Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Leviticus 10. Leviticus 10, I had indicated in the bulletin to read the first seven verses. Let's read the first 11, the first three being the text for this evening. In chapter 9, the priests of the tribe of Levi, Aaron and his sons, are consecrated for work, for their office. And a sacrifice is made and accepted by the Lord on their behalf. And then we take up our reading in chapter 10, verse 1 through 11. Again, verses 1 through 3 being the text for tonight. Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense. And they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to His command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke of when He said, Among those who approach Me, I will show Myself holy. In the sight of all the people, I will be honored. Aaron remained silent. Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, Come here. Carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary. So they came and carried them still in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses ordered. Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, Do not let your hair become unkept, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die. And the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the Lord has destroyed by fire. Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting, or you will die, because the Lord's anointing oil is on you. So they did as Moses said. Then the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, And you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, this episode, the episode before us tonight from God's Word, must have been quite a scene. Shocking, to say the least, when God literally snuffed out Nadab and Abihu. It's the kind of thing, of course, that Hollywood loves to get their hands on and try to make a movie of this sort of thing and to arouse the curiosity and the emotions of the people. But at some point in time, many of us have probably joked about a similar sort of situation. For example, if someone near to us has said or done something that we know is offensive to God, maybe we or someone else still has said, I want to get away from you because I don't want to be standing near you when the lightning strikes you. But you see, this is no joking matter. Because offending God by challenging His sovereignty and His authority is not something to joke about. Of course, we don't really believe that God will do something like that nowadays, do we? Or will He? About seven years ago, someone gave me an article of an event that took place back in 1992. And the article talks about a man described as a maverick lawyer. Must have been an aggressive sort of fellow. And it says, he stood in a boat during a thunderstorm, raised his hands and proclaimed heavenward, Here I am! Moments later, a lightning bolt struck him dead, witnesses said. The lightning struck him in the head when he was aboard his new ski boat. There were three others in the boat with him and one in the water preparing to ski despite heavy storms. This man was a former state prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney, and at the time of his death, he was representing another man who was accused of recklessness in a boating accident that killed three people. Attorneys who worked with or against this man described him as a firebrand and a maverick, but a strong advocate for his often notorious clients, including police killers, reputed mobsters, and drug smugglers. Seems that this man was not only himself offensive to God, but he also worked on behalf of those and helped those who were offensive to God. This text tonight is talking, of course, about obedience. Obedience to God. Taking Him at His Word. But it's also, I believe, talking about office. And God's attitude regarding the carrying out of those offices in obedience. And therefore tonight we consider this Word of God. Jehovah demonstrates the seriousness of His calling. This demonstration is provoked by disobedience. It's witnessed in an unbelievable punishment. And it's revealed by His own Word. The book of Leviticus, as we know, is a book that contains the laws governing God's people in both their religious life and in their civil life. God had established the Israelites as a theocracy, a nation-state. They were a nation under God, governed by His laws. The nation of Israel, as we mentioned this morning, was the Old Testament church. And God had set them apart as a holy people who were to be consecrated to Him. Yet, they were still sinners who needed to come before a holy God. And therefore, it was necessary for them to know the laws that were given to guide them in their worship of the Lord at the tabernacle and to know the laws to guide them in their holy walk in their daily life. In the first part of Leviticus, especially through chapter 7 and including a little bit 8 and 9, God has given the laws teaching His people the proper way that they are to come to Him. He's given them the instructions there regarding the different sacrifices and offerings they were to present to Him. And He's given the priests the instructions that they needed to properly offer these sacrifices. Everything, you see, was to be done exactly as the Lord had prescribed. You see, allowing a sinful people to come before a holy God was a serious matter. And they were to take serious the laws of God that God had gave, governing how they were to come before Him. And God called the priests from the tribe of Levi to be representatives. They represented God to the people and they represented the people before God. The priests were the office bearers of the Old Testament church. And their calling, indeed, was a serious one. Their task was an important one and they were to function only as God had commanded them. And in this text we see that God demonstrates the seriousness of His calling and of His Word. And He does this because He is provoked by disobedience. Verse 1, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense, and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to His command. Now, this obedience, it says, involved offering unauthorized, or as another version says, strange fire before the Lord. Well, what does that mean? What is meant by unauthorized or strange fire? Well, actually, it's hard to say what it means. There are many ideas. Some say that Nadab and Abihu took burning coals from the wrong place because Leviticus 16, verse 12 says to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord. Possibly they didn't take the coals from the altar but took them from someplace else. Others say that the two priests didn't make or prepare the incense according to the proper recipe as given in Exodus 30, verses 34 to 38. Others say that because of the Lord's prohibition in verse 9, after their death, the Lord's prohibition to the priests against drinking wine or strong drink that Nadab and Abihu must have been drunk. And still there are others who say that these two did outside of the most holy place that which was to be done only by the high priest before the most holy place. Now again, we're not sure exactly what the problem was. Except we can say that they came before God in an unfit way. And it's clear that they violated that which God had commanded in Exodus 30, verse 9, which says, you shall not offer any strange incense on this altar. We're not told exactly what made the fire unauthorized or strange, but we are told something much more important, and that is that Nadab and Abihu did that which was contrary to God's command. Verse 1 says that. They were disobedient to God. Whatever it was they did, it's clear that they corrupted that which God had ordained as holy. Therefore, they decided to do their own thing, to worship God in their own way, to try to improve upon that which God had given to them. You see, congregation, it's possible, we don't know for sure, but it's possible that Nadab and Abihu figured that since they were right there in the midst of God's worshiping congregation, that they had a better feel, they had a better idea for what would enhance the worship of the people, and they figured they could do something to arouse the spiritual emotions of God's people and therefore lead them closer to God, and certainly God would be pleased with that, wouldn't He? How could He not be? It's very possible. We have no idea, but it's very possible that these two priests thought that what they were doing was good and that they never meant to offend or challenge God. But, they did offend God because they did that which was contrary to His command. They didn't take Him at His word. And because of that, the demonstration of the seriousness of the Lord's calling is witnessed in an unbelievable punishment. Verse 2, So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Now, I would imagine that Nadab and Abihu had absolutely no idea what hit them, just as the man in the boat probably had no idea what hit him when the lightning struck him in the head. And we might wonder why God inflicted this kind of a punishment. Why did God take their lives for this? Why not just scold them or slap them on the wrist, give them a second chance? See, just before this episode, as I said earlier, we find that Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the priesthood. God had called them for office in His church and set them apart for a special task in His congregation. They had been anointed with some of the sacrificial blood and with oil. And in chapter 9, verse 24, we read, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. God accepted the sacrifice on their behalf. And all of this pointed to them being set apart for special service to God. They were ordained and installed into office. And then the very same day, Nadab and Abihu died by the very same fire that accepted the sacrifice. The very same fire of the Lord kills them for violating that same office. See, God had called them to office. He had set them apart and sanctified them as being holy to the Lord. And they were called to lead God's people in their worship of and their worship to the Lord. And that worship was to be what God had commanded. That's the kind of worship, the only kind of worship, beloved, that is pleasing to God. The priests had the responsibility given to them directly by God to sanctify God in worship. That is, before the congregation, they were to set God apart as He truly is, as the Holy One, as the one and only object of worship, to be worshipped in no other way than He has commanded. They were to show the congregation how to come before God. In Deuteronomy 12, verse 32, the Lord says, Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to nor take away from it. Historically, that's how Reformed worship has been defined. That's how we strive to order our liturgy, according to what God has commanded, that we only do in worship that which God has commanded, contrary to or against what some others say, that we are allowed to do whatever God has not explicitly forbidden. No, we have always believed and followed that Reformed worship is to do whatever God commands in Scripture. But here in this text, beloved, it seems that Nadab and Abihu added to what God had commanded, And in a sense, they also took away from what God had commanded because by adding something, they in effect tried to take away God's authority by making the sacrificial requirements a matter of multiple choice. See, the congregation knew what an exalted office these men had been called to. And the congregation herself was called to follow and obey and support the priests as those appointed by God. But these guys substituted their own ideas for worship in the place of God's commands, therefore showing themselves to the congregation as having equal authority with God. They cut and they carved up God's ordinances to fit with what they thought was best for the congregation. They wiped out the distinction between what was common and what was holy. But the congregation, God's people, is to understand and respect that distinction. But for Nadab and Abihu, the Word of God was not central in worship. And for all of this, God kills them in a flash. You see, God had to stop them in their tracks at the very start because if He had let this infraction slide this time, it would have led to more carelessness in worship and the congregation would have been easily led to believe that any worship of their own making would be acceptable. And that would have showed that God tolerates disobedience, but He doesn't tolerate disobedience as the cross of Jesus Christ shows us. As the disobedience, the sin of all of God's people was atoned for by Christ on that cross. It had to be paid for because He doesn't tolerate disobedience. The same fire of God struck our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Nadab and Abihu were like the first two sparks of a wick leading to dynamite, and it was merciful of God, really. It was merciful of God to stamp out those sparks before the entire congregation blew up in self-willed worship. See, beloved, the surface of their sin was violating God's ceremonial ordinances with regard to sacrifices. But the heart of the matter was contempt for God. And again, whether they meant it or not, Their actions demonstrated that they thought that they knew better than God how He should be worshipped. And of course, we see it in the church today too, don't we? There's much unauthorized or strange fire being offered in the form of self-willed worship. Worship that fits my taste and my comforts. Worshippers who go to church on their own terms. First of all, to get something out of it. And if I don't like it, if I don't get what I want, I'm not coming back. Instead of first striving to give all that they can to God. Forgetting that we cannot out-give God. That for those who come in spirit and in truth, God gives back so much more than we can begin to give. But many also think that they know better than God. Our contemporary worship will gain more converts than what God commands, you see, because worship has traditionally been too stuffy and too boring. And well, in order to bring the people in, we need to loosen up a little bit. We need to get things exciting around here. As one megachurch spokesman says in an article I read, we get them in by giving them what they want. Then we give them what they need. And to be sure, there are megachurches around us that seem to be thriving. It seems that things are going well. But look closely, beloved. Look closely at all the church doors that are closing because of self-willed worship. Closing completely or closing in the evening or offering alternative services on Saturday night or some other time in the week to keep Sunday open to do with what you want. God commands preaching. The Bible says, For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased with the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And again, it seems that in many churches, preaching no longer does the trick. And therefore, the preaching of the Word of God has been shoved aside. Because many no longer take God at His Word. Nadab and Abihu shoved the Word of God aside and it cost them their lives. Again, did the punishment have to be so severe? After all, there was a lot of pressure on these guys as priests. It was a big responsibility to lead God's people as office bearers. It's a big, huge responsibility, isn't it? And because they were responsible to God for the souls of God's people, they were held to a higher standard. Even as Luke 12 says, That slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will shall receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it and committed deeds worthy of flogging will receive but few. And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required, and to whom they entrusted much of Him they will ask all the more. The call of the Lord is a serious one, and these two priests had no excuse because it was God Himself by His own Word who revealed what He expected. That's our third point tonight. Verse 3 says, Moses then said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke of when He said, Among those who approach Me, I will show Myself holy. In the sight of all the people, I will be honored. God showed Himself holy by wiping out Nadab and Abihu, those who tried to come to Him in an unholy way. The priests of the Lord were to treat God as holy, as the One who is distinctly separate and completely other than His creatures. And when that is done according to the command of God, then He is honored and He is glorified in before the sight of His people. Nadab and Abihu had the responsibility to walk before the Lord in the sight of the congregation in a way that taught the congregation about the holiness of God. That He is the only one to be worshipped and to be worshipped according to His Word. In other words, they were to teach proper worship. But they didn't do this. Instead, they brought God down to their level by acting as if they could decide how best to worship Him. You see, beloved, they wished for God to be pleased with what they did instead of seeking to do that which would please God. And for this, God removed them and their names from His congregation. You see, Numbers 3 verse 2 and 1 Chronicles 24 verse 2 both tell us that Nadab and Abihu had no sons when God struck them down. Their family lines, you see, were literally cut off. Out of history. Removed. And since these two brothers failed to uphold the holiness of God before the people, Jehovah himself demonstrated his holiness by taking the lives of those who sinned against him. And Nadab and Abihu became examples of God's justice for the generations to come. It's interesting that we read at the very end of verse 3, Aaron remained silent. We also read after that that Aaron and his other two sons who had been consecrated as priests were not allowed to participate in the burial, nor were they allowed to mourn. Now this, of course, seems strange, doesn't it? But they were to recognize and confess the righteousness and the holiness and the justice of the Lord in this event. In the death of Aaron's sons and of their brothers. By mourning for their loved ones who had offended God, they might be tempted themselves to question God's righteous judgment and then their Christian witness before the congregation would prove to be questionable. God must always come first. Even as Jesus said, He who loves father or mother, brother or sister more than me is not worthy of me. Beloved God has established offices in His church. We no longer need priests to offer sacrifices for us and to mediate between us and God because Jesus Christ Himself has offered the one perfect and final sacrifice for His people. He is the one Himself who has taken the very same fire of God's wrath upon Himself for you and me. Today, we still come before the Holy God through the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, And trying to approach God any other way than through Jesus is offering strange, unauthorized fire and is not pleasing, and God will not hear it. But the Lord Jesus Christ as well has established offices in His church to see to it that His body, His church on this earth, functions decently and in good order. These offices, as we know, are the office of minister, elder, and deacon. Of course, we cannot forget about the office of a believer. We are prophets, priests, and kings. But tonight, we install, by the grace of God, five new elders and three new deacons to join those who are currently and will continue to serve in these offices. And to those of you who will be installed, and to those of you who will continue, let me remind you that when you are faithful and obedient to Jesus Christ in carrying out your tasks and your duties, then God is glorified through you. You see, God proves His honor and His glory in them that stand before Him. God is glorified before His congregation when those with a high calling sanctify Him themselves. When we sanctify Him. That is, when you and I exalt His holiness and His separateness and the fact that He alone is to be worshipped in the way that He has set before us. It is the same way with those of you who are parents as believers. God is glorified when you exalt Him before your children. And the same is true for each one of you as believers, that God is glorified when you exalt Him as God and God alone before the face of the world. But office bearers, this means that you are not to be abusive in doing your duty. You are not to abuse the privileges of the office to which God has called you. Instead, you are to be obedient to God's call in all things, just as Noah was. The Bible says that he obeyed God in everything after God gave him the instructions with regard to building the ark. You are to lead God's people in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lead them in love. Encourage them in their spiritual walk. Pray for them. Discipline them in love. Elders, God is serious about His call. And therefore it's necessary that you make the needed calls on the congregation. When you don't feel like it, or when you're too tired, or when it doesn't seem to fit into your schedule, or even when it's a difficult call, you do it because that brings glory to God. You are to guard the walls of Zion, the purity of the church. Guard the preaching of the Word of God. Teach the people that only Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And to be fit to come before God, we can only come in the name of Jesus Christ. Guard the walls then. Guard the purity of God's Word of the church when sin creeps over the walls and the purity of God's Word and of His worship is being threatened. Because that brings glory to God. You are to carry out discipline when needed. When one of the lambs strays away, you must touch them with the staff of Jesus Christ so that God is glorified in them that stand before Him. Deacons, demonstrate the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And teach the people, the sheep, under your care as well, how to be merciful. And when you collect the vast deposits of the gifts of God's people, you must use them in a way that brings glory to God. You are to administer God's mercy by using the financial resources God provides through His people. These gifts are to be used for God's kingdom. But also when decisions come up concerning the spending of God's wealth, you must prayerfully wrestle with these decisions so that in good conscience before God, you spend His money in a way that He has glorified. And when God's people are not giving the blessings of God back to God's service in gentleness, you must remind them, it's easy to ask for a sermon on this, but you must remind them with the help of the elders of their obligations before God so that God may be glorified in them that stand before Him. Congregation, as those who stand before God, there's so much that we can say about the obedience we are called to give to God. Again, with regard to Nadab and Abihu, to be reminded tonight that we are to take God's Word seriously. Take Him at His Word. That we can only come before Him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in a special way with regard to the office bearers, may you glorify God in your treatment of those He has called to office. Because your eternal life is their goal. Obey them as those who come and work in the name of the Lord, as those who have been appointed indeed by the Lord Jesus Christ to serve Him in the congregation of His people. Hebrews 13, verse 17 says, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Therefore, with regard to the elders, allow them to oversee you with joy, to watch over your spiritual life, to encourage you in the faith, to challenge you, To admonish you, if needed, to discipline you. Allow them to joyfully carry out their task of visiting you in your homes as they desire to do and as God calls them to do. With regard to the deacons, indeed, learn from them how to be merciful and be faithful and generous in your giving. May it never be that they have to come to you to beg for the needed resources. See, beloved, so often we forget that we are a part of the church of Jesus Christ. The church that He purchased with His own precious blood. We think this is our church. It's not. We think that we are believers because we have chosen to be. We're not. Office bearers often think that they have been elected to office because they deserve it or because they are qualified. You don't deserve it. You're not qualified. We are all here, one and all, by God's grace and by His good pleasure. Yet those who are called by God, whether to the office of believer or minister or elder or deacon, are called and equipped by God. And God's call, beloved, is a serious one. We must take Him at His word. And we must also remember that God's call is really given to all mankind as we find it in Acts 17, verse 30. God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent. For those who do not heed the call of God, His judgment is plain. Nadab and Abihu are examples of that. For those who do not come to Him in the name of Jesus Christ, for those who outright reject Him altogether, the fire of God's wrath, the same fire, will consume them for all eternity. God is not mocked. It appears that the man in the boat is an example of that. Office bearers. Does this mean that God will strike you down with lightning if you disobey Him in something? I don't think so. For those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we have said, He has already taken the fire of God's wrath, but He will hold each one of us accountable. And thereto we stand only in the name of Jesus Christ. But God will be glorified through all of mankind, either through His grace and mercy lavished on those who believe and obey, or by His justice, condemning those who reject Him as He showed Himself holy with Nadab and Abihu, that nothing unholy can stand before His presence, But either way, God's glory is revealed. Beloved, the glory of God is not magnified and the church of Jesus Christ is not served when we do what seems right in our own eyes. But our God is glorified when by His grace we do what is right, period. His ultimate word is Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father except through Him. Boys and girls, you know that if you play with matches, if you play with fire, you might very well get burned. But if you play with unauthorized fire in your worship of God, if you try to come to Him in any other way than through Jesus Christ, or even as that article this morning that I quoted from, or even don't come before Him, you can only burn. To God and God alone be the glory through us as office bearers and as congregation as we strive to take Him at His Word.