May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the book of Leviticus,
and the 10th chapter, and we'll read the first two verses. The book of Leviticus, chapter
10, and reading the first two verses. The sons of Aaron took either
of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon,
and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded
them not. And there went out fire from
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Such a statement, perhaps you
may think, well, it's not a very suitable statement for the first
sermon of a new year. Well, I must leave that with
the Lord. But the reality is that every
word of God is written and is profitable and should be beneficial
to us. Now, the Old Testament sets before
us many wonderful Gospel pictures. And we today are gloriously privileged
because of the New Testament, and especially because of the
Apostle Paul's writings, to have some understanding of those truths
which were shown to the Israelites of old. The tabernacle was a very wonderful
place and again sets before us today and God's ancient people
the great and glorious life and death and resurrection and ascension
and intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are privileged
today to understand those truths which were couched in so much
darkness in the Old Testament. And yet the Lord was very gracious
in granting his ancient people, and they were really only a small
people, and yet a privileged people, to have these great truths
set before them. And one of the great and wonderful
things is that we see very clearly the importance of intercession. And that was through the high
priest in Old Testament times. And now, of course, it is through
our great and glorious high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a sad day, really. when people do not appreciate
and do not realize the holiness of God. And God is really treated
like just an ordinary person, somebody who can be picked up
and argued with and put down. And yet we should realize that
God is a holy God and God is not to be trifled with. And perhaps
that is so clearly set before us in this account of the consecration
of Aaron and his sons. The actual, of course, erection
and contents of the tabernacle are detailed at the end of Exodus,
a wonderful detailed account, and also It speaks there of the
glory and the beauty of Aaron's garments and all that he had
to wear, and also his sons, as his sons were those who were
being prepared to carry on this great work of the high priesthood. And so it was Moses' privilege
to introduce Aaron and his sons to this situation. And it's good
to read through sometimes such accounts as the end of Exodus
to realize what detail there was. And the detail was to set
forth the glory and beauty and wonder of our Saviour and the
Church of God. And so we should be very thankful
the Lord has granted us this wonderful favour. And in this
Leviticus, it really continues this theme with all the sacrifices. And then it comes on to, again,
the garments of Aaron and his sons and what they should do. We read together in that ninth
chapter, the detail that is recorded. And it's very wonderful to recognize
that as we come towards the end of that chapter, We're told,
and Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed
them and came down from offering and the offering and the burnt
offering and peace offerings, sorry, the sin offering and the
burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron
went into the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and
blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all
the people. What a wonderful confirmation
that this was of the Lord. This was not of man's providing. This was of the Lord. And then, and there came fire
out from before the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt
offering and the fank, which when all the people saw, they
shouted and fell on their faces. They recognised the glory and
the holiness of God. Now we live in New Testament
times. And through the mercy of God,
we don't have to carry out all those ceremonies, which were
so clearly set forth in the Old Testament. Because those ceremonies
are really now being but completed and revealed has been the glory
of Christ himself. So what a mercy for us today
if we can think upon the glory of Christ himself. You may say,
well, how does that fit in with this first two verses in the
second chapter? Well, the truth is that Nadab
and Abihu were the two eldest sons of Aaron, and therefore
the priesthood, the high priesthood, would have followed and would
have come to Nadab when Aaron passed away. It was a great blessing
which had been bestowed upon the household of Aaron, that
that's how it was to continue, indeed, down through time, really
until the appearance and the death of our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So what do we see here in these
verses? Well, what we see is this. As
the Word of God tells us, these two men, They did that which
the Lord commanded them not. You may think, well, that's quite
a trivial thing. And we have to be very careful
in our thoughts along those lines, because we should think that
nothing really is trivial with God. Many people today in worship,
count the true worship of God as something a bit unnecessary
and a bit casual, and something which doesn't really matter as
to whether we gather together or not, but we have set before
us in the Word of God, especially in the New Testament, a wonderful
pattern and a wonderful instruction that we should indeed gather
together to worship, and that we should worship God in a right
manner. And you may say, what is that
right manner? The right manner is very clearly before us, reverently
and in godly fear, how much irreverence we see today in the world, in
the things of God, so much. irreverence. People treat God
as one of themselves. Well, here in this account, it
is quite clear that Nadab and Abihu did not recognise the holiness
of God, did not recognise the righteousness of God, did not
recognise the law of God, did not recognise the gracious pattern
which had been set before them. and therefore they thought that
they could do what they wanted to do. Well, solemnly, sadly,
they did that which they wanted to do, and it would seem, therefore,
that they were impatient. See, the priesthood would have
come to Nadab in due time, but it would seem they were impatient.
They wanted to do something which they had not been commanded to
do. They'd taken things into their
own hands, and it wasn't the will of God. It was not His ordained
way for them. And the Lord dealt with them
immediately and very solemnly, because we read this, that they
offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them
not. And there went out fire from
the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." So
what have they done? They've taken, censers were bowls
on a rod into which were put the hot coals from the altar. And therefore, the word censor
only occurs a few times in the Word of God. You might think
it might occur many times, but it doesn't. And it only occurs
a few times. And it was to be used for this
particular occupation, to put these hot coals in. And we can
read really some more detail of this, which is very beautifully
sets before us the Lord Jesus Christ in a later chapter in
Leviticus. We can turn to the 16th chapter
of Leviticus and we can read verses 11 to 14. And it's worth
just turning to that and worth just reading it. And this is
what it says, Leviticus 16 verses 11 to 14. and Aaron shall bring the bullock
of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an
atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the
bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and he
shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar
before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense, beaten
small, and bring it within the vial. And he shall put the incense
upon the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of the incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he
die not. And he shall take the blood of
the Buddha and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat
eastward, and before the mercy seat should he sprinkle of the
blood with his finger seven times. That was what the Lord commanded
Aaron to do. That was what Nadab and Abihu
were endeavouring to take in their own hands. And clearly
this was reserved for the high priest. And they were not to
assume that this was within their remit. It was not. And God dealt with them very,
very solemnly. It couldn't have been a worse
punishment, could it? They were disobeying God. And
so today we should recognize that in our little lives, although
very different and we should be very thankful that today we
can come to our God through the merits of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. And yet we should come carefully,
we should come prayerfully, we should not just rush into the
presence of our God. God is holy, and we by nature
are unholy. Well, this was a great warning
to Israel. My friends, may it be a great
warning to us today, because it was a very sacred occasion,
a very blessed occasion, because there is so much significance
and gospel set forth in this simple ceremony. And if we really
consider it, the wonderful ceremonies in the Old Testament were really
all simple. There was nothing really complex
about them, but they all had a deep and wonderful significance. And it is a good occupation to
study the ceremonies set before us in the Old Testament, before
God, and to come to a right and a spiritual understanding of
what it really means. Because if the Holy Spirit shows
us what it really means, it'll encourage us, it'll show us the
mercy and the goodness and the favor of God. And we should be
encouraged and strengthened in our faith. And so here we have
what is set before us in Leviticus. And there was this census, which
the high priest took and put these burning coals on. And really,
the burning coals signified the sufferings of Christ. Now, we should always come back
to be concerned very specifically of how all these ceremonies direct
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't something haphazard,
and it wasn't something trivial, and it wasn't something to just
be passed over. And so as we enter in to this
new year, may it be our real concern, every one of us, that
we may, as the Apostle desire, grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And my friends, there
is a great blessing, therefore, in studying his words, And we
should not think, well, that's only the minister's job. It's
a blessed job the minister has. My friends, each one of us should
realise the word of God is to be read, and it is to be studied,
and it is to be prayed over. And you see, if the Holy Spirit
reveals to us, in his word, the glory of the gospel, and it brings
to our attention the sufferings of Christ, and brings to our
attention the glory that should follow, you'll rejoice. You'll bless God for the Old
Testament. You'll bless God that there is
such simple pictures that direct us to the Saviour. Now, of course, here was then
this incense, and you may realise that the incense was very carefully
prepared, and it wasn't something that was to be used outside of
this ceremony. It was reserved specifically
for this ceremony, and it wasn't for the ordinary person to take
hold of and use. And that's partially why we see
Nadab and Abihu were condemned, because they did that which they
were not supposed to do. They took it on themselves. We need to be careful in our
lives today. We can so easily put the things
of God in a very low category. And yet you see God is high and
lifted up. You think of Isaiah, when he
tells us he saw the Lord high and lifted up. And what was the
effect upon Isaiah? He said, woe is me, for I am
a man of unclean lips. I live with a people of unclean
lips. For mine eye hath seen something
blessed with the glory of God. My friends, may it be so. as we venture forth into this
new year. I truly desire that we may view
the Saviour by faith. Now then, not only was this censer
taken of burning coals, but then this sweet incense, which had
been very carefully prepared, and now indeed taken and beaten
very, very small, clearly so that it would burn very, very
easily. And this was the occupation of
the high priest to do this before he went into the holy place. And it's difficult for us to
understand the solemnity of this annual occasion, this Day of
Atonement, when the high priest was able to enter into the holy
place, there was this wonderful veil which separated the holy
place from the most holy, the holy of holies, because there
the Lord graciously dwelt above the mercy seat. And you see,
poor, humble, sinful man was not allowed to look physically
upon the Lord as he came down upon the mercy seat. And therefore
there was this cloud of incense which went up, which was to cover
the mercy seat that was placed upon the testimony. And we're
told, again in this 16th chapter, that he died not. See, there
was the holiness and the glory of God, which natural sinful
man was not able to look upon, lest he die. Well, today, what
a mercy that by faith, we can come to this great and glorious
high priest in prayer. Yes, there's nothing to inhibit
us, but we should remember the Lord is high and lifted up, that
he is holy, and we are men and women, boys and girls, of unclean
lips. And therefore to acknowledge
the wonderful favour that we have of being able to come to
our God and to pray unto our God and to commit our way unto
our God. What a blessing and what a favour. Well, nadab and abide here. Disobey
God. God had not commanded them. And
you see, sometimes we can take on ourselves things that we think
is right. And we think it's logical sequence
and it's the way that we should go. But We need to ask ourselves
the question, has God commanded us? Has God spoken to us? Has God directed us? Or are we
doing things in our own strength? Are we doing things because we
just think it's the right way, when the truth is it may be the
wrong way? You may remember on a slightly
different note, there was that case of King Saul. I often think King Saul was a
very solemn and a very sad case because he started out well when
he was made king. Of course, we should, of course,
appreciate that Israelites should never actually have asked for
a king. because God was their king. And
again, what a blessing it is for you and me to remember that,
that no man is our king, but God is our king. And we should
indeed bow down before him. Well, there was that time when Saul was told by God's prophet
what he should do and what he should not do. And Samuel was
the prophet that God had raised up for this situation. And he was told what to do, but
he became impatient. I'm not saying that Nadab and
Abihu were impatient, but sometimes we can become impatient. And
we should realize the Lord has said, your time is always, but
my time is not yet. It's good, isn't it? To have
a patient spirit to wait for God's time. Because God's time
is a right time. We won't make any mistakes then.
I'm sure we don't want to make any mistakes. So here was Saul
told what to do. And we can read in the 13th chapter
of the first book of Samuel, the account, starting from verse
nine to verse 14. I won't read it all. But I'll
just read a few verses. And Samuel came to Saul and said,
what has thou done? Saul said, because I saw that
people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not with
the days pointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves
together at Meatmarsh, therefore said I, the Philistines will
come down upon me to Google, and I have not made supplication
unto the Lord. He says then, I forced myself,
therefore, an offer of burnt offering. Samuel said to Saul,
thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would
the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord, the Saul,
him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be captain over the people, because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee. You see, it seemed all right,
didn't it? Seeing what Miscuse saw, said,
well, it hadn't appeared as it should have done, and therefore
and said he forced himself, seeing it to be right, but no, it wasn't.
It was wrong. And so how easy it is for us
today to pursue our own agenda, thinking that we have everything
on our favor, everything on our side. Well, has the Lord commanded
us? If he has, all is well. If he hasn't, all is not well. What a mercy then to realize
that we are those whom God does direct. And we should not think
we live in a day and age where we make the rules. God has and
does make the rules. God does direct. And be very
sure of this. When God directs, the proof of
it is It works out for the honour and glory of God. And you and
I will not be able to pat ourselves on the back. You and I will not
be able to claim any glory, but left to ourselves, that's just
what we will do. Well, no doubt, Nathan, Nadab
and Abihu wanted to do that. They obviously knew what was
to be carried out and they thought well now they were in line and
therefore they could just, if you like, jump a stage and get
ahead of the game and do what they wanted to do. But no, God
came upon them and very solemnly dealt with them. Well, it's a
very solemn thing, isn't it, to do that? And again, just running
on, you may remember, there's another account in the Book of
Numbers about Korah and his company. And again, they presumed to take
authority upon themselves. They just thought that Moses
was doing too much, and they thought they should be involved,
and therefore they wanted to be in control. Well, Numbers
16 and verses 6 and 8 explains to us what this is. And just
very briefly, the Word of God tells us, Moses speaks, he says
this, This do, take your censers, Korah and all his company, and
put fire therein, and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow,
and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he
shall be holy. Ye take too much upon you, ye
sons of Levi. And Moses said unto Korah, Here
I pray you, ye sons of Levi. You see, the Lord spoke very
clearly to Korah and his company. Ye take too much upon you, ye
sons of Levi. the Lord had ordained who should
do things in Israel. And they should not, therefore,
think that they had a right to do these things. And so it was
here with Nadav and Abihu, what they were failing to realize
in both these situations, that there was a glorious pattern
set before them of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it
sets before us the life of the Saviour, and it sets before us
the death of the Saviour, and it sets before us the resurrection
of the Saviour, and the ascension, and then the gracious and wonderful
intercession. It is a wonderful pattern. Never
tire of meditating on the glorious office of the Lord Jesus Christ. And be very thankful when we
have the evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ does intercede for
us. We may come to the Saviour. We
may come to our God. We may feel very unworthy. We
may feel our prayers are very poor. And we wonder whether they
will be accepted. Well, they won't be accepted
because of our condition. They will be accepted because
of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Think of those lines
in the hymn, that it is he instead of us that is seen when we approach
to God, our father. What a wonderful, favour to think the Lord Jesus
Christ condescends to intercede for us and to present our poor
words, our broken words perhaps, our inadequate words to his father
and as such we are accepted. What a mercy it is. What a wonderful
truth it is. What a glorious gospel it is. And may, therefore, the Lord
Jesus Christ be lifted up and honoured and glorified. Indeed, may he be extolled in
our hearts, in our lives. May we be able to testify of
the goodness and mercy and favour of our God. And so as we enter
into this year, we don't know what is before us, but we do
know we have a God who does not change. We do know a God who
has said that one who is the same yesterday
and today and forever, the same God, that appeared to Moses,
that appeared to Aaron, that appeared to all his people, that died that sinatonic death
upon that cross at Calvary, that glorious Saviour, who had said,
I go to repair a place for you. And if I go to repair a place
for you, I will come again and receive you. unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be also. And so there is, set before the
Church of God, a wonderful, wonderful, blessed prospect that we may
inherit, that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled,
and which is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power
of God, through grace unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
times. And may we each realize and prove
the blessing of being kept by the power of God through this
year. And let's remember, the devil
is very active. He was in the days of Moses and
Aaron. He succeeded in the case of Nadar
and of Bayou. And you see, what did he play
on? He played on their pride. My friends, let us not forget
the devil hasn't changed his spots. He still plays on our
pride. And he'd be very careful then
to observe these great truths which the Lord God has placed
in his word. for our instruction and for our
encouragement, to help us, to guide us and direct us. So, by His grace, by the keeping
power of God, we shall one day arrive safe in glory. Well, may God be faithful to
us and bless us indeed. We ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen.