need to understand and know Me and know that I'm working in your world, and  I'm practicing love, justice, and righteousness, and in these things, that's what blesses  Me. This is where I take pleasure in seeing My children practicing love, justice, and  righteousness just like I do." Great verse. It's a good one to read on a regular basis. 1 Samuel 2:2, "There is none holy like Jehovah, for there is none besides You." Isaiah  45:5, and if you've ever read, well, I know you have and I have, but there's a bunch of  chapters right in the Isaiah 40s that are of this ilk, "I am Jehovah, and there is none  else. Besides Me, there is no God." 

I love those passages. He clears the air. He says, "Look. I'm up here in heaven. I'm  looking around. There's nobody but Me, and I am Jehovah, period." Boom. Now there are three words, primary words that we're going to look at in the Hebrew.  There's another one in Greek, and there's a corollary. We're going to look at five  words in their original languages. In Hebrew, they're all similar. 

Remember in Hebrew, look for the three consonants. You have in English, a Q, a D,  and an SH. We have qodesh, kadash, kadesh, but they're all from the same roots.  

Then in Greek, you have hagios, and there's a corollary which is badal, which we'll  come to in a second. 

I have a couple verses for each of these words to give us a flavor, and I hope you sit  back and listen to them. Because not only is God holy, He's also calls us to be holy. It  says in Leviticus 19:2, "You shall be holy for I, Jehovah your God, am holy." It says in 1 John 4:17, "As He is, so also are we in this world." We've been discussing  the last couple podcasts about guys like Elijah and Moses. They did not fit in this  present world. We, if I can extrapolate a little bit, like the 7,000 who did not kiss Baal,  we are not going to fit in this world. 

Because that's one of the meanings, another English word to help us understand the  word holy, it means to be consecrated, to be separated, to be not fitting. We're not  being conformed to this present world. 

This is what God tells us way back in Leviticus 19:2, you're supposed to be holy  because I'm holy, and you're being transformed into My image. Strong's Hebrew  number 6944, qodesh. It's a noun. It means holiness, sacredness, sanctuary. It's only  used 464 times. 

Exodus 3:5, when Moses first meets God on the mountain at the fiery burning bush.  "Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are  standing is holy ground." Almost word for word the same as Joshua 5:15, when Moses  had passed on, I don't know what happened to him, but you know what I mean, and  then Joshua, same thing. 

He met God, and God said, "Take your sandals off because where I am, this is a holy  place." Not only are there places near God that are holy, Exodus 31:14, "You shall  keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to  death." We don't understand this enough in our culture. 

We think every day is the same, and yet, one of the 10 commandments, Sabbath.  When He had created the world, Sabbath. That was even before He gave the law in the  time of Exodus and Moses. It's built into us, and we need to keep this day. Leviticus 24:5‑9, talking about the showbread, the bread of His presence, "You shall  take fine flour and bake 12 cakes with it. It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall  eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him from Jehovah's offerings by fire, His  portion forever." 

I spent some time looking up that word, and it's qodesh, qodeshim. It's like it's holy,  holy. It's most holy. It's used like 80‑some times in the Bible, something like that, but  it's most holy. Eat it in a holy place, for this bread is most holy. 

When I read that, one of the things I think about is communion, which is a holy Lord's  Supper, which we need to eat it with other believers, Aaron and his sons, the priests,  and it's most holy. 

Next verse or word is the verb. We just read about the noun. The verb form is qadash,  which is to consecrate, or to sanctify, or to make holy, or to set apart, and it's 175  times. 

This is what I hope what people will benefit from listening to these podcasts is, now,  when you go through the Bible, take a highlighter or note all the times that that word  holy is used, and don't let us get used to it. It's special. 

Exodus 13:2, "Consecrate to me all the firstborn." Consecrate. Set them apart.  "Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and  beast, is Mine." 

Numbers 3:11‑13, "Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, 'Now behold, I have taken the  Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the  womb among the sons of Israel, so the Levites shall be Mine, for all the firstborn are  Mine on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. "I sanctified to myself all the firstborn in Israel from man to beast, they shall be Mine.  I am Jehovah."' Consecrate, sanctify, set apart. They're Mine. They're different. They  don't fit. They are Mine. 

Numbers 20:12‑13, "Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not believe  in Me to uphold Me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not  bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.' These are the waters of  Meribah where the people of Israel quarreled with Jehovah, and through them He  showed Himself holy." 

Why? Moses must have lay in bed for decades wishing he had just spoken to the rock,  which God directed him instead of hitting the rock, because he did not treat Him as  God. He did not show Himself as holy. Didn't set Him apart. Didn't sanctify Him. Isaiah 8, "Jehovah of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear. Let Him  be your dread." Leviticus 11:44, "I am Jehovah your God. Consecrate yourself  therefore and be holy, for I am holy. Be holy for I am holy." 

This is where our focus needs to be. Don't fit, be separated, be sanctified, be  consecrate yourself. We've had the noun and the verb, here comes the adjective,  which is used 118 times. Holy, sacred, set apart. 

Exodus 19:6, "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." He chose  them. He chose them out of all the nations of the world. He chose them to be His, a  kingdom of priests. Leviticus 11:45, "I am Jehovah who brought you up out of the  land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." That phrase, "be holy, for I am holy," I found eight times in the Bible, really close,  almost the same. Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts. The whole earth is  full of His glory." Now there's another word, which I think I've made the case. I don't need to spend too much time on it. It doesn't mean holy, but it does mean to  divide or separate. It's badal. The first time it's used in the Bible is Genesis 1:4, "God  saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness." 42  times. 

In Leviticus, badal is used in the same sentence with qodesh, which we've already  looked at, to demonstrate that our separation is not only from but to. I think that's  really important. We're not being different to be different. We're being different,  separated, sanctified, set apart, consecrated, so we can be like God and near God. 

Leviticus 20, "I am Jehovah your God Who has separated you from the peoples. You  shall be holy to me, for I, Jehovah, am holy and have separated you from the peoples  that you should be Mine." We're not called to be different. We're called to be His. It's  huge distinction. Let's jump to the New Testament where we see this concept of  separation. 

I think one of the most powerful scriptures is 2 Corinthians 6:14‑18. "Do not be  unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with  lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with  Belial? What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the  temple of God with idols?" 

Boy, Paul's working hard to make his point. Then he says, "We are the temple of the  living God. As God said, 'I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them,  and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Therefore, 'Come out from  among them. Be separate,' says the Lord. 

"'Touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you, and I will be a Father to you, and  you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty." Wow. The word in the New Testament is hagios, which is used 235 times. Revelation 4:8  reminds me of Isaiah 6, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and who  is and who is to come." I added some notes this morning as I've been going over my  notes before, "We are being transformed and conformed into the image of Jesus, Who  is the Holy Son of God, by the Holy Spirit." 

Oh, that's the one that's used 89 times in the New Testament, that expression, Holy  Spirit. Here's a couple passages. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit." 1  Corinthians 6:19. The Holy Spirit is our greatest asset. 

We can't gird up our loins and says, "We need to be holy, we need to be holy." We  need to give place and honor the Holy Spirit within us to make us like Jesus, the Holy  Son of God. 

Romans 8:29, "Those whom He foreknew," that's us, believers, "He also predestined  to be conformed to the image of His son." You want to know what you're going to be  when you grow up? You're going to be like Jesus. That's it. 

Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the  renewing of your mind." Luke 1:35, "The angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will  come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the  child to be born will be called holy, the son of God.'" 

I'm going to wrap it up with this passage here. This is the NLT version. I feel like it did  a better job of translating it. It's 1 Peter 1:14‑16. "Live as God's obedient children.  Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. "You didn't know any better then, but now you must be holy in everything. You do  just as God who chose you is holy. For the scriptures say, 'You must be holy because I  am holy."' 

We know that's one of the eight times it appears in the scripture, and the first time is  in Leviticus 11. One more reason to read Leviticus because it's about being a Levitical.  

It's about being priestly. It's about being like God, being separate, being consecrated,  being His. I know we're pushing the envelope a little bit, Scott, but what do you have  to offer? 

Scott: At the beginning, you read a verse and somewhere in the middle, it was the  coming to His presence with singing and all that, and then there was a part where it  was sort of, "Know that I am God" kind of thing. 

Steve: Yes. Psalm 100. 

Scott: That word reminded me of Psalm 46:10 where he says, "Be still and know that I  am God." 

Steve: Amen. 

Scott: Then when you were talking about His aseity, the other verse that came to  mind was John 8, where Jesus says, "Even if I testify on My own behalf, My testimony  is valid for I know where I came from and where I am going." 

Scott: That's 8:14. I said, again, it's part of that larger idea of how holy He is, and we  can stand in awe of Him. The other one was Habakkuk 2:20, "The Lord is in His holy  temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him." 

Steve: Ooh, that's a good one too. They're all good. 

Scott: When you consider the weight of His holiness, I think being still is about all I've  got, like and be in awe of Him. 

Steve: Amen. The more we are still and focus, the more we become like Him. We  become what we look at. We're transformed not by what we think and what we aspire  to, but by being in His holy presence, being filled with His Holy Spirit. It's all through the Bible. Really hard to do in one podcast, but well, let's pray. Father,  help us as we read Your scriptures, as we consider Your nature. Give us ears to hear  what we need to hear and give us eyes to see more of your holiness around us and in  Your word and make us more like You. 

We know that that's what You're about. You're conforming us to the image of Your  son. You're transforming us. You're making us more and more separate, and we don't  fight that. We don't want to go back to our old way of living. We want to be fitted now  for eternity. Make us Yours. 

Help us to worship, draw near to You. Thank You that You not only inhabit eternity,  but You dwell with those who are poor and contrite in spirit. In Jesus' name. Thank  You for Your holiness. Thank You for Your commitment to us. Thank You for being  our dad. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the  Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the  show, email Steve at spdemme@gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.