Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter
10. There's a precious lesson that
we all need to hear and learn afresh. The lesson that deals with approaching
God, or the attempt to approach God, and if not accomplished in God's
way, by God's priest, the consequences
are fatal. Now, I want us to understand
that we're reading something that took place hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of years ago. But the truth of this event
right here is as relevant today as it was right then. God doesn't
change. So I pray that the Lord be pleased
to teach us something by our need of approaching Him only
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Leviticus chapter 10 verses 1
to 3, and Nadab and Abihu, 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. Then Moses said unto Aaron, this
is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them
that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified,
and Aaron held his peace. Now there were two boys, two
brothers, sons of Aaron. They were priests themselves,
but they were not the high priest. Aaron, their daddy, was the high
priest. And they attempted to approach
God in a way that the scripture says that God had not commanded. They tried to approach God in
a way that was unacceptable, and the trial was quick, the
verdict was sure, and the execution of justice was final. Scripture says they died before
the Lord. Now I want us to notice something. These boys had a godly father. I said Aaron was their daddy. Moses was their uncle. And they
had been trained up in the way of the Lord, the admonition of
the Lord. But here's what we need to understand.
Salvation is not by blood, that's what John 1 declares. Not by blood, not by the will
of the flesh, not by the will of man, but of God. These boys, though they're daddy,
was a man that knew God, their uncle was a man that knew God,
their aunt Miriam knew God. But these boys obviously didn't
know God. And so again it's not by natural
generation of parents except a man be born from above. He'll not see the kingdom of
God. Now let's just consider what
did they do? What was the crime? And that's
what it was. It was a sin against God. The
crime that these boys committed, actually it was twofold and it
says that Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of
them his censer, and put fire, and put incense, and offered
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not.
Here's what had happened. First of all, the infraction
was they did something that they had no right to do. They offered strange fire before
the Lord, and though they were priests, They were not the high
priest. Aaron was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And only the high priest, let
me show you that, had the right to do what these boys did. Hold
your place right there. Turn over to Exodus. Genesis,
Exodus, Exodus 30. And look at verse 1, verse 3,
and verse 7. Chapter 30, verse 1, and thou
shalt make an altar to burn incense upon of shittum wood shalt thou
make it. Here was an altar of incense
and the scripture says it was to be made out of this incorruptible
wood. Verse three says, thou shalt
overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof,
round about, and the horns thereof, and thou shalt make unto it a
crown of gold round about. Look at verse seven. And Aaron
shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth
the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. Now who did God say
could burn incense on that altar of incense? Who could do that?
Aaron could do it. Again, this burning of incense
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in his merit approaching
God in that sweet savor of obedience and life. Aaron could do it. Look, hold your place still in
Leviticus chapter 10 where we are and look at Leviticus chapter
16. Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16 verses 11 through 13. The scripture says, 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 veil. And he shall put the
incense upon the fire, before the Lord that the cloud of the
incense may cover the mercy seat which is upon the testimony that
he die not." So therefore, the crime was first of all that these
boys assumed that they could do something that they had no
right to do. They thought that they could
approach God themselves. They assumed or presumed that
God would be approached by anyone that so chose to approach God
in their own way. And the thing that secondly was
criminal is that not only did they think that they could approach
God, But the way that they approached God, with the elements that they
came before God with, and that censer, God didn't accept it. The scripture says back in Leviticus
chapter 10, it says the sons, Nadab, the sons of Aaron, took
either them, his censer, put fire therein, put incense thereon,
and offered, now listen to this, strange fire. before the Lord. Now, what God accepted was what
God provided. Only that which God provided.
Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, God accepted
Him. The way God would be approached
was with fire that God Almighty provided. I want you to look
back at Leviticus chapter 10. Look at the one verse before
in Leviticus chapter 9 verse 24. Here God is going to accept
the sacrifice. And there came a fire from before
the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and
the fat which when all the people saw they shouted and fell on
their faces. What fire would God accept? God Almighty was going to accept
the fire that he sent upon the burnt offering upon the brazen
altar which set forth his son. He accepted what God provided
and only what God provided. Therefore, when these two boys
came before God, they had strange fire. Now, what that fire, it
was cold, it was to be burning embers. They would be glowing
embers from off of that burnt, that brazen altar that set forth
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, where they got those coals,
we're not told. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. They could have been out with
a little campfire. They could have said, here, it's
not going to matter. Here, these are good. Let's just use these.
Wherever they got them, it was not from where God had set forth
that those coals were to be received. They were to be received out
of that brazen altar where God's sacrifice set forth the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. These boys presumed. They were
presumptuous. They thought God will accept
anything. I've heard this all my life. It doesn't matter where you go.
Just go somewhere, go to church, it doesn't matter where. We're
all working for the same thing. My friend, no. No. We're not. Almighty God has set
forth what he's going to accept. And he's going to accept his
son. And only his son. And he's not going to accept
me or you outside of his son. That's what these boys thought.
They thought I can come before God and I can please God in any
way I choose. Listen to what David said. Psalm
19.13. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. I looked up. You can look in
your Bible. I tell you what that word presumptuous
means. High handed. Keep me back from
lifting my hand up before God and thinking that God's going
to accept me on my own merit. That's what these boys did. The
scripture sets forth that presumptuous sins, God's going to deal with
them. Turn with me to the book of Numbers,
chapter 15. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Numbers 15. Numbers 15 verses 27 through
31. If any soul sin through ignorance,
then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering.
The priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly,
when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord to make an atonement
for him, and it shall be forgiven him. He shall have one law for
him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among
the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth
there, but the soul that doth ought presumptuously, whether
he be born in the land or a stranger, the same reproaches the Lord.
That soul shall be cut off from among his people because he has
despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment.
That soul shall utterly be cut off. His iniquity shall be upon
him. Listen, what does he say? A man,
all of us are sinners ignorantly. We don't realize the depth of
our sin. All God's people are the first
to admit, I don't know the depth of what I am, but I know this,
I am a sinner. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I know that. If we say we have
no sin, you know, we're calling God a liar. Because we are sinners. But I don't want, I don't want
to presume that I can come before God in my own merit. Presumptuous. That is the very
heart of all false religion. That I can approach God in my
work, in my will, in my decision, in my baptism, in my whatever. Strange fire. What is strange
fire today? It's thinking that I can approach
God when I want to and how I want to. That's strange fire. It is the thought, the proclamation
that man is not dead in his sins. That man has a free will. That
God is wanting to save all men if they'll let Him. Almighty God doeth as He will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. And
nobody stays, nobody. Someone come before God thinking,
I'm going to approach God this way. Someone says, well, like
this person I was talking to, well, the way I see it, the way
I see it, I think I can so and so and so and so. I think, I
don't believe this. I don't, I said, this book declares
that it's so. Well, that's just not the way
I see it. Listen, this is the word of the Lord. Presumptuous
sin, this is what they did, is to raise one's hand in self-will
against God's word, to despise that which the Lord has set forth. Almighty God has set forth that
there is a way that he'll be approached. Nadab and Abihu,
they either took their censer and they put strange fire thereon
and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded
them not. Here's another lesson. God knows. God knows. This young man told me, he said,
I've done the best I could. I've done the best I could. I
told him, I said, that ain't good enough. It ain't good enough. I said, let me tell you what
God's going to accept. God's going to accept absolute
holiness. You try to come before God in
less than Absolute holiness. How good does a man or woman
have to be to be accepted of God? You have to be as holy as
God. You say, well, I can't do that.
I said, I agree with you. I can't either. That's why I
need a priest. I need a high priest. Aaron, Aaron, Aaron was the one
that God was going to accept. He was the picture of his blessed
son. These boys come up here, you
try to bypass the accepted priest of God, you try to bypass the
Lord Jesus Christ. These boys took that censer and
they put fire, who knows where they got it. They were so disrespectful
and they put that, they put incense on that and he approached God
with strange fire and God killed him. God killed him. These boys, scripture says, they
died before the Lord. Verse 2, they went out fire from
the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. You know, there's a precious
truth that is taught about dying in the Lord. Revelation 14, 13, blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works
do follow them. But let me tell you what these
boys did. Again, I told you, they were
priests. They had on all the garb of the priest. They had
on the right clothes. They looked like priests. They were priests in name. Just imagine now what's going
on here. How many are walking, sitting,
and listening in religious places today? Somebody says, are you
saying that you're the only one that's right? No, here's what
I'm saying. I'm saying I want to hear what
God has to say. I want to be aligned with what
he has to say. I want to know what God Almighty
has to say about approaching him. And I can tell you what
I've learned so far. I can learn this. Only the high
priest is going to approach him and be accepted. So I can tell
you this. What Nadab and Abihu did in trying
to approach God? God forbid that Marvin's name
be added to that list. If I try to approach God in a
way that is unacceptable, if I try to come before Him without
that which glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you
what is going to happen to me. God's going to kill me. I'll
be everlastingly cast out. These boys had no right. Their
daddy had a right. I have no right. My precious
great high priest has got a right. What do I do? I cast myself upon
him. And I said, Lord, please have
mercy on me. Lord, answer for me. Answer in
your merit. In the incense of your merit
and your blood and your obedience. Lord, answer with the fire of
justice being satisfied in you. Lord, I have no hope outside
of you. None. None. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. These boys died before
the Lord. They died before the Lord in
judgment. They offered strange fire. The Lord said, verse 3, in Moses
said unto Aaron, this is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will
be sanctified. That word sanctify, that means
I will be holy. I will be set apart. I will be
declared as the I am. I'm God and there's none else.
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh to me. And before
all the people, in my approach personally, before God, I can only approach God in the
way that God will accept me. And I'm accepted only in the
beloved. Offer strange fire to Him and
say, I can approach God because I've been baptized? Because I
walked down an aisle? Because I came to an altar? I
told you, an altar. I said, this ain't no altar.
This is just carpet. We have one altar. We have one
altar. We have one priest and we have
one sacrifice and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. He was offered on the altar of
his cross. The sacrifice was his broken
body. And the priest that offered it
was the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. I have one that has satisfied
God. And I'm not it. He is. Moses said to Aaron, He said,
this is it that the Lord spake. I will be sanctified. I will be set forth as holy.
I will be set forth as God that come nigh to me and before all
the people. This morning, before all the
people, I'm standing here preaching before you. Preaching what this
book's got to say. And I do so with bated breath.
God keep me from saying anything but exactly what's written in
this book. I don't want to deviate one word.
God forgive me if I do. I don't want to set forth anything.
But I want to be truthful. I want to be truthful with you. I want to tell you what Almighty
God has to say. Because again, God knows, 1 Samuel
16, 17, For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. I need His holiness. I need His righteousness. I need
my debt put away. Scripture says, Blessed are those
who are pure in heart. I need Him. I need God to accept
me. I will be glorified. I will be
honored. And lastly, God's just. God is just. Moses said to Aaron, this is
it, that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them
that come nigh me and before all the people. I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. I don't doubt for one second
that Aaron looked at his two boys, and there they were before
the altar of God, the altar of incense. And they were dead. I'm sure he grieved at the sight
of his sons lying on the ground. But I can tell you this. The
Scripture says He didn't say one word. Why? Because the judge of all the
earth doeth right. He's right. He's right. I got kids and grandkids. I say as Paul the Apostle, he
said my heart's desire and prayer to God is that Israel might be
saved. I want God to save my kids, my
grandkids. I want God to have mercy on everybody.
I pray God have mercy on everybody sitting in this room today. I
pray God be so. But I can tell you this, I know
this, the judge of all the earth is going to do right. You remember
what happened when Eli got the news concerning what his two
boys had done and that God had killed them? Here's what Eli said. It's the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. So in conclusion, God shall be
approached but not in self-exalting foolish zeal. He has proclaimed one, the Lord
Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God to be the one in whom
he's well pleased. This is my beloved son whom I'm
well pleased. He's well pleased with him. Only
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, approaches the Father
in absolute holiness and honor. He said, I will be sanctified
in them that come nigh me. And before all the people, I'm
going to be glorified. Only he approaches the Father
that way. Self-willed offerings, self-willed,
self-righteous works have no place in God's worship. The Lord must provide that which
he will accept. All those who presumptuously
raise their hand in rebellion, sins against Almighty God, shall
have no mercy. Nadab and Abihu, and all like
them, that man is born in Adam, they heard of Christ, his sufferings,
willingly refused to merit his salvation. They refused. to bow. They despised his word. And they chose to recreate some
fire that they thought that God would accept. They said in their
heart, God will accept me without Christ, or God will accept me
helping Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way. I am the way. I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Therefore, God keep me, God keep
me, God keep you from approaching God or attempting to approach
God any way outside of the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for God's glory and our good.