Friends, before we look to God's word this morning, let's be reminded that the God whose word we are called to trust and obey is incomparably holy. And this holy God has graciously set us apart in Christ as a holy priesthood for his glory. Beloved, there is none holy like the Lord. For there is none besides him. There is no other God except him. There is no rock like our God. Let's be careful how we...
Listen to his word. And may he give us the strength to glorify him through our obedience. So with that in mind, let me now invite you. to turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10, and we'll look at verses 1 to 20, the entire chapter. Now let's ask the Lord for his help as we approach his word. Let's pray. Father, we pray that as we hear your word, you would stir our hearts to not only believe it,
but to also hold fast to these precious truths and obey your words. May we obey them knowing that you delight in the obedience of your children. Lord, grant that we would delight in the wisdom of your word, that we would see these words as faith-building and sanctifying and life-giving. May we see the glory of our Savior, tremble at His majesty, and marvel at His grace. May we see His glory and grow in humility and love.
Be glorified in the midst of your people. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. In 1993, David Wells, in his famous book, No Place for Truth, argued that churches had lost their vision of god as holy and he wrote it is this majestic and holy in his being. This God whose love knows no bounds because his holiness knows no limits. It is this God who has disappeared from the modern evangelical world.
He has been replaced in many quarters by a God who is slick and slack, whose moral purposes turn out to be advice from a friendly uncle. that we can disregard or negotiate as we see fit. A God whose word is a plaything for those who wish to merely listen to themselves, whose church is a mall. in which the religious, their pockets filled with the coin of need, do their business. We seek happiness, not righteousness. We want to be fulfilled, not filled.
We're interested in satisfaction, not a holy dissatisfaction with all that is wrong. Now, Wells also argued that without a proper understanding of the holiness of God, sin and grace lose their true meaning. Divorced from the holiness of God, he wrote, is merely self-defeating behavior or breach in etiquette. Divorced from the holiness of God, grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing.
for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation divorced from the holiness of god our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines. Divorced from the holiness of God, our worship becomes mere entertainment. The holiness of God is the very cornerstone of the christian faith because it is the foundation of reality you see sin is the defiance of god's holiness the cross is the outworking and victory of god's holiness
Faith is the recognition of God's holiness. Knowing that God is holy is therefore key to knowing life as it truly is. Christ as he truly is, knowing why he came and knowing how life will end, end quote. Friends, knowing the holiness of God is essential to our Christian lives. Jesus said in John 17, verse 3, that eternal life is knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ our Savior.
Because of what Christ has done, we now have fellowship with God because we have been united to the Lord Jesus by His Holy Spirit. And therefore to know the triune God is to know him who is holy and be transformed into a holy people. into his holy likeness. It is to gaze on the beauty of his holiness and spiritually thrive, just like flowers blossom and bloom under the radiance of the sun.
Now when the Lord redeemed the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and entered into a covenant with them, he revealed himself, he showed himself to be a holy redeemer. And the people of Israel very quickly realized that God's holiness was lethal to sinners. They got a glimpse of that when he revealed his visible glory on Mount Sinai. In Exodus 24, verse 17, we read that the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire in their sight.
Why even the sound of his voice was so unbearable and frightening that the people asked Moses to mediate God's words to them. And yet the goal of the Exodus, the goal of Israel's redemption was to set them apart for the Lord himself. So that they could draw near to their Redeemer. So that they could... worship him so that in obeying the Lord and keeping his covenant, they would become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
The Lord makes this clear in Leviticus 11, verse 45. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy. for I am holy. And so God himself graciously brought them near. He enabled their worship. He made a way for his redeemed people to approach him through an appointed priesthood and a system of sacrifices in the tabernacle.
Israel's worship was to be regulated by God's covenantal word, centered on sacrifice, and mediated through a priesthood. God did this so that His holiness would be put on display to the surrounding nations through the distinct corporate worship of His people and through their distinct lifestyles. And so you can imagine the excitement and trembling at the very first worship service at the tabernacle.
We read in Leviticus 9 verse 24 that just as God had promised, His visible glory appeared to the people in the form of a devouring fire, a fire that did not harm them. but consumed instead their sacrifices, signifying that God had accepted their sacrifices. And when all the people saw it, they shouted with joy and fell on their faces in worship.
After all, following an entire week of consecrating the priests, public worship had finally been inaugurated in Israel. And it was a day of great rejoicing. Because the God who judged the mighty Egyptians, the God who parted the Red Sea, the God who thundered at Sinai was now with them as their covenant king. And they could draw near to him. But all of a sudden, all of a sudden, this joyful occasion turns into a day of mourning when the very people...
who are supposed to lead Israel in worship, the priests, they disregard God's holiness and are judged for it. Now, I suspect as... New Covenant believers, our temptation is to walk away from texts like these and say, you know what, I'm so glad that the law has been fulfilled in Christ. All these sacrifices have been fulfilled in him. He has called me to himself. His Holy Spirit abides in me. Thank God the church is the new temple. And so do we really need to worry about fire?
falling from heaven and judging us and all that stuff. I suspect that there are many who think that way. But friends, remember that the church Yes, the church is the new temple. Yes, the Spirit abides in us and among us. But remember that the church is also called a holy priesthood. In 1 Peter 2.5, And we are called to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Moreover, Paul tells us that even though the people of Israel did many things that were
not pleasing to the Lord. All of those things were written down. They were recorded for us as examples so that we might not do the same things they did. So that we might not desire evil as they did. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 6. So friends, there's much here that can help us in our Christian worship and in our Christian walk. And so as we look at chapter 10, we will consider three things. First, a strange fire. Two, strong words. And three, a sober decision.
Strange fire, strong words, and a sober decision. But first, what should grab our attention is this strange fire or... unauthorized fire we see in the text. Now if you look very closely you'll see that chapters 8 to 10 form one unit. Chapter 8 describes the ordination ceremony of the priests. Chapter 9 describes the eighth day when the ordination is completed and sacrifices are offered. And chapter 10 describes something shocking that happens on the very same day.
day. Imagine that. There are quite a few priestly responsibilities that are yet to be completed when this tragedy strikes. And so here's what happens. Look at verse 1 of chapter 10. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it. and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire literally strange fire before the lord which he had not commanded them
And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. The same fire... that consumed the sacrifices in chapter 9, verse 24, consumed these men, and they died. Can you imagine the horror that Aaron and his other sons would have felt? Imagine the great fear that would have come upon the congregation that was just a few minutes ago shouting with joy.
Now if we are going to make sense of this passage, we must first begin by looking at that last phrase in verse 1. All through chapters 8 and 9, it is the obedience of the priests. That is highlighted for us. Repeatedly we see this phrase. As the Lord commanded. As the Lord commanded they did. But for the first time. We hear something that was done. In the presence of the Lord. Which he. had not commanded and it was done by two of his priests the son of Aaron named Nadab and Abihu
Now we know that the Lord had called Aaron and four of his sons to serve him as priests, namely Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer, and Itamar. These men were not rookies. It was Nadab and Abihu, if you remember, who Moses took along with Aaron to eat a fellowship meal with the Lord on Mount Sinai. You can read about that in Exodus 24. They saw the God of Israel, or at least a visible form of him, and ate and drank in his holy presence. But these men were also from the tribe of Levi.
a tribe that was set apart for God's service on another sorrowful occasion, if you remember. That incident is recorded for us in Exodus 32, when Moses came down from the mountain and he found what? People. worshiping the golden calf and when he called on the people to take the lord's side against this horrible rebellion it was the sons of levi who stepped forward
And they were then tasked by Moses to kill every idolater, even if they were from their own family. And that day, 3,000 people died at the hands of a Levite execution squad. People who thought that they could worship the Lord in any way they pleased. And for their irreverence and false worship, they died. But the Levites... were blessed by God because they took the Lord's side against their own family members.
And Moses said to them, Exodus 32 verse 29, Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day. Now all that to say that these priests should have known better. And they should have not done what they did. Now, the text says that each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized or strange fire before the Lord. Now, a censer is a portable fire pan.
in which you could carry hot coals from the bronze altar, put special incense on it, and then offer it to the Lord. The rising incense symbolized the prayers of the priests and the people making the sacrifices. But on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would take the censer into the most holy place inside the veil and offer it in the Lord's presence.
And smoke from the incense had a very practical function. It provided a cover for the mercy seat so the high priest would not be able to look upon the Lord's presence directly and die. Now, the text says that they offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded. God did not ask them to do that. But the question is, what did they do?
Now it's possible that instead of taking coals from the bronze altar, which they were supposed to, Leviticus 16 verse 12, they took coals from another source, perhaps an oven nearby. making this offering profane. In that case, it would make sense why the Lord strongly warns the priests in verse 10 to distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean.
But there's more to this, and I think it becomes clear when you read Leviticus 16, verse 1 and 2. So look at Leviticus 16, verses 1 to 2. This is the center of the whole book, the Day of Atonement. And notice that it picks up right after Nadab and Abihu's death. Look at Leviticus 16 verses 1 to 2. After the death of the two sons of Aaron. When they drew near before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses. Tell Aaron your brother.
not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. So it appears that Nadab and Abihu might have tried to enter the most holy place, which they were not supposed to, and they offered strange fire. And beloved, for this presumptuousness and disregard for the Lord's holiness, he struck them dead. I wonder what you think of the Lord's response here.
Perhaps some of you might be thinking, isn't that a little too harsh? After all, these men were not immoral pagans. They were holy priests. God could have turned a blind eye to a misstep, an error, a ceremonial blunder, perhaps. But brothers and sisters, I want to say to you that the reason you think that way is because you do not grasp how utterly and infinitely holy God is. To presume upon him... or to disregard or disobey his word is to have a very low view of his holy nature.
Beloved, God's holiness is much more than his moral purity. Yes, God is infinitely pure and good and just, and in him there is no sin, no evil. But his holiness is the perfection and excellency of his very nature. And that means his power is holy power. His love is holy love. His grace is holy grace. His wisdom is holy wisdom. His mercy is holy mercy. And his hatred of sin is holy hatred. He is incomparably and uncompromisingly holy.
There is no one like Him. He is altogether set apart. He is without flaw, without defect. He is all-sufficient, all-knowing, and almighty. His holiness is everything that separates the Creator from Him. his creation it is the very godness of god think about it day and night angels who were created by him holy beings who have never sinned Cover their faces and cry out in his presence, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Friends, if this is who our God is,
then we need to rightly understand our creatureliness and our sinfulness before God. And so if we look at this judgment and we call it severe, And it's simply a reflection of our arrogance and presumptuousness. These men who were sinners themselves had seen how God had redeemed them and provided for them the means of atonement to draw near to him in worship.
But instead of approaching him with reverence and being careful to obey him, they had the audacity to think that they could barge into the throne room of the king as they pleased. Brothers and sisters, we need to look at sin and disobedience as God looks at it. If you look at a sinful act in isolation, Every time you disobey God's Word, or every time you fail to obey Him, if you focus on that sin alone, you will always, always minimize your sin.
But when you lift up your eyes and you consider who you've sinned against, you will realize that his holy judgment is not severe at all. As John Calvin once said, if we reflect on how holy a thing the worship of God is, the enormity of the punishment will by no means offend us. is not something to be trifled with. His Word is His Holy Word, and we dare not approach it frivolously or casually.
I think it would be a huge mistake if you just read this passage and said to yourself, well, that's just under the Old Testament. Well, brothers and sisters, God has not changed. Not one bit. And you know what? We should be thankful for that. If God is unchanging, then his promises to us in Christ are also unchanging.
He is altogether holy. And it is the New Testament that tells us in Hebrews 12, 29, that because this holy God has brought us into his kingdom through Christ, we must approach him with reverence and awe because he... is a consuming fire. Beloved, if our worship is our response to who God is and what He has done for us in Christ as revealed to us in His Word. then God calls us to trust and obey Him. We must glorify Him through simple, childlike faith and obedience.
You know, this is not something that we have to figure out on our own. God explicitly says this to his people. Look at verse 3. Then Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord has said. Among those who are near me, that's the priests who serve in the tabernacle, I will be sanctified. What does this mean? God is saying I will be regarded as holy. It's the first line in the Lord's Prayer, isn't it? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. May your name be regarded as holy. That's what we want.
That's what we should be praying for. God says this immediately after striking Nadab and Abihu. And friends, therefore, we ought to read these words as a gracious warning. to the rest of those who were alive that day. God says, you will regard me as a holy God or else... And before all the people I will be glorified. I will be made much of in the sight of all. How? By acknowledging him as holy and being careful to attend to his word.
Friends, this is what lies at the heart of all true worship, to respond with a simple trust and obedience. This is what glorifies God. Beloved, when God gives you a command, He gives it to you with perfect wisdom. He gives it to you with perfect wisdom and perfect knowledge of what will do you good. God does not need our suggestions and opinions. And so it would be remarkably foolish on our part to think that we know better or that we can follow him in our own way.
Brothers and sisters, God does not want theological innovators. He wants faithful servants. He doesn't want creative thinkers when it comes to obedience. He wants Christ-like disciples who deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him. The only rule of holiness for the Christian. The only rule of holiness for the Christian is the obedience of faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus alone. Beloved, we dare not presume upon His holiness.
Or trivialize his majesty. If we trivialize his holiness. Then everything else gets trivialized. His mercy will be trivialized. His love. will be trivialized. Here's how that works. If you minimize His holiness, disobey His word, give in to your sin, believing that God will forgive you later. Aren't you minimizing his mercy? Making light of it? Aren't you presuming that he's going to give you the grace of repentance in the future?
In your disobedience, aren't you dishonoring the very one you are counting on to save you from your willful defiance? You know, the unbelieving world disregards God's holiness, and looks at his word as outdated and irrelevant and foolish. While we, if we're honest, often find ourselves... negotiating with God in our hearts, trying to find excuses, pacifying our consciences by saying, oh, these are exceptional circumstances. God will understand.
Brothers and sisters, how is that any less than defiance? Is that not an insult to the infinite wisdom? of an eternal God who is perfectly sovereign over our lives and circumstances? I want you to think about all the things that you know. that God calls you to do as a member of this church? To disciple one another, to encourage one another, to love in good works, to serve one another, to give generously, to be hospitable.
Teaching you to obey everything that I have commanded you. All those things that Jesus calls you to do. I want you to think about all of God's holy commands. And think about the excuses that you have been making. over the years. And ask yourself, have I been upholding the Lord as holy? No doubt Aaron would have had many questions and objections in his heart. But as soon as Moses spoke of God demanding that his holiness be upheld, Aaron kept silent. Look at the text. And Aaron held his peace.
Aaron knew what God had said was absolutely right and true. Brothers and sisters, this response that we see here from Aaron, ought to characterize every believer who understands that God is holy. We ought to be humble and submit ourselves to God's word with fear and trembling. The Lord says in Isaiah 66 verse 2, This is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Beloved, God's words are not empty words.
He accomplishes all his purposes through them. And therefore, we ought to hold fast to them in simple, childlike faith. Jesus said in John 6, 63, the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. You know, Nadab and Abihu presumed that they could do what God had commanded them not to do, and they were judged for it. And their defiled bodies, now unclean, had to be carried outside the camp.
Look at verses 4 and 5. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uziel, the uncle of Aaron, so relatives of the family, and said to them, Come near, carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary. And out of the camp. So the tabernacle and its premises were holy. The camp of the Israelites was common but clean. And they had to pay careful attention to God's laws in Leviticus to continue to make sure that they would...
keep it ceremonially clean in order to worship God. But outside the camp was all that was unclean. And that's where these bodies go. So they came near and carried them in their coats. So still in their priestly garments, their tunics. These men probably carried them. holding on to their clothes, not wanting to defile themselves. And they carried them out of the camp, as Moses had said.
But then God was not done speaking into this situation. We now hear some strong words, serious instructions for the priest. And that brings us to our second point. We hear strong words from the Lord. Look at verses 6 to 7. and moses said to aaron and to eleazar and ithamar his sons do not let the hair of your heads hang loose and do not tear your clothes lest you die and wrath
come upon all the congregation so this is what the lord said to a bereaved aaron and his surviving sons don't uncover your heads don't tear your clothes You know, this was the way that people would grieve the death of their loved ones. It was a public way of grieving. People would see you, and they would know what was going on. And the Lord said, don't do that, or you will die. And furthermore if you do that your disobedience will incur God's judgment on the congregation.
Remember that these priests were supposed to serve as mediators for the people to draw near to God. God dealt with them covenantally through the priests, and so their folly would affect all of them. After all, two priests were dead. Three remained. If they disobeyed the Lord in this and he wiped them out, then Israel's public worship would be over on the day that it was inaugurated.
But beloved, I want you to understand what God is communicating here. Because this is very important. A father is being told, do not mourn the death of your sons. Let that sink in. Brothers are being told, do not mourn the death of your brothers. So is mourning completely outlawed? No. Instead, God commands a different kind of mourning. Look at the text. But let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. In other words, bewail, weep over this.
Weep over this, the offense that led to God's fiery judgment. Brothers and sisters, this is something we all need to hear. in order to recalibrate our thinking about our sins. So often when we sin, Our thoughts and our emotions very quickly latch on to the consequences of our actions. Oh, my godless parenting has led to my child being this way. My adultery has caused my wife to leave me.
My greed for money has cost me my job. My need for control has ruined my relationship with my husband. My anger has alienated my friends. My addiction to gambling has cost me my... ministry. Now, all of that may be true, but brothers and sisters, there's something far more important than all of that. God says to Israel, There's something far more sorrowful than the death of your priests. He says to Aaron, there's something far more important than the loss of your sons, Aaron.
Be more brokenhearted and weep over their disobedience to me than their deaths. Let your heart ache that they fail to honor me than for their loss. Lament over their lack of reverence for my holiness than over their sudden demise. Your concern for my holiness should outweigh your concern for everything else. Let all the house of Israel know this. Brothers and sisters, if we don't get God's holiness right, we won't get repentance right. True repentance begins with this, godly sorrow.
that we have first and foremost sinned against God and defied His holiness in doing so. And some of you are very quick to say, Lord, here's my sin. This is what I did. Forgive me. Cleanse me in Jesus' name. And you're off to do the next thing. If it's that easy. And there's something very wrong about how you view God. Let me put it this way. If it's less troubling to you to confess your sin to God than to tell another Christian,
And there's something very strange about how you view God. Ed Welch writes, most of us have had sins that we would easily confess to God. yet would be ashamed to confess to another brother or sister does this make sense after all god is the holy one To be exposed in his presence should be much more difficult than being exposed before sinners like ourselves. People who truly confess to God are less concerned that others learn their secret.
If we easily confess to God something that shames us, then confess to a friend, we are thinking too highly of the opinions of people and not highly enough about the holiness of God. Beloved, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Do not grieve him by making light of his holiness. Don't provoke him. with frivolous confessions. If that's your approach, then there's something very wrong in the way that you are seeing your Heavenly Father. Don't get me wrong.
I'm not saying that it should not be easy to go to the Lord when you need Him. You can go to Him anytime because in Christ you have access to His throne of grace always. Don't go anywhere else. That's exactly where you need to go. But go there and grieve over your sin. Be brokenhearted over your disobedience. Recognize your arrogance and your defiance and your irreverence and your disloyalty.
And when you do this, don't think of it as penance, as though your tears could somehow merit God's forgiveness in some way. Instead, be sorrowful. That you have trampled over the very blood that was shed to purchase the forgiveness that is yours in Christ. Without this, you won't be able to rightly assess your sin. You won't be able to rightly ask for forgiveness. And the grace that Christ offers to you will seem ineffective, driving you back to those same sins again.
beloved hold up your sin in the light of God's holiness and you will see its true offense David Wells wrote God's holiness is not only the opposite of evil It is the measure by which we know evil to be evil. Beloved, when you see the hideous nature of your sin against the holiness of God, and you confess your treachery before the Lord, then you will know the overwhelming greatness of His provision for you.
You will know the true sweetness of Christ, the balm of His holy love, and the tenderness of His forgiveness and His cleansing power. Grow in the knowledge of His holiness and you will find yourself growing in your love for Him. And beloved, this is what the Lord expects of every disciple, doesn't he? That our love for him would grow to the extent that we would love him even more than those who are the closest to us. And we see that.
divine expectation here in this passage. Look at verse 7. Moses said to them, And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die. For the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. The anointing oil was upon them. They had been consecrated by the Lord to lead his people in worship. They were set apart as holy. They belonged to God. And despite all that had happened, God calls them to put him first.
and to serve His people. Now when you read Leviticus 21, God does allow priests to make themselves unclean while participating in the funeral of a loved one. But this situation is different. No one died here naturally. They were judged for defiance, for belittling God's holiness. And therefore Aaron and his sons were not to sympathize in any way with rebels.
But take the Lord's side. Attend to the Lord's work. Beloved, the Lord requires this from all His priests, including you and me. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10, 37 to 38. He said, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Or think of that time in Luke 9, 60, when Jesus called someone to follow him. And they wanted to first go and bury their father. You remember what Jesus said to him? He said, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Friends, there will be times...
When as a holy priesthood, as disciples of Jesus, there will be times in our discipleship when normal family priorities may have to take a back seat. out of a greater love for Christ and His Church. Without this commitment, we will not be able to devote ourselves to the Lord's work.
And so in this passage, the Lord strongly commands the priests to think clearly about their responsibilities. Look at verses 8 to 9. And the Lord spoke to Aaron. So he speaks to Aaron directly now. So this is important. What does he want to say? Verse 9. Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. Now, the priests certainly had access to plenty of wine. They were allowed to partake of the...
Drink offerings, wine was given by God as a blessing to be enjoyed. You see that in Psalm 104, verse 15. It was to be received with thanksgiving by all. What the Bible strongly condemns as sin is in... intoxication, and drunkenness. And that is a reflection of a lack of self-control and a dishonoring of God and His good gifts. Now here the priests are prohibited from drinking.
On the job, as it were. And this is the third time God warns them, lest you die. Which tells you that this is a matter of upholding God's holiness. Now the mention of this command here, all of a sudden... has led many to believe that Nadab and Abihu might have had a little too much to drink which led to their audacity and contempt and that might be true But I think the text itself tells us why God is concerned about this. Look at verses 10.
You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean. And you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses. In order to determine what was acceptable to God in worship, what he had commanded and what he had not commanded, what he had set apart for use in worship and what was not set apart for use in worship, what was defiled and what was not defiled.
for them to see that for themselves and then to teach the people to see that, the priests needed to be sober. They needed to be sober. The priests were not to drink on the job for the same reason that you don't want a pilot to drink when he's flying your plane. When you are intoxicated, your judgments are impaired. You see, the priests were appointed to not just offer sacrifices, but to also teach God's word to his people.
You see this in Malachi 2.7. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth. For he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts. And friends, this is true of God's leaders even under the new covenant. What does 1 Timothy 3.3 say about elders? An elder must be sober-minded and not a drunkard.
What had happened, God strongly commands his priests to pay careful attention to all his statutes. And yet, amidst all of this, we see his gracious provision for these men. Look at verses 12 to 15. Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his surviving sons. Take the grain offering that is left of the Lord's food offerings and eat it unleavened besides the altar for it is most holy.
You shall eat it in a holy place because it is your due and your son's due from the Lord's food offerings for so I am commanded. You know, this tells you that Nadab and Abihu's death happened immediately after fire from the Lord, consume the sacrifices, and right before the priests could eat their portions. Verse 14, but the breast that is waved and the...
Thy that is contributed, you shall eat in a clean place, so they can take it home, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due, and your sons due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved, they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons with you as it do forever as the Lord.
has commanded friends all of this points to one glorious truth did you see the lord's provision for these men it's reiterated all over again it points to this one glorious truth that God's grace is greater than our sin. God's grace is greater than our sin. Or as Paul says in Romans 11.22, he says, note then the kindness and the severity of God. The kindness... and the severity of God. Severity towards those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness.
You know, these priests are once again reminded of their duties and privileges to regard them as holy, and they are called to do what the Lord had commanded. Now, did they heed the Lord's word? Did the Lord's judgment and His strong words have any effect on them? Did it cause them to approach God more carefully and soberly? Well, we'll see in this passage that they did heed the Lord's word.
Because Aaron makes a sober decision about what would be acceptable in the Lord's sight. And that brings us to our third and final point. We see Aaron arrive at a sober decision. And here's what leads up to this. A desire to do what is right in the Lord's presence. Something that all of us should want to do, guided by God's Word. Look at verse 16.
Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering. That's what we should do when we're struggling to make a decision about something or wondering what the Lord says about this or that. Pick up your Bibles and make a diligent inquiry. Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering and behold it was burned up. Now this was offered by the people in chapter 9 verse 15 if you remember.
And the sin offering was God's gracious provision of atonement for people so that they could be forgiven of their sins in order to draw near to Him. And according to Leviticus 4, if the sin... was of a serious nature and more defiling, then the sanctuary, the tent itself, needed to be purified. Blood had to be taken inside the tent. But if not...
Then after offering the fat, the priest could eat the meat of the sin offering in a holy place within the tabernacle premises. And so after seeing the disobedience of Nadab and Abihu, Moses is now concerned. about the obedience of the rest of the priests. And he's looking carefully. I wonder what these guys are up to. Have they obeyed the Lord?
And he's shocked to find out that they did not eat the sin offering. Instead, all of it was burned up on the altar. Look at verses 16 to 18. And he, that's Moses, was angry. Last time Moses was angry when he came down the mountain. and saw the golden calf. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron.
saying, Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you, that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord? So eating the sin offering was a way of communicating to the congregation that their sins had been taken away, that it had been atoned for, that they had been forgiven.
Moses says, behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary as I commanded. So Moses' concern here seems legitimate. Two priests had died after all. doing something that they were not supposed to do. And now he finds out that the rest of them had not done something that they were supposed to do. But what we're about to see is something remarkable.
Not only had Aaron and the remaining priests upheld God's holiness in the aftermath of the situation, but Aaron now speaks. The one who was silent. now speaks. He speaks to Moses' brother like a true priest. Look at his response. Verse 19, And Aaron said to Moses, Behold, Today, they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord. So today, this was an immediate fall, just like Genesis 3. Barely things are established, smack they fall. Tells you about our...
a lot about our sinfulness, doesn't it? And yet such things as these, meaning the death of his sons, have happened to me. If I, so Aaron here speaking for himself and his surviving sons, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would the Lord have approved? In other words, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the Lord? Verse 20, and when Moses heard that, he approved. Now there are two clues in this text that tell you Aaron is right.
That he is being faithful and upholding God's holiness. One, in response to this priestly action, God does not send fire to consume anyone. They're fine. And two...
Moses agrees with Aaron's sober decision. And we have to understand why. Now there are some who suggest that because Nadab and Abihu had died, all the priests had become ritually unclean or... because they were in a state of mourning they realized that they couldn't eat the sin offering now if either of that were the case then Moses would not be telling them to eat in verses 12 and 15 it was just a case of ceremonial
uncleanness no something has changed some new variable has been introduced that Aaron alone is able To see something that weighs so heavily on him that he is absolutely sure that they should not eat the meat of the sin offering. Now, according to Leviticus 4, when should the priests not partake of the sin offering of the congregation? And the answer to that is when they themselves are implicated in the sin. They can't eat their offering.
because it would mean that they are taking their own sin away. So even though the text does not give us details, Aaron and his son somehow see themselves as sharing in Nadab and Abihu's infraction in some way. We don't know. Perhaps he thought, I should have stopped them, or I should have warned them, but I failed to. And since Nadab and Abihu disobeyed the Lord after the sin offering was offered,
Aaron and his sons saw their need for forgiveness and atonement yet again. In that case, it was proper and lawful not to eat the sin offering. Now what is remarkable in Aaron's decision is the clarity in which he sees sin and upholds God's holiness. In this situation, he shows himself to be a priest who is truly able to discern the difference between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean. Who can eat and who cannot eat?
See, the meat of the sin offering may be his due and privilege, but there is something far more, far greater that he is careful to uphold. That is the holiness of God and his word. The one who made excuses for worshiping the golden calf no longer made any excuses. At least not for himself. You see Aaron's actions here show that he was ultimately trusting in the God who provided those sacrifices of atonement for him.
That if they were offered acknowledging God's holiness and were offered in obedience, he would be forgiven and restored. Instead of running away from the God of consuming fire, Aaron runs. toward him. He puts his trust in the same holy God who graciously provided the means of atonement for him. Brothers and sisters, if your sins are weighing heavily on you this morning,
then turn to our loving and holy Savior. He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness by His blood. This judgment that fell on Nadab and Abihu turned out to be a great mercy from the Lord to prevent more sin among the priests and the congregation. And while at the end of this passage Aaron emerges as a good high priest who takes the Lord's holiness seriously, ultimately Aaron himself is a sinner who needs to repeatedly offer sacrifices for his own sins.
Beloved, I hope you can see how this passage points us to our need for a sinless priest. If we are going to stand in the presence of a holy God, we need a sinless If the priests who were supposed to bear the iniquity of the congregation, if they themselves were sinners and failed often, then we need a better priest, don't we? You see, when we get to Numbers 20, Aaron, along with Moses, both fail to uphold God's holiness. And the result of that, they are not permitted to enter the promised land.
God tells him to speak to the rock, and Moses strikes that rock twice, and God says, because you have not upheld my holiness. That's your judgment. Not only do we need a better priest, we need a better high priest to bear the iniquity of us all. And friends, God has provided that high priest for us in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfectly... Holy Son of God who perfectly obeyed the word of His Father.
He bore the sins of his people and he rescued us from the fiery judgment of God. He is the one to whom all those sacrifices pointed forward to. And it is because of his ministry. and His high priestly intercession to us by His Holy Spirit, we are now able to see our sin, to be mindful of God's holiness, and to worship Him through the obedience of faith.
Oh friend, if you're not a Christian, have you ever wondered how you will fare before a holy God on the day of judgment? Friend, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God. See, all of us have sinned and defiled his holiness. And for that, every human being deserves his fiery judgment. But the good news is that you can be forgiven of your sins if you do what Aaron did.
Put your trust in the God who provides for you a perfect sinless priest. Put your trust in the God who provides for you a perfect atonement in his son. You see, Jesus died on the cross in the place of sinners for all who would repent of their sins and put their trust in him.
He offered Himself as a sacrifice of atonement. And on the third day, He was raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness to give us new hearts that desire to love Him, to obey Him, and to worship God with reverence and awe. See, those who are in Christ have been given the gift of His holy righteousness as a gift of grace. Our sins for His holy standing.
That's the good news of the gospel. That's the great exchange. His holiness is our standing and our only hope. Oh friend, turn to Christ and be saved. Brothers and sisters, we should not be surprised that God would kill people to awaken us to the gravity of His holiness and the folly of our sin. We see this happening in the New Testament, don't we?
When Ananias and Sapphira are struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. They were more concerned about their reputation before others than they were about God's holiness. And the church learned very quickly about what God thought about that. We see this in 1 Corinthians 11.
When several members of the church in Corinth were humiliating poor members, they were getting drunk, they were participating in the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. And what does Paul say to them? He says, this is why many of you are weak and ill. And some have died. You know, he cites their irreverent, sinful behavior towards each other as the cause for God's judgment, namely his discipline among them.
Brothers and sisters, God will not hesitate to discipline His people, to uphold His holiness and prevent further sin in His church. And yet, as Christians, we can have this hope because of Christ. In the same passage, Paul writes, but if we judged ourselves truly, like those priests were called to judge. If we judged ourselves truly, if we assessed our lives carefully, if we...
To see, if we assessed our lives, to see that if we were indeed keeping the Lord's command, if we are truly repenting of our sins, then we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Peter says in 1 Peter 4.17, For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.
And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Beloved, if you're worshiping the Lord, worried, that he's some sort of policeman in the sky waiting to strike you down for the slightest infraction, then you've not understood the holy love of God for you in Jesus Christ. Instead, worship Him in the security of His saving love with reverence and awe. Worship Him in the security of His saving holy love.
with reverence and awe. You must worship him, knowing that the one whose word we are called to obey is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Brothers and sisters, glorify him both now and always. Let's pray. Father in heaven, May your name be upheld as holy. Lord, we love you and we do desire to glorify you in all that we do. And in the light of your blazing holiness, Lord, we see the horrid nature of our sin, those dark stains. And so we cry out, wash me, Savior.
or I die. Lord, we cling to your unchanging promises that just as you have justified us in Christ Jesus, you will sanctify us with your holy word. So empower us now by your Spirit. Give us sober and discerning hearts that in all of life's demands and temptations, we would cling to Christ in faith. and obedience. Grant us grace to delight in the beauty of your holiness and fill us with holy joy and holy ambition. In Christ's name we pray.