Made Holy
Notes from Scott Sutton's sermon on Sunday, May 10, 2026.
Sermon text: Exodus 29-30
Today we are diving into Exodus 29-30, and right at the end of Exodus 29, we read this...
"There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will
consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God."
We tend to read these verses as "how it was". However, for those reading these verses originally, it would have been read as "how it will be". How "what" will be? What we are reading today would have been read by them as "how God will meet with us, sanctify us, consecrate our leaders, dwell among us... how it will be for the Lord to be our God." Part of God's plan is for them to have certain responsibilities, tasks, and objectives so that the plan would be fulfilled. As you read through even just these 2 chapters, there is an overwhelming amount of information. It is like reading the details of a huge project and process. As a church, we are in the middle of a project too. So naturally, I decided it would make a lot of sense to break down all of the information in these 2 chapters into smaller pieces, organized into a proper spreadsheet. This is what we came up with:
[Show PDF of Spreadsheet]
It really helps to see it broken down into about 200 specific steps that rollout in about 14 phases. But then I took that information and kicked it over into a slide deck to help us really wrap our heads around what God was requiring from and for His people.
I think that when you read through these verses, it becomes quickly evident that you won't get it right with a cursory glance. It isn't enough to just scan over these details. It will take their full attention.
1.) Are you giving God your full attention?
Before any of the steps were taken regarding the sacrifices and offerings, the priests had to be consecrated. And it was a week-long process. In referencing these 7 days of consecration, A.W. Pink comments: "We are to accustom ourselves to be in the presence of God."
That word "consecrate"... qadesh - to render holy or set apart by means of religious rites; to
purge of ritual impurities; to deem to be set apart or sacred
Is there any part of your preparation for worship today that would indicate you value this time as sacred? Let's take a moment for consecration...
2.) God wants to meet with His people.
Some of us may not be giving God our full attention because we have forgotten that He wants to meet with us. To dwell with us. To tabernacle among us. He actually rescued us for that very purpose.
For many of us, that was once a big thing. For many of us, we had a point in life where we came under conviction that we were sinners in need of a Savior... that we had wronged a Holy God. We realized that we were dead in our trespasses and sins and that there was no possible way for us to take care of our own sin problem. And then we heard the Good News of the Gospel and a bright light shone in our darkness as we found out that Jesus died for our sins... that Jesus made a way where there was no way. For many of us, we reckoned with the scandal that our unrighteousness was placed on Jesus, and His perfect righteousness was imputed to us... It was counted as ours so that we might be reconciled to God. And in that moment, we were humbled and honored by the reality that God the Father gave His only Son so that He could dwell with us. So that we could be with Him! And such love and such sacrifice made us value being with Him.
Like A.W. Pink said, we have accustomed ourselves to be in the presence of God. And somewhere along the way, we became less accustomed. We weren't opening the Word of God throughout the week. We weren't going to God in prayer. At some point, some of us decided that maybe corporate worship wasn't such a high priority with all of these competing activities and so little time.
Attendance in the Christian church is down. Attendance in our church is down. And if you
are here today or listening online and you feel more comfortable scrolling on your phone for hours each day than you feel comfortable in the presence of God with His people and in His Word, I just want you to know that it doesn't have to stay that way. And the crazy thing is that there's not some long list of things you have to do to fix this problem. You just ask God for help.
3.) You are not meant for unholiness.
Notice that the priesthood was to be made holy through instruction.
Notice that the priests’ garments were made holy with blood and oil.
Notice how Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the head of the bull offering, transferring their sins to the sacrifice so that they would be holy.
Notice how the blood of the bull is dabbed on the horns of the altar, and the rest was poured out at the base of the altar. It was holy and not to be used for anything else.
Notice that the flesh and hide were burned as a sacrifice for sins outside of the camp, reminding us that Jesus died outside the camp ‘to make the people holy through his own blood’ (Heb. 13:12)
Notice how the other bull was killed, and the blood was put on the tip of the right ear, the thumbs of the right hands, and the big toes of the right foot of Aaron and his sons.
At the end of the day, you would look at the priests and the garments and the curtains and the altar and the basin and everything else and know that it was holy, because it was covered in blood.
Hebrews 9:21-22 says, "And in the same way he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
4.) With the blood of Jesus, your sins are forgiven.
If you are sitting here thinking, "I don't feel holy", I want you to know that holiness isn't a
feeling. It’s an act of God. We are sanctified and made more like Jesus by God's glory. It is in His presence that we not only feel holy, but are made holy.
Hebrews 13:15-16 "Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,
that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
Discipleship Questions:
Sermon text: Exodus 29-30
Today we are diving into Exodus 29-30, and right at the end of Exodus 29, we read this...
"There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will
consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God."
We tend to read these verses as "how it was". However, for those reading these verses originally, it would have been read as "how it will be". How "what" will be? What we are reading today would have been read by them as "how God will meet with us, sanctify us, consecrate our leaders, dwell among us... how it will be for the Lord to be our God." Part of God's plan is for them to have certain responsibilities, tasks, and objectives so that the plan would be fulfilled. As you read through even just these 2 chapters, there is an overwhelming amount of information. It is like reading the details of a huge project and process. As a church, we are in the middle of a project too. So naturally, I decided it would make a lot of sense to break down all of the information in these 2 chapters into smaller pieces, organized into a proper spreadsheet. This is what we came up with:
[Show PDF of Spreadsheet]
It really helps to see it broken down into about 200 specific steps that rollout in about 14 phases. But then I took that information and kicked it over into a slide deck to help us really wrap our heads around what God was requiring from and for His people.
I think that when you read through these verses, it becomes quickly evident that you won't get it right with a cursory glance. It isn't enough to just scan over these details. It will take their full attention.
1.) Are you giving God your full attention?
Before any of the steps were taken regarding the sacrifices and offerings, the priests had to be consecrated. And it was a week-long process. In referencing these 7 days of consecration, A.W. Pink comments: "We are to accustom ourselves to be in the presence of God."
That word "consecrate"... qadesh - to render holy or set apart by means of religious rites; to
purge of ritual impurities; to deem to be set apart or sacred
Is there any part of your preparation for worship today that would indicate you value this time as sacred? Let's take a moment for consecration...
2.) God wants to meet with His people.
Some of us may not be giving God our full attention because we have forgotten that He wants to meet with us. To dwell with us. To tabernacle among us. He actually rescued us for that very purpose.
For many of us, that was once a big thing. For many of us, we had a point in life where we came under conviction that we were sinners in need of a Savior... that we had wronged a Holy God. We realized that we were dead in our trespasses and sins and that there was no possible way for us to take care of our own sin problem. And then we heard the Good News of the Gospel and a bright light shone in our darkness as we found out that Jesus died for our sins... that Jesus made a way where there was no way. For many of us, we reckoned with the scandal that our unrighteousness was placed on Jesus, and His perfect righteousness was imputed to us... It was counted as ours so that we might be reconciled to God. And in that moment, we were humbled and honored by the reality that God the Father gave His only Son so that He could dwell with us. So that we could be with Him! And such love and such sacrifice made us value being with Him.
Like A.W. Pink said, we have accustomed ourselves to be in the presence of God. And somewhere along the way, we became less accustomed. We weren't opening the Word of God throughout the week. We weren't going to God in prayer. At some point, some of us decided that maybe corporate worship wasn't such a high priority with all of these competing activities and so little time.
Attendance in the Christian church is down. Attendance in our church is down. And if you
are here today or listening online and you feel more comfortable scrolling on your phone for hours each day than you feel comfortable in the presence of God with His people and in His Word, I just want you to know that it doesn't have to stay that way. And the crazy thing is that there's not some long list of things you have to do to fix this problem. You just ask God for help.
3.) You are not meant for unholiness.
Notice that the priesthood was to be made holy through instruction.
Notice that the priests’ garments were made holy with blood and oil.
Notice how Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the head of the bull offering, transferring their sins to the sacrifice so that they would be holy.
Notice how the blood of the bull is dabbed on the horns of the altar, and the rest was poured out at the base of the altar. It was holy and not to be used for anything else.
Notice that the flesh and hide were burned as a sacrifice for sins outside of the camp, reminding us that Jesus died outside the camp ‘to make the people holy through his own blood’ (Heb. 13:12)
Notice how the other bull was killed, and the blood was put on the tip of the right ear, the thumbs of the right hands, and the big toes of the right foot of Aaron and his sons.
At the end of the day, you would look at the priests and the garments and the curtains and the altar and the basin and everything else and know that it was holy, because it was covered in blood.
Hebrews 9:21-22 says, "And in the same way he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
4.) With the blood of Jesus, your sins are forgiven.
If you are sitting here thinking, "I don't feel holy", I want you to know that holiness isn't a
feeling. It’s an act of God. We are sanctified and made more like Jesus by God's glory. It is in His presence that we not only feel holy, but are made holy.
Hebrews 13:15-16 "Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,
that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
Discipleship Questions:
- Are you giving God your full attention?
- What are some steps we can take to accustom ourselves to be in the presence of God
- Have you lost sight of the crazy reality that God wants to meet with us?
- When looking at the tabernacle and all of the utensils and garments, how would you know that they were holy?
- Why is it important to remember that holiness isn't a feeling?
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