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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Thursday evening service If you would find your seats in a hymnal First hymn will be 19 There is a fountain There is a fountain filled with blood It's 19 in the red or the green 🎵Music🎵 Alright, together on the verse There is a fountain filled with blood Run from Emmanuel's wings And sinners punch beneath the flood Whose all their guilty stains Whose all their guilty stains Whose all their guilty stains And sinners punch beneath the flood Whose all their guilty stains The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day And there may I, O I, well see O show my sins away O show my sins away O show my sins away And there may I, O I, well see O show my sins away Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood Shall never lose its power Till all the ransomed church of God Be safe to sin no more Be safe to sin no more O be safe to sin no more Till all the ransomed church of God Be safe to sin no more Ere since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die And shall be till I die And shall be till I die Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die Then in an over sweeter song I'll see by far to see When this poor lisping storm ring tongue My silent death the grave My silent death the grave My silent death the grave My silent death the grave When this poor lisping storm ring tongue My silent death the grave Amen. Brother Alex, can you open us with a word of prayer? Father in heaven, we thank you for today. We thank you for our church here. We thank you for all the brothers and sisters that could come. We pray for those who couldn't thank you, Father. We ask you to bless our worship and our singing. And bless the preaching of your world. We're today in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, we'll do some favorites. Alright, Brother Paul. 188. Alright, let's do it. On the first. The love of God is greater full than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair fall down with care God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled important form his sin. The love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure the saints' and angels' song. Alright, Miss Rachel. 169. The Harrington kids have fanned out so they have like a greater probability of getting picked. I've detected it though. Alright, 169. Come thou fount. Come thou fount of every blessing. Turn my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet. Sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it. Mount of thy redeeming love. Alright, brother, get... 27. Alright. Oh, 27. Old record across. On a hill far away. Stood an old rugged cross. The emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross. Where the dearest have passed. For a world of the sinners most slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross. Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross. And exchange it someday for a crown. Alright. Young Mr. Alcordo. I don't know your name. Jacob, he didn't have one? Just participating? Alright, Jack? 155. Doxology, 155. Doxology, 155. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Alright, Tim? 467. 467. The B-I-B-L-E. If you have to turn to the page, you're not right with God. Alright, 467. The worst. The B-I-B-L-E. Yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God. The B-I-B-L-E. Bible. Alright, amen. And he will do two more. Brother Jesse. 437. 437. Alright. He's got his reenactor uniform on. We're ready to go, 437. Battle for the Republic. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swimsuit. His truth is forging on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is forging on. One more. Liberty. 232 on the left. 232. 232 on the left. Alright. Tell me the story of Jesus. By John Sweeney, but it's spelled wrong. Alright. Tell me the story of Jesus. Right on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious. Sweetest that ever was heard. Tell how the angels in heaven Tell how the angels in chorus Sing as they welcome his birth. Glory to God in the highest. Peace and good tidings to earth. Tell me the story of Jesus. Right on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious. Sweetest that ever was heard. Amen. At this time, we'll have the announcements. Yeah, they spelled that wrong because there was a split in the Sweeney family and the liberal ones were spelled S-W-E-E-N-E-Y. No, I'm just kidding. I'm totally making that up. Alright, welcome to Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Sorry I had to get a little dig in. Alright, sorry brother Bill. You had to hack on Jesse and then the fruits of darkness came back to you quicker than you thought. Alright, does anybody need a bulletin? Just lift up your hand nice and high. Alright, right there. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says, God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. Psalm 67 verse 7. And on our inside page there we have our service times. 1030 a.m. Sunday morning service. Sunday evening service 330 p.m. We will be back in Joshua chapter 14. And then Thursday evening Bible study we are in. First Chronicles chapter 24. We are winding down to the last chapters there. And we will probably move on to a different book. So I might actually just finish Joshua on Thursday nights and do something different on Sunday nights for a while. But I haven't really made up my mind. Anyway, our sowing times are listed below. I know we had about four people go out sowing tonight. It's pretty nasty and rainy out there. But thanks for being faithful out there guys. In our praise report we did have a salvation on Sunday. And so we are kind of having a rough march so far. But hopefully we can get those numbers up a little bit more. And we had a great, all the people in Spokane said thank you for the wonderful weekend. And so they had a great weekend. Just fellowshipping and preaching and things like that. So it was nice to just be there with them for the day that I was. And appreciate the spirit of the people up there. They've been through a lot. And looking forward to six more years. And let's see we got the, I did kind of put the sowing marathon on hiatus. But we can still do a sowing time on that day if you want. I just kind of wanted to leave it open a little bit because Remy is moving the next. I didn't know if he might need some help or something that day. So I just kind of wanted to leave it open. But if he doesn't need any help we can still do some sowing on Saturday no problem. We can still do it anyway. I'm sure not everybody is planning on doing that. But just thought with them taking off it might be a little bit of a rough weekend for everybody doing that. So at least for them. But we also have, let's see the men's preaching night is going to be canceled. We're going to just move it to a different weekend. And Remy is going to end up preaching his last night at our church. Not permanently, forever and ever, you know, amen or anything like that. But he is going to be leading up in Spokane, Washington at our church up there. So they've already got their apartment. They finalized that. So it's a done deal. His start date of his new job is a couple weeks after he moves up there. So they're very excited up there to have some leadership. And they're excited for the challenge of start, you know, it's not easy running a church. So I know that they're going to do a great job though. So anyway, we're going to have, instead of the men's preaching night, Remy is going to preach that Sunday night. And then we will have a food fellowship and sing sayonara for a little while until they come back. I'm not sure if they're coming back for the conference or not. But I think the rest of their church is. So they might want to just come anyway, otherwise they're going to be by themselves. And we might, yeah. Anyway, so I haven't really talked to them too much about it. But I was figuring they probably would be here. So anyway, what else we got going on? The Lord's Supper is going to be April 13th. Mega-marathon, the 19th. Easter Sunday, the 20th. The two-year anniversary of our church in Seattle is the 25th through the 27th. Pastor Anderson is preaching for us on Friday night at 7 p.m. If you are anywhere in Washington within driving distance, I would recommend you getting there early. We do have the building early that day. So if you want to just go there early so that you don't have to battle the traffic, that would be a good idea. We do have a zoning time. It's going to have posted at 2 o'clock. If you're trying to get a room up there, you might want to get it early, so on and so forth. But anyway, yeah, it's going to be a great weekend up there. And there will be a soul-wanting marathon on Saturday. And then, of course, the next big event is the King James Conference, which we're going to start loading up to get ready for all that. Kayla's bridal shower, the 31st of May. And then we've got other stuff off in the distance. And all the other stuff at the bottom of the page is our numbers so far that we brought in for tithes and offerings. And brother Eli's birthday was passed, and he is not going to be here tonight. So I just wanted to wish him a happy birthday. I texted him yesterday. He said, happy birthday, youngster. He said, thank you, oldster. But he's older than me, I think. But anyway, so that's all I got for announcements. Go ahead and sing another song, and then we'll receive the offering. Next to him is 114, the great physician. All the first. The great physician. One more time. Sweetest carol. Jesus. Your many sins are all forgiven. The voice of Jesus. Go on your way in peace to heaven. And wear a crown with Jesus. Sweetest golden seraph song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. All glory to the dying lamb. I now believe in Jesus. I love the blessed Savior's name. I love the name of Jesus. Sweetest golden seraph song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. And when to that bright world above. We rise to be with Jesus. We'll sing around the throne of love. His name, the name of Jesus. Sweetest golden seraph song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. All right. At this time we'll collect the offering. And Brother Ramon, can you bless the offering? Thank you so much, Lord, for this day. We could gather in your house and we pray that you bless the services. Bless this offering, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter 24. 1 Chronicles, chapter 24. Please follow along silently as we read the entire text. Please follow along silently as we read the entire chapter. 1 Chronicles, chapter 24. The Bible reads, Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron, the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eliezer and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children. Therefore, Eliezer and Ithamar executed the priests' office. And David distributed them, both Zadak of the sons of Eliezer and Hamalek of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service. And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eliezer than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eliezer there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers and eight among the sons of Ithamar, according to the house of their fathers. Thus were they divided by law at one sort with another, for the governors of the sanctuary and governors of the house of God were of the sons of Eliezer and of the sons of Ithamar. And Shemaiah the son of Nathanael the scribe, one of the Levites, wrote them before the king and the princes and Zadak the priests and Hamalek the son of Abiathar, and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites one principal household being taken for Eliezer and one taken for Ithamar. Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiirib, the second to Judea, the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth to Melchiah, the sixth to Mijamim, the seventh to Hakaz, the eighth to Abijah, the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shekiniah, the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jacob, the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jechebiyab, the fifteenth to Bilge, the sixteenth to Immer, the seventeenth to Hezer, the eighteenth to Apses, the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezakal, the one and twentieth to Jacob, the two and twentieth to Gamal, the three and twentieth to Deliah, the four and twentieth to Meaziah. These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the Lord according to their manner, under Aaron their father as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him. And the rest of the sons of Levi were these, of the sons of Amram, Shubael, of the sons of Shubael, Judea. Concerning Rehoboiah, the sons of Rehoboiah, the first was Ishaiah, of the Isharites, of the sons of Shelomoth, Jehath, and of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah the first, Amoriah the second, Jehaziel the third, Jecamim the fourth, of the sons of Uzziel, Micah, of the sons of Micah, Shemer. The brother of Micah was Ishaiah, of the sons of Isiah, Zechariah. The sons of Marariah were Malai and Mushai, the sons of Jehaziah, Beno. The sons of Marariah by Jehaziah, Beno and Shoham, and Zacher and Ibrai. Of Malai came Eliezer who had no sons. Concerning Kish, the son of Kish was Jeramiel. The sons also of Mushai, Malai, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after the house of their fathers. These likewise cast lots over against their brethren, the sons of Aaron, in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Hemelech, and the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites, even the principal fathers over against their younger brethren. Brother Robert, can you pray for the service? Amen. All right, we're in First Chronicles chapter 24 and we are kind of in the tail end, like I said, of this book where David has started to organize and he's already been setting up and putting back all the things that are needed to build. He's given Solomon the charge and given the people the charge to follow Solomon and to help him. And last week we saw the next step in David's preparation of the new centralized place where God chooses to place his name and where the temple, the house of God, is going to be constructed by his son. So he reorganized the Levites and then the laborers, because they're the laborers and the helpers of the priests. So now let's look at verse 24. It says, I mean, excuse me, verse number one in chapter number 24, it says, Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron, the sons of Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eliezer, and Ithamar. So this is just strictly the organization of the priests this week. Now you're like, well, I'm confused. Well, hopefully you won't be confused by the end of this. Hopefully you kind of already understand where I'm coming from with this. But all priests were Levites, okay? Descendants from the tribe of Levi. Not all Levites were priests, but the priests were specifically the descendants of Aaron. So the actual priests that did all the stuff inside the tabernacle itself, only Aaron and his sons were allowed to go in there. And so from there on forth, anybody that was not Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer, or Ithamar was not allowed to go in there. Now, so they had the exclusive rights to perform the sacrifices and the other priestly duties while the Levites served in various other roles within the temple and society. So the other sons of Levi had those divisions and that's why Korah had that rebellion where he's like, we're all holy. We should all be able to do this. So when they tried to burn the incense, that is a specific thing that the priests were only allowed to do. So that's why God destroyed Korah in that rebellion because they were trying to do something that they were not allotted to do. Turn to Numbers chapter three, verse five. Numbers chapter three, verse five. The Bible spells this out. And I'm sure that people were like, oh, it's real convenient, Moses, that your brother gets to be the high priest and only Moses' family gets to do these special things. Only Moses is the leader of the people. And then, oh, he just happens to choose Aaron as the high priest. And Moses' brother, that's his older brother. So usually it's not the older brother that isn't the leader. But in the Bible, you'll see that pattern happen a lot where the younger surpasses the older in some way, shape, or form. They're either more spiritual or they become the leader somehow. And so that's kind of what's happened here. And Aaron is a leader. He's just not fit to be the leader, as we saw with the golden calf incident where he's like, I just threw the gold in there and poof, the calves came out. The world's worst excuse ever. And Moses must have been pretty tough because Aaron was afraid of Moses and Moses was the younger brother. Sometimes the younger brother can beat up the older brother and Moses probably was very scary looking when he was that mad. So Moses was furious. And when he got that angry, when I picture Moses freaking out that day, he probably just had a look upon him that Aaron was just like, you know, as soon as he saw him, he's like calling him my lord, you know? So but Numbers 3, 5 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi-Nir and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they kept his charge and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle, the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation and the charge of the children of Israel to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons. So they're the boss of all the Levites, too. They're not just the priests, but they are the boss of all the Levites. And it says, And they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel, and thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priests' office and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. Anybody that tries to step up will be put to death. So when Korah tried to do that, you know, God put him to death. God killed him. And then the children of Israel were whining the next day, saying that you killed the people of the Lord, which they weren't the people of the Lord because they went to hell, so how does that work? But anyway, yeah, they're blaming Moses and Aaron, but God's the one that said that if anybody comes near, they're to be put to death. And when they came with their incense, trying to light it and come forth, then God got angry, and he killed them all. So here's a little bit more of a detailed breakdown about the Levites and the priests. So the entire tribe of Levi are the descendants, of course, of Jacob, the son of Levi, and they're set apart for the service of the tabernacle. Later, of course, the temple, which is what he's preparing for here. And they're assisting the priests, so I'm sure that they were doing a lot of cutting up of the animals and probably measuring out the wheat and whatever else that they had to do. And their responsibilities included transporting and setting up the tabernacle, serving as temple guards and gatekeepers, playing music during temple services, performing other substitutionary tasks like cleaning and maintenance, and teaching people about God's law. Now, some of those things came later, of course, when David's division started to take place, because they didn't need to transport and set up the tabernacle anymore, but the maintenance still had to happen. And a lot of times, when the children of Israel would get backslidden, then you would see the house of the Lord would fall into disrepair, and they'd have to hire people to come and fix the house of the Lord. So there's lots of times in the Old Testament where they just get completely into idolatry, where they're setting up idols inside the house of the Lord, and then a great king will come along, like Hezekiah or one of these other guys, and they'll straighten everything out and get things running right again. So, now the priests, okay, and the Levites were not allowed to perform sacrifices or other priestly duties. Okay, we got that. And the priests, the Aaronic priests, so the sons of Aaron, the priests were descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and were chosen to perform the priestly duties. Their primary responsibilities included offering sacrifices at the altar, conducting the religious ceremonies, interpreting God's will through the oracles. Now, what is that talking about? Well, the Urim and Thummim, if that's how you pronounce it. I always get those. It's like a tongue twister to me. But nobody really knows exactly what they were, but they did go into this little pouch that was on the breastplate of the high priest. And so the high priest is the one, like if the king or a judge or somebody inquired of that oracle, then somehow they would, through those oracles, would divine unto the king what God's will was through those. So I'm not sure how those worked, but there's a lot of theories about it, but it's usually from some Judaizing website or something, so I was just like, I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows, but maybe one of these days I'll dive into and try to study it out for myself a little more deeper, but that's just, those were the oracles. So you've probably heard of the oracles over in Greece, where they, I forget what the place is called, but they would, huh? Delphi. The Delphi, yeah. Where they'd go and breathe in the gas, and then they'd go into some trance or whatever, and then they would try to make these same kind of, they would call that an oracle, but God's oracle is the only oracle that's actually real. So they'd get high off this gas, and then something, it would just be like random zombie thoughts or whatever, and then they would just make these predictions that didn't always come true, because a false prophet's visions aren't gonna come true, right? So, but anyways, they also were supposed to bless the people. The high priest, the leader of the priests had special privileges in the temple, including entering the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. So only they were allowed to go in there once a year on the Day of Atonement, and then they had to sacrifice for themselves, the people, and they had to have like five sacrifices that day. So, which of course Christ fulfilled all that while sacrificing himself that one time. And so anyway, so the priests were the only ones allowed to perform that core priestly function, and the Levites served as assistants and performed other duties within the temple. So, hopefully that helps you to understand it a little easier. Some of you that might not have really clearly understood that. Now let's go back to verse two. It says, But Nadeb and Abihu died before their father, and had no children. Therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office. Now, so it says that they died before their father. I thought that was an interesting thing to say, because usually it says he died before the Lord, and we'll go to that passage, and actually go ahead and turn to Leviticus chapter 10, where it tells the story, but it's interesting that it says that they died before their father, because I never actually really thought about that fact, but their father is the high priest, so when they died, they died right in front of their dad. That's part of the story that I just never really thought about. How horrible would that be to watch God kill your children right in front of you? Like here you are, the high priest, you're serving God, and then God just kills your children right in front of you with fire. I mean, that's what happens, but so I never just had really thought of that until I saw this verse, and I was just like dang, they died before their father and had no children. So they're obviously the oldest two, serving as the priests, and they were lighting incense, right? So that was their job. That was what they were supposed to do. This is before, obviously, way before the division of David. Now it says, therefore, for this reason, Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office. So their position was an ordained position. They poured oil on them, they ordained them, they laid hands on them. This is an official office that they were supposed to carry out what the Lord asked them to do. It wasn't optional. So once they're ordained in this position, they don't just get to stop what they're doing. Like, picture this situation. They're doing the incense, they don't do it right, whatever it is that they did, their dad's right there, he's the high priest, and then God just, I don't know if the fire issued forth from the holiest place, because that's where God would meet them, but wherever it came from, God killed them with fire. And, I mean, that's just a crazy situation, right? But they don't just get to stop what they're doing. It explains it in this passage, look at Leviticus 10, one, where I had you turn, it says, and Adab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer. So it's talking about the censer where you put the incense in and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. There was a special way that they were supposed to make the incense, but that term strange fire before the Lord is not really, I don't really understand what that means exactly, but whatever it is, they didn't do something right that they were supposed to be doing. I kind of feel like maybe they, because it doesn't specifically say how they're supposed to light it, how they light it with what kind of fire or whatever, but the fact that it's strange fire, I feel like that it's something that they did wrong with the incense because if they didn't do it right, they had a specific way that they had to make it, and if they didn't make it right, then that was really bad, or if you tried to make it and use it for yourself or something like that. But it says strange fire before the Lord, and I just preached a sermon last weekend about a strange punishment coming, so that definition is an unusual or surprising way that is unsettling or hard to understand. I don't think that that's really the definition of strange fire here. The second definition is not previously visited, seen or encountered, unfamiliar or alien. So it's probably the unfamiliar fire, or it's something that God just, it's not something they were supposed to put on there, whatever it was. It was strange fire. It wasn't what was usually supposed to be offered, that incense. And the incense was supposed to be offered first so that God wouldn't kill people, and so to do that part wrong was their own death sentence. Look at verse two. It says, and there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. So I'm not sure if these guys are saved or not. I would guess that they probably were. But I'm not 100% sure about that. When it says they died before their father, I guess you could take that two ways. If God is their father, they died before their father, because here it says fire went out from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. But you could also say both things were true. They died before the Lord and they died before their father. So both things are true whether they were saved or not. But that's the situation that happened. Then Moses said unto Aaron, this is that the Lord spake saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. I will be set apart basically is what he's saying, them that come near me. Those people, the priests, remember they had to wash a special way, put on special garments, special clothing, and everything had to be just right or they couldn't even come near. I mean God is a holy God. He's not gonna just, and this picture is like in the New Testament. We have to be so holy and Jesus is the only one that can make us that way. So them having to be that clean and everything it just shows the picture of how clean you have to be to be able to appear before God. And so this is that picture and so when you wreck that picture it upsets God. And Jesus hadn't come yet. So he says, and before all the people I will be glorified. And so Moses is saying this to his brother whose sons just died right before his face. And it says, and Aaron held his peace. Smart move Aaron. Smart move because that's probably the best thing to say. But probably what Aaron wanted to say was why don't you shut up Moses? My kids just got killed. That's probably what he wanted to say. But I just, you just notice that it says and Aaron held his peace. That means that he had, because sometimes they'll say why don't you just say your peace? Why don't you just say what you want to say? But Aaron, it specifically says Aaron held his peace. Like he had something to say but he was very wise to not say what he wanted to say. Because the last thing you want to hear is I told you so. Or something along those lines and it kind of seems like I don't think Moses is doing this on purpose to like upset him. But he's just telling him this is what God said. And like, you know, we're all human beings. If your children die before your face and then someone just like your older, or your younger brother's like this is what God said. You know, it's like it's probably going to make you really angry. And it says that Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. This is interesting also is that they weren't just to carry them out but to completely carry them out of the camp. They couldn't even be in the camp of the children of Israel. Not just, you know, the tent, not just the area where they were cordoned off from, but completely out of the camp. So they went near and carried them in their coats out of the camp as Moses had said. So I think this is interesting also because the picture that I think that it's telling is that you know, as the children of God, and I think that what this I really believe that this is about to teach you that this is the penalty for being like a drunkard in church and God catches you doing that. Nobody else knows you're doing it. You know, you're not like kicked out because you're doing it, but you're doing it here. It's like, you know, this is a good preparation for the Lord's Supper is that there's certain things that God will throw has you thrown out of the church for and if you're doing those things and you're thinking you're gonna hide them in the congregation then God might just take you that's like when you eat the Lord's Supper and God kills some people for it that's why he does it and that's why he killed these two boys because they offer strange fire but I believe that they were drinking alcohol before they did it so if they were drinking alcohol and made a stupid mistake with the incense or whatever it was that they did or maybe just the fact that they were drunk handle you know drunk holding the holy things maybe that was a strange fire I don't know exactly but look what it says in verse six it says and Moses said unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar his sons uncover not your heads neither rend your clothes lest ye die and the wrath come upon all the people but let your brethren the whole house of Israel bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled so imagine this your children die before your eyes they're dragged out by other relatives and Moses and Moses says don't take your hats off because remember they had those special bonnets that they had to wear and then don't rend your clothes those clothes that they had on were holy clothes that you weren't they were made specifically so they wouldn't rend easily anyway but to do that with those holy garments on in the house of God with the anointed oil upon them because they are performing the office of the priest and so they're doing something for the people it's to help the people with their sins and to help they're serving the people they're in the office of a priest they're doing they're interceding on their behalf so it's a big deal and it says that they're gonna die if they take their hats off if they rend their clothes which is probably a practice when you're you know mourning and he says you're gonna die if you don't do what I say so so and this kind of shows like the hardness of of what leadership can be sometimes it can be brutal like that you know their dad can't weep over them their brothers can't weep over them I'm sure they're all sad I'm sure they wanna cry I'm sure that they wanna stop what they're doing like who wouldn't just stop if some kind of accident happened and just stop doing whatever you're doing but they can't do that they're performing the work that they were ordained to do and Moses told them don't stop what you're doing or you're gonna die and it says you know so like even their whole world is falling apart and they still have to serve God no matter what and it's it's it's kind of a thing with you know the ministry is that you know your whole world could go crashing down around you and you still have to serve it's still your job you're still ordained and you're still supposed to do your job so that's kind of what's that's kind of part of the job I mean it's you're 24-7 on call you know so Moses is being pretty matter of fact here but you know I'm sure Aaron wanted to lash out but you know he didn't so he was wise to not do that I mean you have even other parts of the Bible where Ezekiel's wife dies and God tells him don't don't weep for her like how hard do you think that that would be you know your wife dies and you're not allowed to weep for her as a sign to the children of Israel it's like you know his workers would do some pretty hard things that's pretty hard look at verse 7 it says and he shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation lest he die so they couldn't even leave the tabernacle at all for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you and they did according to the word of Moses very wisely and the Lord I mean they just saw their brothers die so I'm sure that they realize do not drink wine nor strong drink I mean why just bring this up out of the blue if this is not part of the issue like all of a sudden God just doesn't do things for random reasons for no apparent reason whatsoever oh by the way just you know don't drink strong drink no this is just like why did he say this to Aaron he's saying it to the high priest he's not saying it to Moses he's saying it to Aaron when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest you die so if they drink any alcohol what's going to happen to them they're going to die it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations so that's to me that's why I think that they died I think it's not really rocket science to kind of put two and two together here it says that you may put holy and unholy so if it is talking about alcohol which I mean obviously the context is talking about alcohol here what's holy not drinking it what's unholy drinking it right and between unclean and clean what's unclean consuming poisonous liquid that gets you intoxicated is unclean it gets you drunk it makes you see strange things doesn't it makes you want to look upon strange women it makes you get beat up and not remember what happened to you it makes all kinds of makes you you know say perverted things out of your mouth that you would never say it changes your spirit from the holy spirit to another kind of spirit and maybe this is the liquor inside of them those are two conflicting things aren't they so it's be not filled with wine but be filled with the spirit right so we're supposed to be filled with the spirit and so how does this translate into the New Testament well let's turn over to 1st Corinthians 5 which we've seen plenty of times but I just think that this is the equivalent to what they're talking about then that applies to the house of the Lord now too and now that there's no there's no like nobody's doing sacrifices up here there's not one like family that's only priests it's all God's people we believe in the priesthood of the believer that's like a Baptist distinctive you know it should be just a Christian distinctive not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or what's it say there a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat for what have you what have I to do to judge them that are without do not you judge them you know if someone you know someone's drunk you know not to let them in the front door so and I would just kind of say that the modern equivalent to Levites is probably the people that run the doors and the people that are in charge of security and then you know I'm not a high priest obviously but I am an ordained so there's a lot of differences but there's it's still the same thing you have to it's just like when what Uzziah tries to come in and offer incense to later on and the priest there's 80 priests that are there to stop him and then what happens instead of just saying yeah you're right I don't know what I was thinking I got to get out of here and I'm like what's going on with this life while his son rules the kingdom because he just wanted to do it all but it says yeah so the people that are within we cannot have drunkards within our church and it said what did it say it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations you don't go into the house of the Lord drinking it verse 13 but them that are without God judges therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person but I also believe this is that God still judges within when we don't know within so how can we judge something within that we don't even know is happening well that's when God just says okay well you know they're gonna hide it here they're gonna pretend that you know they're they're gonna you know get right with what you're doing before you take the Lord's Supper so anyway let's get back to our passage here first Corinthians or excuse me excuse me first Chronicles chapter 24 verse 3 the Bible says and David distributed them both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Himalek of the sons of Ithamar according to their offices in their service so these are these are basically the relatives of Aaron and Eleazar and Ithamar are the two other sons that were placed in charge of the house of the Lord after that so basically there's usually it was only one high priest though but in David's time there was two high priests there was one who had Ahimelech so that's who was basically running the show at the time and remember Ahimelech escaped from Nod I think it was Nod where Doeg the Edomite killed the rest of those priests that was part of that family and he escaped and helped David and he was like his personal high priest while he's on the run with the high priest or whatever as Zadok is you know the high priest also at the same time so that's kind of how that happened and then there was a curse placed upon Eli's family because Eli who was of the sons of Ithamar and Eli was letting his sons get way out of control and they were like making a mockery of the dates and God wanted to kill them and because Eli did not control his sons or do anything about it then God said that he was going to take them away from being a priesthood so the sons of Ithamar were going to die out as being priests and so when those when he sides with Adonijah when Adonijah tries to take over instead of Solomon as the king then that's when Solomon says you're no longer in the priesthood this happens obviously in the future but here the division is where David's dividing the priest here according to the offices and their service so this is David among the sons of Eliezer were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers so David basically just took the top the chief men of these houses so you know how in like the New Testament how it says that there were the chief priests well they had the same thing in the New Testament as they have so this is what David sets up and it goes on into the New Testament and of course the house of the Lord gets destroyed and then they have to come back and do it again but so you have sixteen men of the house chief men of the house of their fathers and then eight among the sons of Ithamar so and then according to the house of their fathers so sixteen men of the house of Ithamar and that's I'm sorry it's Ahimelech that's the of that house and then eight chief men of the house of Eleazar the older brother Zadok so Zadok is the chief priest of that so I think I was getting them mixed up there but anyway so it's weird that there's still sixteen chief men of Ahimelech when that's the one that's going to get taken out and then Sadok of the priest of the priest excuse me and David is going to put them on this rotation where they all serve like a week and some odd and they so each year they have to serve two week long services so that's a pretty good deal right they spend a little over a week just serving and doing their lot in their division that's not bad two weeks to get paid that'd be pretty good money right or whatever they're getting some kind of food or whatever they're getting but I'm sure they did other stuff besides just that they probably did their teaching and whatever else that they were doing besides that but so again Zadok would eventually take over but this is how he first divided it and this is how it it says thus they were divided by lot one sort with another for the governors of the sanctuary and the governors of the house of God were of the sons of Eleazar and of the sons of Ithamar so two divisions but sixteen from one and eight from the other so what is this casting lots of grace as seen in the bible another historical context so so we're not going to turn to the passages but there's obviously ones that you might know of in the bible like Joshua and Joshua eighteen we're going to get there at some they've all been fighting over all this land like that's I want that pond or I want the place with the waterfall how come he gets that spot and so the way it's done is just they just cast these lots whatever they use a stone or bones or whatever right who's who's drawn straws before and the shortest straw is the one that you know has to clean the whatever part of the part the house that you don't want to clean or whatever and I think that it's Jonah that's responsible for the storm in Jonah chapter one verse seven that these are heathens that are doing this but isn't it funny how God still happens so when they gave out all the land God's just making sure the people that he wanted to get those spots are getting those spots I guess so now I think that now that we have the Holy Spirit we have the Bible we can make choices based upon things without having to cast lots for it but I'm sure there's yes let's flip a coin that's another thing coin coin tosses are fair I mean in football games that's what they do they toss a coin up in the air and whoever says heads and then whoever gets the pick gets to kick off or decide to get it in the second half or whatever and then if they defer those are fair ways to decide things impartially so and then last week in chapter 23 it talked about David dividing them into these courses so this is what's going on and it's being based upon these chief priests and you got 24 priests like I said so now verse 6 it says and Shemaiah the son of Abiathar and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites one principal household being taken for Eleazar and one taken for Ithamar now the first lot came forth of Jehoirib I don't know if I said that Jehoirib the second to Jedahiah here's some baby names if you're looking the third to Harim the sixth to Majemim and the seventh Hekaz the eighth to Abijah so now when we get to here I'm gonna there's a lot of names I'm just gonna skip over but I really wanted to get to this part right here so why is this important why is the eighth to Abijah important well turn to Luke chapter one it's a little bit easier because this is if you didn't if this part wasn't in the Bible to help us to understand the division of the priest well it kind of doesn't help it doesn't make sense in Luke chapter one without this part of the Bible in it so even though you're like well what's the big deal well I mean it's the Bible that's what and why it was allowed to be done because the thing is that David is changing things that were already you know he's making a new kind of commandment here in the Bible so he's dividing the priests a certain way he's making it done by courses and then he starts in the like the like as you go through the Bible when when they screwed up and then they had to reset everything and put all the Levites back in order that they always put the singers back in order to based upon what David says but does it say that David could do that no but we've already been kind of studying that that David is allowed to do these things because he's God's chosen vessel to do these and they just stick with what David said in these divisions so Luke chapter one verse five the Bible says there was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia so the eighth Abijah and then in the New Testament it just says of Abiah it says and his wife was the daughter of Aaron so what is he he's a he's an actual priest of the sons of Aaron it says and so his wife was of the daughters of Aaron also her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking in all the who actually does keep the commandments you know in the time right before Jesus is born there were still some priests that were doing a good job that actually feared God and loved God and what does God do for people that are like that living in a wicked generation I mean we can agree that Herod was a wicked person right and he was like the puppet of of you know the Roman government basically they just put him in and it was his son so it's not like they were actual you know they were just installed by the Roman government to lord it over them so they weren't real I mean they were real kings but they just weren't of the sons of David so anyway it says and they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years what does that mean well they're too old to have kids that's what it means and it came to pass that while he went to the priest's office before God in the order of his course so isn't this talking about exactly what we're talking about tonight he's doing what he's supposed to do based upon what what David set up way back when according to the custom of the priest's office his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the lord so what's his job to burn incense as he goes into the temple and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense and there appeared unto him an angel of the lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense and when Zechariah saw him he was troubled and fear fell upon him but the angel said unto him fear not Zechariah for thy prayers heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John so this angel comes to him and tells him they're going to have a son but like all the people that seem to get these messages especially when they're too old to have kids they don't really believe that it's going to happen it says now shall have joy and gladness and many shall rejoice at his birth for he shall be great in the sight of the lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink think about that so he's not going to drink wine or strong drink and he shall be filled with the holy ghost even from his mother's womb so what is he's the he's a son of Aaron isn't he his parents are both sons of Aaron his dad is an actual priest of the lord of the sons of Aaron and what does he do he his lot is to do the incense what did Aaron sons die doing lighting the incense right interesting and that and I believe it was because they were drinking before they went in there and that's why they offered strange fire but it's interesting that it says this priest's son is not going to do that and it makes mention that these people were blameless keeping the commandments of the lord so it says that many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the lord their god and he shall go before them in the spirit and power of Elias so he has the spirit and power of Elijah the prophet he's not Elijah he's not a you know there's no such thing as reincarnation folks I know that people I've heard people teach that this is Elijah reincarnated that's not in the Bible okay that's not what it's saying so it says to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the lord prepared for the lord who's the lord he's god isn't he so what was Jesus who who was he preparing for though he was Jesus wasn't he so who's Jesus he's the lord he's god isn't he so think about this though had it not been for David's organization we wouldn't know these things that I just showed you but even more importantly his foresight and planning and circumspect wisdom allowed these courses to be put into place where Zechariah in the eighth course of Abijah was visited by the angel Gabriel and foretold the promise to he and his faithful disciples that he would be brought to he and his faithful wife in the line of Aaron thousands of years later right so I think that's pretty cool because God just in his providence just works things out to be were these two godly people that were that were related to Aaron they end up being faithful where his first two sons were not faithful were they they died in the service of the lord and these ones thrived in the service of the lord so these came from Aaron's loins you know Aaron didn't you know his first two sons you know they didn't do something right and you know I believe they probably were saved and they're probably up there like man someone's telling us about the barbecued story again you know they shouldn't have those 40 ounces before they went to the house of the lord you know whatever but but thousands of years later there were some faithful people that were related to Aaron and when they got forth the you know out of the loins of Aaron came forth a man that was faithful named Zechariah and he offered incense that was not strange fire it was not strange fire and you know I don't have time to go into all the verses but the next time you read through this just this this chapter in Luke is a huge chapter in the Bible and he actually prophesied he gets filled with the Holy Ghost after John is born but also the Holy Ghost is filled with the Holy Ghost but also John who's John the Baptist by the way John when Mary comes to visit and she's already pregnant with John he leaps in the womb when Jesus when just Mary's voice is said because the Lord is magnified through Mary not that she's you know some person we're supposed to worship or something but just God's spirit was upon her you know God's spirit was in her womb obviously and John was filled with the spirit from his womb or you know from the womb so you know and does that mean he was saved from his womb I don't I mean I don't know I mean you have to get saved right at some point in time Jesus was always saved but John I mean I'm sure he had to get saved but that doesn't mean he wasn't filled with the spirit you know it says he was filled with the spirit I don't know it's it's that's a hard one so but Aaron had two people that were born of his loins that kept the commandments that were faithful and it just so happens that it was the greatest man born of women John the Baptist I don't know if that was his middle name or not but probably not so I like to think it was I like that so also the cousin of Jesus so they're related and the last of the Old Testament prophets he ushered and prepared the way of the Lord Jesus Christ to enter on the scene he was humble enough to step aside and say you know I must he must increase and I must decrease I mean most people are super popular and have a big following like that are not just willing to just decrease like he did and then let Jesus I mean obviously he didn't let Jesus do anything he was going to increase anyway but even he was faithful to the death and he preached the paint off the desert walls I mean there's no walls but he preached hard and he preached truth and he preached true and he preached people to turn to you know keep the commandments and that turned them to prepare the way for Jesus to come pretty cool right verse let's go back to our passage in verse 19 and I'm going to skip through some names but it's just basically telling us the 9th 10th 11th 12th I'm just going to give us the names all the baby names that you're waiting for so there's some cool ones in there though let's see verse 19 says these were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the Lord according to their manner under Aaron their father as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him so now we'll skip down to verse 31 again skipping through baby names and lists so let's see verse 31 says these likewise cast lots over against their brethren the sons of Aaron and the presence of David the king and Zadok and Hamalek and the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites even the principal fathers over against their younger brethren so all the courses of all that David established were followed and again when they stopped being followed they would still reinforce them I was just reading in my daily Bible reading today in 2 Chronicles and Hezekiah is reestablishing everything he has you know even the northern some of the northern people that got escaped the hand of the Assyrians he they they come in they join even though a lot of people are laughing at him about having the Passover he's they some of them still you know the remnant comes and joins with them but it's talking about how David you know how that he reordered everything as David told them to do so so it all goes back to David and a lot of times kings will be born or present you know in our country you know we change leadership every four years and so most place you know in the kingdoms like these if they live a long time you know you just think you're the king until you die or you can't do the job anymore or whatever and then they have like somebody else coming and do it or whatever your son your oldest son comes and takes over but David everything he established still just traveled on all the way through the kings of Judah and was still being reinforced all the way so he essentially just made some new commandments that stuck because he's the one who also put the house of God permanently in Jerusalem based upon the Lord's leading of course and it kind of reminds me of Jesus you know he he made a new commandment didn't he in the New Testament just turn to one last passage and we'll be done we've done early but that happens once every blood moon so John chapter 13 verse 34 John chapter 13 verse 34 but even at the end of the New Testament there were still priests that were faithful they were they were going they were getting saved you know they were faithful to the way but it says in John 13 34 it says a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another so Jesus was able to make a new commandment also I mean that just showed that proves he's gone but like David was you know he is also the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ establishing new things also and he really does picture mostly the millennial reign of Christ but he still you know pictures the Lord Jesus Christ in a lot of ways also in not the millennial reign so but this says in verse 36 Pete Simon Peter saith unto him wither Lord wither goest thou Jesus answered him whether I go thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards I'm glad that there's an afterwards that we can fall into that this life is not our only life that we have all eternity to follow him and his lead but I think the the cool thing that I really saw like in the coming chapters is that like organization can you know like generations later ended up being a great advantage and David is the one that set that organization up so his organization really kind of set the tone for something later happening and you know seeing the redemption kind of errands you know that high priest is his relatives way down the line because they're still his relatives aren't they absolutely and seeing that his relatives do it right I'm sure that he's looking down from heaven thinking that's really cool thanks Lord you know and then his boys are like no they're probably not they're in heaven too so if they're safe so anyway let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this great chapter in the Bible and the things that we can glean out of it Lord for our time and for the New Testament and Lord I pray that you would help us to or just be interested in the things of the Bible and pulling out nuggets of truth that apply to our lives and and Lord just finding new cool things in the Bible is also a blessing and Lord I thank you Lord for just the time that we could spend together and studying the Bible and learning things that we didn't know before praise you and thank you for all that you do pray that you just watch over our church and and help us to grow spiritually and in number and that you would watch over those that are sick and those that are traveling coming home pray that you just bless them and watch over them in Jesus name we pray Amen closing hymns sixty face to face six zero in the red or the green singing out on the first first face to face with Christ my savior face to face what will it be with rapture behold him who died for me face to face I shall be for him far beyond the story sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by only faintly now I see him with the darkling veil between but a blossom day is coming when his glory shall be seen face to face I shall be for him far beyond the story sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by one rejoicing in his presence when all banished grief and pain when the broken ways are shortened and that our things shall be plain face to face I shall behold him far beyond the story sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by face to face oh blissful moment face to face to see and know face to face with my Redeemer Jesus Christ who loves me so face to face I shall behold him far beyond the story sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by